The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-23
A CONFEDERATE WEAPON.
The All-POweTiul Ram First Used By
The South.

Two Small Rams Too Much for Any
Battleship Afoat-The Ram in Mod
ern Warfafe-Only Once Used Since
the Civil War; But that Time it
Gained a Victory.
From the New York Press
The Ericsson Monitor, with its revolv-
ing turret, built during the civil war at
the Delamater Iron Works, revolutionized
the navies of the whole world. Scarcely
less important was the ram as a weapon
of attack, and to the confederate naval
officers the world owes this invention.
The confederate states, poor as they
were, created a shipyard ut Yazoo City
especially for the construction Of these
naval ships of war. In the current num-
Der of the Seaboard, Ira Harris, eX-
Lieutenant Commander United States
navy, gives a most interesting summary
of the rams history in naval battles.
On the union side rams were also en-
ployed The Arkansas and the William
H. Webb on the one side, and the Queen
of the West and Indianola on the other,
were conspicuous. The Queen of the
West was first fought on the union and
then on the confederate side; and the
Little Rebel first on the confederate and
then on the union side In one action the
Indianola fought the William II. Webb
and the Queen Of the West. The Indian
ola and Webb ranmed each other, bows
on; the IndianOla was probably going at
double the speed of the Webb; she suf-
fered no injury; the Webb's bow
was cut into, eight feet in depth
and from two feet above the water
line to her keelson, but she was able to
continue the battle The Indianola
was rammed seven times by the two con-
federate steamers, and one wheel and
one rudder being disabled, was unable 10
avoid their blows, and was finally sunk
by the combined efforts of the two rams,
which were neither of them her equal.
On May 10, 1862, near Fort Pillow, eight
confederate steamers-four of them, the
rams General Bragg, General Sterling
Price, General Earl Van Dorm and Cen
eral JEFF Thompson-fought a portion of
Admiral Davis squadron and gained a
decisive victory.
On June four rams with four others
the Little Rebel, the General Lowell, the
General Sumter and the General Beaure-
gard-again engaged the union Missis-
sippi feet In this last engagement the
union side had the two Elicit rams
Queen of the West and Monarch. These
rushed ahead of the gunboats and the
boats on both sides feared to fire lest
they should injure their own rams. At
the very first meeting one confederate
ram was sunk and another disabled then
the General Beauregard and the General
Sterling Price rushed at the Monarch
from opposite sides, but missed her and
crashed into each other, the Beauregard
cutting the Price to the waters edge and
tearing off one wheel. The Monarch
which had 90 cleverly avoided the two.
then rushed at the Beauregard, sinking
her at blow.
The accounts of this exceedingly inter
esting action were confused, contradic-
tory and meager of detail, but neverthe-
less, II is plain that two rams attacked
eight others, and with but slight assist
ance from the gunboats sank four and
disabled or drove off the rest
At the passage Of forts below New Or
leans the confederate ram Manassas
twice rammed the Brooklyn, but did not
strike her squarely enough to break in
her side. After Admiral Farragut's fleet
had passed the forts the Manassas fol-