St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-21

mac AS the day grew brighter
through their glasses the Confederate
officers could get better idea of this
new marine monster. It was appar-
entity a raft plated with iron, with a
great round tower rising from it's CEN
ter. AS the officers looked they saw
this tower move slowly about, and two
! mighty eleven-inch guns were pointed
in the direction of the Merrimac They
had read about this vessel which was
being made. They knew it was Erics-
sons Monitor, and they thought it the
strangest looking vessel which up to
that time had fioated upon the sea- 1t
looked very small beside the mighty
Merrfmac, and its two guns did not ap-
pear invulnerable in comparison with
their ten. Its speed" saws Lieut..
Howard, was not more than five
knots an hour, or just about the same
as the Merrimac. but its small size
enabled it to move about more quickly.
and it was more manageable in every
way. 1t had left New York two DAYS
before. and when it was still twenty
miles from Fortress Monroe its officers
had heard the booming of the guns of
the engagement of the Merrimac with
the Cumberland and Congress. When
L went on board of her the Congress
was still blazing, and Capt. Worden
had just heard of the terrible t;estruc-
ton which the Merrimac had accoa
pllShed that day. He was shown how
the Merrimac had drawn off. and was
told that it would surely come back in
the morning to destroy the Minnesota.
the Roanoke and the st. Lawrence,
and he was anxious to go at once to
their Defense
THE BLAZING CONGRESS.
We'll, as soon as it was decided that
was TO act as pilot L went down into
the pilot house and we at once got under
way. The pilot house was a little iron
box just large enough for four men to
stand upright within it. IT was sit11-
ated in the fore part of the vessel
some distance in front of the revolving,
turret, in which the guns were placed
1t was half above and half below the
iron deck, and it was, in fact. a SQUARE
iron box, made of iron logs about nine
inches thick, which were bolted and
dove-tailed at the corners. There were
little Sits between the upper set of logs
and the one below, through which we
could peep out. The steering wheel
was secured to one of the logs. and I
had wire connection with the en-
g1nes, which We're under the deck, so
that by the ringing of bells 1 could
give the proper signals to the engineer.
The turret behind us, so reVolved that
the guns were every now and then point
ed directly at the pilot house. and dur
ing the action the officers had to be
very careful that they did not hit the
house. 1t was Saturday night that we
sailed past Fortress Monroe and came
to anchor in front of the Minnesota.
A darker night don't think ever came
out of the heavens. You could almost
feel, 1t, and it was only by the light of
the burning Congress that I was able
to get my bearings. This made a fair
light, and L steered by it. The Mime
sofa was a fine vessel. She was
frigate, bearing eighty-four guns, and
sheslooked very grand in comparison
with the little Monitor as we sailed by
her. We moved to short distance in
front of her and then waited for day.
FIGHT WITH THE MERRIMAC.
1.-THE sun rose that morning on wa
tiers like mill pond. 1t was a beauti-
full Sunday, and you could see for miles
on ech side of you. As the day broke
the Yorktown and the Jamestown, two
of the Confederate ships, came out
and started for the Minnesota We at
once got under way and sent a shot at
them. They left at once. They didn't
want to have anything to do with the
cheese box on raft as they called
it. In the meantime the Merrirnac had
reused up and came on toward the
Minnesota. The Monitor, rested a lit
tie in front of the Minnesota and
waited for her. The officers were in
the turret Capt. Worden stood by my
side and gave the orders. The Merri-
| mac first fired at the Minnesota, and