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

, then Capt. Worden gave the order for
the Monitor to go for the MerrimaC
and to begin firing. The Merrimac was
a mile off when we started for her
Inc shots were at once concentra ted
on the ironclads. We turned this way
| and thatfr1ng about every seven min
uteS. We kept moving about the Mer-
! f1mac and getting in good shots at al
most every fire. The vessels were
often not more than thirty feet apart,
and the engagement was terrible The
turret OF the Monitor was made of
! heaVy plates of iron, SO that its walls
were about eight inches thick. The
SHOTS OF the Merrimac pounded great
dents in 1t, but they did not go through.
our guns tore the iron from the Mer-
rlmac, and had we understood it's con-
srruction, we might have sunk her
We should have aimed for her at the
water line. Her iron plates did not eX-
tend much below this. 1 have ALWAYS
thought that we did send one shot into
her, and 1 think we would have surely
sunk her had we continued to fire in
this way
WORDEN'S NARROW ESCAPE.
when was Capt. Worden wounded?'
1T was some hours after the begin
ming of the engagement, a little after
noon, replied Lieut.. Howard. ''He
was standing at my right, and was
bending over and looking out of the
slit. We We're just going by the Mer-
rlmac, and were not more than ten
yards from her when a shell struck the
log just below the sight hole and then
exploded. 1t broke this eight-inch log
Of iron in two. 1t threw one end of it
upward and the log held there in the
q tot rr,ifl ,toI,,
fastened to the box. The splinters of
the shell flew through the slit. With
them came powder and flame. These
got into Capt. Worden's eyes and
blinded him. They cut his face, SO
that it was covered with blood. and his,
dust and powder. Capt. Worden ex-
claimed that he was shot He could
not see, but the light that came ii.
made him think that the pilot house
was ruined, and he gave orders to
move off. He then felt his way down
through the floor into the lower part OF
his vessel, where his cabin was, and
gave the command over to Lieut..
Greene. That shot came near Destroy
ing the pilot house. Had we been a
and myself would surely have been
killed. AS it was we were saved only
by that doVe-tailed log standing in the
air. Had it fallen it would have
crushed us both. Had the boat been
less slow in moving the shot would
have struck the pilot house square,
and we were SO close that nothing could
have saved US. AS it was it hit the iron
logs at an angle of seventy-five de-
grees, and only broke them. Capt.
Worden was a terrible sight as he
moved off down into his cabin. The
blood was rushing from every part of
his face. His eyes were closed, and
his skin was blackened with the pow
der. His wounds, however, seemed to
have his least thought He did not
faint, and he kept his mind upon the
battle. He gave over the direction Of
the vessel to Lieut. Greene, and we had
to report to him every few minutes as
to how the fight was going on
SAVED THE MINNESOTA.
did the officers of the Merrimac
know that they had shot Worden at
this timer" I asked.
II think not" replied Lieut.. Howard
''for they moved off so shortly after
ward. My first orders from Lieut.
Greene were to move off and make for
Fortress Monroe. 1 did not know at
that time that he had been made chief
in command. 1 thought this order a
great mistake, for I knew that if we
left the Merrimac would come back
and destroy the Minnesota Instead
of obeying Lieut.. Greene I went down
to see Capt. Worden. I said to him,
Captain, they want me to move off to
Fortress Monroe. If we do this the
Merrimac will destroy the Minnesota.
1 don't want to do it
You must see Lieut.. Greene re-
piled Capt. Worden. He is now in
command, and you must get your or
derS from him.
81 then went to Lieut.. Greene. and
begged him not to leave the Mime
sofa. I showed him the danger of the
Merrtmac coming back and after a
while persuaded him to allow me to
take the Monitor to the Minnesota
This we did and anchored there. In
the meantime the Merrimae was slowly
moving off toward Norfolk, and her
share in the battle was over. During