The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-09

arms. while the en- nee o..ered. The, Merit
mac did not to ram the Monitor.
for that was at once seen TO be useless.
Jones TAT in a small hntchway at the after
lion every few minutes during tho action:
After an hour or so u Intellectual firing and
@H %Sns Is sSe t SS SSth to s dS;S' lie r Ssafs !H %isS
emphasis. that the same question had repeat.
eddy occurred e, him. Cant you try and hit
he ordered Lieut.. c. G. Slmms, the executive
officer, to 20 aft and, direct tho other division
timo was taken by mo on the occasion. nor, 10
IT, necessary in n JUS. account OF this battle;
Inc ,n laSts; however, are re- ,resn IN m nj pn iSc n nTfi
Vnto Journal | Kept, I. still with me.
A more definite object now thus being in
tho vessel opened fro In rapid succession upon
the Monitors ollot tower, ah ~ came IN Sight.
I'D not long after 1t was struck, and the Mon;
itor's movements for rnms moments appeared
wild. She then moved on, and, steering IN
the a%ir ;ynIrn Of, e. Mm% sTr1mas o FSn 'n noi t sGSsl
her With nm effective fire. From THAT position
she did not return To engage the M,errlmnc on
TINT dnr, and was as much defeated AS an army
that abundons the field OF battle and leaves 1t
In possession OF Tho enemy.
turret placed worden, the commander OF the
Mo, itcr, hOrs de combat. An American OH
Ger Is not 70 be told to LOOK, through tho page,
OF hi tory To SEQ how often the loss OF the guild
ms split has marred the results Of tho II ost
perfect plans and gallant efforts. Worden
may have had a skilfnlly planned object in
earlv in tho day. and he knew { . Monitor
could 90 wherever the Merr,mac wont VIII
question. and he may have been leisurcly
awaiting his opportunity, perhaps to see the
point" demand n surrender or crush her. Tho
last thing In the world he or any one could have
thought Of was what actually hapnenedEce
into his Dyes, and thus ended the battle.
always have felt a certain sympathy for
Lieut.. Greene. who was very young and mex
perienced at the time. and bad unexpectedly
and suddenly to take command. in battle. OF an
years after the war was over was walking the
streets OF Annapolif. Md, with an old friend,
attached then to the Naval Academy. when
Why did the Merrimao return e Norfolk the
badly We had to DO SOW did we do yon any
]inInry', ,ri he ,,s asked &c Tho " Isos., mat ma,o1 RI, iSi. the he
the CambsriSnd." replied. to which. after a
little hesitation. he remarked disconnectedly.
ton: We'll, drought the Monitor back as coon
az could" asked: DC understand you to
He hs.itated. and said: vel [ did the bes.
! could" The report Of Capt. Van Brunt, of
what have said. Had the Monitor returned
have men Toned It. and he never would have
entertained tho idea of al andoning his vessel.
as Official reports prove that he did.
But during the I elton Jones. fguratively
speakipg. was trembling In his boots. fearing
that Worden would concentrate his fire
rspidly around the Merrimac u-til returning TO
fire at the same point. III he does, said Jones.
prevent L and the knnckio viii Certainly Give
way" But the fire Of the Monitor was wild IN
the extreme. for only once in the two hours lid
her shot have any effect. The armor was In
denied. the backing broken and splintered just
near and a little above the starhoard broadside
OF action. Had those two l1-inch shot only been
fired at the water line tthe Monitor being close
started the k~nuck!e, and the additional leak
caused thereby would have been too much for
us. II Is a maxim AS old as the hills, that you
to breach them. but Worden did not appear TO
seek any particular part OF tho Merrimac.
When the Monitor retreated so far as 10 make
said. well. We have di posed of her: let us
ace what we can do with the Minnesota" That
tSe erisnd IA nn SIG cnnrr 20 .ae ,H Sss das Before Of the had dq rum
aground. and still remained fast on what is
known as the Seventeen Foot Knoll. or middle
pilots TO steer as near as possible to her. leav-
ing plenty of room to turn. but this Merrilnso
shoal. about q milo distant from her. and with
her tow toward tho broadside OF the Mime
sofa; There we remained for nearly an hour;
of tho bow finch rife with my own hands.
Alongside of the Minnesota. on the near side.
bS oard over U"s the s' side. WIN WHY was sas' ,ha, .e s,ea m on
kept In that exposed position to attract ntten-
s siSn' tho wh M,S Eas s :s's p SToa Dna On l s9e 9 Free side ae
fire NJ us. with the chance OF putting a shell
In our bow por:;. tho ereit OF which fore and
aft would have been terrible? | directed n shot
at the river steamer and blew her up. Under
the stern Of the Minnesota was a gunboet In
Of his rife was rapid and perfect. Every shot
he fred expected TO enter the bow port Of the
pOGa tho MinDeSOtl'a hrlndaiIp ns we'll bnpIip1
had been added to that! The single gun we
could bring to bear while aground hammered
age. but not worthy OF note here, as the firing
against wooden vessels is only incidental to the
aground for nearly an hour. immovable. and de-
liherately trying to destroy the Minnesota,
II standing in the witness box"
Cart. Van Brunt OF the Minnesota says In
his report: Seeing that the Monitor had re-
render me any assistance. that my deck.
were covered with dead and diving. and my
on deck to make arrangements to abandon the
vessel. when. to my surprise. | snw the rebel
And in fact. at last. with a rising tide, fortu-
nate for us. and with the cOntinuouse efforts OF the
engine. the Merrimac had ioated. For a mo.
ment or so. although completely worn out with
fatigue and hunger. we were reioiced. think.
ing we had the Federal fleet ''in a sling" but
1 Tns s pro "inrG had spread e " her Sut ta snd ner a. wee @eil
as twisted her knuckle. AMI she was leaking
r ipidly. Tho carpenter and the chief enRi-
neer same up Ia report. and 1t was found
necessary to return to Norfolk Immediately.
- runboat. was se,t ahead to have tn. dock
ready. and reluctantly We steered for the
Elizabeth River.
John Taylor Wood. grandson of ex-President
Taylor. came to me and said. 'Dave, let's
give the Monitor n parting shot" "All
right" I answered, and our divisions each
fired two shots. low. so as to ricochet. for the
Monitor was a ling way Off, and we Thought
one at least struck her; but the distance was
too great to be certain. To those last shots
the Monitor did not reply, and this ended the
days contest.
j have said nothing of tie movements OF
wooden vessels on either side. except where It
has been necessary In order to understand the
contest between the .Merrimac and Monitor.
sine this MARI alton is already long. ], fore
closing this subject, howe err. II will be in.
structive to touch, mo Q at length u non the
apprehension of the North az to the offensive
of the Me rlmac. and the forgetfulness
at that time OF what the Monitor was capable
of doing.
Tho Monitor was the browning glory Of
Ericsson's life, and was alone enough to have
made Dny man Ramona. Why WAS not mn