The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-31
MERRIMAC AND MONITOR
A WOMAN VETERAN WHO SAW THE
GREAT FIGHT DESCRIBES TT.
One Day of Defeat and Another of
victory-The View from the
Roof of the Hospital.
new work Commercial ADVERTISED.

New York Commercial Advertiser.
IT saw the fight between the Merrimac
and the Monitor says the woman veteran
with pardonable pride. THE doctor had
charge of the Hygeia Hospital at Fortress
Monroe, the old Hygeia Hotel and the first
general hospital of the war. We were sit
ting at dinner-you can write it lunch. If
you prefer-when an orderly came rushing
in with the news that the Merrimac had
been sighted We had been expecting her;
Fort Monroe had been warned; Washington
had been warned that she was ready, but
nothing had been done, and the announce
ment that she was really coming threw US
all into great excitement.
mo, it was not fear. / was not afraid,
though 1 had a baby three months old, and
two other little children with me, and the
Hygeia stood well out in front of the fort,
entirely exposed. 1t was interest rather
than fear that we felt; interest and an in
tense excitement. We got our field glasses
and rushed for the roof and there, sure
enough, off up toward the Elizabeth river,
and making straight for the Cumberland
and the Congress, which were of Newport
News. was the ugly black monster. That
was what it looked like to our eyes, ac-
customed as they were to the more shapely
outlines of the ships of conventional pat
tern. 1t was three miles or more away, but
with our glasses we could see everything
distinctly
1--WE saw the Cumberland rammed and
sunk, and the Congress set on fire. Then
indeed, our hearts sank, too, for our other
big ship, the Minnesota, was aground and
seemed doomed to follow. Imagine our re-
lief, then, when, instead Of attacking her at
once, as we expected the Merrimac drew
off back toward Norfolk. Some said be-
cause OF low tide, others that she wanted
to give the Norfolk excursionists chance
to come down next day and witness her
triumph
along in the afternoon the killed. and
wounded began to come in. Most OF them
were Were Killed the wounded , had gone down
out IN rows in our dead house. 1t was my
baptism of fire, SO to speak-the first time
l had seen the grim effects of shot and
shell. The work of the solid shot was
very neat. A head or a limb would be
taken off ceanly, leaving a smooth, al
very little blood. The wounds made by the
shell were more unsightly, rending and
tearing and mutilating their victims in
horrible ways. Yet the feeling that one had
in viewing them was neither horror nor
pity; it was rather curiosity, the spectacular
curiosity of the looker-on.
TERRIFIED POPULACE.
For the living. however, that a
noncombatants. mostly women and chill
dren, had come swarming in from the adj
jacent country and from the batteries
around Newport News. Many of them
had left everything behind them in their
fight, and 1 remember spending part of
the evening giving out all the clothing l
could spare. Then we women had to pack
for the commandment of the fort had given
orders that all women and children must
leave the next day. Nobody thought of
patients at the time, mostly sick, not
wounded men-fever, malaria, measles and
that sort of thing. All through the war
we had any number of cases of measles.
Il have said nobody could sleep. The
children did. of course, and had lain down
to rest by my sleeping baby when the doc
tor came in with the news that the Mont
tor had arrived. We're saved he said
for they all feel confident in the fort that
she can whip the Merrimac. Wasn't it
dramatic, though, that arrival in the
darkness, and just in the moment of the
direst need? That has always seemed to
me one of the most picturesque moments
in history. Late as it was, the news had
got around, and the relief was immediate.
again into security. At such moment ia as
that mass of people are as one-all hearts
beat together.
into something like tranquility on the
strength OF it when one of those old Incl
report and a fearful crash right in our
hospital. Everybody knew, of course, what
it meant; shall had burst near US. And
everybody WAS I'D again at once, with the
single thought, the Merrimac had come
back. The widest panic prevailed The
wardmasters lost their heads and the pa
tients came tumbling down out of the wards
to the doctors room, imploring him to save
them. He had to restore order at the point
of his pistol. He got his patients back to
their beds by promising them that every one
of them should be moved to place of
safety before his wife and children left the
place 1t wasn't the Merrimac, however,
but transport ship which had been fired
during the engagement Of the day, ard had
been burning quietly till the flames reached
from one of them had come flying into our
hospital and into my kitchen, which fortu-
deal of crockery was smashed. and my pots
and kettles were flung helter-skelter, but
nobody was hurt.
THE LITTLE MONITOR.
"Well the next morning we went up on
our roof with very different feelings. We
weren't jubilant exactly, they said the
excursionists from Norfolk were, who came
down with the Merrimac, but we felt fairly
confident. Though when the little Mon
itor steamed out into view from under the
wing of the Minnesota, where she had taken
up her position during the night, some of
our crowd laughed derisively. she looked
such a pigmy compared with the Merrimac.
When the latter caught sight of her she
seemed to recoil like animal surprised
by strange prey. Then she bore right down
upon her and the fight began. It was a
grand sight. what we could see of it. Much
of the time dense clouds of smoke
hung heavily about the scene, OBJ
securing il from our view. But every
now and then the smoke would
lift and we would see them, squared off like
two prize fighters, and pounding away at
each other or so close that their sides
seemed to touch. ! have tried to recall
since how it sounded The noise even at
our distance something over three miles,
must have been great. but can't remember
having heard anything of it, though I recall
distinctly the voices of the people convers-
ing about me. The roof was crowded. of
course a lot of friends and acquaint-
ances men ard women had Joined us on our
nojnt of vantage 1t was a fiat or nearly
f1at roof that afforded plenty of room. It
was fearfully hot and the young officers re-
menbered to be gallant and hold umbrellas
over us I remember one pretty silly young
girl, with a foolish lisp, who was flirting
with a handsome young lieutenant. Every
bodv called her by her mothers pet name
which was Sweetness.
Now Miss Sweetness. he said. of
course you hope the Monitor will win, don't
why no. I don't she lisped back at
him. 4 don't care which wins. Why should
+? I'm not particularly interested in any
body on either ship
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