The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1902-03-06

ton Roads, March 8, 1862. The en-
counter and its results turned the naval
world upside down and decided who
would rule the wave on the American
coast, with many things besides.
Stories of the marvellous powers of
the Confederate ironclad ram had ter
rorized the north and built up the
hopes Of the south. She entered Hamp-
ton Roads on March 8, sank the thirty
gun wooden sloop Of war Cumberland,
burned the fifty gun frigate Congress
to the waters edge and then lay by for
favorable tides to- enable her to visit
similar destruction upon three more
wooden frigates, the Roanoke, st. Law
renee and Minnesota, anchored at hand
and already smarting under the fire of
her chance shots during the first days
battle.
While the flames ignited by the in
cendiary shells from the Merrimac
were devouring the noble frigate Con-
gress the evening Of March s the Mon
itor steamed up to Fortress Monroe, six
miles from the scene Of battle. Her
presence there was due to an accident,
and but for another accident she would
not have been in existence. Her pro-
jector. Ericsson, had shamed the FEEDER
al naval board into ordering the con-
struction of an ironclad upon the plan
he had submitted. Ericsson had gone
from New York to washington In the
fall Of 1851 under the belief that his
plan for an ironclad ship had been ap-
proved by the naval board. 1t was
false, but the deception and disappofnt-
ment caused the earnest hearted SWede
to burst forth in angry eloquence.
Gentlemen" said he, "after what /
have said consider 1t your duty to the
country to give me an order to build
the vessel before / leave this room"
The upsllot Of the little deception,
which passed for diplomacy, was an or
der to build the Monitor within 100
days. -sls =sstsrs' i4 49,
Ericsson's working models were
completed, and the machinists toiled
night and day from December to
March. Finally all was ready for
trial trip, and, with volunteer officers
and crew-for 1t was a life and death
venture from the start to sail in her
the Monitor left New York at midday
March 6. Her commander, Lieutenant
John L. Worden of the navy, was told
to proceed to Fortress Monroe for the
protection Of the Chesapeake bay and
the Potomac river from the raids of
the dreaded ironclad ram Merrimac.
After the Monitor had left New York
a dispatch reached there from Wash
ington ordering Worden to sail up the
Potomac to Washington, not touching
at Fortress Monroe. A tug gave chase
to deliver the message, but failed to
overtake the Monitor, and she passed
the mouth Of the Potomac, bringing up
at Fortress Monroe the evening of
March 8, the last few miles Of the sail
enlivened by the sound of the guns in
the fight between the Merrimac and
the wooden feet near Newport News.
Meanwhile the undelivered New
York dispatch had been forwarded to
the naval commandant off Fortress
Monroe. With that dispatch before
him, he also heard reports from the
front, where the sunken sloop Cumber-
land lay, swaying in the tide, the
flames of the burning Congress lit the
sky for miles, and the Roanoke, Mime
sofa and st. Lawrence were patching
the rents made in their wooden bulls
by the shells of the Merrimac, which
was only waiting for daylight to sally
forth from her mooring and finish the
feet at one blow.
The orders were imperative to send
the Monitor to Washington to defend
the capital, and from the way the
Merrimac had smashed things on her
first attempt it looked like hopeless
case for the little black thing which
resembled in comparison with the war
ships Of the day "tin can on a board'
to go out against the monster ram. In
the trip down from New York the Mon
itOr people had discovered the weak
points of their novel craft. The waves
had flooded her hold, deluged her fur
mace room and coal bunkers, checking
the fires and almost suffocating her
crew with gas. She carried but two
guns Her ports could only be closed
by cessation Of firing. One shell in the
gun chamber, the turret, would disable
her fighting power, and her shots must
be delivered at random or son the fy,'
when the revolving turret brought the
enemy opposite the gun port for an in
stant Besides, the cannon were q
new invention, and the powder charge
was limited to fifteen pounds for one
hundred and eighty pound shot. On
the other hand, the Merrimac had
made a record and proved inyulnera-
BILE.
But in spite OF all the naval chief,
who held the deciding card, concluded
to cut red tape and send the floating
experiment to the relief of the wooden
ships down the channel Already the
Merrimac was closing In upon the Min
nesota, which was helplessly aground
The pilot Of the ram had promised to
lay her within half mile of the Min
nesOta, and the commander and crew