The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-30
TIE MONITOR POSSIBLE
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'ho Shore lin" find. wa In Washing.
q arranging fbr tho transportation n
, riiel states mails lmi sron Wash.
b.. ~ ~ and Boston over tho now lina hat
U. Iocu constructed by him and his friends
from s'unin Rton 10 New London, whom
.1ptaned 10 call on his old friend Gideon
ua II Hartford, then Secretary - the
'I.v
Secretary wollcs conndentlally told hls
fr.euI n the alarm felt I'm President Lin.
,.na cabinet over tho prospects that tho
IrpnplAd Merrimac. then building, would
r.av havoc with tho Northern navy. Mr..
bushnell, among other things, was n ship
carpenter and builder, and when he returned
T., New Haven thought for several wceks
over What Secretary welles had told him.
Meanwhile the Federal Government In
the fail Of '0I had become interested In tho
subject Of ironclads and despite the adj
verse report Of the board ~ naval officers
appointed by Congress to look into the
tbs Federal Legislators instructed
the board to call for bids for the construo-
ton 81 ironolads. This Interested Mr.. I.
Bushnell and he drew plans for the Galena.
before he had finished his plans no
decided to get some expert opinion on the
of ths carrying capacity of his !
proposed warship.
He took a train early one morning for
York and looked up John Ericsson,
the inventor. Unceremoniously and with
out any Introductory palayer Bushnell
explained 10 the inventor what he wanted
TO know and after sons discussion Mr..
asked him to give him twenty
four hours to answer his questions.
Next morning Mr.. Bushnell was waiting
D -. - ..- i =. -.
his Office. But Mr.. Ericsson was ready for
and gave hin the desired information. T
Then the talk drifted on to the war until at
the inventor, rather pleased with the
'rankness of his new client, asked him il he
would care to see a model that had lain
Tor some years dusty and forgotten in his
ofce, lie brought out the model of the
No sooner had Mr.. Bushnell become famil-
ar with the mode than he asked to borrow
I land the story goes that instead Of rcturn-
ng TO New Haven that night ne took the
train to Hartford and was at Secretary
home there, waiting for that gen.
before the latter had breakfasted
he following morning.
Mr.. Bushnell fastened from there TO
and for three days haunte d
government officials, President Lincoln
md members of the Naval Board, Admirals
smith and Paulding and Capt. Davis, ell of
\ HON he astonished by declaring that the
country was safe because of that little
model.
The story told afterward by Mr.. Bush
hell was that the two Admirals favored his
but hal his opponent was Capt. Davis,
md that the Naval Board decided that a
unanimous vote only would carry the thing
Then he decided to play a trump card
nd get Ericsson himself to go before the
board with the model. But Ericsson was
rot on good terms with the Government
md hal vowed never to step a foot in Wash
contract. This state of affairs had been
brought about by the treatment the in
,entor had received at the hands of the
love eminent, which had accredited him
With being responsible for the explosion Of
he Peacemaker, when in reality the gun
hatdid the damage was a cheap substitute of
S~ricsson' g model. Government payments
which the courts had decided belonged I
Q the inventor were still being held up by !
ne politicians, in Washington when Bush i
lis friend TO return with him and fight out =
he battle for the Monitor. I
mat night was spent by the two men in 7
consultation, and on the following 6
'ay Ericsson was in Washington. In short I
Ter his model was accepted and the con-
ract was given for the work. Before the T
mai arrangements were made the Govern {
nent required two bondsmen to insure that T
he $275 900 appropriated for the boat should {
lot b wasted in case the boat failed Of It's r
,lrposs. Daniel Drew, a banker Of New :
ork, and N. D.. Sperry, the present Con- t
.rassman from this district, an intimate /
riend Of Mr.. Bushnell, signed the bond. {
The rest of the story ia ancient history. j
Mr.. Bushnell came back to New Haven, r
'uiIt the Galena and put her into active '
the following spring, not before, +
l%owever,. Mr.. Ericsson had become the (
Of the hour. r
The monument which commentaries the {
played by the Connecticut shipbuilder !
las been erected in Monitor Park. 1t g
lands about eighteen feet high and in c
.esign represents a bronze eagle standing
pom a bronze globe bearing the United
tates arms and supported by four dol
Inns. This rests upon the granite cap 7
I the stonework, on the die OF which is a =
rome has relief Of Bushnell and Ericsson, 1
with an inscription and a profile t
representation Of the Monitor The in q
reads: ,
This memorializes the con- ,
truction of the Monitor through the COM i,
med efforts of Ericsson, the inventor, and |
I Cornelius Scranton Bushnell, a citizen I
New Haven. through whose financial I
Sslstance and persistent personal faith, {
nergy and influence this famous engine of