Evening star., 1916-03-26
|ENC|NEER Of MERR|MAC
IS DEAD IN BALTIMORE
Col. H. Ashton Ramsay Was One
of Few Survivors of Memorable
Battle.


BALTIMORE, March 25.-Col. H
Ashton Ramsay, chief engineer of the
famous Confederate ironclad Merrimac
died this morning at his apartments in
the St Paul. Col. Ramsay was eighty
one wears old. Death was due to pneu-
nonia. from which he had suffered less
than week.
Surviving him are his widow. Mrs.
Julia W. Ramsay. and his children, Ar
thur NJ. Ramsay of Texas, H. A. Ram
saw of Memphis, Tenn; Mrs. J. T. G.
Stanler and Mrs Bernard Peyton of
Charles Town. w. Va. Funeral services
viii he held here tomorrow morning
and the remains taken to Norfolk, Va,
for interment.
Col. Ramsay was one of the few sur
vivors of the memorable battle between
the Monitor and the Merrimac. About
three months ago he gave the following
account of that historic engagement:
in the first days fighting / was
ordered by Capt. Buchanan to stand
near the entrance to the ships hold,
In my capacity as chief engineer, l
was responsible for the regulation of
the ships power In case the signal
wires leading to the engine room were
cut I was supposed to stand near. take
the captains orders and transmit them
by word of mouth.
Three Were Useless.
1T is a matter of history that at the
end of this days fighting the United
states ship Cumberland had been
rammed and sank, the United States
ship Congress had been burned and
the United States ship Minnesota had
been pursued into shallow water and
was aground. II was in the attack on
the Congress that Capt. Buchanan WAS
wounded.
.'As he was being taken below by his
men he ordered that hot shot be hurled
We could not get close to the Mime
sofa which was aground. on account
of the water we drew. We then with
drew from the scene for the night.
THE next day the Merrimac steamed
down near the Minnesota. which was
aground between Old Point and New
port News. to engage in battle again.
We did not see the Monitor at first. as
that little ship was hiding in the protec-
tjou of and under the side of the huge
hulk of the Minnesota In maneuvering
to reach the latter ship we went aground.
The Monitor then opened upon us. We
were at disadvantage, as We could not
bring any guns to bear upon the enemy.
The Monitor nd0 TAKEN up d pOsitlOH just
out of range of any Of our guns and was
sending shells all about the Merrimac.
Floated the Ship.
when things were getting just a
little bit too hot for US we managed
TO float our ship by extraordinary exer-
tions in the engine room. A shell from
one of the eleven-inch guns of the Mon
itor struck the Merrimac on what we
called the knuckle. This was near the
junction of the iron plate and the
" OGDEN part of the ship. Only dent
was made in the iron, but the concus-
sion was so great that a huge splinter
WAS torn from the inside.
Lieut.. Catesby Jones was now acting
captain on the ship. as Capt. Buchanan
had been taken ashore the previous
night He ordered me to send the ship
ahead and we ranmed the Monitor
hitting her glancing blow. A shot
iron logs which protected Capt. Wor-
den and his assistant on the Monitor.
Capt Worden was blinded. This was
the first time that a shot fred by the
Merrimac had taken effect.
The Monitor then steamed away IN
the direction of Old Point evidently at
tempting 10 draw the Merrimac under
the guns of the fort. We followed a
short distance and then steamed back
to Norfolk.
capt Van Brunt of the Minnesota.
in his report to the Navy Department.
complained that the Monitor escaped
to old Point and left his ship at the
mercy Of the Confederates."