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Dewey and Other Naval Commanders, a non-fiction book by Edward Sylvester Ellis |
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Chapter 23. The War For The Union |
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_ CHAPTER XXIII. THE WAR FOR THE UNION A New Era for the United States Navy--Opening of the Great Civil War--John Lorimer Worden--Battle Between the _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_--Death of Worden
When the great Civil War burst upon the country the National Government not only failed to comprehend the gigantic nature of the struggle, but was almost wholly unprepared for it. The navy consisted of 90 vessels, of which only 42 were in commission, while 21 were unfit for service, and of those in commission there were but 11, carrying 134 guns, that were in American waters. The remainder were scattered over the waters of the globe, such being the policy of President Buchanan's Secretary of the Navy, who, like the Secretary of War and other members of the Presidential Cabinet, were secessionists who did all they could to pave the way for the establishment of the Southern Confederacy. On the authority of Maclay, the total number of officers of all grades in the navy on August 1, 1861, was 1,457, in addition to whom an immense volunteer force was called for and 7,500 volunteer officers were enrolled before the close of the war. Three hundred and twenty-two officers resigned from the United States navy and entered that of the seceding States, of which 243 were officers of the line. The 7,600 sailors in the navy at the opening of the war was increased to 51,500 before the close of hostilities. In a work of this nature the difficulty is to select the most striking and interesting incidents from the scores that formed a part of the War for the Union. One of the many heroes who was brought into prominence was John Lorimer Worden, who was born in Dutchess County, N.Y., March 12, 1818. He entered the navy when sixteen years old and became a lieutenant in 1840. His services in the Mexican War were unimportant and he was a first lieutenant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard when the Civil War broke out. In the month of April, 1861, when a conflict was inevitable, the Government was anxious to send dispatches to Captain Adams commanding the fleet at Pensacola, who was waiting for orders to reinforce with two companies of artillery, that post being in danger of capture by the Confederates. The dispatches intrusted to Lieutenant Worden were orders for such reinforcements to be made. It was so delicate and dangerous a duty, since Worden was compelled to make his way through the South which was aflame with secession excitement, that he committed the dispatches to memory and then destroyed them. He applied to General Bragg in command of the Confederate forces in that neighborhood for permission to make a verbal communication from the Secretary of War to Captain Adams. Permission was given, and, going on board, Worden delivered his message like a boy reciting his piece at school. Captain Adams gave him a written acknowledgment of the receipt of the dispatches, adding that the orders of the Government would be carried out. Having thus cleverly eluded the suspicious watchfulness of the authorities, Lieutenant Worden started for home, but when near Montgomery, Ala., then the capital of the Confederacy, he was arrested, taken from the train and thrown into prison. This was on the order of General Bragg, who discovered how he had been outwitted, and the prompt reinforcement prevented the capture of Fort Pickens, for which Bragg had made every preparation. The post was held by the Unionists throughout the war and was the only one south of Mason and Dixon's line so held. Lieutenant Worden was kept a prisoner until the 13th of the following November, when, his health having broken down, he was exchanged and sent North. There he remained, slowly regaining his strength until March, 1862, when it fell to his lot to become a leading actor in one of the most famous naval engagements in all history. When war had fully begun the Union forces in charge of the Norfolk Navy Yard saw they were not strong enough to prevent its capture by the Confederates, who were arming for that purpose. They therefore set fire to the numerous and valuable shipping there. Among the vessels scuttled and sunk was the steam frigate _Merrimac_, at that time the finest vessel in the service. In truth, she went down so quickly that very little damage was done to her. The Confederates raised her, fastened a huge iron snout or prow at the front, cut down her deck and encased her with railroad iron, which sloped at an angle of forty-five degrees, and was smeared on the outside with grease and tallow. Her enormous weight made her draw more than twenty feet of water and when she was moving slowly through the bay or river her appearance suggested the mansard roof of a vast house. From what has been said it will be noted that the _Merrimac_ was a genuine ironclad, something which had never been heard of before. Regular news of the building of the _Merrimac_ (called the _Virginia_ by the Confederates) was telegraphed to Washington by friends of the Government. The authorities felt some uneasiness, but were far from suspecting the terrible power for destructiveness possessed by the monster. Captain Ericsson, the famous Swedish inventor, was constructing on Long Island an ironclad about one-fourth the size of the _Merrimac_, and he was urged to all possible speed in its completion. He kept his men busy night and day and had it finished a day or two before the completion of the _Merrimac_. The _Merrimac_ carried ten guns, which fired shells and had a crew of 300 men, under the command of Commodore Franklin Buchanan, a former officer of the United States navy. Late in the forenoon of March 8, 1862, a column of black smoke rising over the Norfolk Navy Yard gave notice that the _Merrimac_ had started out at last on her mission of destruction and death. As the enormous craft forged into sight it was seen that she was accompanied by three gunboats ready to give what help they could. Five Union vessels were awaiting her in Hampton Roads. They were the steam frigates _Minnesota_ and _Roanoke_ and the sailing frigates _Congress_, _Cumberland_ and _St. Lawrence_, all of which immediately cleared for action. Turning her frightful front toward the _Cumberland_, the _Merrimac_ swept down upon her in grim and awful majesty. The _Cumberland_ let fly with her terrific broadsides, which were powerful enough to sink the largest ship afloat, but the tons of metal hurled with inconceivable force skipped off the greased sides of the iron roof and scooted away for hundreds of yards through the startled air. The prodigious broadsides were launched again and again, but produced no more effect than so many paper wads from a popgun. The iron prow of the _Merrimac_ crashed through the wooden walls of the _Cumberland_ as if they were cardboard, and, while her crew were still heroically working their guns, the _Cumberland_ went down, with the red flag, meaning "no surrender," flying from her peak. Lieutenant Morris succeeded in saving himself, but 121 were lost out of the crew of 376. Having destroyed the _Cumberland_, the _Merrimac_ now made for the _Congress_, which had been vainly pelting her with her broadsides. The _Congress_ was aground and so completely at the mercy of the _Merrimac_, which raked her fore and aft, that every man would have been killed had not the sign of surrender been displayed. As it was, her commander and 100 of the crew were slain by the irresistible fire of the tremendous ironclad. By this time the fearful spring afternoon was drawing to a close and the _Merrimac_ labored heavily back to Sewall's Point, intending to return on the morrow and continue her work of destruction. The news of what the _Merrimac_ had done was telegraphed throughout the South and North. In the former it caused wild rejoicing and raised hope that before the resistless might of the new ironclad the North would be compelled to make terms and save her leading seacoast cities from annihilation by acknowledging the Southern Confederacy. The national authorities were thrown into consternation. At a special meeting of the President's Cabinet Secretary of War Stanton expressed his belief that the _Merrimac_ would appear in front of Washington and compel the authorities to choose between surrender and destruction, and that the principal seaports would be laid under contribution. But at that very time the hastily completed _Monitor_ was speeding southward under the command of Lieutenant Worden, who had risen from a sick bed to assume the duty which no one else was willing to undertake. Her crew numbered 16 officers and 42 men, with Lieutenant S. Dana Green as executive officer. Her voyage to Hampton Roads was difficult and of the most trying nature to the officers and crew, who were nearly smothered by gas. The boat would have foundered had not the weather been unusually favorable, but she reached Hampton Roads on the night of March 8 and took a position beside the _Minnesota_, ready and eager for the terrific fray of the morrow. The _Monitor_ carried two 11-inch Dahlgren guns and fired solid shot. When the _Merrimac_ steamed back the _Monitor_ moved out from her position and boldly advanced to meet her. The huge monster and smaller craft, whose appearance suggested the apt comparison of a cheese box on a raft, silently drew near each other until within a hundred yards, when the smaller opened with a shot to which the larger replied. The battle was now between two ironclads. If the shots of the _Monitor_ glanced harmlessly off of the _Merrimac_ those of the latter were equally ineffective against the _Monitor_. The latter had the advantage of being so much smaller that many of the shells of the _Merrimac_ missed her altogether. Those which impinged against the pilot house or turret did no harm, while the lesser boat was able to dart here and there at will, dodging the _Merrimac_ and ramming her when she chose, though such tactics accomplished nothing. All attempts to run down the _Monitor_ were vain. The novel battle continued for four hours, when the _Merrimac_, unable to defeat her nimble antagonist, steamed back to Norfolk and the strange contest--the first between ironclads--was over. The _Monitor_ had proven her inestimable value and was held in reserve by the Government for future emergencies. But the first battle between the two proved the last. Some months later, when the Union troops advanced upon Norfolk, the _Merrimac_ was blown up to prevent her falling into the hands of the Federals, while at the close of the year the _Monitor_ foundered in a gale off Cape Hatteras. This fight marked an era in the history of naval warfare. The days of wooden vessels were numbered. All nations saw that their warships to be effective must be ironclad, and the reader does not need to be reminded that such is the fact to-day respecting the navy of every civilized nation. During this memorable fight a shell from the _Merrimac_ lifted the iron plate of the pilot house of the _Monitor_ and disabled Lieutenant Worden by driving the fragments into his face, while he was peering out of the peep-hole. He was compelled to give way to Lieutenant Green, who handled the little ironclad throughout the remainder of the fight. Lieutenant Worden never fully recovered from the injuries received in his fight with the _Merrimac_. As soon as he was able to take an active command he asked the privilege of doing so. In charge of the _Montauk_, of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, he destroyed, while under a heavy fire, the Confederate steamer _Nashville_ and participated in the unsuccessful attack upon Charleston. He received the thanks of Congress and was promoted to be a commander for his services with the _Monitor_. From 1870 to 1874 he was superintendent of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, becoming commodore in 1868, rear admiral in 1872 and was retired in 1886. It was said that he never was without pain from the injuries received in the battle with the _Merrimac_ until his death, October 18, 1897. _ |
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