The Plot to Capture MONITOR
11 APRIL 1862
THE PLOT TO CAPTURE MONITOR
The historic battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March 1862 between CSS VIRGINIA (the ex-USS MERRIMACK) and USS MONITOR ended in a draw. Plate iron had proven its value. In fact, MONITOR had been little more than dented in the fight; VIRGINIA’s explosive shells, effective against wooden ships, had proven worthless against an ironclad. VIRGINIA had been more gravely injured, but her damage had come in her efforts against the Union blockading ships the previous day–not against MONITOR.
VIRGINIA’s skipper, CAPT Josiah Tattnall, had spent her yard period planning his next attack. Correctly recognizing he would have difficulty pummeling MONITOR, he concocted an elaborate plan to capture his rival instead. He would occupy MONITOR’s attention forward while additional Confederate ships converged from her blind side. Three groups of boarders would then swarm across MONITOR’s deck. One group would secure her from escape with a hawser, then drive wooden wedges into the track of her rotating turret. A second group would throw canvas across her smokestack and obstruct the pilot’s viewport. The last section would pitch flaming bottles of turpentine through her ventilation ducts, forcing her crew to the weather deck.
The opportunity to try Tattnall’s plan came just after dawn this day, when VIRGINIA and the wooden rebel gunboats PATRICK HENRY, JAMESTOWN, TEASER, BEAUFORT, and RALEIGH cleared the Elizabeth River. Upon seeing this formidable squadron sally forth, the plentiful commercial ships in the Roads scattered like so many frightened seabirds. MONITOR and her supporting Union flotilla maintained their station at the mouth of Hampton Roads and watched. Back and forth VIRGINIA steamed, tempting MONITOR to engage, but the rebel’s 23-foot draft confined her to the channel. MONITOR, for her part, lay in shoal water under the protection of Fort Monroe’s heavy guns.
Unable to entice MONITOR, JAMESTOWN’s skipper, CDR Joseph N. Barney, incited matters further by capturing two brigs and a schooner under Union contract that had been slow to flee the rebel’s advance. These he tauntingly towed around the Roads with their American ensigns turned upside down or dragging in the water. For the rest of the morning, however, the ironclads simply huffed and puffed from a distance, each parading in vain. MONITOR never engaged, nor did she have to. VIRGINIA’s deep draft kept the two at arm’s length, and any attempt by her to break past Fort Monroe into the Chesapeake would have been suicidal. After several frustrating hours Tattnall fired three shots to leeward in disgust and chugged back to the dock.
Watch for more “Today in Naval History” 15 APR 23
CAPT James Bloom, Ret.
Davis, William C. Duel Between the First Ironclads. Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NY, pp. 138-55, 1975.
Scharf, J. Thomas. History of the Confederate States Navy. Gramercy Books, New York, NY, pp. 212-16, 1996.
Sears, Stephen W. “Surrender to Caution.” Naval History, Vol 8 (1), pp. 32-39, January/February 1994.
ADDITIONAL NOTES: Tattnall used his yard period in March to address some additional shortcomings of VIRGINIA’s design and construction. Extra armor was added at the knee where her casemate rose from the deck and movable iron shutters were added to protect her previously open gunports. Her percussion shell ammunition was replaced with steel-tipped bolts of solid iron. When she left the repair dock in April, she was truly a more formidable opponent. Tattnall’s enthusiasm to capture MONITOR is reflected in one of the more colorful quotes of the war. “I will take her!” he said, “I will take her if Hell’s on the other side of her!”
The three vessels captured by Jamestown were Marcus, Saboah, and Catharine T. Dix, the former two laden with hay and the last empty. Thirteen crewmen aboard these ships were held as prisoners though it was later discovered five were native Virginians. Disrespecting the American ensign, as was done, was particularly noisome, as it was observed by two foreign navies. The British corvette HMS Rinaldo and the French Navy warships Gassendi and Catinet were standing off Sewell’s Point this morning, plainly viewing the proceedings.
USS MONITOR vs, CSS VIRGINIA, 9 March 1862