Concerning the Navies in this War

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Official Records of the Confederate Navy
Prelude to the Hampton Roads Battles - October 17, 1861 to March 7, 1862

Letter from Lieutenant Minor, C.S. Navy, to Lieutenant Jones, C.S. Navy, commanding Jamestown battery, referring to the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimack) and the arrival from England of Munitions of war.

BUREAU ORDNANCE AND HYDROGRAPHY,

September 20, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: Brooke and I have read your letter with suggestions for the armament of the Merrimack, and as you say heavy guns are to be mounted, but not one of X-inch but rather of IX-inch, the heaviest to be cast of this caliber, say 14,000 pounds. Buchanan will probably be her captain, and I hope you will be her first lieutenant. I am overwhelmed with duty, some of it, too, not mine, and as rifled guns and projectiles are all the go, I am kept hard at work preparing them for service. A steamer from England has come into Savannah with powder (thank God!), blankets, and munitions of war. North, who is in England, had a hand in it, I believe. I hope this supply will not make the people in power here relax their efforts to make a supply for ourselves. I am glad to say that our prospects for a plenty of this munition are improving, and on yesterday I had the pleasure of obtaining a quantity of saltpeter and sulphur for a mill at Raleigh. Good news, is it not? and I confess that my breath comes easier now than it did when our prospects were so blue. Officers are being sent off to New Orleans for defenses there, and it seems to be the opinion now that Fernandina will soon be attacked.

I send eight tackles for Whittle at Spratley's farm, which please have forwarded to him. How shall I send other and heavier things to him? I did not mean to rifle an old 32, but to ask the charge for a new gun of 33 hundredweight just made. How much? Three and a half pounds?

Excuse haste. Very truly, yours, R. D. MINOR.

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"NAVAL HOSPITAL, NORFOLK, VA., March 11, 1862.

"Many thanks, my dear Brooke, for your very kind letter, which reached me by to day's mail.

"You richly deserve the gratitude and thanks of the Confederacy for the plan of the now celebrated Virginia, and I only wish that you could have been with us to have witnessed the successful operations of this new engine of naval warfare, fostered by your care and watched over by your inventive mind.

"It was a great victory, though the odds were nearly seven to one against us in guns and in numbers. But the IRON and the HEAVY GUNS did the work, handled by such men as glorious old Buchanan, and with such officers and men as we had. The crash into the Cumberland was terrible in its effect, though hardly felt by us, and in thirty minutes after the first gun was fired by us she was at the bottom, with the top-sail yards just clear of the water.

"The Congress gave us her guns as we passed, but though the shot fell like hailstones on our roof, we passed on, and settled the Cumberland in short style. By this time our dear old beauty was in shoal water with her head up stream, and "twas fully twenty minutes before we could turn her to fire well and rapidly on the Congress--meanwhile receiving the fire of the battery on the Point, though I cannot vouch for this exactly, for in such a row 'twas hard to say where in thunder all the licks came from.

"Very soon the Congress ran ashore--purposely, I supposed, to save herself from such a fate as the Cumberland--and we had not given her many shots before she hauled down the Stars and Stripes and soon afterwards hoisted the white flag at her peak.

"Parker and Alexander, in the Beaufort and Raleigh, were ordered to go to her, send her men on shore, bring the officers on board, and burn the ship; but on going alongside, Pendergrast (Austin) surrendered the ship to Parker, and told him that he had too many wounded to burn the ship. Billy told him to have the wounded removed at once; and while the Raleigh and Beaufort were at this humane work the Yankees on shore opened fire on them, killing some of their own men, among them a lieutenant.

"Parker and Alexander then left her with some twenty or thirty prisoners, the fire from shore being too hot; and as Alexander backed out in the Raleigh he was fired at from the ports of the Congress, though she had surrendered to us. A dastardly, cowardly act! Buchanan not getting Parker's report, and the frigate not being burnt, he accepted my volunteered services to burn her; and, taking eight men and our only remaining boat, I pulled for her, with Webb in the gallant little Teazer steaming up soon afterwards to cover me. In the meantime the Patrick Henry, Jamestown, and Teazer had come splendidly into action just about the time or a little before the Congress struck, and when I left the old beauty they were doing grand work with their guns on the Minnesota and shore batteries.

"I did not think the Yankees on shore would fire at me on my errand to the Congress, but when in about two hundred and fifty yards of her they opened on me from the shore with muskets and artillery; and the way the balls danced around my little boat and crew was lively beyond all measure. Soon two of my men were knocked over, and, while cheering them on I got a clip through the side which keeled me up for a second or two; but I was soon on board the Teazer, Webb having very bravely come to my protection. Old Buch., seeing what the scoundrels were doing, made our recall, and deliberately backing the Virginia up stream poured gun after gun, hot shot and incendiary shells into her stern and quarter, setting her on fire; but while doing this he was knocked over by a minnie ball through his left thigh, and the medicos laid us together in the cabin, while brave, cool, determined old Jones fought the action out in his quiet way, giving them thunder all the time.

"As you supposed, the Minnesota and Roanoke came to the assistance of the two sailing frigates, but the former got aground and the latter ran--actually turned tail, and, as the sailors say, 'pulled foot' for Old Point. The St. Lawrence got a dose and cleared out, leaving the Minnesota alone in her sad plight, hard and fast aground, with some tugs trying to lighten her, and taking the fire from our squadron, to which she replied as well as she could, generally from her forward pivot gun. She being aground, and night coming on, of course Jones could not carry on the fight, and after a hard night of it the Commodore and I were landed early on Sunday morning at Seawell's Point, and Jones took the ship into action that day, fighting her like a bold seaman, as he is. He must tell you of his tussle with the Eric, a very devil of an iron battery, for he has just come in and said he had a letter from you. God bless old Buchanan for a true-hearted patriot and bold, dashing sailor, as brave as brave can be; but he exposed himself entirely too much, and was struck by a musket or minnie ball while on the upper deck, I believe, for I was under the doctor's hands then, and could not be with him at the time. I am writing in bed, and by 'fits and starts,' so excuse all inaccuracies and want of details, of which I will tell you when we meet.

"Mrs. Minor is with me, and I am decidedly more comfortable, though my wound is a severe but not dangerous one. The ball struck a rib and glanced, coming out over the heart. It knocked me down for a second or so, but I got up and cheered my men, some of whom were panic-stricken by the shower of balls, though they rallied when I got them to the Teazer.

"Send the signal book! When I can be moved the doctors will send me to Richmond, where a 'spell' of a few weeks will put me on my pins again. Make my kind regards to Mrs. Brooke; and with the hope that you are in better health,

"I am ever your friend,

"R. D. MINOR.

"Remember me to Volcke, to McCorkle, and Upshur. The Commodore had the signal 'Sink before Surrender' arranged before the action. Tell this to Mallory, for I hardly think that old Buch. will ever do so.


"N. B.--There will doubtless be an attempt made to transfer the great credit of planning the Virginia to other hands than your own. So look out for them, for to you it belongs, and the Secretary should say so in communicating his report of the victory to Congress.

"By no means must any captain or commodore or even flag-officer be put over Jones. In old Buch.'s sickness from his wound Jones must command the ship."

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In the Charleston Mercury of March 19, 1862, the following extract from a private letter written by Constructor Porter was published:

"I received but little encouragement from any one while the Virginia was progressing. Hundreds, I may say thousands, asserted she would never float. Some said she would turn bottom side up; others said the crew would suffocate; and the most wise said the concussion and report from the guns would deafen the men. Some said she would not steer; and public opinion generally about here said she would never come out of the dock. You have no idea what I have suffered in mind since I commenced her, but I knew what I was about, and I persevered. Some of her inboard arrangements are of the most intricate character, and have caused me many sleepless nights in making them, but all have turned out right, and thanks are due to a kind Providence whose blessings on my efforts I have many times invoked. I must say I was astonished at the success of the Virginia. She destroyed the Cumberland in fifteen minutes, and in thirty more the Congress was captured. The Minnesota would have shared the same fate, but she got aground, and the Virginia could not get at her."

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In the Whig of March 22, appeared the following letter:

"THE VIRGINIA.

"RICHMOND, March 18, 1862.

"To the Editor of the Whig:

"As the brilliant success of the Virginia has attracted the attention of all the country, and is destined to cast much glory on our infant navy, it may be of general interest to publish some account of the origin of this magnificent ship.

"On the 23d of June a board consisting of W. P. Williamson, chief engineer; John M. Brooke, lieutenant; and John L. Porter, naval constructor met in Richmond by order of the Secretary of the Navy to determine a plan for the construction of an iron-clad vessel. The Secretary of the Navy was himself present at the meeting of the board. After full consultation a plan proposed by Lieutenant John M. Brooke was adopted, and received the full approval of the Secretary of the Navy.

"The plan contemplated the construction of a light-draft vessel, but the means at our command being limited, many reasons induced them to take the Merrimac and alter her according to the plan adopted. Her boilers were good, and her engines only partially destroyed, and could be repaired in less time than would be required to construct an engine for a new vessel of light draft. It was found that the plan of Lieutenant Brooke could easily be applied to the Merrimac, and, in fact, no other plan could have made the Merrimac an effective ship. Her guns now command every point of the horizon.

"A report was made up by the above-named officers to the Secretary of the Navy on the 25th of June, in accordance with these facts, and the Secretary ordered the work to commence forthwith.

"Experiments to determine the mode of applying the armor and to fix the dimensions of its parts were conducted by Lieutenant Brooke.

"From the moment that the plan was adopted the Secretary of the Navy urged the work forward with all the means at the command of the government and without regard to expense; and from this day to the day of the Virginia's egress from the dock there were from one thousand to fifteen hundred men employed on her.

"The four rifled cannon used so effectively on the Virginia were of a plan entirely new, designed by Lieutenant Brooke.

"Most of the foregoing facts came to my knowledge long before the completion of the ship; others I have obtained recently from reliable sources.

"I am a private citizen, wholly unconnected with the Confederate or State government, but think that the public ought to know all these particulars, which reflect so much credit on the Secretary of the Navy and his officers.

"JUSTICE."

"Justice" was in error in using the word "board." As will be seen, in the Secretary's report to the House of Representatives of hte Confederate States, "The Department ordered Chief Engineer Williamson and Constructor Porter from the navy yard at Norfolk to Richmond for consultation on the same subject generally [Lieutenant Brooke's design, approved by the Department], and to aid in the work."


The Secretary himself took part in the consultations, and directed us to put in writing the conclusions arrived at. Had we constituted a board it would so have appeared on the face of the report. Constructor Porter adopted the word "board" in his reply to "Justice, " and thereafter used it as the best suited to his purpose.

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A reply elicited by this article appeared in the Examiner of April 3d:

"THE VIRGINIA.

"GOSPORT NAVY-YARD, March 29, 1862.

"To the Editor of the Examiner:

"Having seen an article in the Richmond Enquirer, and one also in the Whig, claiming the plan of the iron-clad ship Virginia for Lieutenant John M. Brooke, of the navy, thereby doing myself and Engineer Williamson the greatest injustice, I feel called upon to make a statement of facts in the case, for the further information of the reading public, in the history of this ship.

"In June last Lieutenant Brooke made an attempt to get up a floating battery at the Navy Department. The Secretary sent to this yard for the master ship-carpenter to come up and assist him. After trying for a week he failed to produce anything, and the master-carpenter returned to his duties at the yard. Secretary Mallory then sent for me to come to Richmond, at which time I carried up the model of an iron-clad floating battery, with the shield of the present Virginia on it, and before I ever saw Lieutenant Brooke. This model may now be seen at the Navy Department.

"The Secretary then ordered a board, composed of Engineer Williamson, Lieutenant Brooke, and myself, to examine and report upon some plan for a floating iron-clad battery [consult Secretary's Report]. 'Justice,' in his communication to the Whig says: 'After full consultation a plan proposed by Lieutenant John M. Brooke was adopted, and received the approval of the Secretary of the Navy; that it was found the plan of Lieutenant Brooke could easily be applied to the Merrimac, and, in fact, no other plan could have made the Merrimac an effective ship, and that a report was made to the Secretary of the Navy in accordance with these facts.'

"Now, I would only ask a careful reading of this report, and see how far it agrees with the statement of 'Justice.'

"Now, I would ask what becomes of the statement of 'Justice'? And I would also ask any one at all acquainted with the cir****tances how Lieutenant Brooke could have had anything to do with this report further than signing his name to it. What did he know about the condition of the Merrimac or her engines, or whether there was enough of her left to make a floating battery out of or not; or anything about what it would cost, or anything else about her? For he had not even seen her, and knew nothing of her condition really.

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"'NAVY DEPARTMENT, Richmond, June 25, 1861.

"''SIR:

"'In obedience to your order, we have carefully examined and considered the various plans and propositions for constructing a shot-proof steam battery, and respectfully report that, in our opinion, the steam frigate Merrimac, which is in such condition fromthe effects of fire as to be useless for any other purpose without incurring a very heavy expense in her rebuilding, can be made an efficient vessel of that character, mounting ten heavy guns--two pivot and eight side guns of her original battery; and, from the further consideration that we cannot procure a suitable engine and boilers for any other vessel without building them, which would occupy too much time, it would appearthat this is our only chance to get a suitable vessel in a short time.

"'The bottom of the hull, boilers, and heavy and costly parts of the engine being but little injured, reduce the cost of construction to about one-third of the amount which would be required to construct such a vessel anew.

"'We cannot, without further examination, make an accurate estimate of the cost of the proposed work, but think it will be about one hundred and ten thousand dollars, the most of which will be for labor, the materials being nearly all on hand in the yard, except the iron plating to cover the shield.

"'The plan to be adopted in the arrangement of the shield for glancing shot, mounting guns, arranging the hull and plating to be in accordance with the plan submitted for the approval of the Department.

"'We are, with much respect,

"'Your obedient servants,

"'WILLIAM P. WILLIAMSON, Chief Engineer,

"'JOHN M. BROOKE, Lieutenant,
"'JOHN L. PORTER, Naval Constructor.'

"The concluding part of the report states that the whole arrangements were to be made in accordance with the plan submitted.


"The facts are that no plan was submitted with this report. After the report was made, I returned immediately to the Norfolk navy yard, and made the plans of the Virginia myself, and, unaided by any one, placed the very same shield on her which was on the model I carried up with me before this board met. On the 11th day of July I returned to Richmond with this drawing, and presented it to Secretary Mallory, who immediately wrote the following order for this work with his own hand and gave it to me:

[Copy.]