March 10 1862 4:45 AM Treasury building Washington D C. It had been a long frustrating night following a disastrous day for Lincoln and his Cabinet. John Hay, speaking of the panic at Willard’s Hotel said,” Mr. President nothing was too wild to be believed in the way of theory and suggestion. One old gentleman had turned purple with fright contemplating the fate of his navy son aboard a warship.”
Of the cabinet, only Postmaster General Montgomery Blair was absent. Discussions included General McClellan, Quartermaster Brigadier General Montgomery C. Meigs, and Navy Lieutenant John A. Dahlgren Acting Commandant of what was left of the Washington Navy Yard.
Senior treasury official Lucius E. Chittenden said, “ It is as gloomy a night as any that Washington had experienced since the beginning of the war. There was no excitement, but all seemed to be overwhelmed with despondency and vague apprehension.”
At one point SecWar Edwin Stanton, who seemed to be doing most of the talking this morning said, “Yesterday’s incidents were among the most unpleasant and uncomfortable of my life. That Rebel ironclad will change the whole character of the war. She will destroy every naval vessel and take Fort Monroe.”
SecNav Wells thought “The most frightened man on this gloomy morning is our Secretary of War. He is at times almost frantic, his words sounded broken and denunciation. The panic under which he labors just adds to his apprehension and is contagious to others.” SecNav Wells said “The recent events are momentous and portentous to the nation—the responsibility of it and its consequence were heavier on me than on any other individual except you Mr. President. But my department will meet this emergency.”
Stanton would not be calmed. His answer to Wells was to insist “ McClellan’s campaign against Richmond must be abandoned. Burnside’s forces must be recalled or would be captured. The vital blockading base of Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, must be given up. The Rebel monster would next go to New York and Boston and destroy those cities, or levy from them contributions sufficient to carry on the War.” Furthermore Stanton insisted on warning Northern governors and municipal authorities to take instant measures to protect their harbors.”
To this SecNav replied,”Based on available information, the converted Merrimack was so cut down and loaded with armor, she could not venture outside of the Capes. Certainly, Mr. Stanton she could not attack simultaneously every city and harbor on the coast or threaten Burnsides’s forces in the Carolina Sounds. It would better become us, to calmly consider the situation, and inspire confidence by acting, so far as we could, intelligently, and with discretion and judgment.”
Potus Lincoln was, as usual in trying moments, composed but eagerly inquisitive, critically scanning the dispatches, interrogating the officers, joining scrap to scrap of information, applying his searching analysis and clear logic to read the danger and find the remedy.
The only hope was Commodore John Marston’s wooden-hulled Merrimack-class screw frigate USS Roanoke. Those hopes were dashed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Vasa Fox. “Mr. President Roanoke is a sister ship of the Merrimack, a wooden hulled frigate armed with Two 15 inch Dahlgrens, two 150-pounder Parrott rifles and two 11 in Dahlgren guns. Very similar ships with the same guns had proven useless on the eighth. I fear she will meet the same fate with the same heavy loss of life.”
POTUS replied “Where is Monitor and Galena? We need them in the Chesapeake NOW!”
Gideon Wells decided to answer this question, “Mr. President Monitor was severely damaged by a storm and is now undergoing emergency repairs. She is still in Barnegat bay but should start the tow back to the New York navy yard some time today, if all goes well. We have not heard a thing from Galena since she left Mystic at daybreak two days ago. Her captain and crew will do everything possible to reach what is left of our blockading squadron but it is doubtful she will reach them in time. Even if she does, she may not be up to the task of sinking Virginia. As you know sir she is newly in commission, has had the type of problems we expected in a totally novel design and is a very unproven ship. Like Roanoke her guns are the same that failed to defeat Virginia’s armor.”
POTUS replied “Gentlemen, let me make this clear to you. I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me.”
At that, regretting his previous pronouncement Fox spoke up again, “Mr. President there is still a chance Galena’s armor plate will allow her to get much closer and for a longer time than the wooden ships did on the 8th. Repeated hits on Virginia’s plates may just do the job. None of our wooden ships lasted long enough to score conservative shot in the same place.” Wells was quick to agree with his assistant.
The Army Signal Corps had just finished installing a telegraph link to the unfinished building. Now all reports would be available to POTUS Lincoln and his staff as soon as sent. So far those reports had been almost as dismal as yesterday’s. The torpedo boat attack had failed and the Confederate squadron was moving much too fast despite the dark to be caught now.
March 10 1862 6:10 AM CSS Virginia Surface Action Group (SAG) just south of Cab Island on the Potomac River in 45 feet of water with Chesapeake Bay in sight. Following the Torpedo boat attacks the rest of the transit down the Potomac was only disturbed by the sporadic firing of field gun batteries, a couple 20 pounder parrots but mostly three inch ordnance rifles and 12 pounder Napoleons, and massed infantry rifle fire. Thanks to the fact they were in a fairly wide sector of the river neither was more than a nuisance but they did keep the crews awake.
“Admiral Buchanon had turned in at 4:30 AM with orders to wake him by 6 AM he stood on the casemate top with his pilot Sailing Master Cantral. Each had a piping hot mug of coffee. “Well Jay, another day will be dawning soon and we are still afloat. That is better than I figured and much of it is due to you Pilot.” Cantral replied, “It was really mostly due to the Yankee Corps of Engineers providing us with such wonderful charts of the Potomac Admiral and the Washington city.” At that Old Buck gave the man a warm look and said, “I give you Pilot and the commanders and crew of the Confederate States Navy all the credit because you boys deserve it and have done me proud.Enough of this damn back slapping before you know it we will be telling anyone that will listen that we won the war all by our lonesome.”
Sailing Master Cantral CSN, knowing the time for banter was over said, “Sunrise at 6:27 Admiral. We have plenty of water under the keel all the way to the Hampton Roads and even more in the bay. The wind is from the North West at about 8 MPH, the Barometer is steady and with every indication of a fine sunny day.”
Old Buck called down to the OOD standing just outside the armored pilot house, “OOD Call away General quarters and make a signal to that affect to Raleigh and Patrick Henry, immediate execute.” He wanted his SAG at the ready come the dawn. God alone knows what else those Yankee bastards will try. Now that they were in the wide lower part of the river that worn out pilot of mine was keeping us in mid channel, as far as possible from shore batteries. He was contemplating going from column to line abreast formation with little Raleigh shielded by Virginia and “Old Pat”. They had to run into what was left of poor old John Marston’s blockade squadron well before noon, if they had not all withdrawn to sea. No use sending out a scout, he was committed to his course back to Gosport.
All his ships were low on ammunition and Virginia would need more coal soon. One disappointment of her very reliable propulsion plant was that they were burning up their coal at least three times as fast as naval constructor Porter and Lieutenant John M. Brooke had figured. CHENG was pretty sure the yard had to alter the stack dampers and the draft controls, niehter of which he could do while underway. XO Jones wanted to have the armor plates looked at carefully. He was sure he heard some of them crack under Yankee bombardment, although they held. Maybe the gun port shutters had arrived . It was only due to the grace of God some of the Yankee shot and shell did not come aboard and explode through a gun port.
His men, although in high spirits now, really need rest. They also very much deserved some time in port and a run ashore to get wasted at the expense of their fellow Rebels and screwed blind by the grateful young flowers of Virginia. “The Gun Boss” Army Captain Thomas Kevill ( late of the United States Army Artillery), and the soldiers of Company E, 41st Virginia Infantry Regiment, who augmented the crew at the last minute were the worse off. They had not bargained for this and they very much preferred going back to regular army duties. Old Buck could not blame them for that.
March 10 6:15 AM USS Galena made her number to the flag as she steamed into Hampton Roads. The flag signaled, “Do not anchor. Captain repair on board immediately!” Looks like the brass had their panties in a bind so he ordered his Gig lowered, manned and taking only long enough to change into his dress uniform was on his way in less than ten minutes.
As he sat in the stern sheets he was going over the last 24 hours. Galena’s crew had spent the last long day and even longer night pushing South with every sail that would draw and her black gang pushing her engines to the limit. Assisted by her sail rig the chip log had shown speeds in excess of 12 knots and CHENG said he still had another knot or two up his sleeve for short bursts of speed. Commander Alfred Taylor USN and his crew had won their race to the Chesapeake. This day they would take on CSS Virginia if she came out. He thought, Let’s see how that iron sheeted Reb ship killer stands up to another Ironclad.”
He had managed to rest and feed his crew by sticking to the two watch cycle instead of keeping them at General quarters. He was confident they were eager for this fight. Like him, they wanted pay back for the USN Blue jackets killed by Virginia. They knew nothing about the CSN raid on Washington and the massive destruction Virginia’s squadron had done.
The rub was more than two thirds of his crew were not Regular Navy. Oh, he and his veteran Blue Jackets had trained them but they were still green when it came to being man-of-wars men. Hell, when it came to ironclad battle he was as green as they. No one really knew how best to engage another ironclad. There was also a nagging doubt that their main battery, composed of the same guns that had armed the wooden ships destroyed in this very bay not long ago, would not be up to the task.
He was also short of the “Palliser shot” armor defeating rounds. Wrought iron armor of unknown thickness covered Merrimack. Judging by what happened in this very bay her armor was practically immune to both the round cast-iron cannonballs and to the recently developed explosive shell. A Brit named Palliser, invented a method of hardening the head of the pointed cast-iron shot. By casting the projectile point downwards and forming the head in an iron mold, the hot metal was quickly chilled and became intensely hard, while the remainder of the mold, being formed of sand, allowed the metal to cool slowly and the body of the shot to be resistant to shattering. All the Union ships in Hampton Roads had a supply of “Palliser shot”, how much he did not know.
He would take this summons to BEG, Borrow or steal more of that “Palliser shot” if available. He was pretty certain in the ships assembled there were the same guns of his own and a very good chance they had a few of the armor defeating rounds. He could make a pretty good argument that he would need them as his Galena was the only shield the USN had here against Virginia. Well it seemed like a good argument anyway.
He also wanted a Marine detachment; Galena had none assigned. If his guns did not sink Virginia he intended to ram and board the rebel beast. A hundred or so Leathernecks could come in handy for that party. What happened to Galena, her crew and him did not matter. What was important was that the Virginia was sunk, burned, captured or otherwise destroyed and the blockade reestablished as soon as possible.
Hell there was the army of the Potomac stopped dead by a single ship. In mid March the AOP had begun transporting approximately 120,000 men to Fort Monroe for the Peninsula campaign that was suppose to end the war. Nothing Union could move by sea until the USN controlled the Chesapeake again. Taylor was pretty sure the Brass would give him whatever he wanted. The question is Am I the best man to do this job? Answer was yes. No one else knew Galena the way he did. He would get the best out of the untried ship and her mostly untested crew.
March 10 6:35 AM in the great cabin of USS Roanoke, a wooden-hulled Merrimack-class screw frigate, Commodore John Marston along with his executive officer Walter Cushman welcomed the captain of the iron clad Galena as if he and his ship were their saviors. Commodore John Marston had informed him of the details about the disastrous first battle of Hampton Roads. That was bad. He then told him about the attack on Washington City and the Anacostia Navy yards along with the railroad and the destruction of the massive store houses. The loss of life had been great.
At the end of that tale of disaster the Commodore said. “Virginia and her SAG are about 3 to 4 hours from us heading this way. I expect Galena to sink her because the rest of us here can not and that beast must not be allowed to escape. Taylor, I am ordered to assist you in all matters and provide you with everything you ask for in order to give Galena the best chance of slaying that “Seccesh” bitch.”
These men were shaken. These men were desperate. He could get whatever he wanted from them including their virginal teenage daughters if he just asked. He had them where he wanted them.
“Commodore, our most urgent need is armor defeating“Palliser shot”.
Commodore, “Captain what does Galena mount?”
Taylor “Nine 9 inch Smoothbore Dahlgrens and 100-pounder Parrott rifles”
Commodore, “Roanoke carries 15 and 11 inch Dahlgrens and 150-pounder Parrott rifles. No help here. We keep a ready store of shot and shell at Fort Monroe and Reedville. I’ll have both 9 inch Dahlgren and 100 pounder Parrott rifles “Palliser shot” brought out by steam launch or tug as soon as possible.”
Turning to the XO he said, “See to that immediately. Send an urgent signal by semaphore under my name as soon as we have enough daylight.
Send a boat NOW to the Army observation station at Point Lookout, they have a telegraph, and send the message from there also. Have them inform Washington and fort Monroe immediately that Galena had arrived and was ready to sink Virginia when she emerged from the Potomac. Encode that message. Make sure they know this is absolutely urgent! Let me know if there is any sign of delay and when the shot is on it’s way. MOVE!”
Taylor, “Commodore I could also use some senior gunners with plenty of experience with 9 inch Dahlgren and 100 pounder Parrott rifle experience. I also request a Marine detachment. Galena has not been assigned one yet. I’d say 150 Leathernecks would do nicely. If our shot fails, I will ram Virginia and if that fails I or whoever is in command has my orders to board and take her.”
March 10 7 AM Upon returning aboard Captain Taylor ordered Galena’s Top Hamper struck in preparation for battle. Her two masted topsail schooner rig had served her well but now it was nothing but a splinter hazard. The crew sent down the foremast yards and both top masts and rafted them alongside. Onto the raft went sails and other fire and splinter hazards as the crew “stripped ship” for battle. The bosun oversaw the dropping of an anchor with a mooring buoy attached. He then secured the “raft” to it’s mooring. Finally, he had one of the smaller yards erected as a mast. It flew a large Yellow quarantine flag two blocked by day and a large ship’s lantern by night to aid recovery, he hoped. The XO had already appointed Able seaman Forest, at 61 the oldest man aboard, as “Raft Master” and Billy Rosa at 9 the youngest ship’s boy as his crew.
This left Galena with the foremast as a place to fly her Ensign and a lookout and signal station directly aft of the circular armored wheel house. The single smoke stack was placed just aft of midships, with the lower main mast further aft. This left a very clear “spar Deck” when cleared for action with the exception of one of the ship’s wheels mounted aft. In battle the wheel on the armored gun deck was used. Both bow anchors were suspended from the cat heads requiring only a strike with an ax to let fall. Her boats would be towed astern and with luck one might even survive.
March 10 7:30 AM USS Roanoke’s Marine detachment consisted of 36, one Lieutenant Walter Moore, one sergeant Liam Devlan, two corporals and 34 Privates moved into Galena. They had turned in their Springfield muzzle loading rifles for the ship’s Spencer repeating rifles. They had practiced with these weapons just to kill time on the monotonous blockade.
In place of Marines the Commodore had borrowed Army company C of the, 3rd New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry. Company C, commanded by Capt. Michael Donohoe, was almost entirely Irish and were considered good fighters but a real problem when in camp. That was probably why the Colonel was so accommodating. He was probably well pleased to be rid of them . The 62 strong company was armed with Springfield muzzle loading rifles. 3rd New Hampshire was organized at Camp Berry in Concord and mustered in on August 23, 1861, for three years service, 1,047 officers and men. They trained on Long Island, New York, encamping at Camp Winfield Scott at Hempstead Plains. From there, they went to Washington, D.C. and Annapolis.
Out of the 900 men in the regiment, 450 were farmers, 69 laborers, 44 machinists, 31 carpenters, 30 manufacturers, 27 painters, 15 teamsters, and 16 clerks. The origin of the 3rd New Hampshire is six hundred twenty-nine from New Hampshire, 118 from Massachusetts, 116 from Ireland, 81 from Vermont, 70 from Maine, and 31 from New York, and the remaining from various other places. The Commodore also transferred 6 gunner’s mate petty officers and 18 long service seaman with much experience with both the dahlgrens and the Parrotts.
March 10 8:45 AM a tug from Reedville arrived with 60 rounds of 9 inch Dahlgren and 22 rounds of 100 pounder Parrott rifle “Palliser shot”. They also sent along ready made cartridges for the Dahlgren, 50 stands of grape and 25 rounds of canister for both Dahlgrens and the Parrotts. They had no cartridges for the 100 pounders. Taylor ordered his sailmaker to prepare 30 cartridges for the 100 pounder.
March 10 9:45 AM with the funnel smoke from the Confederate SAG just in sight from the masthead all magazines had been secured and the new men assigned to their General Quarters stations. At this point Galena was well stocked and manned for an extended engagement with Virginia.
The Commodore executed the signal for Galena, which had steam up and was in all respects ready for sea. Her crew gave a cheer as she got underway determined to be victors in the first Ironclad to ironclad battle against the now veteran CSS Virginia.
Captain Taylor gave the appropriate wheel and engine commands. CHENG already knew the captain wanted to see as little and preferably NO smoke as they closed in on CSS Virginia. The Gun Boss would hold fire until Taylor gave the word and then open with the 100 pounders firing slow and deliberate shell initially. The Dahlgren’s, loaded with armor piercing “Palliser shot”, would not be used until the range shortened to point blank. That was his plan to use Galena’s superior speed to force a close engagement, IF, big IF, Galena’s wrought iron armor was strong enough to withstand whatever the Virginia could throw at her as she closed the range. If not, he would switch to armor piercing shot at maximum effective range and trust his command would stay afloat and moving until either his guns were effective or he could ram and board.
Best guess based on all the intelligence the Navy had was the Reb’s armor was three inches of layered plate. About two inches was the best anyone could role in the USA at this time so layers of plate was the rule. Galena had a truly unique armor; Pook chose rows of interlocking iron sheets placed in a rail-and-plate arrangement that supposedly made it impenetrable against solid shot up to 6 inches thick. Due to cost, Pook originally planned to sheathe Galena’s 18-inch-thick hull with only 21⁄2 inches of armor atop 11⁄2 inches of rubber. Once construction began, however, the rubber was replaced by another five-eighths inch of iron that brought it up to 3 and 1/8s thickness, still thinner than called for in any other early ironclad design.
Taylor knew the Ironclad Board was only modestly optimistic that Galena would be successful, but others were not. Many officers thought the design of its hull and armor were faulty and vulnerable to shot. Captain Louis M. Goldsborough, commander of the Union’s North Atlantic Blockading Squadron, called it a “most miserable contrivance.” Fortunately, his crew did not even know what Goldsborough thought. They did know they were the only ship in the right place, at the right time and with both the guns and armor to stand a chance against Virginia. That was their job and almost all were eager to join battle with the the Secessionists.
March 10 10:25 the masthead lookout on the Patrick Henry reported the masts of a large ship off the mouth of the river. The information was immediately signaled to Admiral Buchanon and the little Raleigh. Old Buck ordered his ships into column formation with Virginia in the lead, then Patrick Henry second and Raleigh bringing up the rear. He then ordered them to general Quarters. At this the tired but well drilled and combat veteran CSN crews rushed to their battle stations confident they would beat the damn Yankees again and in short order.
March 10 Noon with her top hamper struck Galena was able to use Roanoke to mask her presence. Commodore John Marston planned to lure Virginia in close, sacrificing his own command, to greatly reduce the time Galena had to endure Virginia's fire as she closed in to pistol shot range to give her guns the best chance of actually damaging Virginia. He knew these same guns had failed to penetrate Virginia’s armor a few days before.
After analyzing that day’s fight Lt Dahlgren, despite his rank was the leading US Navy authority on naval ordinance. He determined that the risk was warranted to increase the maximum charge of Galena’s and Roanoke’s guns by 25 % for a short duration battle. Hence the reason Galena had to come to grips with Virginia quickly.
Old Buck ordered full speed with intention of quickly sinking Roanoke. He had no choice, given the state of his magazines but to fight and sink her fast. The first shot of the engagement was fired at Roanoke by Virginia. Virginia could only bring her bow gun into action and still maintain her course. Roanoke was firing full 22 gun broadsides because she had crossed Old Buck’s T. The hail of , 10, 9 and 8 inch smoothbore Dahlgren rounds.slammed into Virginia’s armor with crashes that were almost deafening but did not penetrate. What they did was occasionally splinter the backing timber. These splinters took a modest toll on Virginia’s crew. Just enough to make it clear this was not target practice. What, Old Buck, Marston and Taylor did not know was those apparently useless armor piercing rounds were doing was cracking Virginia’s plates.
After 30 minutes of this uneven cannonade Old Buck ordered Virginia to alter course to unmask her own broadsides while still closing with Roanoke. After six of Virginia’s broadsides Roanoke was a wreck with blood running from her scuppers and the number of guns able to return fire down to 12 and this was after Marston had brought his unengaged broadside into the fight. It was then Marston ordered Galena to attack.
March 10 12:40 PM Galena took station between Virginia and Roanoke closing at 9 knots and fired her first two 9 in Smoothbore Dahlgren guns two 100-pounder Parrott pivoting rifles loaded with “Palliser shot” with 125% powder charges. For the 9,000 pound IX Inchers firing 90 pounder shot that was 15 pound charges. For the 100 pound Parrott rifle weighing 10,266 pounds firing 80 pound shot that was 12 and a half pound charges.
Galena’s first broadside did no discernible damage to Virginia. That was not the case with Virginia’s opening shot. Galena’s armor was pierced by one of the rounds and two others shredded plates but did not penetrate the backing although they did cause some splinter casualties. Galena’s battery was not damaged and she returned fire. Again no damage was observed from Galena but in Virginia it was clear that her armor was failing as plates began to fall alongside. Another hit in the same place would cause real damage and that Yankee was closing rapidly on an angle that allows a minor course change to unmask her broadside.
The battle now turned into a pounding match in which disabling the enemy’s guns would determine the outcome. The speed of the gun crews was crucial and Galena’s sailors were just a bit faster than Virginia's. After the rebs 10th salvo they ran out of armor piercing shot and had to resort to the undersized shot. The result was too much windage and the rounds were fired with substantially less power that resulted in Galena’s armor was more than proof except where Virginia's Palister shot had blown the armor overboard. Galena, thanks to her replenishment still had plenty of armor piercing rounds and Virginia was starting to look like a sieve with many of her guns out of action and the gun deck looked like a slaughter house. It was then Old Buck was smeared all over the deck and overhead. Gatesby Jones soon followed.
The first Lieutenant tried to Ram Galena but Virginia turned like a cow and did not have the speed to ram. After that attempt Virginia’s last gun was silenced and Galena poured in broadside after broadside of Pallister shot and regular shell into what was fast becoming a burning wreck. Virginia actually burned to the waterline and sank after her boilers exploded.
While this was going on what was left of Roanoke’s battery wreaked havoc on Old Pat. With the loss of so many of their shipmates Roanoke’s officers and crew was in no mood to show mercy, as long as the Stars and bars flew. Eventually, repeated shell broadsides set her on fire and her magazine exploded. It was only then Roanoke launched boats to pick up what few were left of her crew.
Raleigh fired off her puny broadside and managed to hit one of Roanoke’s boats loaded with Patrick Henry survivors. Incensed Mardston ordered his gunners to “silence that damn Seccesh bastard.” The large shells mostly ripped right through Raleigh but a few hit something more substantial and exploded setting the tug on fire. No boats were sent to rescue her pitiful few survivors.
The repercussions from the damage done by Old Buck and his men would convince Little Mac the Peninsular Campaign would be suicide. POTUS Lincoln had it with the little bastard and fired him on the spot. A fellow named John Reynolds, was plucked from the second tier of generals and given command of the Army of the Potomac. The rest is history. And the South finally surrendered on July 4 1863. POTUS Lincoln’s order to his generals was to “Let them up easy” which drove the abolitionists out of their minds despite the fact on January 1, 1863, POTUS Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within rebel states “are, and henceforward shall be free.”
On July 14th a group of abolitionist fanatics succeeded in killing POTUS Lincoln. They also killed Mary Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiance Miss Clara Harris. Despite total surprise and all four assassins, being armed with two revolving pistols and a Bewey knife, the Major managed to kill one and wound another before he died.
That same night other abolitionist fanatics attacked and killed Vice President Andrew Johnson, and wounded Secretary of State William Seward. General John Reynolds was another target but the team sent to kill him was so incompetent they attacked the wrong house and were all killed by Union troops.
Schuyler Colfax the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives became POTUS the next day. He proved to be a strong believer in what POTUS Lincoln was trying to do and carried Abe’s post war agenda that among other things made reconstruction a success.
Crew of USS Galena
THE END
