Five Hours Of Shelling

The Union Navy attacked Fort McAllister along the coast of Georgia on January 27^th 1863, with several gun boats.

Fort McAllister was under the command of Confederate Major John B Gallie, who before the war was a merchant in Savannah, Georgia.

On January 26^th 1863 the Union ironclad the USS Montauk along with the USS Wissahickon, USS Dawn and USS Seneca approached Fort McAllister.  The Montauk set anchor within an effective firing range of the Fort’s guns.  On January 27^th 1863 the Montauk with support of the other ships opened fire on the Fort which they continued for 5 hours.  The Fort was reported to have been hit by over 450 cannon rounds.  The ironclad was hit about 15 times by fire from the Fort but wasn’t seriously damaged, nor where there any casualties.  The Union ship withdrew after the five hours, because the Montauk was running short of ammunition.  There were no reported casualties from Fort McAllister, nor was there much damage.

This battle would mark the first use of an ironclad ship against a land base.  The Commander of the Montauk was John Worden, who had been the commander of the USS Monitor when she fought the CSS Virginia for the first time.

Rescue Of The Men On The Monitor

John Jones a sailor in the Union Navy was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on December 30^th 1862 in saving men from the Monitor.

John Jones was born August 25^th 1841.

Jones served on the USS Rhode Island as a Landsman, which was the rank afforded to men who had been recruited and had served for less than a year.  The USS Rhode Island was side-wheel steamer and in late December 1862 she had been assigned the job of towing the USS Monitor to the waters off South Carolina.  On December 30^th 1862 in heavy seas off Cape Hatteras, the Monitor was swamped and sank.  Jones at a risk to his own life rescued many of the men from the Monitor in a small boat.  His Medal of Honor citation says that while he was engaged “in the hazardous rescue of the officers and crew of the sinking Monitor, Jones, after rescuing several of the men, became separated in a heavy gale with other members of the cutter that had set out from the Rhode Island, and spent many hours in the small boat at the mercy of the weather and high seas until finally picked up by a schooner 50 miles east of Cape Hatteras.”

Jones would go on to reach the rank of Ordinary Seaman.  He died August 15^th 1907, and is buried in the St Mary’s Cemetery, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Richmond Stayed Safe

The Battle of Drewry’s Bluff a part of the Peninsula Campaign was fought May 15^th 1862 in Chesterfield County, Virginia.

The only obstacle to Union movement up the James River after the fall of Norfolk, Virginia; protecting the Confederate capital at Richmond, was Fort Darling and Drewry’s Bluff.  Drewry’s Bluff is located about 7 miles from the capital on a sharp bend in the river.  The confederates in the area were under the command of Navy Commander Ebenezer Farrand and Army Captain Augustus H Drewry.  Fort Darling had 8 cannons along with some artillery and naval guns salvaged from the CSS Virginia.  Also protecting the fort were the CSS Patrick and obstructions placed just under the water in the river.

A detachment of Union navy under Commander John Rodgers steamed up the James River on May 15^th 1862 from Fort Monroe.  The ships in this detachment included the USS Monitor, USS Galena, and USS Aroostook with others.  The Galena got to within 600 yards of the fort, but was hit by several Confederate rounds before she could fire on the fort.  The battle went on for over three hour with the Galena taking another 45 hit, unable to move.  The Monitor’s heavy armor allowed her withstand the incoming ammo, but she was unable to elevate her guns enough to hit the Confederate batteries.  The Union ships were force to withdraw to City Point.

Fort Darling on Drewry’s Bluff had held up to the attack with only 8 casualties.

A Solid Ironclad

The USS Weehawken was commissioned January 18^th 1863 under the command of Captain John Rodgers.

The USS Weehawken was an enlarged version of the USS Monitor, a Passaic class ironclad.  She was launched by the Zeno Secor & Company of Jersey City, New Jersey on November 5^th 1862.  Accompanied by the USS Iroquois bound for duty as part of the South Atlantic Blocking Squadron they left New York January 18^th 1863.  They encountered high winds and heavy seas off the coast of New Jersey, but the Weehawken was better designed then her archetype the Monitor, and her commander Captain John Rodgers put her safely into Norfolk on February 1^st 1863.

On April 7^th 1863 the Weehawken led the first assault against Confederate installations in the Charleston, South Carolina harbor.  During the failed action the Weehawken took 53 direct hits and a torpedo.  She did not suffer any real damage.  Her next action was again the CSS Atlanta in Wassaw Sound, Georgia.  With just five shots the crew of the Weehawken put the Atlanta out of action, and got Captain Rodgers a commendation from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and a promotion to Commodore.

The Battle Of The Ironclads

The Battle of Hampton Roads, a dual between two ironclads was fought on March 9th 1862.

Planning to break up the Union blockade, on March 8th 1862 the Confederate ironclad ram the CSS Virginia [also known as the CSS Merrimack] with several other vessels in support, attacked a number of wooden-hulled ships belonging to the Union Navy. The Virginia destroyed two ships and was about to attack the USS Minnesota which had run aground. The attack was called off by darkness and the falling tide. The crew of the Virginia took the time to repair some minimal damage and care for wounded, including her captain Franklin Buchanan.

Planning to resume it's attack on the USS Minnesota, acting captain Roger Jones didn’t know that the ironclad the USS Monitor had arrived in the early morning hours of March 9th 1862. The captain of the Monitor, Lieutenant John Worden, took up a defensive position and intercepted the CSS Monitor as she approached the USS Minnesota. The two ironclads battled for three hours, without either ship causing much damage to the other. When the fighting ended the CSS Virginia returned to her home berth at the Gosport Navy Yard, and the USS Monitor returned to defending the Minnesota.

She Was In Danger Of Swamping

The first ironclad warship commissioned by the United States Navy, the USS Monitor foundered in the water off Cape Hatteras December 30th 1862.


The Monitor had just left the Navy Yard in Washington DC after being overhauled, and returned to combat in November 1862. She sailed in the Newport News area throughout November and early December. In late December she was ordered south to be part of the blockade off the Carolinas. On December 29th 1862 the Monitor left Hampton Roads, towed by the USS Rhode Island, headed for Beaufort, North Carolina. The two ships moved slowly just off the coast of North Carolina, when winds picked up to gale force. Nearing Cape Hatteras, the water began coming into the Monitor faster then her pumps could get rid of it.

Just before midnight December 30th 1862 it became clear the Monitor was in danger of swamping. With the in coming sea water drowning the boiler, the Monitor’s steam pressure was falling fast. The men on the Monitor cut the tow line and dropped their anchor, sending out a distress sign to the USS Rhode Island. Rescue boats managed to save forty-two of the men on the Monitor despite the high seas. They lost sixteen men, who were swept away. The Monitor went under in the early morning hours of December 31st 1862.

She Changed Shipping Forever

The USS Monitor, with its turreted center gun was launched today, January 30th 1862. The Monitor was the first ironclad commissioned by the United States Navy. She is more famous for the Battle of Hampton Roads on March 9th 1862 in which the Monitor fought the Confederate ship the CSS Virginia.

The Monitor was designed by John Ericsson a Swedish engineer, but Saratoga Springs, New York‘s Theodore Timby designed the revolving gun turret. She was described as a “cheese box on a raft”. The deck was armored and sat just above the waterline, and was built at the Continental Iron Works in Brooklyn,NY. Although the Monitor preformed well in river combat, she was not made for the rough waters of the ocean. She became swamped during a storm by high waves off Cape Hatteras,North Carolina on December 31st 1862. Sixteen of her sixty-two crew were lost in the storm.