This Site:
Civil War
Civil War Overview
Civil War 1861
Civil War 1862
Civil War 1863
Civil War 1864
Civil War 1865
Civil War Battles
Confederate Generals
Union Generals
Confederate History
Robert E. Lee
Civil War Medicine
Lincoln Assassination
Slavery
Site Search
Civil War Links
Civil War Art
Mexican War
Republic of Texas
Indians
Winslow Homer
Thomas Nast
Mathew Brady
Western Art
Civil War Gifts
Robert E. Lee Portrait
|
CHART OF THE HARBOR OF GALVESTON, TEXAS, WHERE THE
"HARRIET LANE" WAS TAKEN.
[SEE PAGE 51.]
I were to be always trying to be
like somebody else—and I was cross and ran away."
"Then it was Missy who would not
say good-by. That was not good manners in Missy."
"But, Dixon, I don't like being
lectured!"
"I reckon you don't get much of
it. But, indeed, my pretty, I dare say Mr. Corbet was in the right; for, you
see, master is busy, and Miss Monro is so dreadful learned, and your poor mother
is dead and gone, and you have no one to teach you how young ladies go on; and
by all accounts, Mr. Corbet comes of a good family. I've heerd say his father
had the best stud-farm in all Shropshire, and spared no money upon it; and the
young ladies, his sisters, will have been taught the best of manners; it might
be well for my pretty to hear how they go on."
"You dear old Dixon, you don't
know any thing about my lecture, and I am not going to tell you. Only I dare say
Mr. Corbet might be a little bit right, though I am sure he was a great deal
wrong."
"But you'll not go on a
fretting—you won't now, there's a good young lady; for master won't like it, and
it will make him uneasy, and he's enough of trouble without your red eyes, bless
them."
"Trouble—papa, trouble! Oh,
Dixon! what do you mean?" exclaimed Ellinor, her face taking all a woman's
intensity of expression in a minute.
"Nay, I know naught," said Dixon,
evasively. "Only that Dunster fellow is not to my mind, and I think he pesters
the master sadly with his fid-fad ways."
"I hate Mr. Dunster," said
Ellinor, vehemently. "I won't speak a word to him the next time he comes to dine
with papa."
"Missy will do what papa likes
best," said Dixon, admonishingly: and with this the "pair of friends" parted.
THE WRECK OF THE "MONITOR."
WE are indebted to one of the
surviving officers of the ill-fated Monitor for the picture of her wreck, which
we publish on this page. No event of the war has caused more sorrow than the
loss of the brave little vessel. Its history is thus told by an officer:
From ten to eleven P.M. the water
still gained rapidly. It was now known for certain that she had sprung a leak.
The storm was at its height, the waves striking and passing over the Monitor,
burying her completely for the instant, while for a few seconds nothing could be
seen of her from the Rhode Island but the upper part of her turret, surrounded
by foam. This was caused as follows: A huge wave would lift her up, when, in
descending to meet another, instead of riding it like other vessels, she plowed
through, the projecting armor at her bow striking the water with such force that
the spray and foam were thrown around her to the distance of forty feet. This
projecting armor is undoubtedly the cause of the leak, as it extended aft
thirty-two feet, and forward fourteen.
This constantly striking the
water with the force that it did, and the immense weight of ammunition in her
hull, must have separated one from the other, thus causing a leak from which she
filled and sunk.
She was now found to be fast
sinking, and a consultation was held as to whether it was best to abandon her or
not. The engineer, entering at this moment, reported that the water in the
ward-rooms was waist-deep; that it was still gaining rapidly, and that in less
than two hours she must go down. This decided Captain Bankhead to save the lives
of his men rather than lose both. Signals of distress were now ordered to be
made to the Rhode Island; and while these were preparing Captain Bankhead
shouted, "Who'll cut the hawser?" "I will," answered Mr. Stodder, the Master;
and taking a hatchet, he, at the imminent peril of being washed overboard,
succeeded in severing the hawser, the waves passing over him at every motion of
the vessel. One poor fellow, whose name is not known, assisted, but he was
dashed off and drowned.
Several of the crew and some of
the officers also found a watery grave about this time, by being washed
overboard.
It was death to stand on the deck
without having a firm hold, and even then the danger was very great. One by one
the gallant fellows disappeared from the deck and were seen no more. Many had
very narrow escapes. Lieutenant Green was carried off by a wave, and thrown upon
deck by its returning. Another officer was carried by a wave along the deck, and
as he was passing the turret he seized a rope which hung from there for the
purpose of assisting those on the deck to cling to it and save themselves, and
was saved.
Between eleven and twelve P.M.
the launch of the Rhode Island was manned, and started for the Monitor. About
this time the hawser, which now hung loose, became entangled in one of the
paddle-wheels of the Rhode Island, so that it could not be worked, thus
rendering the vessel unmanageable. She drifted toward the Monitor, and there was
great danger of a collision before the hawser could be extricated. The launch
was between the two steamers, and before she could clear them the whole of one
of her sides was crushed in, just escaping the water-line. The gallant fellows
in her had a narrow escape from a horrible death; but nothing daunted, they
struck boldly out for
the Monitor with their broken
boat, and safely returned with fourteen or fifteen of the Monitor's crew, though
in a sinking condition, and landed them all safely upon the deck of the Rhode
island. In the mean time the two vessels had approached so near each other that
five or six of the crew of the Monitor seized the ropes hanging from the side of
the Rhode Island, and started to climb up her side; but only three reached
there. The others are supposed to have been struck by the Monitor, when they
fell, crushed to death, or perished in the sea. Those on board the vessels tell
me that they expected every wave to dash them together, when the loss of both
must have occurred. The moment that the Rhode Island was looming up broadside of
the Monitor was a terrible one to all. But they passed each other without
touching, and many were the relieved hearts and the audibly expressed "Thank
God!" that issued from the mouths of the men on both the vessels.
One of the Rhode Island's cutters
was now manned and started off about the same time that the launch left the
Monitor. They approached each other, and there was seemingly no chance of
preventing a collision, when Dr. G. M. Weeks, of the Monitor, Ensign Taylor, of
the Rhode Island, and one of the sailors, sprang to the side to part them. The
force of the blow was thus broken and the boats saved from destruction. The
right hand of Dr. Weeks was caught between the boats, crushing the bones of
three of his fingers so seriously that
amputation was afterward found necessary.
Between twelve and one A.M. the
cutter, after narrowly escaping a collision, started for the side of the Monitor
to rescue others. Arriving there, Captain Bankhead held the rope while his men
got into it, the boat dashing on the deck several times and being carried back
by the waves the same as the launch on the previous trip.
The last of the crew and officers
that remained on deck were now in the boat, and none remained on board the
Monitor but some six or eight who were clinging to the top of the turret. They
were told to come down and try to reach the boat, but neither the entreaties of
their comrades nor the orders of their officers had any effect upon them. The
poor fellows had seen their comrades one by one washed off and drowned in the
attempt to reach the boats; and believing that there was no chance of being
saved, even if they reached the boat, they preferred to remain there and linger
a few moments more than to come down and meet certain death. Captain Bankhead
was then compelled to enter the boat without them and leave them behind. The
cutter arrived at the side of the Rhode Island about one o'clock, and the men
and officers, seizing the ropes which hung from her sides for that purpose, soon
climbed to her deck, on reaching which they were received with open arms
regardless of rank.
About two o'clock a last effort
was made to reach the Monitor, and rescue those on the turret. The cutter was
again manned with a picked crew, and D. Rodney Brown, master's mate, took
command, and started for the doomed Monitor; but whether it reached her or not
is unknown, as the boat was last seen making straight for her, pitching and
rolling fearfully, her gallant crew working manfully to approach the Monitor as
soon as possible, when the moon, which had been gradually going down for some
time, now entirely disappeared, and the boat was lost in the gloom. [The boat
has since been picked up, with all on board.]
The Monitor was last seen at this
time also. Just before the moon vanished, a quarter before two o'clock, lights
were plainly visible, but her turret and deck were rather indistinct. For a few
moments after darkness was all around, the twinkling lights of the Monitor shot
here and there like an ignis fatuus, when suddenly they all disappeared, and
then it was known that she had gone down. At this time she was distant from the
Rhode Island about a mile and a half, while, when the boat was last seen, she
was not more than a third that distance, so that it was amost impossible to have
reached her. We learn, as we go to press, that
the new
Monitors Passaic and
Montauk had hard work in getting down to Beaufort;
and it is evident that some further improvements must be made in this class (Next
Page)
THE WRECK OF THE IRON-CLAD "MONITOR."
|