March 9, 1862

March 9, 1862: THE BATTLE OF HAMPTON ROADS - Day 2 (Naval), Virginia. At dusk on the day preceding, the USS Monitor, having just arrived, clears its decks for action. Described as "a cheesebox on a raft" or "a tin can on a shingle," the Monitor had been built specifically to deal with the CSS Virginia. The Virginia comes steaming out to finish off the Union’s wooden ship blockade, when the Monitor darts out from behind the large frigate Minnesota, ready for action. The two ships begin a duel of maneuver, their shots bouncing off the other ships’ iron skins. The Virginia, being called a ship as sluggish as Noah’s Ark, is at a disadvantage with the smaller Monitor, whose shallow draft enabled it to maneuver at will, almost. CSN Lt. John Taylor Wood records some of his impressions: 
Drawing 22 feet of water, we were confined to a narrow channel, while the Monitor, with only 12 feet immersion, could take any position, and always have us in range of her guns. . . . More than two hours had passed, and we had made no impression on the enemy so far as we could discover, while our wounds were slight. Several times the Monitor ceased firing, and we were in hopes she was disabled, but the revolution again of her turret and the heavy blows of her 11-inch shot on our sides soon undeceived us. Lt. Wood adds this humorous incident: 
Coming down from the spar-deck, and observing a division standing "at ease." Lieutenant Jones inquired:
    "Why are you not firing, Mr. Eggleston?"
    "Why, our powder is very precious," replied the lieutenant; "and after two hour's incessant firing I find that I can do her about as much damage by snapping my thumb at her every two minutes and a half."

Toward 2 p.m., the two ships’ crews were exhausted. The Virginia, having nearly exhausted all her ammunition, and with damaged smokestack and cracked armor, steamed back to safety at Sewell’s Point, where there were heavy artillery emplacements. The first encounter between armored ships ends in a draw.


Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick and an experienced seaman himself, wrote this poem that expresses the several fundamental ways that war changed on this date—and how the glory of war had been reduced to the calculations of engineers and gunners.

Herman Melville
A Utilitarian View of the Monitor’s Fight

Plain be the phrase, yet apt the verse,
  More ponderous than nimble;
For since grimed War here laid aside
His Orient¹ pomp, twould ill befit
                     Overmuch to ply
The rhyme’s barbaric cymbal.

Hail to victory without the gaud
  Of glory; zeal that needs no fans
Of banners; plain mechanic power
Plied cogently in War now placed--
                    Where War belongs--
Among the trades and artisans.

Yet this was battle, and intense--
  Beyond the strife of fleets heroic;
Deadlier, closer, calm mid storm;
No passion; all went on by crank,
                     Pivot, and screw,
And calculations of caloric.²

Needless to dwell; the story’s known.
  The ringing of those plates on plates
Still ringeth round the world--
The clangor of that blacksmith’s fray.³
                               The anvil-din
Resounds this message from the Fates:

War shall yet be, and to the end;
  But war-paint shows the streaks of weather;
War yet shall be, but warriors
Are now but operatives⁴; War’s made
                       Less grand than Peace,
And a singe runs through lace and feather.

(1862)

1-Ornate, gaudy, exotic
2-Pertaining to heat and production of heat and power
3-Brutal fight or brawl
4-Factory workers

---David L. Day, a soldier in the 25^th Massachusetts Inf., writes while on board of a transport at Pamlico Sound, in Burnside’s expedition, waiting for their next mission:

March 9. A beautiful Sabbath morning, not a ripple disturbs the smooth surface of the sound, Religious services this morning in the saloon; in the afternoon on the promenade deck. All the troops, except one or two regiments, left to garrison the island, are again afloat, and the talk now is that Newbern is the next point of attack.

---On this date, Gen. Joseph Johnston and his army withdraw from the Manassas line and move back to be closer to Rappahannock Station, a vital supply center.  MClellan send forward videttes, but they find only empty camps.