different inventions and suggestions that people are writing in how to deal with this new weapon of war, the merrimac. whether it be throwing grenades down the smokestack, electronic-triggered mines, underwater grappling hooks, elongated pronged projectiles, or pools of fire, all of these ideas are floated for how to deal with the "merrimac." and of course, people write to lincoln because they feel, again, not only he's the president, the commander in chief, that he can get their invention accepted. that he will work his executive magic and get them a contract with the war department. of course, lincoln had many, many other things to deal with rather than help people get contracts. and indeed, citizens from all walks of life are flooding the

federal government with these different suggestions that they have. as another correspondent put it, the whole yankee world is studying and contriving some method of destroying the "merrimac." and certainly the panic that was felt in washington and especially in the eastern seaboard cities after the events of march 8th, 1862, was almost palpable. gideon wells, although he's certainly no fan of stanton, wells says in his diary and elsewhere, he describes how stanton is panicked, that he's afraid that the "merrimac" is going to sail up the potomac and shell the white house, that it's basically a game changer, that the entire war is going to be changed because of this invention. and indeed, the northern public were very fearful of this exact thing happening. another correspondent writes to lincoln saying that if the

rebels by cunning or superior skill achieve in getting her to sea, the navy department will never be acquitted or forgiven and that the whole current of the war will be changed and no one will predict how it will end. there was even a special committee formed in new york city at stanton's behest of some of the leading engineers. how to go about counteracting the "merrimac." and that the whole wealth and power of the united states would be committed for that purpose. now, oftentimes these citizens that are writing in, they usually fall into two categories in that they either write in very humbly saying i'm terribly sorry to bother you with this idea, which you may not like, but here it is. or they're just the opposite, that theft greatest idea that has ever been invented and that the union cause will be ruined

unless it is purchased immediately at usually exorbitant rates by those in authority. and what i've tried to do is narrow down or at least coalesce a number of these plans and schemes into basically 13 different categories, which i'll talk about as quickly as possible. usually, some of these ideas aren't terribly inventive. that is, after ericsson's monitor proves itself to be capable of taking on the "merrimac," many people write in with all sorts of add-on gadgets. that this, their invention, can make the "merrimac" -- or pardon me, the "monitor" the ultimate killing machine. and again, if only the government will buy. and one of the other things that i was lucky enough to be able to find, this is an original drawing that ericsson submitted

to the french government for his original "monitor" in 1854. indeed, you can tell the basic elements of the "monitor" that we know and love is there. but already in the 1850s ericsson has this idea floating around about how to create this ultimate warship. as i said, the fear that is -- that you find in northern cities, especially the seaboard cities after the events of march the 8th is tremendous. that the fear is the "merrimac" is going to be showing up the next day in new york harbor or baltimore or philadelphia and that these cities will be either raised or laid under contribution. one of the easiest ways that some people at least first write

in on is saying that we need to lock the "merrimac" in the elizabeth river, either lock her in or lock her out. and to use submerged hulks, stone boats, whatever, barges, to achieve this. prevent the ship from actually leaving its harbor and revising, or launching another attack on the u.s. navy in hampton roads. this idea also is applied to the potomac. that is, the fear that the merrimac is going to come up the potomac and show the capital is palpable. and so the solution was to send ships to kettle bottom shoals just below washington. it's a rather treacherous stretch of river. and to sink ships there. two frigates if necessary. that after all, if the "merrimac" destroyed two of the

navy's best ships in an afternoon, why not just sink them in the potomac and block the "merrimac" from getting up to washington so she doesn't have to destroy them, we'll do it for her. also, the suggestion is, and it's very much a strat agem, why don't we have a fake confederate ship run the blockade? that is, have the ship come sailing up to hampton roads, flying the confederate flag. the union would make not very convincing attempts to stop the ship. it would get by the confederate batteries because they would think it was one of their own. and then once that happened the ship would sink itself in the channel of the elizabeth river and again block the "merrimac" from coming down. also popular, and admiral goldsboro favors this idea initially, what i call swarm and

sink. that what we need in hampton roads with a number of hudson river steamers that are reputedly extremely fast and that we can in a sense attack the "merrimac" en masse and sink her that way. in fact, goldsboro says that success would be certain if this could actually be done. and that's an idea that will pop up in any number of letters that the "merrimac should be swarmed and either shoved into the shoals and aground or taken out by ramming. ramming is the next very popular idea. after all, the "merrimac" had used it to great effect against the cumberland. so why not turn the tables and use ramming against the "merrimac" itself? initially, that was the navy's plan. they had tugs standing by in

hampton roads, several of which were assigned to go after the "merrimac." that of course never happened. right after march 8th the federal government chartered two fast steamers, the "arago" and the "illinois," and sent them from new york to hampton roads to again fling themselves on the "merrimac" when she appeared next. the only problem was the crews, when they found out what they thought their suicide mission was going to be absolutely refused and mutinied. and admiral goldsboro basically wrote in disgust saying that these people are refusing to do the job that they were hired to do. and it all came to nothing. stanton is concerned the navy is just not going to take care of this problem. so the warmy, the war department needs to get involved. and he contacts cornelius vanderbilt, the shipping magnate, and basically says we understand you have an extremely fast ocean steamer, the

"vanderbilt," how much would you charge to use that ship to sink the "merrimac"? and vanderbilt very graciously says, i won't charge you anything. i will in a sense donate this vessel to the federal government. which he does. although the navy does not want it. in fact, wells calls it a white elephant, that in the end no one knows what to do with this vessel. it does become part of the u.s. navy blockade fleet. but again, wells had never wanted it. also very popular, especially with new yorkers, there's a number of new yorkers who write in saying that it's not an unusual occurrence for an east river steamer do clip a pier and be no worse for wear. in fact, charles megs, who's a

banker in new york, said i saw the steamer "empire" basically shear off the 19th street pier and it was perfectly fine. and thus he has this idea for creating a steel-nosed ram that would be totally unarmed, only its nose would be armored and it would be exceptionally fast. it would be what he calls fish-bottomed. it wouldn't have much of a keel. and it would therefore be able to turn very quickly. and it would be able to again throw itself on the "merrimac" with great rapidity. and it would only cost $100,000 to build. could be ready in two months. and according to him capable of cleaning our coast of 100 merrimacs, and that entirely without risk to life or limb to her crew. also, i'm always amazed at the

number of people who write in with these inventions. they're always very time specific usually. that their invention, their ship can win the war in 15 minutes. not 20, not half an hour, not an hour. 15 minutes. war is over. robert harris proposes his vessel called the "tormentor." which if it's sinking its enemy so quickly i don't know how that counts as torment. but nevertheless, this was the name he decided to give to the vessel. then there's also the suggestion made in fact by general woll at fortress monroe saying why don't you send down professor winen's new steamer, it's reported she's very fast and could run down the "merrimac" or any other vessel. now, this nautical oddity was built in 1858 by ross winen.

winen, or winans, hopefully i'm getting his name right. was an inventor, locomotive manufacturer, millionaire, and suspected maryland secessionist. his cigar boats had a revolutionary unworkable idea of the center propeller. it was of course cigar-shaped and this idea also comes to nothing. although winans' steamer had been tested in the waters around norfolk in 1859 and had a fairly good write-up in "scientific american," that supposedly this might be the naval wave of the future. ramming. az said, the confederates had used it to great effect, why shouldn't the union also? so you have a number of

northerners writing in with all of these add-on gadgets for the monitor. a ram attachment which makes it sort of sound like kind of one of those infomercial, you know, chopping dicing machines that has all these different add-ons to the "monitor." and in this particular case james wilson proposes a serrated ram. plain old ram isn't good enough. it has to be serrated to, you know, cut right through without any issue. and it could then be folded up when not in use and not supposedly inhibit the monitor sailing. also you have an ex-new york mayor writing in, saying i have an idea for a piston ram. basically, let's hoom a ram to the "monitor" and any other steamer and assault the enemy and using steam power ram or hammer a hole in the enemy's hull at the rate of 50 strokes a

minute. also, j.g. hull has the same idea of hooking a motor to a ram and basically hammering the enemy's hull into submission. w.j. thorne also has noticed the wonderful scale. the monitor looks giant. the "merrimac" looks practically tiny. that hornet like the monitor would be given this prow, that again using steam power could be thrust out of the prow of the vessel into the enemy. and my personal favorite among the ramming options was sent in by an individual who said that, well, what we need is a ram that has an attachment that once you make contact with the enemy the ram squirts out a flammable liquid. sort of like a venomous spider.

you would ram the enemy and then set them aflame from within. the shells. the question also is why can't we just break through the "merrimac's" iron skin? now, of course, no one in the public knew that the navy had decided not to use the full powder charges for the "monitor's" guns. ericsson was furious about that when he found out and later was proven correct that had the navy used the full amount of powder that he recommended the shells would have gone through the "merrimac's" skin. but you have all sorts of northerners proposing different styles of shell, that bolts, steel-tipped shells. you have jay byers write in saying the way to break the hull or the plating is to coat iron

balls in led. and that once they hit the en y enemy's casement the lead will flatten out and therefore sort of concentrate the thrust of the shell and that this will either crack or actually go through the casement. sounds great on paper. actually probably not very viable. you even have a carriage maker from elgin, iowa write in saying, "i have created a special shell that can go through any sort of plating. and he sends in all sorts of drawings, most of which look terribly complicated and not very workable. jesse strum writes in to the president and says that i have a specialty shell that can destroy the monster from the deep from richmond. the only sticking point is the special shells cost $500 to $1,000 each. but strum says, well, that's only a pron because it really

will take only one or two shells to destroy the enemy. and if you don't like that idea, he says how about a spar cannon you that could have a cannon on a spar, that it would crank up over the prow of whatever ship and fire down through the "merrimac's" roof and go all the way through the keel and sink her that way. another theory that's floated is using concentrated fire. somehow getting groups of cannons to zero in on one exact point on an enemy. again, sounds wonderful in theory. several people write in with the same idea. none have really a guaranteed way of how they can make this actually happen. and of course also very popular are underwater cannons. these are very big. and i apologize in advance for some of my illustrations here.

some were taken with my iphone camera. so they're not terribly great quality. others are taken from the microfilm. we haven't gotten the actual color copies yet. but in this case you do have color. and some of these illustrations are beautifully rendered. but 19th century northerners seem to be obsessed with this idea of the underwater cannon. basically, the modern equivalent, i suppose, of the torpedo tube. and there are, again, a wide variety of selections of how you can make this a reality. that you have r.a. wilder writing in saying, what we need to do are sling two cannons again to the bow of the monitor and then get up close to the enemy and fire into the hull. you also see john quayne basically just hangs the cannon off the prow of a ship and again, these cannons would be fired electronically, or using

an electrical charge. again, sounds wonderful. it's a very sort of 20,000 leagues under the sea. in fact, i believe that disney -- the ship in that disney film was based on some of these drawings that are found in the naval records. one of the more -- one of the many impractical ideas that is floated is one by j.h. kent, who says basically we need this underwater shelf attached to the prow of the "monitor" and those are three underwater cannon that you would approach the "merrimac," shove this drawer under the "merrimac," and blow it to kingdom come from underwater. again, lovely idea. i don't know how, you know -- i'm sure ericsson would have fainted had he seen such a thing attached to his vessel, not to mention i think it would have, you know, been completely unworkable to say the least.

f.j. bidwell writes in saying that while -- how about embedding a heavy gun in the false prow of a tug and in a sense fire through its own hull and sink the "merrimac" that way? torpedoes are also -- and i use torpedoes in the 19th century sense. using spar torpedoes to destroy the "merrimac" is also extremely popular. this idea, which in a smaller with way is actually used during the civil war, if you think of cushing's attack on the albemauer, that is how it is sunk. by using a more scaled down version of this spar torpedo. again, the "monitor" could eliminate it that way. you also have alan smith writes in with an extremely detailed plan. again, i don't know how it would work. that the "monitor" would be equipped with this burr torpedo

that has prongs on it and would be basically shoved into the "merrimac's" hull or he even -- again, how it would be possible in 1862 i don't know. you have basically a motor attached to this little torpedo that operated drills where it would drill itself into its enemy. and then the explosion of course would destroy it. there's also what i call the flying torpedo. this idea, you attach a torpedo to a chain and a cannonball. you fire the cannonball over the "merrimac" with just enough power to skim the roof. that would then pull the torpedo through the air right up to the "merrimac's" hull and then once again you could destroy her that way. even from the interior department, the census bureau technically, you have joseph kennedy writing in with -- he has several beautiful

illustrations that the monitor needs to tow a torpedo and then release it at some point in the channel. and as the "merrimac" comes down, it would sail over this torpedo and the monitor again would discharge it from a safe distance. there's also the idea of having a torpedo on chains. and you have two tugs that are chained together. the torpedoes are in the middle. and that when the "merrimac" came down again these two tugs in a sense would sail in the opposite direction and create a gigantic trip wire. also not terribly practical. speaking of non-practical, jay payne writes in with the same sort of idea. you have the torpedo in the center. you have these two tugs on either side. and you have a small boat in which you have several soldiers

and several soldiers dressed as women pretending to be dressed women pretending to be a pleasure party. why someone would be sailing in the middle of a possible naval conflict, i don't know, but then they would, using a telescope, be able to tell when that floating torpedo was getting close to the merrimac. the two tugs would make for the hills and then basically pull the torpedo under the merrimac and that would be it. these people usually have more than one good idea per letter. he also said, if you don't like that idea, how about creating a false snout for the monitor that, again, is loaded with explosives. it somehow hooks onto the merrimac and you destroy it that way. a more simplistic way -- and also using retractible torpedo fences, that's another one that a lot of people write in somehow that you can create this barrier of torpedos, and the

confederates do something similar, for example, in mobile bay. but these are very complicated, they're self-raising and lowering, rather ingenius if impractical. then the suggestion is made, why not just use basic fishing nets and string fishing nets across the channel, regular nets, rope or even chain, and these will be sucked into the merrimac's propellor, it will be rendered immobile and a sitting duck. problem solved. in fact, the head of the army suggests the same thing to his friend, what do you think about trailing this hausser and

ruining the propellor that way? no, that's really not going to work. there aren't enough nets and it's really not going to work to do such a thing to destroy the merrimac that way. submarines are also proposed by quite a few people that, again, going with your 20,000 leagues under the sea motif, a number of these submarines, again, are very clever and totally impractical. in fact, you have an individual cc coe writing in saying, do you wish the merrimac destroyed? i can do it, but my methods are secret and submarine. i can do it but i can't tell you -- but if england assaults are blockade, i can destroy her fleet in one day. as wild a claim as the telegraph once was but also true. the navy did take a chance on a

submarine. although i should talk about this one just for a moment. another individual wrote in saying, well, how about a glass-bottom boat that -- if you can see the little individual there, that this boat would be used to remove torpedoes and obstructions, that from 10:00 in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon on a sunny day, you can see deep enough in the water to supposedly undo these enemy obstructions. and apparently also a one-man submarine as well. but the one submarine the u.s. government does invest in is proposed by brutus devillaroy. he is a french immigrant. also, if you remember warner brothers cartoons, wile e.

coyote, devillaroy just puts on his torpedo master brilliance. so he is convinced he is brilliant, and there is also the alligator. the alligator is brought down to hampton roads at one point but also is not terribly workable. the navy officers who command it finld th find that, yes, it submerges but it goes straight to the bottom. it does not float very well, doesn't answer its helm. it's got all these different problems. and they tinker with it for about two years. in fact, the alligator is being sent to charleston off of cape hatteras, very close to where the monitor went down just almost about a year before.

commando raids are also very popular. this idea that -- in fact, even very level-headed montgomery megs first suggest we need to take out the merrimac in an emergency, let's just put different men on different ships, have them jump on the merrimac and throw grenades down the smokestack. the merrimac smokestack exercises -- it's an object of singular fascination by a number of writers who view it as this achilles heel, this fatal link in the rebel's armor who could handle immediate destruction if only handled properly. in fact, a number of people write in with this idea, let's send in 10 or 50 or whatever number men, some of them wearing india rubber shoes to be able to run up the cape and sometimes carrying hooks and ladders, sometimes chisels, to somehow

take apart the merrimac smokestack, and they're not going to do anything about this at all. that's what always a mazes me. and, again, throw powder down the smokestack. in fact, g.o. barnes writes in this idea to gideon wells, and he asks wells, write back, tell me what you think. wells probably doesn't write back, but a waggish clerk writes back, would you like to risk being blown apart before your time? nevertheless, these armchair admirals have this idea that a commando raid could take out the merrimac. in fact, even steele writes in again with the same idea, and midway -- in fact, his commandos, though, would have cork life belts. so once they do their thing, they can not drown if they