writers. revisit key figures, battles and events during the 150th anniversary of the civil war. visit college classrooms across the country during lectures in history. go behind the scenes at museums and historic sites on american artifacts. and the presidency looks at policies and legacies of past american presidents. view our complete schedule at c-span.org/history and sign up to have it e-mailed by pressing the c-span alert button. this week on the civil war. more from the mariners museum, in newport news, virginia. this year's conference marked the 150th anniversary of the battle of hampton roads where for the first time ironclad warships met in battle. and in this session, an assistant editor at the papers of abraham lincoln prob jekt talks about ideas and

subjections for northerners. this its just under an hour. good morning, my name is jonathan white, assistant professor and fellow at centers for american studies at christopher new port university right across the road from the mariners museum. it is a pleasure to welcome you this morning to the mariners museum unnin newport news. i know many have come a long way to be here today at this wonderful event at this incredible museum. for friends watching on cspan. i would look to say if you have never bun to newport news, i strongly recommend visiting if for no other reason than to see the maritime museum, mariners museum. before i begin i would like to thank our sponsors and partners, without whom this conference would not be possible. and in fact the weekend's events. our sponsors are bank of america, the virginia foundation for the humanities, and southern

structural steel. our partners, museum of the confederacy. studies for american studies at christopher new port university, and hampton, and noaa's marine sanctuary the now i am pleased to introduce our next speaker. an assistant editor with the papers of abraham lincoln project and adjunct professor of history at george mason university where he teaches courses on 19th century u.s. military. he earned his ph.d. in 1999 from southern illinois university, under the direction of john simon. his dissertation was on the care, treatment, and use of civil war cavalry horses. now i would look to tell you a little bit about the work that david does with papers of abraham lincoln. david and editors are doing an incredibly labor intensive, but

extraordinarily important job with the papers of abraham linco lincoln. editors are traveling looking for any letters or documents sent to or by abraham lincoln. there are many editors working at the national archives every day, 40 hours a week going through millions of documents, every piece of paper that was generated by the federal government, or sent to the federal government, from the civil war years, held at the archives will be looked at by one of the editors. they are daily finding new insights about our nation's 16th president. this work is important and shedding new light on someone we thought we knew a lot about and did. we are learning more every day. david is part of that project. that project is a boon to historians like myself. today we will get to see a little bit of what david has stumbled upon looking at miscellaneous letters received by the secretary of the navy during the civil war the would you please welcome david

gurlman. good morning. thank you for the welcome. i must confess as a youngster i enjoyed putting together model ships. being here at the museum, i am giddy with excitement that all the models that are here to be viewed. as john mentioned it has given me an extraordinary opportunity to look at documents i normally never would have seen, and that includes the documents that i'm largely going to be talking about today. you see all sorts of interesting things, in the holdings of the national archives, so, i, hardly encourage -- highly encourage you to go and visit and dig through the records for

yourself. the letters i am going to be talking about today were largely sent -- either to gideon wells, secretary of the navy or president lincoln himself. in the 19th century the president was viewed as sort of your go-to guy for if you have a question, a problem, not getting your pay, you write to the president and, hopefully, he will respond. i had a chance to see some of the letters of resignation that are handed in at the start of the civil war by u.s. navy officers including franklin buchanan. he writes a letter to the president saying can you cancel my previous resignation, i decided to stay. no. that certainly is not permitted. also, seen a number of -- what i

would say rather pathetic letters of resignation from serving officers saying, i know i should stand by the american flag, i know it is my duty, i can't do it, my family is in nashville. i would be a pariah if i did my duty. so i have to resign. and go. who are the people that write in? i will talk about it today. they come from all walks of life. bankers, civil engineers. average people. carriage makers and including a fair number of anonymous. i'm curious when i see letters by anonymous, either they really wish to remain completely unknown or they sort of knew the ideas they were suggesting were so ludicrous that they did not want their name to be attached

to it. and, i should also say -- in all of the letters that i looked at, the word css virginia are never used, it is always the merimac. call her what you will. she will always be the merimac. of a some one doesn't approve, every time i say merimac, mentally insert virginia. the race to build an ironclad warship was well under way before the civil war ever began. and indeed, the race had begun really by the -- turn of the 19th century. that is in 10800. if not before. and in fact one of the first people to propose one of these more modern warships was robert fulton. fulton actually builds, designs and builds the first steam warship for the u.s. navy, which eventually bears his name.

he also -- tried to sell the french -- an idea for his submarine. he had a submarine called the nautilus which he tried to -- to sell to the french and other governments -- no one really was buy. it was quite a risky venture. no one thought they would waste money on it. also -- clinton roosevelt. writes in, 1840, and he sends in this lovely color -- almost a painting -- it's a rather massive -- series of-duf -- of paper, invulnerable steam battery which sort of looks merimac-esque, if you go by descriptions that she looked like a barn that was floating down the river up to her eves. so clinton roosevelt submits this and again it really goes nowhere. but the british and french, in

the 1850s, were already building ironclads, well not ironclads, we really think of them. iron plated warships. the french had the glory. and the british had built the warrior. and thus, this first clash of ironclads that happens here in hampton roads is of immense interest not only at home but abroad. in fact one of the correspondents, tells lincoln, england is in ablaze from one end to another after news arrived that the two ships had engaged. and, of course, every time you have advances in military technology, you also have people trying to find ways of -- counter acting that. so for one, for each and every action, there is a reaction. and that is what you will see today when i -- get to the portion talking about all these different inventions and

suggesti suggestions. that people are writing how in to deal with the new weapon of war. the merrimac. whether it be throwing grenades down the smokestack. electronic triggered mind. 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 is the president, 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 -- had many, many other things to deal with rather than -- help people -- get contracts. and indeed, citizens from all walks of life are flooding, flooding the -- the federal government with these different suggestions that they have.

as another correspondent put it, the whole yankee world its studying and contriving some method of destroying the merrimac. and the panic in washington and eastern seaboard cities after the events of march 8, 1862, was almost palpable. gideon wells, although he is certainly no fan of stanton, wells says in his diary and elsewhere, he describes how stanton is panicked. he is a made the merrimac is going to sail up the potomac and shell the white house. it is 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 in -- formed in new york city at stanton's behest of some of the leading engineers, how, how to go about counteracting the merrimac. the whole wealth and power of the united states would be committed for that purpose. now, often times the citizens that are writing in -- they usually fall into two categories. in that they either write in humably 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 they have the greatest idea that has ever been invented. and that, the union cause will be ruined -- unless it is purchased immediately at

exorbitant rates by those in authority. what i have tried to do is narrow down or at least -- coalesce a number of these plans d different categories which i will talk about as quickly as possible. usually -- some of these ideas aren't inventive. that's after ericson'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, the monitor, the ultimate killing machine. and again, if only -- the government will buy it. one of the other things i was lucky enough to be find. an original drawing, ericson submitted to the french government. for his original monitor in

1854. indeed, you can tell it -- the basic elements of the monitor that we know and love, is there. but already in the 1850s, ericson has this idea floating around about how to create this ultimate warship. as the i said, the fear -- that its -- that you find in northern cities, especially the seaboard cities after the events of -- of march 8th -- is tremendous. the fear is the merrimac will be showing up the next day in new york harbor or baltimore or philadelphia. and that these cities will be, either razed 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 look her out. and to use submerged stone boats, whatever, barges, to achieve this. prevent the ship from actually leaving its harbor and revising, launching another attack on the u.s. navy in hampton roads. this idea -- applied to the potomac. the fear that the merrimac will come up the potomac and shell the capital was palpable. and to send ships below washington, a rather treacherous stretch of river and sink ships there. after all, if the merrimac destroyed two of the navy's best ships in an afternoon. why not sink thechl in the

potomac and block the merrimac from getting up to washington and, she doesn't have to destroy them, we'll do it for her. also the suggestion is -- and, it's -- very much -- a strategy, why don't we have a a fake confederate ship run the blockade. that is have a 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 battery because they would think it was one of their own. and then once that happened. the ship would sing k itself in the channel of the elizabeth river and again block the merrimac from coming down. also popular and admiral golds. borough favors this idea initially. what i call swarm and sink. that -- we, what we need in

hampton roads are a number of hudson river steepers that are reputedly, extremely fast, we can in a sense attack the merrimac en masse and sink her that way. and in fact, goldsborough 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 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 which were assigned to go after it,

that of course never happened. right after march 8, the federal government chartered two fast steamers, 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 goldsborough 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 army, the war department needs to get involved. and he contacts, cornelius vanderbilt the shipping magnate and says, we understand you have an extretremtremely fast boat,

vanderbilt" how much would you charge to use that ship to sink the merrimac. vanderbilt graciously says, i won't charge you anything. i will una 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 really 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 is a number of new yorkers who write in, saying -- that -- often it's not an unusual occurrence for an east river steamer to clip a pier and be no worse for wear. in fact, charles meggs, a banker in new york said i saw the steamer umpire, basically sheer

off the 19-street pier and it was perfectly fine. and thus he has the this idea for creating -- a steel the nosed ram that would be 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. it would only cost $100,000 to build. ready untwo months and according to him, capable of cleaning our coast of 100 merrimacs. and that without risk to life or limb to her crew. also, i am always amazed at the number of people who write in with these inventions. they're always very time

specif specific, usually. their invention. their ship can win the war in 15 minutes. not 20, half-hour, hour. 15 minutes. robert harris, proposes his vessel called the tormentor. which -- itch it is sinking its enemy so quickly. then there is also the suggestion made, in fact, by general wool, at fortress monroe why don't you send down professor wynan's new steamer it is reported she is very fast and could run down the merrimac or any other vessel. now this oddity was built in 1858 by ross wynan. wynan, or wynans, hopefully

getting his name right, an inventer, locomotive, millionaire and suspected secessionist. his boats had an evolutionary and unworkable idea of the center propeller. it was of course, cigar-shaped. and this idea also comes to nothing. all thoi, w-- although the steamer had been tested in the waters around norfolk had a writeup in scientific american, supposedly this may be the naval wave of the future. ramming, as i said, the confederates had used it to great effect why shouldn't the union also. and so, you have a number of northerners writing in with all the add-on gadgets to the monitor. a ram attachment, which makes it

sort of sound like, kind of one of those infoinfomercial, chopping/dicing machines that has all the different add-ones 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 kind of cut right through, without any issue. and, it could then be folded up when not in use, and not supposedly inhibit the monitor's sailing. also you have an ex-new york mayor. writing in saying -- i have an idea for a piston ram. basically let's hook a ram to -- to the, the monitor, any other steamer, and assault the enemy and using steam power, ram use, hammer a hole in the enemy's hull at the rate of 50 strokes a minute. also -- jg hull has the the same

idea of hooking a motor -- to a ram -- and basically hammering the enemy's hull into submission. w.j. thorn also has, notice the wonderful scale -- the monitor looks giant. the merrimac looks practically tiny. the hornet like monitor would be given this, that again, using steam power could be thrust out of the, the -- the prou vessel. into the enemy. my personal favorite among the ramming options was sent in by an individual who said, that what we need is a ram that has the 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 set them aflame from within.

the shells. the question also is -- why can't weep 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. ericson was furious about that when he found out. later was proven correctly that had the navy used the full amount of pouder thwder that he recommended the shells would have gone through the merrimac's skin. you have all sorts of northerners, proposing different styles of shell. that, that bolts, steel tipped shells, you have -- j. buyers write in saying the way to break the hull or the -- the plating -- is to coat iron balls in lead. and that once they hit the

enemy's, case mate, 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. probably not very viable. you have a carriage maker from elgin, iowa, write in saying i have created this special shell that can go through any sort of plating and sends in all sorts of drawings most of which look terribly complicated and not very workable. jesse strohm writes into the president and says i have a specialty shell that can destroy the monster from the deep from richmond. the only sticking point is, the specialty shells cost $500 to $1,000 each. but strohm said that is not really a problem. it will only take one or two shells to destroy the enemy. if you don't like that idea, he

says, how about a spar canon. have a canon on a spar, crank up over the hull of a ship fire through the merrimac's roof and go through the keel and sink her that way. another theory that is floated is using concentrated fire. somehow getting groups of canones to zero in on one exact point. on an enemy. again, sounds wonderful in theory. several write in with the same idea. none have a guaranteed idea of how they can make this actually happen. and, of course, also very popular are underwater canones. these are very big. and i apologize in advance for -- for some of my -- my illustrations here. some were taken with my iphone

camera, they're not terribly great quality. others taken for microfilm. we haven't gotten the color copies. in this case you have color. some illustrations are beautifully rendered. 19th century northerners seem to be obsessed with this idea of the underwater cannon. modern equivalent i suppose of the, torpedo tube. there are again, a wide variety of selection house you can make this a reality. that -- you have -- what we need to do are sling two canones to the bow of the monitor and get it close to the enemy and fire into the hull. you see jon wayne, hangs a cannon off the ship and again these canon canons, fired

electronically, electrical charge. very "20,000 leagues under the sea. "and in fact i believe the ship in the disney film was based on some of the drawings that, that, are found in the -- naval records. one of the more -- one of the many impractical ideas that is floated is one by jh kent who says basically we need this underwater shelf, attached to 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. lovely idea. i don't know how, i'm sure ericson would have fainted had he seen such a thing attached to his vessel not to mention that i think it would have been completely, unworkable to say the least.