>> sunday, author blaine harden on chin's journey out of north korea. on may 6th, look for our q and a interview with robert caro, it coincides with the passage of power and lyndon johnson, his biography of the 36th president. >>. >> this week on the civil war, more from the mariners museum, civil war navy conference in newport news, virginia. it marked the 150th anniversary of the battle of hampton roads wherefore the first time iron clad warships met in battle. in this section, david gerleman talks about some of the ideas and suggestions offered by northerners for fighting the con federal iron clad merrimac.

this is just under an hour. good morning. my name is jonathan white. i'm an assistant professor at christopher newport university. it is a measure to welcome you to the mariners museum at newport news. >> if you have never been to newport news, i strongly recommend if for no other reason than to see this incredible museum, the mariners' museum. i would like to thank our sponsors and partners, without whom this conference would not be possible and the weekends events. our sponsors are bank of america, the virginia foundation for the humanities and southern structural steel. our partners are the museum of the confederacy, the center for

american studies at christopher newport university, the hampton roads naval museum and noaa's museum sanctuary. i am pleased to introduce, david gerleman, an adjunct professor of history at george mason university where he teaches courses on 19th century and military history. he earned his ph.d. under the direction of john weiss simon. his dissertation was on the care, treatment, and use of civil war cavalry horses. i would like to tell you a little bit about the work that david does with the papers of abraham lincoln. david and his fellow editors are doing an incredibly labor intensive but extraordinarily important job with the papers of

abraham lincoln. . there are many editors working at the national archives 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 that is held at the national archives will be looked at by one of the editors of the papers of abraham lincoln. they are daily finding new insights about our nation's 16th president. this work is extraordinarily important and shedding new light on someone we thought we knew a lot about and we did and we are learning more about every day. david is a part of that project. that project has been a wonderful boon to historians like myself. today, we are going to see a little bit of what he has stumbled upon while looking at the miscellaneous letters received by the secretary of the navy during the civil war. would you please join me in welcoming david gerleman.

good morning. it is wonderful to be here. thank you, john, for that wonderful welcome. i must confess that as a youngster, i enjoyed putting together model ships. i am positively giddy about excitement. i am assistant editor with the papers of abraham lincoln. as john mentioned, it has given me an extraordinary opportunity to look at documents that i normally would never have seen that includes the documents i am going to be talking about today. you see all sorts of interesting things in the holdings of the national archives. so i heartily encourage you to go visit and dig through the records for yourself the letters

i am going to be talking about today were sent to gideon wells or president lincoln. he was viewed as your go-to go, if you have a question, a problem, not getting your pay, you write to the president. hopefully, he will respond. well, what happens is, he will forward it or one of his secretaries will forward it to where it needs to go. i have had a chance to see the letters of resignation handed in, including franklin buchanon who disdhoofrs when maryland does not sus seed, he writes another letter to the president saying, can you cancel my previous resignation. i have decided to stay. no. that certainly is not permitted. i also have 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 to be loyal to the government. my family is in nashville. i would be a pa rye ya if i did my duties. so i have to resign and go south. who are the people that write in? they come in all walks of life. bankers, civil engineers. a fair number of anonymous. i am always curious when i see these letters by anonymous. they really wish to remain unknown or they knew the ideas they were suggesting that were so ludicrous, they did not want their name to be attached to it. i should also say that in all

the letters that i looked at, the word css virginia are never used. it is always the merrimac. call her what you will, she will always be the merrimac to me. if you don't approve of that, mentally insert virginia. the race to build an iron clad warship was well underway before the civil war began. indeed, the race had gun really by the turn of the 19th century. in 1800, if not before. in fact, one of the first people to propose one of these more modern warships was robert fulton. fulton 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 gn nautilus. no one thought they would waste money on the risky venture. also, clinton roosevelt writes in in 1840 and he sends in this lovely color, almost a painting, rather massive series of paper that is taped together of his invulnerable steam battery which looks sort of merrimacesque, if you go by some of the descriptions that she looked like a barn that was floating. the british and french in the

1850s were already building ironclads, not like we really think of them. iron-plated warships. the french had the glory and the british had built the warrior. this first clash of ironclad is is of immense interest not only at home but abroad. one of the correspondents tells lincoln england is in a blaze from one end to the other after news has arrived that these two ships have engaged. you have advances and people trying to find ways to counter act that. for each and every action, there is a reaction. that is what you will see today when i get to the portion talking about these 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 people write to lyndon because they feel he is not only the president and commander and chief but that he can get their invention accepted. he will work his executive magic and get them a contract with the war department. lincoln had many other things to deal with than help people get contracts. 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. certainly, the panic that was felt in washington and eastern seaboard cities after march 8th, 1862 was almost palpable. gideon wells, no fan of stanton, wells says in his diary and elsewhere he, he describes how stanton is panicked, that he is afraid that 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. the northern public were very fearful of this happening. another correspondent writes to lincoln saying that if the rebels achieve in getting her to see the navy department will never be acquitted or forgiven.

the whole current of the war will be changed and no one will redekt how it will end. there was a special committee formed at stanton's behest, some of the leading engineers how to go about counter acting the merrimac. the whole wealth and power of the united states would be committed for that purpose. oftentimes, the citizens that are writing in usually fall into two categories, they write in humbly saying, i am terribly sorry to bother you with this idea which you may not like but here it is or they are the very opposite. they have the greatest idea ever invented and the union cause will be ruined unless purchased immediately at usually exorbitant rates by those in

authority. what i have tried to do is narrow down or coalesce these plans and schemes in 13 different categories which i will talk about as quickly as possible. usually, some of these ideas aren't terribly inventive. after ericson's monitor proves itself capable of taking on the merrimac, many people write in with all sorts of add-on gadgets, that their invention can make the monitor the ultimate killing machine if only the government will bichlt one ott the other things i was lucky enough to be able to find. this is an original drawing that erics ericson submitted to the french government for his original monitor in 1854.

you can tell the basic elements of the monitor we know and love is there. already, in the 1850s, ericson has this idea of how to create this ultimate warship. the fear that you find in northern cities, especially the seaboard cities after the events of march the 8th is tremendous. the fear is that the merrimac will be showing up the next day at new york harbor, baltimore or philadelphia and that these cities will be razed or laid under contribution. one of the easiest ways some people write in on is saying, we need to lock the merrimac in the elizabeth river. lock her in or lock her out.

to use submerged hulks, stone boats, barges to prevent the ship from leaving its harbor and launching another attack on the u.s. navy in hampton roads. this idea also is applied to the potomac, the fear that the merrimac is going to come up to the potomac and shell the capital is palpable. so the solution was to send ships to kettle bottom shoals, just below washington's rather treacherous stretch of river and to sink ships there, two frig ets if necessary. if the merrimac destroyed two of the navy's best ships, why not sink them in the potomac and block the merrimac from getting

up to the washington so she doesn't have to destroy them. we will do it for her. also, the suggestion is, very much a strat gem, why don't we have a fake confederate ship run the block aid. have a ship come sailing up 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. once that happened, the ship would sink its self in the channel of the elizabeth river and again block the merrimac from coming down. also popular, admiral goldsboro favors this idea initially, what i call swarm and sink. what we need at hampton roads are a number of hudson river steamers that are repute edly

extremely fast and that we can in a sense attack the merrimac in mass and sink her that way. in fact, goldsboro says success would be certain if this could be done. that's an idea that would pop up in a number of letters, that the merrimac should be swarmed and shoved into the shoals aground or taken out byraming. ramming is the next very popular idea. after all, the merrimac had used 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 to fling themselves on the merrimac when she appeared next. the problem was, the crews, when they found out what they thought their suicide mission was going to be refused in mutiny. admiral goldsborough wrote in disgust saying these people are refusing to do the job they are hired to do and it all came to nothing. stanton is concerned the navy is just not going to take care of this problem. the army, war department needs to get involved. he contacts cornelius vanderbilt, the shipping magnet and 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?

vanderbilt, very graciously says, i won't charge you anything. i am in a sense donate this vessel to the federal government. which he did you. the navy does not want it. wells calls it a white elephant. in the end, no one knows what to do with this vessel it becomes part of the u.s. navy blockade fleet and wells had never wanted it. very popular with new yorkers. there are a number of new yorkers that write in saying it is not an unusual occurrence for an east river steamer to clip a pier and be no worse for wear. in fact, charles megs, who is a banker in new york, said i saw the steamer empire basically sheer off the 19th street pier and it was perfectly find.

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 kiel and it would therefore be able to turn quickly and throw itself on the merrimac with great repidty. 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 entire ily without risk to life or limb to her crew. also, i am amazed with the number of people that write in with threes inventions.

they are very time specific. their ship can win the war in 15 minutes. not 20 or half an hour or an hour. it is usually 15 minutes the war is over. robert harris proposes his vessel called the torementor. that was the name he decided to give to the vessel. then, there is also the suggestion made, in fact, by general wool at fortress monroe saying why don't you send down professor wi nan's new steamer. it is reported she is very fast and could run down the merrimac or any other vessel. this nautical oddity was built in 1858 by ross winans was an inventor, a locomotive manufacturer, millionaire and

suspected maryland sus sessionist. it was cigar-shaped and this idea comes to nothing. although, winans steamer had been tested in the waters around know folk in 1859 and had a fairly good writup in scientific america that supposedly this might be the naval wave of the future. ramming, the confederates had used it to great effect. why shouldn't the union also. you have a number of northerners writing in with these add-on gadgets to the monitor. a ram attachment that sounds

like one of those infomercial, chopping, dicing machines that has all these different add-ons to the monitor. in this particular case, james wilson proposes a serrated ram. plain old ram isn't good enough. it has to be serrated to 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 righting in saying i have an idea for a piston ram. let's look a ram to the monitor or any other steamer and assault the enemy and using steam power, 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 hammering the enemy's hull into submission. w.j. thorn also has noticed the wonderful scale, the monitor looks giant. the merrimac looks practically tiny. that the monitor would be given this prou, using steam power could be thrust out of the prou of the vessel into the enemy. my personal favorite among the ramming options was sent in by an individual that said, 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 like a venomous spider. you would ram the enemy and set them aflame from within.

the shells, the question also is, why can't we just breakthrough 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 and later was proven correctly, 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. bolts, steel-tip shells. you have j. buyers write in saying, well, the way to break the hull or the plating is to coat iron balls in led. that once they hit the enemy's case made, the led will flatten

out and therefore concentrate the thrust of the shell and that this will either crack or actually go through the case. sounds great on paper. actually, probably not very viable. you have a carriage demaker fro elgin, iowa. i have created a special shell that can go through any plating. he sends in all sorts of drawings that look terribly complicated and not very workable. jesse strum writes in 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. strum says, that's 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 cannon.

you could have a cannon on a spar that would crank up over the prou 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 is floated is using concentrated fear is using fire, getting it to zero in on the enemy. sounds wonderful in theory. several people write in with the same idea. none have a guaranteed way of how they can make this actually happen. also very popular underwater cannons. these are very big. i apologize in advance for some of my illustrations. some were taken with my iphone camera. so they are not terribly great quality. others were taken from the

microfilm. we haven't gotten the color copes yet. in this case, you have color. some of these illustrations are beautifully rendered. 19th century northerners seem to be obsessed with this idea of the underwater cannon, the mott de modern equivalent of the torpedo tube. there are a wide variety of selections of how you can make this a reality. you have r.a. wilder writing in saying you have to sling two cannons to the bough or the monitor and get up close to the enemy and fire into the hull. you see john kwane hangs a cannon off the prou of a ship and these cannons would be fired electronically or using an electrical charge. sounds wonderful. it is very sort of 20,000

leagues under the sea. i believe that the ship in that disney film was based on some of these drawings that are found in the naval records. one of the many impractical ideas that is floated is one by j.h. kent who says we need this underwater shelf attached to the prou of the monitor. those are three underwater cannons you would approach the merrimac and shove this drawer under the merrimac and blow it to kingdom come from under water. 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, i think it would have been completely unworkable to say the least. f.j. bidwell writes in saying how about imbedding a heavy gun