the country during lecture necessary history. go behind the scenes at museums and historic sites on american artifacts and the presidency looks at the policies and legacies of past american presidents. view our complete schedule at c-span.org/history and sign up to have it e-mailed to you by pressing the c-span alert button. this week on the civil war, more from the mariners museum, civil war navy conference in newport news, virginia. this year's conference in early march marked the 150e anniversary of the battle of hampton roads where, for the first time, ironclad warships met in battle. in this section, david gerleman an editor at the abraham lincoln project, talks about some of the ideas and sgzs offered by northerners for fighting the confederate ironclad mashg mac. this is just under an hour.

>> if everyone would grab their seats. good morning. my name is jonathan white. i'm an assistant professor at american studies and a fellow at christopher newport university. it is a measure to welcome you to the mariners museum at newport news. i know many of you have come a long way to be here today at this wonderful event at this incredible museum. for our friends watching us on c-span, i'd like to say that 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 monitor national marine sanctuary. i am pleased to introduce our next speaker, david gerleman. david is an assistant editor and an adjunct professor at george mason university where he teaches courses on 19th century and military history. he earned his ph.d. in 1999 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.

the editors are raffling the country looking for papers to examine from abraham lincoln. they are 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 opportunity for 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. so being here at the museum, i am positively giddy about excitement with all the models here to review. it's true, i am an 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 largely 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 himself. in the 19th century, the president was viewed as your go-go guy for, if you have a question, a problem, fought getting your pay, you write to the president and 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 that are handed in, including franklin buchanon who discovers when maryland does not secede, 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. but i just can't do it. my family is in nashville. i would be a paraya if i did my duties. so i have to resign and go south. who are the people that write in? certainly those letters we're going to talk about today, they come from all walks of life. bankers, civil engineers. average people, carriagemakers and including a fair number of anonymous. i am always curious when i see these letters by anonymous. they really wish to remain completely unknown or they knew the ideas they were suggesting were so lewd cuss, 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 anyone doesn't approve of that, every time i say merrimack, just mentally insert virginia. certainly, the race to build an ironclad warship was well under way before the civil war ever began. indeed, the race had begun, really, by the turn of the 19th century. that is, in 1800, if not before. in fact, one of the first people to propose one of these more modern warships was robert fulton. fulton 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 sell to the french and other governments. no one was buying. it was quite a risky venture. no one thought that they would waste money on it. also, clinton roosevelt writes in in 1840 and he sends in this lovely color -- it's almost a painting. it's a rather massive series of paper that is taped together of his invulnerable steam battery, which looks sort of merrimackesque if you go by some of the descriptions that she looked like a barn that was floating down the river on its eaves. it really went nowhere. 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 of immense interest not only at home but abroad. one of the correspondents tells lincoln that 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 counteract 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 merrimack. of course, people write to lyndon because they feel, not only is he the president and commander and chief, but 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 condriving some

method of destroying the merrimack. certainly, the panic that was felt in washington and eastern seaboard cities after march 8th, 1862 was almost palpable. gideon wells, although he's certainly 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

predict how it will end. there was even a special committee formed at stanton's behest, some of the leading engineers, how to go about counteracting the merrimac. and that the 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 it is 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 into 13 different categories which i will talk about as quickly as possible. usually, some of these ideas aren't terribly inventive. that is 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 buy one and one of the other things that i was lucky enough to be able to find, thisat ericsson 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 in 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. either lock her in or lock her out. and to use submerged hulks,

stone boats, whatever, barges to prevent the ship from 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 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 frigates if necessary. that is, after all, if the merrimack destroyed two of the navy's best ships in an afternoon, why not just sink them in the potomac and block the merrimack from getting up to washington and is she doesn't have to destroy them, we'll do

it for her. also, the suggestion is -- and it's very much a stratagem -- why don't we have a fake confederate ship run the block aid. have a ship come sailing up flying the confederate flag. blockaid. have a ship come sailing up flying the confederate flad. have a ship come sailing up flying the confederate flae. 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 itself 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 reputedly 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 by ramming. 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

the problem was, the crews, when they found out what they thought their suicide mission was going to be refused in mutiny. admiral goldsboro 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 basically says, you know, 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 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. in the end, no one knows what to do with this vessel. it does become 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 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 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 tormentor. which if it's sinking its enemy so quickly, i don't know how that satisfies torment, but 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 winans' 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 secessionist. 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 writeup 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-ons to the monitor. james wilson proposes a serrated ram. it could, then, be folded up when not in use and not totally inhibit the monitor 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 prau, using steam power could be thrust out of the prau 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. byers write in saying, well, the way to break the hull or the plating is to coat iron balls in lead. that once they hit the enemy's case made, the lead 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 carriagemaker from elgin, iowa, write in saying, i have created a special shell that can go through any sort of 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 prau 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 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 prau 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 prau 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 in the false prau of a tug and, in a sense, fire through its own hull and sink the merrimac that way.