The Action between the Monitor and the Merrimac.
From an engraving of the picture by Chappel.
During the time that was needed by this change of commanders the Monitor was heading toward Fortress Monroe. Captain Van Brunt “thought it probable she had exhausted her supply of ammunition, or sustained some injury.” Lieutenant Jones and his officers on the Merrimac very naturally supposed that the Monitor had given up the contest. Jones says:
“We for some time awaited the return of the Monitor to the Roads. After consultation it was decided that we should proceed to the navy-yard in order that the vessel should be brought down in the water and completed. The pilots said if we did not then leave that we could not pass the bar until noon of the next day. We therefore at 12 M. quit the Roads and stood for Norfolk. Had there been any sign of the Monitor’s willingness to renew the contest we would have remained to fight her.”
Lieutenant Greene, of the Monitor, says of this matter:
“Exactly how much time elapsed from the moment that Worden was wounded until I had reached the pilot-house and completed the examination of the injury at that point, and determined what course to pursue in the damaged condition of the vessel, it is impossible to state; but it could hardly have exceeded twenty minutes at the utmost. During this time the Merrimac, which was leaking badly, had started in the direction of the Elizabeth River; and, on taking my station in the pilot-house and turning the vessel’s head in the direction of the Merrimac, I saw that she was already in retreat. A few shots were fired at the retiring vessel, and she continued on to Norfolk. I returned with the Monitor to the side of the Minnesota, where preparations were being made to abandon the ship, which was still aground. Shortly afterward Worden was transferred to a tug, and that night he was carried to Washington.”
Undoubtedly fair is the statement made by Lieut. John Taylor Wood:
“Although there is no doubt that the Monitor first retired,—for Captain Van Brunt, commanding the Minnesota, so states in his official report,—the battle was a drawn one, so far as the two vessels engaged were concerned. But in its general results the advantage was with the Monitor.”
The italics are not in Lieutenant Wood’s statement, but are inserted here to emphasize the effect of what he says. Greene adds: