When, at 8 o'clock on March 9, 1862, the "Merrimac," after the havoc which she had wrought with the Federal ships on the evening before, including the burning of the "Congress" and the sinking of the "Cumberland," steamed out from the shore in order to continue her work of destruction—which contemplated successively the annihilation of the "Minnesota," the "Roanoke" and the "St. Lawrence," and would thus clear the way for her intended attack on the capital of the nation—she was surprised to discover a diminutive craft of peculiar construction, almost sunk beneath the water line, with a strange-looking iron turret in the centre, steaming boldly towards her from out the shadow of the powerful frigate "Minnesota." The "Monitor" had sailed from New York Harbor on March 6th, in tow of a tugboat, to brave the waters of the Atlantic, although she was originally designed only for smooth inland waters. Before she had passed Sandy Hook she received urgent despatches to hurry to Washington and, after inconceivable hardships in the towering seas of the Atlantic coast, arrived off Fortress Monroe about 9 o'clock in the evening of
March 8th, where she heard for the first time of the depredations of the "Merrimac" and witnessed the final destruction of the "Congress" amid lurid flames and the bursting of her own shells. Though worn out and disheartened in their own struggle for life with the tempestuous billows of the ocean on this, her first trial trip of thirty-six hours from New York until she reached the side of the "Minnesota," the crew of the "Monitor," encouraged and reassured by its heroic commander, Lieutenant John L. Worden, prepared for the expected combat with their redoubtable opponent.
The eyes not only of the men in the shipping and on shore, both Union and Confederate, but of the whole country, were anxiously centred on the two iron-clads as they approached each other, and the little "Monitor" hardly seemed a match for the huge craft of the Confederates, who looked with contempt upon the diminutive "cheese box," as they called it, which dared to take up the gage of battle with their formidable "Merrimac." Soon, however, it became apparent that the prowess of the little Union craft had been entirely underestimated, and in the combat which ensued the very smallness of the "Monitor" gave her a great advantage, in the swiftness of her movements, over her gigantic opponent, not unlike an undersized but agile and skilful athlete in encounter with a large and lumbering, though more powerful, antagonist. Lieutenant Worden was the hero of the occasion in the rapidity of his manœuvring, while Lieutenant Jones, now in command of the "Merrimac," was surprised to find that his shot made no impression on the "Monitor." After more than two hours of incessant fighting, Lieutenant Worden having been temporarily blinded through the powder from an exploding shell which struck a sight-hole in the pilot-house of the "Monitor," through which he was watching the enemy, its command devolved upon Lieutenant Greene. As in the
ensuing confusion the "Monitor" had drifted into shoal water, where the "Merrimac" could not follow, the latter ship retired to the shore, and although refitted and repaired for further combat she did not again meet the "Monitor" in battle, and, on the evacuation of Norfolk by the Confederates on the 10th of May following, they consigned her to destruction.
The courage of Lieutenant Worden in the handling of the novel and untested craft under his command, and his brave words—even when blinded and wounded by the powder and particles from the shells of the enemy and suffering intense pain—when he was told that the "Minnesota" had been saved: "Then I can die happy,"—stamp him as worthy of a place in the long list of our naval heroes.
It is not surprising that Abraham Lincoln, with his quick perception of genuine merit, caused the following communication to be sent to Lieutenant Worden:
"Navy Department, March 15, 1862.
"Lieutenant John L. Worden, United States Navy, Commanding United States Steamer 'Monitor,' Washington.
"Sir:
"The naval action which took place on the 10th[P] inst. between the 'Monitor' and 'Merrimac' at Hampton Roads, when your vessel, with two guns, engaged a powerful armored steamer of at least eight guns, and after a few hours' conflict repelled her formidable antagonist, has excited general admiration and received the applause of the whole country.