US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Eustis, VA)

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Wuxx ll Fort Eustis- O-D -Fort Eustis THERE ARE STEEL SHIPS WANTED ON THE SEA Viking Song V LIEUTENANT W1LL1s J. PLUMMER, Inf-Res. The day of wooden vessels of war was ended March 8, 1862, when the iron beak of the lllerrimae tore into the side of the Cumberland and sank her with no important dam- age to herself other than the loss of her sting in her victimis side. With the sinking of Cumberland near Newport News, the burning of the Congrer: and the grounding of the the Mirzuesota just beyond range of the MET7'fmdC,I guns, but waiting for whatever might be her fate on the morrow, Union hopes sank and Confederate enthusiasm was correspond- ingly high. It was the Confederate purpose completely to destroy the Union fleet that had bottled up the James and made the retention of Norfolk of almost no military value. The attack was completely unexpected. Aboard the Cumberland the sailor's garments hung out to dry-for it was Saturday, Wash day. She was hurriedly prepared for battle and the men aboard the Union ship thought the Merrimae an easy prey. As she rammed them and they leaped to her sloping sides to board her, however, they slid down her armor, which had been greased with tallow, and were drowned. This feature of the first day's fight accounts for the heavy losses on the Union side. Captain Franklin Buchanan of the Merrinzac was especially anxious to destroy the Cumberland as she was reported to be the only ship of the Union fleet equipped with the new riHed guns. The gunboats Raleigh and Beaufort were sent by Buchanan to take off the wounded of the Congreff and to fire the ship, as she had hung out white Hags. Perhaps, through some mistake, the boarding party was fired upon by shore batteries and Buchanan seriously wounded aboard his own ship. Buchananls own brother, McKean Buchanan, was paymaster aboard the Cougrefx, but it was characteristic of the Confederate naval officer that he told the Page One Humlrezl Fourteen .vN.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.V.y.I.7.IN-V. . . . . . . . . - - - - .

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Fort Eustis- O-D -Fort Eustis CRillej, G. Hendricksen, Company HG . The best Blue of the regiment, Percy C. Rear- don, Company C , also was honored with an NITCA Medal, the most coveted prize of the camp. The following students were designated as having the highest qualities of citizenship in their respective companies and were given medals by the Civitan Club: Reese M. Dennis, CO. A , John D. Quillin, Jr., CO. HB , joseph P. Forbes, Co. CH, Milford H. Clarke, CO. D , Fred F. Friar, CO. E , lVilliam WL Glass, CO. F , Gerhard C. Hendricksen, Co. NG , Henry Heaton, CO. HH . Scholarships were awarded as follows: Washington and Lee University: Albert Vlfeinberg, Company AH, principal, and Barton Sexton, Company B , alternate. Virginia Nlilitary Institute: Edgar Nl. Dickerson, Company D , principal, and Preston O. Sartello, Company UF , alternate. 'Washington Business College night school: John E. Carver, Company F , principal, and Eugene Gilbert, COmpany, H,', alternate. Day School: Wlm. Arehart, Company H , principal, and Benjamin Pendleton, COmpany, B , alternate. Catholic University: Adriano Kimayong, Company C , principal, and Carl E. Houghton, Company MCH, alternate. Charlotte Hall: Dallas Batton, Company H , principal, and Richard lesser, Com- pany H , alternate. NATIONAL RIFLE AssOcIATION NIATCH EOR CMTC CHAMPIONSHIP, 1929 Bfzric Comte Matrh V lst, WVilliam G. Kirk, Peach Bottom, Penn., 68: 2nd, Stoll Jagger, Dingsman Ferry, Penn., 67, 3rd, Carl E. Houghton, Ronks, Penn., 60. Red Courfe Match lst, Charles YV. Allen, Dryden, Va., 995 2nd, Olen Gates, Keokee, Va., 995 3rd, Richard O. Buchanan, Bristol, Va., 96. XVILLIAM G. PRICE, JR. RIFLE COMPETITION FOR THIRD CoRPs AREA lst, N. E. Wagner, Camp fMeade, Md., 74, 2nd, Oscar T. Gibson, Fort Eustis, Va., 72, 3rd, John E. WVeaver, Fort Humphreys, Va., 71: 4th, Seber L. Lynn, Fort Nlyer, Va., 70. PRESENTATION OF AXVARDS, AUGUST 4, IQ26 I . Page One Huzidrrzl Tlzirtevzz I - - - - - Q - - - - - - - . . wmv. 4 .vmvsmv.v.v.vmv.v.vmv.v.v.v. ' V I

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Congrerr to take care of her own wounded as they would not permit him to do so and ordered hot shot fired into her until she was a mass of fiames. It was this beacon which lighted the Monitor into Hampton Roads that night about nine o'clock as she slipped in from New York, unnoticed by the Confederates, and anchored by the side of the .Minnffota. The Morzitor' had been ordered sent to Washington, but in View of the alarming events of the day, Captain Nfarston of the Roanoke, senior oflicer present, disobeyed his orders and had her remain in Hampton Roads. As night came on, the .Merrirnac abandoned her watch over the .Minnfroto and with- drew behind Sewell's Point on the Norfolk side to wait for higher tide the next day. March 8, 1862, had gone down as a red letter day in the world's naval history, but Sunday morn- ing was to be even more memorable. The arrival of the Moriitor' was not known to the Confederates. It was, of course, known that the ship was being built and this was the reason for haste in rushing the Mer'- riniac into battle without even a trial trip. Had Buchanan known that the Monitor was ready to meet him, he would have had solid shot for his rifled guns and a new iron beak to replace that lost in the Cumberland. As the Merrirnac approached about eight o'clock on Sunday, March 9, to complete the destruction ofthe Union lieet, a queer looking object which has so often been compared to a cheese box on a rafti' came up valiantly from behind the .Minnerotcz'.f stern and fired the first shot in the first battle between iron-clads. Her huge antagonist returned the salutation in kind and the famous battle was on. At the very beginning of the engagement, the Mer-r'iniac, drawing twenty-three feet of water, had run aground and the Monitor continued to encircle and pump shot into her. The sixteen furnaces of the .Merrirnac belched forth smoke as everything burnable was piled on to lighten the draught. Finally she succeeded in getting away and landing a 100 pound shot on the pilot house of the .Monitor which knocked Captain VVorden senseless. Lieut- enant Green took command of the .Monitor and during the confusion that took place when Captain 'Worden was wounded, the .Monitor withdrew to shoal Water. On advice of the pilot who knew the tides the M.er'rirnac also withdrew, after waiting some time for the .Monitor to appear again and left for the Navy Yard at Portsmouth. As far as the two vessels were concerned the battle was a drawn one. For more than four hours they had hammered at each other without any considerable damage to either side. The powder charges for the two 11-inch Dahlgren guns, firing round shot weighing 168 pounds, of the Monitor were limited officially to fifteen pounds. Thirty and even fifty pounds were afterward used with safety, and this invites speculation as to what might have happened if she had fought with a free hand and had her commander known the vulner- ability of the Merr'inioc'r submerged decks then well above water from the fuel consumed. The careers of these iron monsters of the sea were strangely alike. In their famous battle they were commanded by the second officers, Lieut. Jones taking the place of Captain Buchanan wounded the day before, and Lieut. Green being in command of the .Monitor during most of her fight. Their first battle, too, was their last, for although the .Monitor was used at Drewry's Bluff, her guns could not be elevated and she was useless. Both met violent destruction. The Confederate position around Norfolk being no longer ten- able, the Merrinioc was run aground and burned by her commander, Tatnall, just south of Craney Island on the night of lV1ay 10, 1862. She was too unwieldy to be taken up' the James and was unsuited for the ocean. December 30, 1862, the .Monitor sank off Hatteras with four ofiicers and twelve men aboard while being towed by the Rhode Irlnnd to Beaufort. . The .Merrirnar was reconstructed after plans of John L. Porter of Portsmouth from the United States frigate of the same name which had been burned on the evacuation of the Gosport Know Norfolkj Navy Yard by the Union forces. She was rechristened the Virginia, although the name was seldom used even by the Confederates, and she carried ten guns. Her reconstruction cost fl1'3172,523. John Ericcson, the inventor of the screw propeller, designed the Monitor and so named her because he said she would prove a warn- ing to the leaders of the Southern Rebellion',. She mounted two Dahlgren guns and cost 3rB275,000. ' Fort Eustis- O-D -Fort Eustis , Page One Hundred Fzftfmz X