Duel Between the First Ironclads, and: Thunder at Hampton Roads (review)

BOOK REVIEWS181 South—all made him an influential and respected leader of the New South. Professor Hattaway has provided a heavily-researched and sound treatment of Lee's life. The only criticism which this reviewer might offer is that the author failed to answer an important question regarding Lee's career. Given the fact that Lee's real service to the South was his post-war leadership, the question is perhaps of only secondary importance. Yet it remains to puzzle the reader. Given Lee's broad experience in all three arms of Confederate service , why was he then, and why has he now remained a somewhat obscure figure? Thomas L. Connally University of South Carolina Duel Between the First Ironchds. By William C. Davis. (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1975. Pp. x, 201. $8.95.) Thunder at Hampton Roads. By A. A. Hoehling. (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Pp. xvi, 232. $9.95.) The historic meeting of the Monitor and Merrimack on March 9, 1862, which ushered in modern naval warfare, has attracted more attention than any other single naval engagement of the Civil War. In Duel Between the First Ironchds William C. Davis has written the definitive study of the Monitor and the Merrimack. Far more than the title indicates, this work is a complete history of these ironclads from their origins to their destruction. It places them in their historical context and evaluates their impact on naval warfare, all of which is done with considerable storytelling ability. The account of the Monitor is centered around the contributions of its egotistical designer and builder, Swedish-born John Ericsson, and its captain during the historic engagement, John L. Worden. Ericsson's genius, Davis maintains, was that he brought together a number of unproven ideas, both old and new, to create an innovative vessel which had speed, shallow draft for operating on southern rivers, offensive and defensive strength, and the revolving turret, the result of which was a "milestone in naval architecture." Worden is presented as an unimaginative but well-liked captain who, in spite of the misgivings of Ericsson, proved to be a capable commander of the Monitor. The man primarily responsible for construction of the Merrimack was John Brooke, an "inventive mind" whose simple design made the best of Confederate resources. The result was an "ersatz ironclad " which demonstrated that wooden vessels, regardless of armor, could not withstand an ironclad assault. The captain of the Merri- 182CIVIL WAR history mack, Franklin Buchanan, a reluctant Confederate who caused ill feeling on both sides before finally joining the South, nevertheless, proved to be an energetic commander of a vessel that was almost "impossible to maneuver." Davis concludes that the lessons of the historic battle were not wasted on the British. Realizing that it would take an ironclad to stop another ironclad, the British Admiralty immediately ordered that no more wooden ships be constructed. To the consernation of Confederate diplomats, however, the British were far more interested in the Monitor, which demonstrated that mobility, profile, and gun movement could be a match for sheer size and weight. A. A. Hoehling's book, Thunder at Hampton Roads, is aimed at the general reader. Though covering essentially the same subject, it differs from Davis's book in that its account of the vessels takes the story down through the rediscovery of the Monitor off Cape Hatteras in 1973. Hoehling has attempted to tell the story of these historic vessels in the words of the participants, and therein lie both the strengths and weaknesses of his book. He is successful in recreating some of the drama of the period such as the race between the Union and Confederate authorities to complete their ironclads, and the mounting fear in Lincoln's cabinet as rumors told of the coming of the Merrimack to break the Union blockade at Hampton Roads. His portraits of John Ericsson and Franklin Buchanan capture the spirit of the times, and his account of the subsequent careers of the major characters is one of the book's better features. But the numerous quotes from the sometimes archaic style of the Civil War period, the frequent injection of extraneous material, the...