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"SHE CAME LIKE A MAMOTH SEA MONSTER" (CIVIL WAR--NAVY.) Crawford, Robert. Detailed first-hand account of the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimack. Autograph Letter Signed to his parents. 2 pages, 12 1/2 x 8 inches, on one sheet; separated at folds with 3/4-inch hole in center, early repairs and silked on verso. Newport News, VA, 11 March 1862
A fantastic account of the Battle of Hampton Roads on 8 and 9 March, perhaps the most dramatic naval engagement of the Civil War. Crawford describes a telegraph message "announcing the appearance of the rebel steamer Merrimac, and as soon as it was made public we all crowded upon the beach to see her. On first sight she appeared not unlike a wing of Belvue Hospital, on she came like a mamoth sea monster until she came opposite our battery." The USS Congress and Cumberland "opened fire on her but without effect as her iron sides and in fact every inch of her is shot and shell proof. . . . Passing to the Cumberland she having an old spite in for her, she drove her battering ram into her port bows, completely crushing her, at the same time raking her with solid shot through and through." The three ships of the Confederate James River Squadron soon came down the river, "sending shot and shell into our camp, many of which fell quite close and making holes in the ground big enough to bury a house in. At last it got too hot and we were obliged to leave the camp and retire to a respectful distance until night closed one of the most fearful naval engagements that ever was on record." The next day's events were even more dramatic, with the arrival of John Ericsson's revolutionary ironclad USS Monitor to save the day: "At an early hour the battle again commenced by the Merrimac making a grand rush for the Minnesota which she calculated to make an easy prey, but on Saturday night a section of Ericsson's battery from New York had come up, and lying alone dashed forward to meet her, giving her a 150 lb ball as a visiting card and then disappearing almost beneath the water, coming up and giving her a[noth]er. . . . There is one thing certain, that she did not like her company, for she beat a speedy retreat, closely followed up by the Ericsson's battery." The author was likely Private Robert A. Crawford of the 20th Indiana Infantry, a regiment which played a significant role in the battle from the shore. Crawford mentions a point at which "the Indiana boys on shore with their rifles picked them off by the dozens which so enraged the crew of the Merrimac."
