Evening Star Newspaper, May 31, 1931, Page 77

Monitor-Merrimac Memories Stirred as 90-Year-Old “fim” McKenxie Recounts HisPart inStruggle Nearly 70 Years Ago; an Event That Changed the Whole Course of Sea Warfare. BY T. R. PORTER. HE last known survivor of the crew of the famous Monitor in its great battle with the Confederate ram Merrimac during the Civil War is living in the Dixon County poor house, near Ponca, Nebr. He has just celebrated his ninetieth birthday. His wife and children are all long since dead, and, as far as he knows, he hasn't a single relative alive in all the world. He is James McKensie, is without money, and, while his health is good for one of 90 years, he is too old to work. Through a peculiar condition, he is unable w0 obtain a pension from the Government, and everything indicates he will spend the remain- der of his days in the Dixon County poor house and will be buried in the county cemetery im the pine box which the county will provide when he dies. McKenszie is the last known actor in an event which changed the whole course of naval warfare, made obsolete the navies of the world and left its imprint on every battleship of today, 69 years later. McKenszie's mind is somewhat hazy on evenis that occurred yesterday and the day before and a generation “ago, but is very clear when it comes to his experience in the single turret of the Monitor during its four hours’ fight with the Merrimac. He has forgotten the details of his Indian days in Montana when the Sioux and Blackfeet were massacring the white seitlers in all directions, and those years when he trapped beaver and bear in the Rocky Mountains and sold their furs down in the “settlements” are partial blanks to him. But he still vividly recalls how he sighted ome of the great Dahlgren guns in the Monitor's turret and sent shell after shell against the iron walls of the Confederate Merrimac. " LL the baitle I saw was through the port- hole,” says McKenszie. “When I locked out, before the shooting started, and saw the great mass of iron coming at us, I had a quaer feeling. And so did the others of our crew. “That was the first time we had been in battie. It was just a question as to what we would do. Our officers thought our little boat was all right. We men didn't know just what to expect. But we were all ready to give it a trial. And when we saw that big ironclad bearing down on us, or cur boat bearing down on the Confederate gunboat, I had a queer feeling. So did the others. “The Merrimac was about four times as big as we were. It was equipped with a doszen or more guns; I néver knew just how many. And we had just two. W=z had confidence in our officers, but, of course, we didn’t know Lhe plan of battle. “Down the bay there was a bank of smoke. Somebody told us it was the Confederate iron- clad, coming to destroy the Federal fleet. “We of the crew bhadn’'t known anything about an ironclad up to that hour. We just knew we were going to have a fight. “I looked through the port. Coming toward us was something that looked just about like a one-story warehouse, all covered with iron, set at an angle so that shells would glance off when they struck the sides. “They tell me there was a big laugh on the Merrimac when our little boat whirled out from bechind the stranded Minnesota and came straight at the big ship with the iron sides and top. They wondered what we thought we could do against an ironclad four times as big a8 we were. “Well, they soon found out.” Tnlnmonthallerfim.cduhhedfhelon- itor “The Yankee Cheese Box on a Raft.” The Monitor's crew named the Merrimac the “County Meeting House.” The Merrimac, as is well known, was a ocnverted Federal war ves- sel which had been scuttied at its dock when the Norfolk Navy Yard was abandoned by the Federals at the outbreak of the war. The Confederates had raised the old war vessel, had cut down its sides and upper works, cov- ered the whole thing with heavy iron, and had up to that day the most formidable war vessel aflcat. Its ability as a fighter was demonstrated the previous day, March 8, 1862, when it had steamed up from Norfolk and had boldly at- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., MAY 3f, 1931, James McKenzie, last known survivor of the battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. tacked the entire fleet of five Federal war vessels in Hampton Roads. It had destroyed two of these, run another one, the Minnesota, aground and had then returned to its an- chorage. On the day of the battle with the Monitor the Merrimac was calmly coming up the Roads with the intention of destroying the other ves- sels of the Federal fleet. Then the plan was to send this redoubtable fighter to Philadel- phia, New York and Bost:n, one after tne other, and to destroy those cities if the Norta fused to make peace. The Confederacy was fident that nothing afloat ocould stand against its new craft. It was against this seemingly invincible floating fort that the little Monitor was sent. The Mcnitor had been built around New York or Brookiyn, from the plans of Capt. Ericsson, a Swedish engineer, Federal spies had reported progress of work on the Mer- rimac, and the Union Government had pushed work on the Monitor as rapidly as possibie. The Monitor was a single turret mounted on s boat whose deck was awash with the level of the water. The deck was ironclad. In the turre » two ll-inch Dahigren cannon, which w 1 through portholes. The tur- ret revolv. . ...d the guns could be brought to bear and fire in any direction. The sides of the boat were under water, and the only target furnished by the Monitor was the turret. This, being round, would deflect any shells which might strike. It was upon this little “Yankee Cheese Box on & Raft” that the Federals pinned their faith and hopes. They had com- pleted the little vessel and had sent’ it down into Hampton Roads, where it had arrived just l.;ht.lnemhe.doflnlellerrhuchihmflen t. cKENZIE didn’t know much about the why and the wherefore. His duty was to sight that gun and to pull the trigger cord when the first gun captain said “go.” “We steamed right toward the Merrimac, and the Merrimac seemed just as anxious to get to us as we did te it,” says McKenzie. “We fired as we went, and so did the Merrimac. “I saw one of our big L1-inch shells strike the side of the Merrimac. It just bounced off up Stripped to their waists, the little crew of the Monitor bettled valiantly, thedr bodies begrimed with powder smoke and their hearing badly affected by tha gE g AL NG il ik | of the enemy and would be fired. This process would be repeated and again our gun would be ready to fire. We would load up while the other gun was being fired. “It was stifling hot in the turret by this time. “Once, when I went to sight our gun, the big Merrimac was almost upon us. Whereas we had been firing shells timed to explode in five sec- onds after leaving our guns, we were now shoot- . ing shells with just two seconds timing. That shows how close we were. “This time it looked like the Merrimac would run us down sure. And that's just what she tried to do. She struck our deck with her great stecl bow, 'but we bobbed off just like a cork bottle-stopper and fired as we passed. One of the men declared our shot went into an open port, but I didn’t see it. “We didn’t furnish any sort of a target at all for the gunners on the Merrimac and up to this time we hadn’t been hit with a shell. llel'usnaklnlllnfluflchdnc. Our chief engineer and two or three of the crew were leaning against the side of the great navies of England and all other coun- tries. “And we had done it with a ‘Yankee Cheese Box on a Raft'.” - cKENZIE is a Scotchman from Greenock, Scotland, where he was born February 22, 1841. His people were seafaring people, and he early went to sea, cruising ail over the world. Two or three times he went ’round Cape Horn, made India a couple of times, crossed the Pacific, the Indian and the At- lantic Oceans, and in July, 1861, whem 30 years old, found himself in Brookiyn, M. Y., where he had just left a British ship. The American Civil War was getting well started and a desire for adventure caused McKensie to He was employed on the Fort Peck, Mont, pped for several years. He settled dowa