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ISBN; 0-618-482180 123456789 VH 111009 08 07 06 05 04MIGHTY IRONCLADS AND OTHER AMAZEMENTS by Alison Wells ay HOUGHTON MIFFLIN BOSTONAn Era of Invention At the time of the Civil War, Americans were living in an era of rapid change. The steam engine had gotten it started a century earlier. Now, by the1830s, hundreds of steamboats on rivers were making travel safer and easier. The new steam locomotive was creating a boom in railroad construction. Rail lines were linking major cities. Congress approved plans for a railroad that would go from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Other amazing inventions seemed to come one after the next. In the 1820s, there was the tin can. In the 1830s, there was a mechanical reaper for harvesting crops. In the 1840s, an ice machine came along. In the 1850s, it was the bicycle. Each invention changed the way people lived and worked. But during the Civil War, three new inventions came along that would change America forever. They were battlefield photography, the telegraph, and the ironclad. The Camera Goes to War Americans had been used to seeing photographs for a generation before the Civil War. Photography had been invented in 1826. In 1837, a new and improved process made photography easier. By the 1850s, photographers were taking pictures of all the celebrities of the day. Presidents, performers, princes, and princesses all took their turns before the camera. Action shots, however, were out of the question.Photographers of the time needed the subject to hold absolutely still for fifteen seconds or more. Otherwise, the picture would be blurry. So before the war, most pictures were taken in a studio, where iron stands helped the subjects hold a pose. But the Civil War changed that. For first time in history, battlefield photography was used for an entire war. The images taken in the fields and forests where soldiers had fallen brought the war to the home front in a way that had never happened before. The impact was enormous. Who was responsible for this change? More than anyone, it was a far-sighted photographer by the name of Matthew Brady. Brady was famous for his portraits of important people of the day. He had large studios in New York and Washington, with many assistants. Early in the war, soldiers in brand- new uniforms flooded into his studios. They all wanted to be photographed. That way, their loved ones could have something to remember them by if they did not return from the war. Matthew BradyWhen the Civil War broke out, Matthew Brady was the first person to understand how photography could be used. He had a vision. He wanted to create a complete record of the war. From the first Battle of Bull Run to the war’s end, he or his assistants were there. Photographs by Brady & Company vividly told the entire story of the conflict. ‘Taking photographs in the field was difficult. Cameras of the day were too large to be held. They had to be supported on a tripod and kept very still while a picture was being taken. The image then had to be developed right away. Rolling photography studios, with all the equipment needed to process pictures, were a familiar sight on the battlefields. Another hardship, of course, was the danger of being caught up in the fighting. In fact, none of Matthew Brady’s photographs of the first Battle of Bull Run remain. His wagon was overturned in the Union retreat, and most of his photographs were ruined. Brady and his teams were not alone in recording the events of the war. Many other photographers braved the dangers of war to take pictures. People on the home front were eager to see them all. Most newspapers of the time didn’t print photographs. So the pictures were sold directly to customers. Sometimes they were sold one at a time. Sometimes a series was bound together, like a magazine. For the first time, people saw an entire war captured on film. The black and white images they saw still have great power today.“The Wounded Soldiers,” photograph by Matthew Brady, c. 1864 News at the Speed of Light Since about 1800, scientists had been searching for a way to communicate between distant points. They wanted something that could send news, in the form of signals, quickly. Finally, after twelve years of work, an American inventor, Samuel Morse, developed the first electric telegraph. In 1844, using his own code, he sent the first telegram. The message was, “What hath God wrought?” (What has God made?)The electric telegraph changed the world. Before its invention, newspapers reported mostly local news. To get news from farther away, people had to wait for it to arrive by horseback, rail, or ship. News from Europe, for example, could take six weeks to reach the United States. With the telegraph, news traveled at the speed of light. It must have been unbelievable to people of the day. Well before the Civil War, governments and leaders saw how important the telegraph could be. The faster that news was received, the more quickly it could be acted upon. Leaders also recognized the usefulness of the telegraph in war. Telegrams could warn of troop movements. They could request more soldiers or supplies. And they could spread the news of which side had won a battle. Battlefield Code The Civil War was the first war to rely on the telegraph so completely. On April 15, 1861, at the beginning of the war, President Lincoln telegraphed the governors of all the Union states asking them to send troops. From that day until the end of the war, the telegraph lines were jammed. Before the war, telegraph lines usually followed railroad lines. During the war, both the North and South had teams stringing additional lines — 15,000 miles’ worth. Often the lines were run right onto the fields of battle. Generals wantedto communicate with other officers. They wanted to get information about the enemy. ‘Telegraph operators used Samuel Morse’s code — later known as Morse Code — to send messages. The code was a simple system that used dots and dashes to stand for the different letters of the alphabet. Many operators also used a kind of shorthand, just as we do for instant messaging today. Both armies had soldiers specially trained to send and receive telegrams. But the problem was that the messages might end up in enemy hands. A Confederate soldier might tap into a Union line. Then he could “hear” what that army was planning. As armies lost and gained ground during a fight, the telegraph lines might change hands, too.Morse Code Alphabet A eo N e 0 ----- Bo eee 0 1 an C Tee Poo. Te. 2 e777 ers Q =--,- B soo Ee Ree 4 eeee Fo seme Ss : Cnononehe q77. T = 6 Tees H ecco U oe 7 eee | oe Vi eee 8 TT Tee JT we g9 ">>". kK 7.7 X Tee Fullstop «ee Looe y 7.77 Comma =~ ~ee7 7 Mo Z Tee Query ee ee Each army set up secret codes to try to avoid this problem. They also had to guard against false messages sent by the enemy. An operator might send false orders or misinformation to confuse the other side. But a skilled receiver could recognize an unfamiliar hand on the telegraph key. The sender’s style of dots and dashes could give him away.By Balloon and Newspaper ‘Timely information could win or lose a battle. So for the first time in war, manned balloons were sent into the air. The North used gas-filled balloons. The South used hot-air balloons. In both cases, a spotter in the balloon noted the position of troops. Often the information was telegraphed back to a receiver on the ground. Hot-air balloon during the Civil WarThe North made the most use of balloons, but the South’s were more colorful. One balloon was made of silk of many colors. That led some people to say that the women of the South were giving their ball gowns to the cause. The telegraph was not only a great help in military communication. It was a great help to civilians, too. Before the war, newspapers had not bothered much with telegraph news. Now, the war touched almost every family. Readers wanted every bit of news they could get, as soon as they could get it. Where were their loved ones fighting? How was the battle going? When would the war be over? Civilians also needed to know when to get out of harm’s way. So the newspapers filled pages with news telegraphed fresh from the front. Executive Mansion, Weakington, elmer 25, 130 ¢- So Ko Sine (A (lint hla. | Si ramen lelysics L Gjrane, arn as Dreger baenerees 131 fb nih Tliny pores, jo bos Lain terame Mockery Limsyls Telegram from Abraham Lincoln giving Ulysses S. Grant a new rank 10Papers also printed the lists of wounded and killed. Every day, the names appeared, regiment by regiment. Readers could tell how the war was going simply by looking at the lists of the dead. This was also often the way people on the home front (away from combat) learned of the death or wounding of a husband, brother, father, or son. Never before had people had the opportunity to get so much “breaking news.” They waited to hear the news, good or bad. Mostly, they waited to hear the news that the war was over. The Virginia vs. the Fleet As soon as the Civil War broke out, the North hurried to blockade Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. It sent a fleet to Hampton Roads, between Maryland and Virginia. Once there, the North controlled what passed to and from Richmond. The South was desperate to break the blockade. It needed to re-open trade to and from Richmond. Then it might be able to get help from France or Great Britain. The Confederates had a daring plan. They had captured a Union ship, the Merrimac, at the beginning of the war. Now they set about covering the Merrimac in iron so that shots and shells could not sink her. In her armor, the Merrimac could take on the whole Union fleet at Hampton Roads. It took months to outfit the ship. The South was short of iron. Eventually, railroad tracks were pulled up and the rails llMap of the Hampton Roads area melted down to make iron plates. As soon as they were in place, the Merrimac, renamed the CSS Virginia, was ready to go. The Virginia’s engines were old and wheezy. She was hard to steer. Even so, she was cheered on by Southern soldiers and civilians as she made her slow way up the river. On Friday, March 8, 1862, the Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads. She had an escort of two smaller ships. In contrast, two large Union battleships, the USS Congress and USS Cumberland, along with sixteen other ships of various sizes and descriptions, waited. All together, they had nearly 200 guns. 12The only ship the captain of the Virginia feared was the Cumberland. Her guns could pierce the Virginia’s iron plates. But the Virginia was outfitted with a huge iron ram. The captain planned to ram the Cumberland and sink her as soon as he could. When they saw the ironclad approaching, the crews of the Cumberland and Congress scurried. The sail-powered ships had to be pulled into position by steam tugs. One of those tugs was the first to fire on the Virginia. Amazingly, the shots had no effect. The Virginia was having trouble getting in position to ram. She called on her escorts to turn her. Then she steamed slowly, steadily toward the Cumberland. ‘The Union ship fired everything it had at the ironclad. ‘The shots hit, but didn’t damage the ship. However, the Virginia’s guns were tearing the Cumberland apart bit by bit. When the Virginia finally struck the Cumberland, the ram tore a huge hole below the water line. Within two hours of entering the Roads, the Virginia had sunk the only ship likely to sink her. With the Cumberland out of the fight, she turned her guns on the other Union ships. By the end of the day, the Virginia had given the U.S. Navy a huge defeat. She had sunk two Union warships. Three other ships had been run aground. The Virginia steamed out of the Roads almost unharmed. According to the plan, she would return in the morning to finish the job. Her officers and crew did not expect much of a fight. But as it turned out, they were very much mistaken. 13The Monitor vs. the Virginia News of the battle had been telegraphed to both the North and the South. The North had heard earlier reports about the outfitting of the Virginia. Now they knew what she could do in action. President Lincoln and his War Cabinet were alarmed. Fortunately for the North, crews had been working on a Union ironclad for months. Unlike the Virginia, the Union ship was brand new. It had a gun turret that could be turned to fire in any direction. Because this turret sat on a very flat deck, some people laughed at the ship. They called it a “cheese box ona raft.” Monitor | Rotating turret et) iii fe 179 feet Virginia 7 1A al zoe = ae 263 feet Drawing comparing the Monitor and the Virginia 14The USS Monitor, as she was properly called, had left New York Harbor on March 8. She had orders to take on the Virginia at Hampton Roads. The voyage was a nightmare. She was nearly swamped by high seas. The ventilation system failed and the crew almost died from lack of air. By the time she reached Hampton Roads, the crew had had little food and less sleep. Early on the morning of March 9, the Virginia steamed back into the Roads. The wrecks of the day before still sat in the water. Some ships were on fire. The Virginia moved out to finish off the USS Minnesota, which was damaged and aground. Now the captain of the Virginia got his first sight of the Monitor. She was just a low shape in the water as she lay behind the Minnesota. But the captain had heard reports. He knew his ship was about to face another ironclad. The Monitor was barely half the size of the Virginia. But her turrets gave her an advantage. So did her ability to turn more quickly than the slow and awkward Virginia. And the Monitor did not need water as deep as the Virginia did in order to move. For four hours the two ships blasted each other at close range. Neither could sink the other. Finally, the Virginia steamed off. Amazingly, not a single person died in the battle. Afterward, both sides argued about who had won the Battle of Hampton Roads. The real answer is that iron ships won. The North, with more iron, built dozens more ironclads, many modeled on the Monitor. With them, the North took 15control of the Mississippi and other rivers, cutting off shipping to many parts of the South. They did their part in bringing the war toa close. A Lasting Impact What would the Civil War have been like without battlefield photography, the telegraph, and the ironclad? It is impossible to know, of course. But history had been changed by their presence, and there would be no turning back. Just after the war, in 1866, a wire cable linking the United States and Great Britain was completed. It drew the U.S. closer to Europe than ever before. Photographs, which now showed people the death and destruction of war, changed the way people thought about war. ‘There seemed to be much less glory. Now they knew the huge cost in human terms. And what about the iron ships? They had proved their power. In fact, the last Monitor-class ship wasn’t retired from the Navy until 1937. 16Responding Think About What You Have Read Why were photographs so important in the Civil War? How did the telegraph change how civilians heard about the war? How did the armies use it? El Use pictures and what you have read to compare the Monitor and the Virginia. BB Who do you think won the Battle of Hampton Roads? Why do you think so? Activity Divide into teams with at least two members on the Union side and two on the Confederate side. Use the Morse Code chart shown on page 8 to write a message in Morse Code. Then “telegraph” the message to another member of your team. Did your teammate get the message?Beat oa HOUGHTON MIFFLIN