Robert E. Lee versus the USS Monitor

    The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia came upon the scene about the same time. They were innovative war machines, and their famous duel in Hampton Roads in March 1862 heralded a new mode of warfare. Their duel was the first meeting between ironclads, changing naval history. There was a great concern that the Monitor would sail up the James River and attack Richmond.

   On March 18, 1862, Gen. Robert E. Lee wrote to area commander Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder concerning a possible attack by the USS Monitor. How could Magruder defeat the seemingly undefeatable ironclad? Lee had an idea. “Should the Monitor appear before your batteries, it has occurred to me that by reserving your fire until she arrives near and discharging by word of command or simultaneously your heavy guns at her turret at the time when her gun was protruded for delivering fire, if the gun was struck it would be disabled, or if the turret was hit by a number of shot it would be deranged or capsized from its center.” (Official Records, Series I, Vol., 11, Part 3, page 385.)

   Magruder’s best opportunity to try Lee’s strategy would be if the USS Monitor steamed up the York River. The distance between the batteries at Yorktown and on Gloucester Point was only a third of a mile. Elsewhere, the distance was between one and a half and two miles, until the town of West Point was reached. Would Lee’s plan work? The idea of hitting the muzzle of one of the Dahlgren cannons is plausible. Such a shot might have damaged the gun in such a way that it could not be brought back into the turret for reloading, or it might have forced the gun off its carriage, creating carnage in the turret. But even at the short distance between Yorktown and Gloucester Point, hitting such a target as the muzzle of a cannon protruding from a turret just a few feet above the water line would be difficult, to say the least.

   The USS Monitor did steam up the James River in May 1862, but it was after the fortifications near Yorktown, where Magruder’s command was located, had been abandoned. The Monitor was unable to elevate its guns high enough to duel with the Confederate works at Drewry’s Bluff. The other ships in the Federal naval flotilla were damaged after more than three hours of battle. The ships dropped back down the James River to refit.

   Lee v. the Monitor… who knew.