Legacy of the USS Montauk: Student at the Savannah College of Art and Design believes she has the blueprints for success to produce 3D model of ironclad for park

Blueprints are matched with 3D model; illustration of Montauk shelling Nashville

Like the Montauk itself, a 3D model of the noted Civil War ironclad must be watertight, with no problematic gaps or holes.

That’s one of many goals for Grace Stelmaszyk, a senior at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), who is working to produce and print a model of the Montauk for Fort McAllister State Park in Richmond Hill, Ga. The Montauk bombarded the Confederate fort and sank the raider Nashville (Rattlesnake) in February 1863.

The college previously produced interpretive panels about the Montauk and other Union ironclads for the park. Greg Johnson, interactive design and game development professor, has worked with students to make a 30-inch version of the Montauk, so it can be placed next to a model of the Nashville in the park’s museum.

Stelmaszyk (right) has picked up the project from another student, and she hopes to get it across the finish line in the next couple months. Johnson said she is doing “an amazing job” on the model, making sure it conforms with blueprints of the Montauk.

Key to the effort is a discovery made by park staffers several years ago: A matted long tube contained a precious copy of the USS Montauk’s blueprints, manufactured in dozens of sheets.

Johnson, after learning about the blueprints, used a custom-built rig to slide dozens sheets under a camera to obtain high resolution.

“Because I had to photograph the blueprints, since they were way too big to scan, there is a certain amount of distortion. Grace had to fix the distortion in the blueprints and then adjust the model to match,” Johnson said in an email.

Stelmaszyk, who is graduating with an interactive design and game development degree in May, hopes to have the model ready for printing by early summer.

“My current list of items to complete for a print-ready model are adding adequate thickness to all components of the model, combining all components so the model is ‘watertight,’ deciding how many pieces need to be printed separately and assembled (small things like the thin poles need to be separate since the printer may not print them right if they're part of a larger piece), and then sizing the model to the correct in-person length.”

Persistent Union ironclad finally got its prey

Working 3D Montauk model being produced for printing (SCAD photo)

The Montauk was one of 10 Passaic ironclads built relatively early in the Civil War.

Andy Hall, A Civil War naval expert and author, told the Picket the Passaic monitors were the first large-class of monitors and many of them served together, such as the campaign against the earthen Fort McAllister in 1863 and 1864.

The Union navy, as it continued its chokehold on Southern ports and readied for offensive operations, sent the Montauk and sisters Passaic, Patapsco and Nahant, supported by gunboats Seneca, Dawn and Wissahickon to bombard and capture Fort McAllister in January 1863.

The skipper of the Montauk was John Worden (left), famous for being the USS Monitor’s captain when it clashed with the CSS Virginia in 1862.

Capable Confederate gunners at Fort McAllister hit the ironclad 13 times in its first action, but caused little damage. A second attack on Feb. 1, 1863, found the vessel, according to histories, pounded by 48 shells. The Montauk's sister ships also took part in the action.

Its big day came on February 28. The sidewheeler Nashville, which was bottled up and hiding under the guns of Fort McAllister for protection, tried to get away from the Federal ironclads via Seven-Mile Bend on the Ogeechee River, but apparently ran aground.

The 215-foot blockade runner commanded by Lt. Thomas Harrison Baker became a sitting duck because of its lack of maneuverability and deep draft in a tight area, and the Montauk pounced.

“All the monitors were designed for littoral or riverine operations, and so drew as little water as possible,” says Hall. “Nashville was built as an ocean-going steamship, so had a fuller, deeper hull.” That proved to be a disadvantage at McAllister.

Montauk’s XV- and 11-inch Dahlgrens were able to destroy the former commerce raider.

Worden was pleased with his destruction of ‘this troublesome pest’” wrote John V. Quarstein, director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center in a blog. “However, Montauk suffered a huge jolt when it struck a Confederate torpedo en route down the Ogeechee River. Worden’s quick thinking saved his ironclad.” (Quarstein wrote a recent biography of Worden.).

The Union naval attacks on Fort McAllister itself were less successful. The low-profile earthen fort could withstand the shelling and repairs could be readily made. It eventually fell to land forces in December 1864.

The Montauk was scrapped in the early 1900s; the park grounds and museum have a large number of CSS Nashville artifacts.

USS Montauk (left) and USS Lehigh in Philadelphia in 1902 (Wikipedia)

While the monitors were mass-produced, they did undergo changes during the service, and SCAD students wanted to be sure the appearance of the Montauk matched the time it prowled off Fort McAllister.

SCAD is working from a Montauk paint scheme described in the work “Modeling Civil War Ironclad Ships” by Steven Lund and William Hathaway. 

The deck is lead gray, the turret and pilot house black with a narrow white ring, and the smokestack black with the upper one third in dark green.

Lots of tasks and challenges during project

SCAD and the park last year took measurements of the Nashville model and studied vital stats of both vessels, so the Montauk will be to scale. (Site manager Jason Carter below, Picket photo)

“This makes the USS Montauk model 30 11/16th inches or 780mm in length,” said Johnson. The ironclad, he says was slightly asymmetrical.

I asked the professor about the challenges of such a project.

“To build a complex 3D model like the USS Montauk and then 3D print it, you first need a solid understanding of 3D modeling fundamentals, know how to create clean geometry and also accurately match real-world measurements,” he responded.

“Software like Autodesk's Maya or 3dsMax is generally used -- so a very thorough understanding of that software is required. You must build the model specifically for printing by ensuring it is fully closed (watertight, with no holes in the geometry), has appropriate wall thickness, and accounts for overhangs or tolerances so that parts can be fit together after printing. Once the ship is modeled, it will need to be exported to a file readable by the 3D printer and then loaded into a slicer, where things such as layer height, infill, supports, and other print settings will need to be determined.”

After that is completed, the model must be assembled and painted.

Stelmaszyk said she is using Maya and ZBrush software.

The student said she joined the effort to help create something for the park and increase her knowledge on different types of projects that aren't only game-industry focused. “While maybe my knowledge on this ship isn't as vast as some, I enjoy the research that I get to do for the project to create for the public's enjoyment,” she wrote in an email.

“I'd say the most gratifying part of the experience is always working towards that end goal of printing and being able to hold it in my hands and see it in the world. All the little steps that are completed along the way also bring me a lot of satisfaction as I keep going forward. The most challenging part of this project would be predicting the final print. For example, predicting the thickness and what that will look like when printed or planning how you want to assemble the smaller, fragile pieces back onto the main body. But I've always loved solving puzzles.”

SCAD will be working from this paint scheme (Courtesy Steven Lund)

As fundraising intensifies to fix up Dawkins House in Union, S.C., a university prepares to identify, learn and teach about those enslaved at Civil War landmark

Dawkins House awaiting next phase of work (Picket photo), Mary Poulton Dawkins and part of slave schedule

Mary Poulton Dawkins was many things in her 86 years, the majority of which were ensconced in a Union, S.C., home that was dubbed “The Shrubs” in honor of a family estate by the same name in her native England.

Dawkins, who in 1845 married a prominent South Carolina judge 14 years her senior, was described by relatives as headstrong and proud of her imported furniture and Queen Victoria. She was determined to see the Poultons restored to their former position of wealth and prominence, whether in the United States or England.

There was another side of the Englishwoman, however, that doesn’t project well these days.

While of the “highest culture,” Mary had a tendency toward bigotry, an observer wrote, and a paternalistic view of slavery. The 1850 federal slave schedule indicates husband Thomas Dawkins enslaved about 30 persons.

One of several fireplaces on the main floor of the dwelling; the library is nearby (Picket photo)

Following the South’s loss in the Civil War, and the Dawkins’ fortune largely gone, Mary lamented Reconstruction and the brief political power accorded to Black people.

“The negroes on the plantation had really no ill feeling, but poor ignorant creatures, they were intoxicated with the idea of power and always fond of idleness; began to steal and destroy property, scarcely a night without a burning,” Mary wrote in a memoir penned late in life. “There was no redress, no law, and the ‘Ku Klux’ was formed to frighten the negroes, so sensational, supersti­tious.”

Some 120 years after Mary’s death, the nonprofit Preservation South Carolina is raising money for the next phase of the restoration of the dilapidated Dawkins House. The dwelling is destined to become an alumni and corporate center for the University of South Carolina Union, a small campus in the heart of the Piedmont city. (Picket video below of Bill Comer of PSC)

At the same time, USC-Union is establishing a genealogical and archives course that will focus on the history of the house and its occupants and visitors, including the identification of the enslaved, who – with a few exceptions -- currently are known only by their age and gender. The goal is to offer the class this fall.

It is anticipated that the course will be open to students and Union County residents who have an interest in ancestry research and history.

Backers of the Dawkins House project have said it is important the whole history of the home – warts and all – be told. That's the aim of other sites in Union County, including Rose Hill, former home of the Gist family.

Andrew Kettler, an assistant professor of history, told the Picket the aim of the course is less about assigning blame than moving toward acknowledgement and reconciliation. He describes it as a public history course; the syllabus is still being finalized.

“We are going to run … grants this summer that focus on finding sources related to the Dawkins House,” Kettler said (left, Picket photo). “We are currently recruiting two students and will apply for that funding at the end of April. The grant students will assist with identifying materials that focus on the Dawkins House held in local archives.”

Annie Smith, director of development on the campus, said the course also will seek to identify those individuals who lived in the original structure between 1765 and the early 1800s, before Thomas Dawkins bought and expanded the residence.

Bill Comer, a Union native who is heading up the Dawkins House rehab project for Preservation South Carolina, previously said the refurbished site will provide lessons from the past once it reopens.

“Those who were slaves should be identified and recognized, just as much as the Dawkins family and their prominent guests. Going forward, people of all races and religions should pass through the Dawkins House's doors and occupy its spaces, to do good without discrimination and to learn.”

Thomas Dawkins' property is listed on two pages of the 1850 schedule (click to enlarge)

Fireplaces apparently burned more than wood

The Dawkins House is a terminus residence situated on the campus at the end of Church Street. The property is best known for several weeks in spring 1865.

Union, which is south of Spartanburg, briefly served as the capital of the state after Columbia fell to Union forces in 1865 and Gov. Andrew Magrath fled to Union.

Gov. Magrath, before leaving Columbia, got in touch with college chum Thomas Dawkins (right) about using the home and others nearby to conduct business amid the chaos.

From about Feb. 15, 1865, until early April, Magrath ran the state from the Dawkins House. He apparently worked in an informal library near the drawing room, which survives today. Chaos ruled across South Carolina.

According to histories and local legend, Magrath and his subordinates burned possibly incriminating documents and correspondence in the fireplaces. (The home served as South Carolina's capitol while the city was briefly its capital.)

Amid the panic, Mary P. Dawkins later wrote, folks in Union tried to stay upbeat.

“The young people were hopeful to the last, so when soldiers were with us music, dancing, charades, etc. made such enjoyable eve­nings, never to be forgotten. There was bon amie, a comradeship born of the situation, very fascinating and rare.”

Recollecting the great silver tea set caper

The house has had several additions and changes over the centuries (Picket photo)

Upon learning of Rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox, Magrath and his staff raced away from Union as Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's Federal troops moved in. He was eventually captured on May 25 and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski near Savannah, Ga., until release that December. 

Magrath apparently hid a silver tea set at the Dawkins' home while he was based there. Mary Dawkins wrote the couple took the set to Mills House in Charleston after Magrath was released and they gave it to him.

The silver tea set story is covered in the book "South Carolina's English Lady," compiled and edited by the late Sarah Porter Carroll in the 1980s. You can read the text on Family Search.

Mary wrote that a few months after hostilities ended, "our servants (were) free and sought for by (Union) soldiers.” One book says she presented a paternalistic view of slavery.

Enslaved people had become a majority in Union County during the 1840s, and the area became a hotbed of Ku Klux Klan activity during Reconstruction.

Letters and accounts written by relatives of Mary Dawkins -- and included in Carroll's book -- suggest slaves at “The Shrubs” and any other land owned by Thomas were treated more kindly than at other plantations. But that view belies the fact the institution was inherently cruel and violent.

Widow stayed proud of her English roots

During most of their 25-year marriage, Thomas and Mary Dawkins lived the good life. They were well-known in society, had amassed a fortune and were active in local civil and social affairs. They were key supporters of the Church of the Nativity, about a half mile from their home. Mary enjoyed traveling to Charleston and Edisto Island on the Atlantic Ocean.

Things went south after 1861.

 The left rear of the house dates back to the 1760s or so (Picket photo)

“When the war closed every servant Judge and Mrs. Dawkins owned left them, with the exception of ‘Aunt Sophia,’ who showed she appreciated their many kindnesses to her by remaining loyally with them for years as their cook, then, after a long period, going out and doing private nursing,” wrote one relative, as related in Carroll’s collection.

Mary Dawkins wrote that, actually, a few other servants, as she called the enslaved, stayed faithful to the household.

She said that a few months after hostilities ended, "our servants (were) free and sought for by (Union) soldiers.” 

Thomas Dawkins died in 1870. Mary wrote of experiencing sadness after the war while she allowed several relatives to live at The Shrubs. She said she occasionally helped her former servants. Most of her extended family had remained in England, rather than move to New York as she had in the 1830s.

While left with some money when Thomas died, Mary went through it and was almost penniless when she died at 86 in November 1906. Relatives remained in the house for years.

“Mrs. Dawkins was a woman of broad and rare culture, and not so long ago compiled some very interesting reminiscences of her life,” her obituary read. “She was a charming conversationalist, and she numbered many young friends as well as older ones, who considered it a great pleasure to spend an hour in her society. In her death Union loses a gentlewoman, whose presence and quiet influence will be greatly missed.”

In the end, Mary Poulton Dawkins’ story is well-known.

Those of the enslaved in the household she managed are not. (Above, Picket photo of Bill Comer and Robert Schmitt on front porch of The Shrubs)

'The integrity will stand on its own merit'

Curtiss Hunter, tourism director for the county and a member of the Union County Community Remembrance Project (UCCRP), which documents racial violence and lynching and promotes healing through preservation, previously told the Picket restoration of the Dawkins House will boost tourism and community engagement.

Hunter (left) said its full history should be part of its interpretation. “I believe … the story of the Dawkins House should be told as authentic as there is history to prove the content. The integrity will stand on its own merit.”

Hunter’s group in 2021 put up three marker detailing racial injustices in the county. Among them was Sax(e) Joiner, who was hanged by white men just before Union fell during the Civil War. He allegedly wrote an insulting letter to a white woman and was taken from the jail by a mob.

Kettler, the professor at USC-Union, said faculty and students will turn to the census, the Union Country Museum, Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, diaries and other papers.

“We are also accessing the University Archives, which have been in storage for a time. As well, part of the PURE grant work over the summer will be to try to find other archives in the state that might have reference to the Dawkins House and its inhabitants.”

Tour of home took me way back in time

The Picket attended a January meeting at USC-Union at which Comer and Joanna Rothell, director of outreach and preservation for Preservation South Carolina, made a pitch to area corporations and businesses to donate money for work on the Dawkins House.

I later saw the inside of the house, which has some wonderful architectural elements, timbers dating to the 1700s and windows undergoing conservation.

Comer reiterated the project will attempt to identify those who lived in or worked at the home in the 1700s and 1800s. Hopefully, he said, the team will be able to contact descendants. “We are going to do the right thing,” he told the audience.

The $300,000 state-funded Phase 1 shored up the building. (At right, Robert Schmitt, who was worked on the home's windows, shows where the spiral staircase once rose. Picket photo)

Phase 2 of the ambitious project will be much more extensive and expensive. The aim is for PSC to eventually hand over the house to the university for finishing and customization.

Rothell said Phase 2 will include:

-- Installation of new piers on concrete footings in the crawlspace;

-- Strengthening of porch, first and second floor framings, the roof system and all walls;

Rendering of the finished house, complete with landscaping (Preservation SC-USC Union)

-- Installation of the required framing for a new interior staircase where the original historic, spiral staircase was located in the central hall. This will entail strengthening the floors and walls in this area, including any necessary new footings in the crawlspace.

Name of house will honor famed black coach

PSC said they need at least $845,000 for the next phase of work. About $206,000 has been raised or been committed. Donations to the project can be made here.

“Fundraising is through personal outreach to corporations, organizations and individuals and participation in local meetings,” Comer told the Picket.

Construction could start in September or October, if enough money or promises come in.

PSC put out a fundraising brochure that includes “premier naming opportunities” for portions of the house, including the library, front porch, main hallway and the original 1700s home that was incorporated into later additions. Organizers hope one day to rebuild a spiral staircase that once joined the first and second floors.

The restored residence will be known as the Willie and Mary Jeffries’ Commons at Dawkins House. (PSC photo, right)

Willie Jeffries  played for the all-black Sims High School in Union and is the legendary former football coach of South Carolina State University. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010 and is a member of the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

In 2023, the South Carolina High School League recognized the Sims football squad’s 96-game unbeaten streak from 1946-1954 as the longest in state history. 

According to PSC: 

"The 'Commons' represents a shared and vibrant space—one designed to bring people together. Located on the USC Union campus, it will serve as a hub for connection and collaboration, where students, faculty, and corporate partners can gather for networking, professional development, meetings, and special events. It will a place where ideas are exchanged, partnerships are formed, and innovation is fostered."

The library remains where Gov. Magrath worked in spring 1865 (Picket photo)

RaceTrac rezoning request for Civil War site in Georgia is held by planning panel

RaceTrac’s latest bid to win approval of a 24/7 gas station and convenience store on a Civil War site outside Atlanta will have to wait another 30 days. The Cobb County Planning Commission voted Tuesday to seek additional information on traffic and potential environmental impacts on a nearby elementary school and day care center. It urged the company to have another meeting with neighborhoods that oppose the rezoning of the former Robert and Eliza McAfee parcel. The home -- which briefly served as the headquarters for a Union general and was in the middle of cavalry movements and clashes in summer 1864 – last spring was moved to adjoining Cherokee County after a long effort to save it from destruction. -- READ MORE

Gettysburg begins draining beaver pond near Devil's Den and below Little Round Top. Observers have chewed on the Plum Run controversy for years

Water from the dammed up Plum Run has occasionally reached the 40th New York monument (NPS)

It appears the beavers of Gettysburg National Military Park became a little too eager.

After complaints about a family of the furry critters that in recent years created dams and a pond -- thereby diminishing the historic integrity of Little Round Top and Devil’s Den -- the National Park Service has begun lowering water levels.

The work is meant to encourage the beavers to consider new housing elsewhere in the park.

Conservationists, including the South Mountain Audubon Society, are not happy with the decision, saying the pond has drawn nature lovers and new animal species.

In a statement, the park said:

“Over the next two months, the National Park Service will gradually lower water levels in the pond created by beaver activity. This action is designed to rehabilitate the 1863 cultural landscape by restoring visibility of Plum Run as a stream and maintaining the wetland around it described in first person accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg. Beaver activity occurs in several locations throughout the park, and they will continue to be present in the future. The National Park Service will carry out the work gradually to protect both the cultural and natural resources the park preserves.”

Park officials did not respond to several questions posed by the Picket, including what was the impetus for the decision. The Audubon Society chapter said in a Facebook post earlier this month the park was instructed to take action.

“If you were to add together all the roadways, buildings, monuments, and signs (that weren’t on the battlefield in 1863 either), I am certain you would come up with a much larger area than the area that has been changed by the beaver colony,” the group said. “Have we learned nothing since the eradication of the beavers in colonial days? Do we still have to engage in a ‘war’ on these grounds instead of learning to co-exist with nature?”

The Picket reached out Thursday to the group for additional comment.

Shortly after she became superintendent at Gettysburg in early 2024, Kris Heister responded to a Picket question about the status of the beavers of Plum Run, along Crawford Avenue.

“Beavers are not new to the park and have taken up residence off and on in the Plum Run area for many years -- this is a natural process. The park is managing them in accordance with NPS policy and the Cultural Landscape Report for Little Round Top, which recommends that the Plum Run riparian corridor be managed to promote species diversity while ensuring vegetation does not block key historic views from Plum Run Valley to the face of Little Round Top.”

Map shows Crawford Avenue, Plum Run and the 40th New York Infantry monument (NPS)

In 2023, park staff installed devices called "beaver deceivers" to de-water a portion of the pond that had formed due to infringement on the 40^th New York Infantry Monument and the subsequent inability of park visitors to access the monument.

Civil War historian and former park employee D. Scott Hartwig last week weighed in on the controversy, saying in a Facebook post visitors expect the park service to manage the landscape to the best of its ability to resemble that of 1863. He called the area the most "iconic part" of the battlefield.

“The reason we have arrived at this moment, where officials from the Department of Interior are ordering park management to do something about the beavers, is because this current management did not balance managing the historic landscape and native species. They instead allowed the native species to manage the landscape.”

RaceTrac bringing back its attempt to build a 24/7 gas station and convenience store at an Atlanta-area site where a Civil War house stood, cavalry clashed

The sturdy home was cut into six pieces before its move in spring 2025 (Civil War Picket photo)

RaceTrac will try again next month to win approval of a 24/7 gas station and convenience store on a Civil War site in Georgia that formerly featured the historic Robert and Eliza McAfee home.

Amid opposition from neighborhood residents, the company last November withdrew its rezoning bid. But the Cobb County Board of Commissioners voted to allow RaceTrac to reapply, which online records indicate it has.

RaceTrac has its work cut out. The Cobb County Planning Commission in October recommended rezoning the property, but added conditions that would not allow gasoline sales. 

The planning commission is scheduled to hear the case again April 7. The Board of Commissioners has the final say; it will hear zoning cases April 21.

The Civil War Picket reached out to an attorney for RaceTrac and the property owner for comment but has not yet heard back. Questions include whether the company has had new discussions with neighbors or agreed to some changes.

The home -- which briefly served as the headquarters for a Union general and was in the middle of cavalry movements and clashes in summer 1864 – last spring was moved to adjoining Cherokee County after a long effort to save it from destruction. It stood at the corner of Bells Ferry Road and Ernest Barrett Parkway.

The planning commission vote – following spirited discussion -- backed a change to the requested Neighborhood Retail Commercial (NRC) zoning. But it would prohibit fuel sales, drive-throughs and alcohol, tobacco and vape sales at the site.

The McAfee house dated to the 1840s, and the sprawling farm was a fixture in the Noonday Creek area. The property owner wants to sell the remaining two acres to RaceTrac.

RaceTrac argued a 24/7 store at the busy corner is appropriate and compatible with commercial development nearby and would have almost no impact on schools. 

Opponents raised a list of concerns, from traffic congestion and storm water runoff to the possible impact of alcohol sales and gas vapors on a nearby elementary school and day care center. 

The planning commission’s stipulations came despite an endorsement of the project by county planning staff and a traffic study that found the station acceptable if measures were taken to mitigate congestion.

John Pederson, the county’s zoning division manager, previously said if the county commission followed the planning commission’s lead, small retail, offices or a restaurant would be permitted. He said Thursday there appeared to be no changes in the RaceTrac proposal.

The McAfee House served a few weeks in June and early July 1864 as the headquarters for Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard and his three brigades during the Atlanta Campaign. After the seizure of Big Shanty (Kennesaw) by Federal forces on June 9, Garrard’s cavalry division was posted on the left flank during operations on the Kennesaw Mountain front. 

The Federal troopers clashed almost daily near Noonday Creek with Confederates led by Maj. Gen. Joseph Wheeler.

The Robert and Eliza McAfee House before its move to Cherokee County (Cobb Landmarks)

The McAfee farm was believed to have been occupied by Confederates, too, during the action around Kennesaw Mountain. The house is said to have been used as a field hospital.

The nonprofit Cobb Landmarks, the Bells Ferry Civic Association and the county’s historic preservation staff all recommend an archaeological survey of the site if the rezoning is ultimately approved.

Cobb Landmarks had worked to find someone to move the home, including when a car wash was proposed. The house lacked historic protection.

Although observers were pleased the McAfee House was not destroyed, many decried Cobb County's loss of history with its move to an adjoining county

Cobb Landmarks sold the house for $1 to entrepreneurs Lee and Brittani Lusk, with the main requirement it be moved and restored.

The couple moved the sturdy residence to near their home in Ball Ground and have been working since on its foundation. The couple say they expect the house to either rented as a residence or an Airbnb-style arrangement.

(At left, Picket photo of home as it appeared in February during foundation and other work in Ball Ground, Ga.)