A shell from the Alabama lodged in the USS Kearsarge's sternpost during epic duel. It failed to explode and cripple the ship. You can see artifact at a Navy museum

Sinking of Alabama, Kearsarge sternpost, Capt. Ralphael Semmes (NHHC)

For about an hour on June 19, 1864, artillery crews on the USS Kearsarge and commerce raider CSS Alabama plugged away at each other, their shells flying wide or impacting just about every conceivable spot on their opponent’s vessel.

The Union warship, protected by heavy chains, had an advantage in the epic duel off Cherbourg, France -- one that was not of its own making: The Rebel ordnance was old and at times unreliable, meaning a shell might not explode. Still, the Alabama brought its fierce reputation to the fight, having captured or burned dozens of vessels on the high seas.

About 30 minutes in, a shell struck the vital sternpost of the USS Kearsarge (photo of encased artifact in 1980, NHHC). It should have been game, set, match in favor of Capt. Raphael Semmes and his sailors. Instead, the round was mostly a dud, failing to explode. The fighting continued and before long, it was game, set and match for the Federals, who sent the CSS Alabama to the bottom.

Today, the shattered sternpost and the intact artillery shell are on display in the “Securing the Seas for Union Victory” exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy in Washington, D.C. Visitors currently can see the items from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

I turned to Andy Hall, an author, blogger and Civil War naval expert, to explain the importance of a ship’s sternpost, which is a component at the rear (stern).

“It generally consists of a vertical (more or less), heavy component of timber, iron, or steel. It needs to be especially strong because it is the principal structural component to which many other parts of the stern are attached,” Hall wrote in an email. “Usually, the sternpost is also the attachment point for the rudder that swings left and right to steer the ship as it moves through the water.”

Example of sternpost on CSS Jackson at National Civil War Naval Museum (Picket photo)

"Damage to the sternpost is especially serious, because it is one of the critical elements that gives strength to the hull of the vessel.”

While the speedy Alabama’s shot on the Kearsarge sternpost did impede operations, the crew was able to steer with extra hands at the helm, according to an Encyclopedia of Alabama article.

Hall says if the shell had exploded, it likely would have ended the battle immediately and quite possibly led to the sinking of the Kearsarge, which was commanded by Capt. John Winslow. He theorizes the ordnance hit the Kearsarge around its waterline.

The red box at left shows the location of the Kearsarge's sternpost; click to enlarge

Semmes wrote in his memoir of his bad luck with the 56-pound shell’s percussion cap.

"I lodged a rifled percussion shell near her stern post – where there were no chains -- which failed to explode because of the defect of the cap. If the cap had performed its duty, and exploded the shell, I should have been called upon to save Captain Winslow’s crew from drowning, instead of his being called upon to save mine. On so slight an incident the defect of a percussion cap did the battle hinge.”

Semmes crowed that the sternpost was the only Alabama trophy taken. While that may have been true in 1864, the Naval History and Heritage Command and a team of experts recovered artifacts – including the Alabama’s bell -- from the site in 2002. Semmes was rescued by a British vessel.

Hall, writer of the Dead Confederates blog and author of "Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast," summarized the importance of the duel last year when Case Auctions sold items pertaining to Winslow and the Kearsarge. Among the items sold was a picture frame made from pieces of the sternpost (right, Case Auctions)

“It’s hard for most Americans to appreciate now how momentous this battle was viewed at the time,” Hall told the Picket. “Alabama had roamed the globe unmolested for almost two years, destroying American merchant shipping at will. Dozens of civilian ships were seized or destroyed by Capt. Semmes, causing insurance rates to skyrocket and wreaking financial havoc on ships and ports never within a thousand miles of the Confederate raider.”

While a formidable captain, Winslow thanked “the mercy of God” for his vessel’s fortune.

Legend held that the post was sent upon request to President Abraham Lincoln, but Grant Walker, a curator for the U.S. Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis, Md., said he has been unable to find any mention of Lincoln associated with the sternpost.

“The earliest correspondence we have concerns its transfer in 1924 from the Bureau of Ordnance Museum to the Naval Academy Museum,” says Walker. “It was part of a large transfer of ordnance from Washington to Annapolis that took place in July 1924. I could find no records re: how, when, and from whom the Bureau of Ordnance acquired it.”

One of the documents relating to the sternpost lists it as being among "trophies" kept at the Washington Navy Yard.

Various documents listing Kearsarge sternpost; click to enlarge (U.S. Naval Academy Museum)

Tracie Logan, senior curator at the USNA Museum, said the sternpost has been on loan from the academy to the National Museum of the U.S. Navy for decades.

The National Museum is undergoing an extensive renovation and movement of artifacts, so while the sternpost is still on display and the “Securing the Seas” exhibit exists, access to Building 76 is limited to Saturdays only.

Most of the objects from Alabama that were considered underwater archaeological recovery pieces have been removed from display, says Wesley Schwenk, registrar for the museum in Washington. They are retained in storage for preservation purposes. 

Capt. John Winslow, front right, with Kearsarge crew

Schwenk is involved with an exciting acquisition pertaining to orderly Sgt. Charles T. Young, a Marine who served on two other vessels and the Kearsarge during the Civil War. A native of Massachusetts, Young spent 16 years at sea before being assigned to the Kearsarge.

“Described by his fellow sailors as a garrulous sailor, he kept the crew entertained with his humorous and fantastical tales of past voyages when all other forms of amusement no longer brought pleasure to the rest of the crew,” says Schwenk. “Upon the ship's famed meeting with CSS Alabama at the Battle of Cherbourg on 19 June 1864, he and other Marines of the crew provided cover and assault fire from the ship’s topgallant forecastle.”

For his bravery and protection of his fellow crew members, the Marine Corps commended Young, says the registrar. (Seventeen members of the crew received the Medal of Honor for their valor during the battle with Alabama.) Young was in his mid-50s, an old man by the standard of the armed forces.

Schwenk says the museum received two diaries, not yet transcribed, a cudgel (it is unknown whether Young actually carried it aboard), discharge papers, a service record, letters and a muster roll. There is no known photograph of Young.

Broadside, with detail below, includes Young's name at top right, click to enlarge (George Costopulos Auctioneers)

A 2014 auction of items that belonged to Kearsarge Pvt. John J. McAleer included a fascinating hand-inscribed and decorated broadside listing the officers and crew of the famous warship. Young is listed among three Marine guards.

A Boston Journal newspaper article posted on Findagrave.com indicates Young died in 1872, age 62, in Portsmouth, N.H. He is reportedly buried at Walnut Street Cemetery in Brookline, near his native Boston. I asked Lisa Golden with the city for a photograph of his grave, but she has been unsuccessful thus far in locating it or obtaining more information about Young.

Brace yourself as we update you on U.S.S. Monitor mystery maker's mark and explain how two rods stabilized ironclad's remarkable revolving turret

Braces under, near guns in recovered turret (top); rendering of them with crew (MMP, Andy Hall)

The 600-page “Drawings of the U.S.S. Monitor, published in 1985, depicts the venerable Civil War ironclad from practically every angle. Scores of sketches demonstrate the exacting work of the draftsmen – with some components drawn to the inch.

“To the men who had the imagination, knowledge and skill to produce these drawings and the Monitor,” reads the dedication in the volume, written by Ernest W. Peterkin for the North Carolina and federal governments.

I continue to marvel at the design and engineering skills of those who made the vessel that changed naval warfare in a single battle with the CSS Virginia in March 1862. My recent foray into learning a bit more about the vessel’s circular, ingenious turret – and its supporting braces -- put me back in touch with experts on Monitor.

As I further studied the turret after communicating with them – I had an amusing observation.

A drawing (below) at the top of the publication – “transverse section through turret” -- features a cross-section of Monitor, with the turret resting on top of a spindle.

Oh my, I thought. The turret and rod combined look like a child’s spinning top!

Transverse section through turret shows spindle beneath (Drawings of the Monitor)

The revolving turret was no toy, however. It housed two XI-inch Dahlgren guns that could smash both ship and man. But to make the setup work, designer John Ericsson had to overcome challenges with the turret, dubbed a “cheesebox on a raft.”

“It was enormously heavy … (and) was designed to be turned by machinery rather than by hand,” Civil War naval expert Andy Hall told me in a recent email.

“To improve this efficiency, Ericsson recognized that it was necessary to relieve part of the weight of the turret on the rollers around its perimeter by ‘jacking up’ the turret a bit, temporarily placing much of its weight on its central vertical spindle. To prevent the turret structure from sagging, Ericsson included diagonal braces from the central roof beam to the base forward, aft and on either side of the turret that could be adjusted using enormous turnbuckles.”

Aft diagonal brace with ULSTER, highlighted at right, click to enlarge (Courtesy Mariners' Museum and Park)

Maker's mark 'Ulster' leaves questions

The two diagonal support braces (forward and aft) inside the turret have been of interest to me following the 2017 announcement by The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Va., that Monitor conservators removing corrosion from the aft brace uncovered the word “ULSTER.” It’s the first time a maker’s mark was found in the turret.

Officials theorized the two wrought-iron braces – which have undergone conservation since 2016 -- were produced by Ulster Iron Works in Saugerties and added to the turret interior. The scenic city along the Hudson River is about 100 miles north of New York City, where Monitor was assembled in late 1861 and early 1862.

The company, which operated from 1827 to 1888 and took advantage of iron deposits in the area, was a Navy contractor.

Cannon damage on USS Monitor after clash with Virginia (Library of Congress)

“While this firm was never mentioned as a supplier during the Monitor’s construction at Continental Iron Works, it is now believed that Ulster provided materials for modifications to the ship while it was undergoing sea trials at the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” says the museum, which houses the USS Monitor Center, home to artifacts and items still being conserved after they were recovered off Cape Hatteras, N.C., more than two decades ago.

I have been mesmerized since the announcement by the mystery of the Ulster mark.

I reached out last month to Will Hoffman, Monitor project manager, to see whether conservators have since confirmed any link between the vessel and Ulster Iron Works.

The short answer: No.

Hoffman has cited papers from Ulster Iron Works in the collection of William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

A summary of the collection includes this line: “Among the factors that contributed to the success of the Ulster Iron Works was the ability of the owners of the corporation to arrange for government contracts, especially contracts with the Navy, for providing iron products for use in rockets, ships, and other materials.” (At left, the forward and aft braces, courtesy of Mariners' Museum and Park.)

I reached out to the library to ask whether Ulster Iron Works records make specific mention of Monitor.

Terese Murphy, head of reader services, says a bound volume has entries through 1863 – a year after Monitor was lost in a storm.

Murphy wasn’t able to find mention of Monitor, but kindly sent me photos of the pages that would have mentioned the ironclad. I wasn’t able to make all the writing, but I, too, didn’t see the Monitor in the notes – many descriptions of technology and project summaries. It is possible that the names of the vessels for projects were not inscribed. The descriptions are very technical.

The manufacturer, which drew workers from as far away as England and Wales, was known for using European technology. A process called “double puddling” could produce appreciable amounts of high-grade bar iron.

1862 page from volume on Ulster Iron Works (Courtesy Clements Library, U. of Michigan)

Hoffman says, despite some research by his staff, he has not learned much more.

“It kind of went dead after that,” he says of the search for the Ulster connection. “We know these braces are additions.” They are not shown in original blueprints.

I reached back out to Audrey Klinkenberg, Saugerties town historian, about whether anyone there have come across any mention of the USS Monitor and Ulster Iron Works since the 2017 news. She said no.

A delicate balancing act during battle

With the Ulster mystery still out there, I asked Hoffman and Hall, who writes the Dead Confederates blog, about the six braces that reinforced the turret. (BTW, it’s possible the forward diagonal supporting brace also had an ULSTER mark and it was eaten by corrosion or is still covered.)

The diagonal braces were installed near the two guns in a claustrophobic space manned by an executive officer and 16 sailors. Like Hall, Hoffman says the 160-ton turret had a revolutionary design for the time.

 Braces highlighted, “U.S.S. Monitor: The Ship that Launched a Modern Navy” by Edward Miller

“The turret is like a suspension bridge,” with the diagonal braces providing balance to “keep it from tipping while firing the gun,” the lead conservator told me. One crew fired a Dahlgren while the other reloaded the second.

Hall says turnbuckles on the braces were a particular benefit at close quarters, as in the Monitor-Virginia battle in Hampton Roads.

“The crew in the turret adopted the practice of firing as the gun muzzles rotated past the target, rather than trying to rotate the turret, lock it in place, and then fire,” he says.

“With both ships maneuvering for advantage, almost at point-blank range, keeping Monitor’s turret moving during the action was essential. The officer commanding in Monitor’s turret, Samuel Dana Greene, described this as the turret’s ‘whirligig motion.’”

In a post on Dead Confederates, Hall describes the turret as “a very crowded and chaotic place.”

Clevis used in aft diagonal support brace (Courtesy The Mariners' Museum and Park)

The “Ulster” brace and its mate have undergone extensive conservation.

Hoffman says in 2016 both got their first round of dry-ice cleaning, followed by another round in 2018, and the aft “Ulster” braces was disassembled. Conservation of its aft clevis (fastener) was completed in 2019. Last year, the forward brace and remaining after-brace components received additional cleaning.

Unroll the turret for cleaning, or leave as is?

The turret currently rests on a lower support pad in a giant Mariners’ Museum and Park tank where it has undergone conservation for two decades.

The guns and braces have been treated in separate areas.

More than 50 maker’s marks associated with Monitor have been noticed over the years, says Hoffman. Roman numerals were spotted on the turret armor plates (the roof is upside down in the tank) and there are Roman numerals on sockets of the canopy stanchion.

The next big thing will be the full cleaning of the turret – but that is still a couple years off. (At right, dry-ice cleaning. Courtesy of Mariners' Museum and Park)

 And there are two considerations:

1. Should the turret be left in its current ring configuration for cleaning? While unrolling the plating might allow conservators to get into its curved layers, replacing rivets afterward may be impossible. Hoffman says the decision was to keep it as is.

2. The team has studied ways to treat wrought iron, which is forged and several inches deep. The turret is too big to clean by hand, so the likely scenario is dry ice, going from solid to gas. The whole idea is to remove ocean salt (chlorides) from the metal, to stem further corrosion.

The lab is working on a plan for the turret treatment, which could take up to eight months.

The turret will be turned right-side up, and the roof taken apart. “There are potentially artifacts still to be found” in the roof because some may be captured in concretion, according to Hoffman. (The remains of two sailors and numerous artifacts were found in the turret.)

Using scaffolding, conservators will clean the ring.

Turret bracing goes down in history, literally

Monitor and Virginia fought to a tactical draw at the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads.

Hall, author of “Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast,” says Monitor earned the strategic victory because the Confederate ironclad never ventured out again to attack the U.S. fleet.

“The U.S. Navy immediately contracted for new monitors, with several classes of the type entering service before the war ended in 1865. Each new class of monitor was built on the hard-won lessons of those before, with incremental technical improvements in armament, machinery and armor,” he says. (At left, part of the aft diagonal brace assembly. Courtesy of Mariners' Museum and Park)

Monitor sank in the Atlantic storm on Dec. 31, 1862, with the loss of 16 lives.

“The value of Ericsson’s bracing to keep the iron cylinder of the turret rigid proved to be beneficial to history as well, as it ensured that when Monitor capsized and sank in December 1862 after only a few months’ service, the turret fell off the ship but remained intact on the sea floor, from where it would be recovered in one piece in 2002,” says Hall.