The full content of this document is only available to subscribing institutions. More information can be found via www.amdigital.co.uk
If you believe you should have access to this document, click here to Login.
| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC03681.02 |
| From Archive Folder | Unassociated Civil War Documents 1862 |
| Title | Asa Smith to his mother on the state of Union forces following a fight with the Merrimac |
| Date | 10 March 1862 |
| Author | Smith, Asa (fl. 1861-1862) |
| Document Type | Correspondence; Military document |
| Content Description | Not signed by Asa Smith. Says they are to remain there because of the "Monitor" and that if they can get through tonight they will be secure. Describes the sinking of the "Cumberland" and the burning of the "Congress" by the "Merrimac." Says the broadside from the Union ships "glanced off without doing much of any damaged and this seemed to satisfy them that our vessels could not hurt them." Says the "Cumberland" went down gloriously, firing her aft guns as the bow went under. Report that "During the evening or camp was full of sailors, and they were the hardest looking set of men I ever saw[,] many of them covered with blood." Says he saw one of the captains of the guns on the Congress and that he was covered head to foot in blood and that there were clots of brains spattered on his face. |
| Subjects | Civil War Military History Union Forces Soldier's Letter Union Soldier's Letter Navy Ironclad Monitor and Merrimac Confederate States of America Battle Death Injury or Wound Maritime |
| Place written | Camp Hamilton at Newport News, Virginia |
| Theme | The American Civil War; Women in American History; Naval & Maritime; Health & Medicine |
| Sub-collection | Papers and Images of the American Civil War |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 |
| Civil War: Recipient Relationship | Mother |
| Civil War: Theater of War | Lower Seaboard Theater and Gulf Approach |
| Related documents | Asa Smith to his mother describing the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac |