Note THE CRUISE OF THE MONITOR — Chapter VI

Page 467. The Cruise of the Monitor. The contract for the construction of the Monitor was given to John Ericsson, of New York, on October 4, 1861. It was to be an iron-plated raft, 172 feet over all, 41½ feet beam, and 11⅛ feet depth of hold, carrying a revolving iron turret containing two 11-inch Dahlgren guns. The ironclad was launched January 30, 1862, an extraordinary feat in naval construction, and was handed over to the government February 19, its cost being $275,000. At eleven o'clock on the morning of March 6, the queer craft started for Hampton Roads, to meet the Merrimac, word of whose completion had reached the United States government. That the vessel did not founder on the voyage was little less than a miracle, but at nine o'clock on the evening of March 8, the Monitor reached Fort Monroe, her progress up the bay being lighted by the burning frigate Congress.