The Confederate iron-plated ship
Merrimac destroyed two Union boats on March 8, 1862, during the Civil War.
The next day, the Union responded with the ironclad
Monitor near Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Dedicating a statue to the
Monitor's designer,
John Ericsson, President Calvin Coolidge stated, May 29, 1926:
"The Confederate ironclad ...
Merrimac, began a work of destruction among 16 Federal vessels, carrying 298 guns ....
... When the ironclad
Merrimac went out on the morning of MARCH 9 to complete its work of destruction it was at once surprised and challenged by this new and extraordinary naval innovation ...
... After a battle lasting four hours in which the
Monitor suffered no material damage ... the
Merrimac ... badly crippled, withdrew, never to venture out again ...
... The London Times stated that the day before this battle England had 149 first-class warships.
The day after she had but two, and they were iron-plated only amidships.
Naval warfare had been revolutionized."
American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred
In 1769, Scotsman
James Watts invented the steam engine.
In 1787, American
John Fitch invented a steamboat, but it was too expensive for practical use.
In 1806,
Robert Fulton invented the first successful steamboat, with a
circular wooden paddlewheel.
In 1836,
John Ericsson invented and patented a
screw propeller, which significantly improved steamship propulsion.
In 1839, the U.S. Navy Captain Robert Stockson invited
Ericsson to come to America to design the sloop
USS Princeton, with new steam driven twin screw propellers and smokestacks.
Launched in 1843, it won speed trials over steam paddleboats, making it
the fastest steamer afloat.
Unfortunately, during a demonstration in 1844, a faulty cannon exploded, killing the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of State, though President John Tyler was safe below deck.
Ericsson worked to create a boilerless hot air caloric engine, the first submarine boat, first self-propelled torpedo, and first torpedo boat.
He presented a design for an iron-clad armored battleship to France's Napoleon III in 1854, but he did not pursue it.
When the American Civil War began,
John Ericsson presented in 1861 the design for the
USS Monitor, based on the dimensions of a Swedish lumber raft.
President Coolidge continued his speech to the 5,000 people assembled to dedicate the
John Ericsson Memorial, one block south of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, May 29, 1926:
"We assemble here today to do reverence to the memory of a great son of Sweden ...
John Ericsson ...
We honor him most of all because we can truly say he was a great American."
With Sweden's Crown Prince Gustav Adolf in attendance at the dedication, President Coolidge continued, describing
Ericsson's home country:
"
Sweden is a country where existence has not been easy. Lying up under the Arctic Circle ...
... At an early period they were converted to the Christian faith and their natural independence made them early responsive to the Protestant Reformation, in which their most famous king,
Gustavus Adolphus, 'The Lion of the North,' was one of the most militant figures in the movement for a greater religious freedom ...
... It was under this great leader that plans were first matured to establish a colony in this country for purpose of trade and in order that the native, as was set out in the charter, might be
'made more civilized and taught morality and the Christian religion ... besides the further propagation of the Holy Gospel' ...
... While it was under a new charter that
a Swedish colony finally reached the Delaware in 1638, they never lost sight of their original purpose, but among other requests kept calling on the mother country for
ministers, Bibles, and Psalm books ..."
Coolidge described the
Swedes further:
"Forty-one clergymen came to America prior to 1779.
One of the historians of this early settlement asserts that these colonists laid the basis for a religious structure, built the first flour mills, the first ships, the first brickyards, and made the first roads, while they introduced horticulture and scientific forestry into this
Delaware region ...
The building of nearly 2,000 churches and nearly as many schools stands to their credit ...
Always as soon as they have provided shelter for themselves they have turned to build places of religious worship and founded institutions of higher learning with the original purpose of training clergymen and teachers ...
Reverence for religion which is the foundation of moral power."
Calvin Coolidge continued on the subject of Swedes:
"Though few in number during the period of our Revolutionary War, they supported the Colonial cause and it has been said that
King Gustavus III, writing to a friend, declared
'If I were not King I would proceed to America and offer my sword of behalf of the brave Colonies' ...
Such is the background and greatness of the Swedish people in the country of their origin and in America that gave to the world
John Ericsson."
When offered payment for designing the
Monitor,
John Ericsson, who "had a particular horror of slavery," replied to a U.S. Senator in 1882:
"Nothing could induce me to accept any remuneration from the United States for the
Monitor ... It was my contribution to the glorious Union cause ... which freed 4,000,000 bondsmen."
In Battery Park, New York City, a bronze portrait of
John Ericsson was dedicated in 1893, and a statue in 1903, with the plaque:
"The City of New York erects this statue to the memory of a citizen whose genius has contributed to the greatness of the Republic and the progress of the world ...
JOHN ERICSSON was born in Langsbanshyttan, Sweden, July 31, 1803, died in New York March 8, 1889."
Considered one of the greatest mechanical engineers in history, a monument was dedicated to him in Nybroviken, Stockholm.
The United States issued a postage stamp honoring
John Ericsson in 1926.
A memorial erected to
John Ericsson and the
Monitor in McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, NY, in 1939:
"Erected by the people of the State of New York to commemorate the Battle of the
Monitor and
Merrimac, March 9, 1862, and in memory of the men of the
Monitor and its designer
John Ericsson."
Coolidge concluded his tribute to
John Ericsson:
"This great mechanical genius wrote to President Lincoln offering to 'construct a vessel for the destruction of the hostile fleet in Norfolk and for scouring southern rivers and inlets of all craft protected by southern batteries.'"
John Ericsson explained to President Lincoln:
"Attachment to the Union alone impels me to offer my services at this frightful crisis -my life if need be- in the great cause which
Providence has caused you to defend."
Ericsson stated:
"I love this country. I love its people and its laws, and I would give my life for it."
American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance
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