In the Limelight: A Civil War Military Innovation

By Reece Nortum
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator

 Certainly you've heard the expression (or a variation of) "You're in the limelight." Did you know that there was such a thing? In 1825, Michael Faraday, the famous English chemist and physicist, demonstrated that if an oxygen-hydrogen flame were directed against a piece of quicklime, the heated lime produced a brilliant yellowish light.  

Once refined, these chemical lamps used super-heated balls of lime, or calcium oxide, to create an incandescent glow. The lights, known as limelight or calcium lights, began appearing in lighthouses and theaters during in the 1830s.

The idea of using the lights to turn night into day occurred to Union commanders in July 1863, as they contemplated operations on Morris Island, located at the outer reaches of Charleston Harbor. Union forces, most notably the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment (the famous African-American unit depicted in the 1989 film Glory), had sustained heavy casualties that month attempting to capture Fort Wagner (also known as Battery Wagner) on Morris Island.  Early on, Brigadier General Quincy Gillmore and Rear Admiral John Dahlgren hoped the lights would illuminate targets at night or give their own engineers greater visibility while constructing the works. The lights proved less than perfect for these ideas. But with the siege lines closing on Fort Wagner in late August, Union forces turned on the calcium lights again. This time, the intent was to place the Confederates directly in the limelight.

A night raid upon Fort Wagner (also known as Battery Wager) supported by calcium lights.

In addition to focusing on Battery Wagner, the calcium lights also illuminated the ironclads anchored offshore and to aid detection of spar torpedo craft. Against Battery Wagner, the desired effect of the brilliant light was to hinder operations. Any movement on the parapets, or even openings in bunkers to fire, was visible from Union lines. Not only did this hinder defensive fire, but also repairs to the battery. In reaction, Confederates attempted to extinguish the lights with long range artillery fire. In the early morning hours of Sept. 6, Major Edward Manigault, commanding artillery at Legare’s Point on James Island further inland, directed fires from Battery Haskell on the calcium light. Neither Union nor Confederate accounts indicate Manigault’s gunners met with any success. Gillmore’s engineers were the first to adapt the calcium light for combat, allowing them to illuminate their artillery target while simultaneously blinding Confederate gunners and riflemen.

During the siege of Charleston, the Union Navy also focused “limelights” on Fort Sumter while they pummeled it into rubble. In a dispatch to Captain Stephen Rowan, commanding USS New Ironsides, Rear Adm. Dahlgren wrote from Morris Island, “I have just received your signal dispatch in reference to the use of my calcium light on the New Ironsides. I placed at your disposal with great pleasure, and have little doubt that it will aid you in keeping the torpedo vessel.”  

Dahlgren made the following request to his superiors in Washington D.C. on April 6, 1864:

SIR: I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your communication enclosing a suggestion made to the Department that small steams with a calcium light would increase the security of our vessels against the rebel torpedo boats. A calcium light is always kept in operation on board the Ironsides, unless there be a good moonlight, I intended also to mount one on each monitor; the trial was made on one of them [New Ironsides, at the battles at Charleston Harbor], but not continued, because the commanding officer thought it a disadvantage. After a close observation of the one in use, I think it probable that the small angle at which the rays the water detracts from its efficiency. Small steamers are always kept in motion in advance of the picket monitors. As many as six have been on duty in a single night, besides a number of picket boats, making it exceedingly difficult for any object on the water to escape them unnoticed; which is confirmed by the fact that the efforts of the rebels were directed against the Housatonic, which was out in the open sea, while the monitors were inside the bar, within range of the rebel batteries and infinitely of more consequence. If any of the torpedo boats should elude the pickets, they would be stopped by nettings in the vicinity of the ironclads. There is no remedy for the outside cruisers except to be kept constantly underway, and I should pursue the same course inside with the monitors, but it is impossible at night in channels lined with dangerous shoals and heavy batteries. With an increased number of steam tugs and some torpedo boats like those of the rebels, added to the measures already taken, I should feel no apprehension whatever from this base style of rebel warfare. 

With his requests' approval, this new technology was sent to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard for use in the North and South Atlantic Blockade Squadrons. Additional requests came flowing in, after great success was reported in stopping Confederate blockade runners. The order came via the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron flagship USS Malvern that five locomotive lights were to be brought and attached to the bow and sterns of several ironclads within the Hampton Roads area in 1864. During 1864 and 1865, the Navy ordered 300 calcium lights to be installed as standard issue aboard all ironclads built in the area.

These calcium floodlights were later used as searchlights to spot Confederate warships and blockade runners. In early 1865, a Union light even helped detect a Confederate ironclad fleet as it tried to move along the James River under cover of darkness. A Southern officer later noted that a planned sneak attack was made impossible in part because of the Union’s “powerful calcium light.” 

Equipped with calcium lights, the Union Navy was able to continue, even on the darkest nights, the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Battery Wagner, ushering in a decades-long period in which the “Spotlight” was an important and well-used tool for peacetime, and war, aboard naval vessels.

Not All Ironclads are Created Equal: USS New Ironsides

By Joseph Miechle
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Educator


Drawing of USS New Ironsides shortly after commissioning in Philadelphia, PA. The ocean-going ironclad was fully rigged for sails. (Harpers' Weekly)

When one hears mention of a Civil War ironclad, images of the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia- style ships may immediately come to mind. While these two styles were certainly the predominant designs during the war, engineers tried a few other innovative variations as well. One of the lesser known, yet most effective ironclads developed during the war was USS New Ironsides. The Hampton Roads Naval Museum is proud to have a model of this ship, as well as the original (functioning!) engine room clock in our Civil War gallery.

 John Ericsson’s Monitor design was not the only plan submitted when contracts were awarded to northern shipyards for production of ironclad ships that could take on the Confederate casemate ironclad Virginia, then nearing completion in Norfolk. Production on USS Monitor began after Congress had already approved work to begin on USS Galena and USS New Ironsides. Ericsson’s “tin can on a shingle” was completed quickly and placed into service before either Galena or New Ironsides was complete. Because of this, the Ericsson design won fantastic public support and political backing in the aftermath of the Battle of Hampton Roads.

The Hampton Roads Naval Museum's model of USS New Ironsides as she appeared late in the Civil War, bow view (left) and stern view (right). (Photographs by M.C. Farrington)

USS New Ironsides' powerful broadside of 8 guns could place many more shells onto a fortification than could the Ericsson style ironclads. (Photograph by M.C. Farrington)


In stark contrast to the turret-based design of USS Monitor and her subsequent sister ships, New Ironsides maintained a more traditional broadside armament. The broadside configuration of fourteen 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore guns and two 150-pound Parrot rifled guns required upwards of 200 men to operate them. The guns also required construction of special naval carriages so they could operate in the confines of a fully armored gun deck. The opening and closing of each armored shutter protecting the gun crews required ten men to operate. When New Ironsides was operating at peak efficiency, she could deliver withering fire upon the enemy.

The original crew of USS New Ironsides was patched together with volunteers and recent recruits to the Navy. Many of the crew had no experience aboard ship prior to in Philadelphia in 1862. Fewer than one in ten crewmen had joined the Navy prior to May 1862 and over 45 percent of them were rated as landsmen or boys. The crew was drilled vigorously at Hampton Roads prior to her first combat at Charleston, South Carolina on April 7, 1863, in which New Ironsides and several Monitor-style ironclads bombarded Fort Sumter, but failed to achieve a tactical victory.

In what may be the only known combat photograph of its kind from the American Civil War, spectators along the beach can be seen observing Union ironclad ships bombarding either Ft. Sumter or Ft. Moultrie, South Carolina. USS New Ironsides can be plainly seen on the right side of the photograph on the horizon. Smoke still lingers in the air from her deadly broadside. (Chubachus Library of Photographic History)

Action by New Ironsides against Fort Wagner, S.C. in 1863 demonstrated the ship’s true ability. Confederate General Roswell Ripley wrote, “Our great enemy is now the [New] Ironsides.” The ship fired its guns in rotation, one after another. This allowed her to keep a steady stream of fire upon an enemy fortification. New Ironsides expended 464 rounds from her guns in just one day of action at Ft. Wagner.  Colonel Charles Olmstead of the First Georgia Volunteers wrote:

Her broadsides were not fired in volley, but gun after gun, in rapid succession, the effect upon those who were at the wrong end of the guns being exceedingly demoralizing. Whenever she commenced there was a painful uncertainty as to what might happen before she got through.”

New Ironsides could put over ten times as much fire onto a target in an hour than a Monitor-class ship could. Ericsson conceded that the slow firing monitors could not contend with fortifications to the degree that New Ironsides could.

(Photograph by M.C. Farrington)

New Ironsides' armor also seems to have held up better than that of the other ironclad ship designs. USS Galena was shot through by Confederate guns at Drewry’s Bluff on the James River and Confederate gunners soon realized that damage to the seam, between the turret and deck, on Monitor style ships would quickly disable their ability to rotate. New Ironsides was struck over 150 times by heavy Confederate guns throughout the war and it never impaired the ship’s ability to fight.

New weapon evolution in the Civil War is a substantial topic in itself and no new design went unnoticed by the enemy. The Confederates in Charleston, South Carolina had been working on another weapon to destroy the blockading ships, the David boat. On October 5, 1863, under the orders of Captain J. R. Tucker C.S.N, a newly designed David-class torpedo boat succeeded in detonating a charge under USS New Ironsides and escaping into the night. The New Ironsides suffered little damage in the attack and one casualty, caused by gunfire from CSS David. The ship remained on station outside Charleston for the next several months before returning to Pennsylvania for routine repairs and maintenance.

The diversity of ironclad designs is shown in this engraving of USS New Ironsides (1862-1866) (left) and the double-turreted USS Monadnock (1864-1874) (right foreground) published in Harper's Weekly on February 3, 1866, as part of a larger print entitled "The Iron-clad Navy of the United States.” (Naval History and Heritage Command, NH-61431)

The armor belt of the ship was constructed of solid iron plates, up to 4.5 inches thick at the waterline backed by oak, pine, and iron braces. The armor itself was applied in “tongue and groove” style of construction which in theory would add strength and support to adjacent pieces of plating should they be struck by a projectile. British gun tests of this design would prove to the contrary in late 1862, too late to change the design of New Ironsides.

Watercolor painting done by Ensign John W. Grattan, who observed the second battle of Ft. Fisher aboard Rear Adm. David D. Porter’s flagship USS Malvern.  A "Naval Contingent" made up of Sailors and Marines is shown attacking the fort's Northeast Bastion.  Grattan's book Under the Blue Pennant or Notes of a Naval Officer was published in 2000. (Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Grattan Collection, Naval History and Heritage Command)

After repairs and the addition of anti-torpedo fenders at the Philadelphia Naval Yard in June 1864, New Ironsides was recomissioned with Commodore William Radford of the former USS Cumberland, in command.  New Ironsides returned to participate in the Battles for Fort Fisher, NC in December 1864 and January 1865. Rear Adm. David Dixon Porter wrote of the ship’s action in January:

The vessel did more execution than any vessel in the fleet, and even when our troops were on the parapet I had so much confidence in the accuracy of [Radford’s] fire that he was directed to fire on the traverses in advance of our troops and clear them out. This he did most effectually, and but for this the victory might not have been ours.

Eight members of the crew of USS New Ironsides received the Medal of Honor for their performance during the battle.

USS New Ironsides takes aboard Sailors. Notice the Marine guard at the end of the ladder to prevent against the introduction of contraband and intoxicating liquors. Notice also the sailing masts have been replaced with signal masts. This photo was likely taken in southern waters.

Despite all of the political support for the Monitor design and actual deficiencies and shortcomings in design, USS New Ironsides truly proved to be one of the most effective ironclad ships of the Civil War. The design demonstrated that superior firepower on large ships would continue to play an important role in naval strategies well into the 20th century. Many of the battleships of the Great White Fleet of 1907 carried a broadside of secondary guns in addition to their primary guns in turrets. Unfortunately, New Ironsides was damaged by a fire after the war and broken up for scrap by 1869. For more information about New Ironsides, see the book USS New Ironsides in the Civil War by William H. Roberts.

Bombardment of Fort Fisher, by James Madison Alden



This print is entitled Bombardment of Fort Fisher. The lengthy subtitle reads, "By U.S. Naval Forces under command of Rear Admiral D.D. Porter just previous to the assault of the Military and Naval forces under the command of Major General A.H. Terry, January 15, 1865.  To the Gallant Officers and Men with valor and skill that secured the Victory, the Print is respectfully dedicated by the Publisher."

Drawn by James Madison Alden and published by the New York City-based print shop William Endicott and Company (the same company that published the museum's USS Minnesota print), the print currently hangs in the museum's Civil War gallery.  It depicts the second major bombardment conducted by the massive U.S. Fleet in preparation for a major ground assault by 10,000 Union Soldiers of Terry's XXIII Corps and 2,000 volunteer Sailors and Marines from the fleet.  The print is centered around the Confederate batteries at Fort Fisher's "Mound Battery," located on the Southern end of the fort. From this vantage point, the viewer can see the entire length of the fort and appreciate the large number of ships the U.S. Navy brought to subdue it. Read more about this epic battle here.



Alden's work is rare in the respect that the vast majority of other images portraying the battle show it from the fleet side, looking at the fort from the outside. It is also unique in another respect. Throughout his career as an artist, cartographer, and executive assistant to Admiral David Dixon Porter, Alden painted over 670 works. Bombardment of Fort Fisher is the only one of Alden's works that has people in it, and is the only one that portrays a battle. A third factor that makes this illustration rare is that Alden only sold a few of his private works to the public. 

This is a typical  Battle of Fort Fisher illustration, with the fleet
in front and the fort toward the back.  This one was sketched
by T.F. Laycock and published by William Endicott.

 

As an artist, Alden specialized in sweeping landscape watercolors. He developed a talent for this while serving on the U.S. Boundary Commission expedition from 1857 to 1860. Charged with working with British Royal Engineers, the Commission's job was to finalize the exact location of the U.S.-Canadian border. Alden provided illustrations of important geographical landmarks that could be cross-referenced on a map. (Many of those works can be seen here). One art historian noted that Alden's training as a cartographer led him to reject the up-and-coming European schools of 19th century art, such as Romanticism and Impressionism. Rather, Alden believed his paintings should accurately portray the subject without the artist adding his own interpretation.  

USS New Ironsides Engine Room Clock

Currently on display in our Civil War gallery is the engine room clock from the ironclad USS New Ironsides. The clock face is silver and the numbers and script were hand etech into the metal. Notice how the clock says "USS Ironsides." That was the original name of the ship until somebody decided that the public might confuse her with "Old Ironsides" a.k.a. the frigate Constitution. Thus her name was changed. The clock maker apparently decided he had already put enough hard work into it and kept the original name.

The clock was restore by a museum volunteer and it does work if properly wound. It uses four small precious stones (two clear sapphires, a diamond, and a ruby) to keep the gears running accurately. As it was hardwired to the engine, the clock also kept track of the number of revolutions the ship's shaft spun (the number "1862" is the counter). By looking at the clock and the shaft speed, an engineer could tell how fast his ship was moving.