Captain Worden vs. the Rattlesnake

Lieutenant John Lorimer Worden, a career naval scientific officer, achieved great fame when he commanded the USS Monitor during her famous fight with the CSS Virginia on 9 March 1862—history’s first clash of ironclads. Worden had been blinded near the battle’s conclusion and faced a long recovery. As he healed from his wounds received during the Battle of Hampton Roads, many became curious about his next assignment.

The Monitor’s crew hoped he would return to the ironclad; however, that was not to be. Throughout the summer and early fall of 1862, gifts and accolades from throughout the North continued to be bestowed on Worden. On 11 July, he, his officers, and crew received the thanks of Congress “for the skill and gallantry exhibited by them in the late remarkable battle between the Monitor and the rebel iron-clad steamer Merrimack [Virginia].” Five days later, Worden was promoted to commander, then subsequently to captain. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles eventually detailed Worden to command the new Passaic-class monitor USS Montauk on 8 October 1862.

‘To Serve . . . in Any Hour of Peril’

The Monitor’s success at Hampton Roads prompted many to believe that a fleet of new monitor-styled warships could defeat anything they might encounter. Consequently, John Ericsson, the Monitor’s inventor, received a contract to build ten additional monitors known as the Passaic class.

This class endeavored to correct many flaws in the original Monitor, which was 179 feet in length with a 10½-foot draft and a weight of 987 tons. Worden and others had noted how to enhance these new ironclads. They were larger, weighing 1,335 tons and with a crew of 67 to 88 men. The dimensions for these new and improved monitors were 200 feet in length, a beam of 46 feet, and a draft of 11.6 feet. The Passaic-class vessels were heavily armored: 11-inch turret, 5-inch sides, 1-inch deck, 8-inch for the pilothouse. Most were armed with one XV-inch and one XI-inch Dahlgren shell gun.

The pilothouse was novel. Acting Assistant Paymaster Samuel T. Browne described it as “standing upon the center of the turret, and a miniature of it. The pilothouse did not revolve. It was fitted with 12 funnel-shaped eyeholes nearly five feet above the pilot-house floor, which converged from the large diameter inside, to an aperture an inch in on the outside.” The cylindrical pilothouse on top of the turret moved with it and was large enough to give the captain, pilot, and helmsman a superior view of the events before them. This enhanced fire control and communications with other sections of the ship. Other improvements included a blower system that brought air into the vessel through the turret and a permanent smoke pipe.

Worden continued to receive new laurels for his command of the Monitor. On 8 December, President Abraham Lincoln recommended to Congress that it give a vote of thanks to Commander Worden for his heroic service on 9 March 1862. On 3 February 1863, Congress did that by passing a resolution tendering the thanks of Congress, accepting Lincoln’s recommendation that Worden be promoted to the next highest grade for his “highly distinguished conduct in conflict with the enemy, in the remarkable battle between the United States iron-clad steamer ‘Monitor,’ under his command, and the rebel iron-clad frigate ‘Merrimack.’”

More accolades were bestowed on Worden. New York Secretary of State Horatio Ballard informed him by letter on 16 December 1862 that the New York State Assembly would present its native son with a sword “emblazoned with the record of that glorious day [9 March ] . . . as a memorial of your heroism and skill as commandant of the Monitor.” Worden replied to Ballard, “To serve our country in any hour of peril has been my highest ambition. . . . Nothing less than the aid of Heaven could have produced a result so gratifying.” The sword was made by Tiffany and Company of New York City and displayed in its window for several days until given to Mrs. Worden.

Choppy Seas to the Dixie Coast

While it was very fulfilling for Worden to receive so many honors, once the Montauk arrived at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, he quickly prepared her for sea. The ironclad, towed by the side-wheeler USS Connecticut, shaped a southern course on Christmas Eve. The ship almost sank in heavy choppy seas en route to Hampton Roads, arriving there on 29 December 1862. After some repairs, the Montauk was towed by the sidewheeler USS James Alger and left for Beaufort, North Carolina, on 2 January 1863.

The weather was fine as the Montauk passed Cape Henry; however, the ironclad crossed the tail end of the storm that had sunk the original Monitor on 30 December 1862. Worden noted that on “the passage from Hampton Roads the weather was exceptionally fine and the water smooth, except off Cape Hatteras, where I encountered a heavy swell from the northward and eastward, which caused the ship to roll considerably, taking water in large quantities on her deck.” The Passaic-class monitor suffered from the same flaw as the first Monitor since the armored deck overhung the hull, allowing heavy seas to work between the hull and deck. Browne remembered that the “big seas came under our overhang as if they would rip it from its solid union with the hull, and with a shock that made the vessel tremble from stem to stern.”

Once past Cape Hatteras, the Montauk experienced good weather and neared Beaufort at 0730 on 4 January 1863. The ironclad ran aground entering Bogue Sound, but high tide floated her off the shoal. Worden surveyed his ship and was able to report she was not damaged by the incident.

The Montauk remained in Beaufort until 17 January 1863 and then was towed by the James Alger to Port Royal Sound, South Carolina, without incident. Rear Admiral Samuel Francis DuPont, commander of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron, was collecting an ironclad fleet to assault Charleston, South Carolina. The admiral was expecting more of the Passaic-class monitors to arrive and planned to use them in Secretary Welles’ campaign concept to capture Charleston. Before he could organize the attack against the cradle of secession, DuPont needed to test the endurance and firepower of these new monitors. Who better to do so than Worden? Accordingly, DuPont detailed Worden to take the Montauk “down to Ossabaw to operate up the Ogeechee River and capture if he could the fort at Genesis Point under the cover of which . . . the Nashville was lying . . . and in case of success, the railroad was also accessible.”

Worden’s primary target was Fort McAllister, built in 1861–62 of marsh mud and sand by Georgia troops under the supervision of Confederate engineer Captain John McCrady. The fort, 12 miles north of Savannah at Genesis Point near the mouth of the Big Ogeechee River, was built to guard the river against any Union advance. By late 1862, Fort McAllister mounted 11 heavy seacoast guns, including a 10-inch seacoast mortar, an VIII-inch shell gun, VIII-inch Columbiad, a 42-pounder, and three 32-pounders as well as 12 field pieces to guard the fort’s land face. Piles and torpedoes also protected the fort, safeguarding the channel. Paymaster Browne described the “massive proportions of the fortification, its banks covered with rich green sod, and the muzzles of the guns just visible, pointing at us from heavily protected embrasures. Between the guns . . . traverses extended back into the rear, effectively covering the guns from enfilading fire.”

Ten days passed before Worden could leave Port Royal Sound due to bad weather. Nevertheless, under tow by the James Alger, the Montauk left Port Royal on 21 January 1863. When Worden reached Ossabaw Sound, Georgia, on 24 January, he assumed command of a small blockading flotilla. His command included the Unadilla-class screw gunboats USS Wissahickon and Seneca. The two other ships under his leadership were the USS Dana and the mortar schooner C. P. Williams. These ships already had attempted three attacks against Fort McAllister, ending in failure. DuPont believed that the Montauk would make the difference. Worden was determined to fulfill his orders.

A Tough Fort to Crack

When the fog finally lifted on 26 January, the Montauk and the wooden ships were able to move upriver. Worden had obtained the services of a Georgian pilot named Murphy, as the Big Ogeechee is “narrow, and very crooked . . . A vessel of war of such type as the world had never before seen, vulnerable only in her hull below the water, steaming up a narrow, tortuous river, with the assurance that in its bed were torpedoes, the slightest touch to explode them, and containing powder sufficient to destroy a dozen vessels like our own, was a realization the full import of which we could not then comprehend.”

The next morning at 0700, Worden’s squadron got under way and took up the positions selected by Lieutenant Commander John Davis of the USS Wissahickon about a half hour later. This anchorage was about 300 yards from the pilings and nearly 1,500 yards from Fort McAllister. The Montauk opened fire at 0735 with two shots. The fort immediately replied, its first shot striking the ironclad. About 0900, a strong breeze started to alter the flight of
the ironclad’s shot and shell. When the Montauk turned with the changing tide, the gunsmoke from the fort blew back across the Union ships, disrupting their aim. Worden noted that at “11:55 a.m., our supply of shells being expended, and finding our cored shot did not affect the enemy, or at least we could not observe their effect with certainty, I ordered the firing to cease, tripped our anchor, and stood down river, and ordered the gunboats to discontinue the action.”

Once away from the fort, Worden surveyed the Montauk. He noted that his “vessel was hit fourteen times, to wit, four times on the turret, three times on side armor, four times on deck armor, once on smokestack, once in second cutter, and once on a spar lashed athwart our stern as a stern mooring for our boats.” The Confederates, in turn, suffered little damage to the earthworks, which could easily be repaired. The defenders of Fort McAllister claimed a great victory in repulsing the Union naval attack.

On 31 January, Worden called his gunboat officers together in the early evening to arrange the next day’s
plan of action. At 0400, the flotilla got under way with the Montauk in the lead. The ironclad anchored 600 yards below Fort McAllister on the riverbank as close to the shoal as possible. Worden opened fire on the strongpoint; however, there was a thick mist over the marsh, and the fort’s gunsmoke was hanging over the earthworks. Worden reported that “we could neither see their position nor the effect of our own shells.” Confederates opened fire as soon as they realized that the Union flotilla had arrived; nevertheless, the fire from both forces slackened due to visibility problems.

Worden noted that the turret was first struck by a shot at around 0753. One hour later, he noticed that the tide was falling, and when the depth was sounded, there was only 14 feet of water. The Montauk’s commander knew that his ship had a draft of 11.6 feet and that the tide would continue to drop another five feet. The Montauk moved downriver into deeper water, yet it was now at a range of 1,400 yards from the fort. From there, the ironclad continued her bombardment. Worden noted that his ship’s cannonade was only tearing up the earthen parapets and traverses, with no real damage to the Confederate artillery. Since he did not believe he could inflict any more damage, he broke off action at 1153.

The Confederates reported that Fort McAllister had suffered more damage than Worden had imagined. Colonel Robert H. Anderson, commander of Fort McAllister, detailed that the “enemy fired steadily and with remarkable precision. At times their fire was terrible.” Anderson noted that the bombardment focused on the VIII-inch Columbiad, destroying its parapet. One of the 32-pounders was hit by a shell from the Montauk, knocking off its trunnion and blowing gun commander Major John B. Gallie’s brains out. The Confederates incurred no other casualties.

Meanwhile, Worden surveyed the Montauk and noticed that 48 shots and shells had struck the ironclad. He recorded the Confederates hit “sixteen times on the turret, three times on the pilothouse, seven times on the smokestack, seven times on the side armor and had two flagstaffs shot away.” Paymaster Browne noted that the Confederates had made “scores of indentations on our turret and pilothouse; broke off some of the bolts and drove them inside—two of them—had passed within three inches of my head.”

To Kill a Rattlesnake

Worden assembled his ships to make a third attempt against Fort McAllister. The flotilla moved up the Big Ogeechee and anchored below the fort on 27 February. One of Worden’s goals was to destroy the Confederate commerce raider previously known as the CSS Nashville, a fast side-wheeler. She had achieved fame by destroying two Northern merchant ships as she steamed from Charleston, South Carolina, to Southampton, England, and back to Beaufort, North Carolina. She then became the blockade runner Thomas L. Wragg. After two successful runs, she was trapped near Savannah, Georgia, and was acquired to serve as the privateer Rattlesnake.

DuPont was determined to destroy the formidable vessel. When he wrote Secretary Welles, he described the ship as “proverbially fast and doubtless rivaled the Alabama or Oreto [CSS Florida] in their depredation on our commerce. I have never lost sight of the great importance of keeping her in or destroying her if I could.”

The duty of destroying the Rattlesnake had fallen on the shoulders of Captain Worden, and he was determined to accomplish this mission. Although he had other duties to perform in the Big Ogeechee, he wanted the opportunity to terminate the Confederate warship. Unbeknownst to Worden as he steamed up the river, Paymaster Browne later noted, “A little more than two weeks before, she [the Rattlesnake] came down from her retreat near the bridge of the Savannah and Florida Railroad, and took position under the guns of Fort McAllister, intending to take advantage of the spring tides prevailing then, and seize the first opportunity to slip to sea. . . . We had been waiting for this moment. She reminded me of a caged rat seeking a hole for escape and finding none.”

The Wissahickon first noted the movements of the Rattlesnake coming down the Big Ocheegee River. Second Assistant Engineer Thomas A. Stevens, the Montauk’s senior engineer, recounted, “at 4:08 p.m., while at dinner, the rebel steamer was reported in sight. All hands were called to quarters at once.” Worden sent the Seneca upriver to investigate the situation and confirmed that the privateer had run aground in the Seven-Mile Reach section of the river. Since it was so late in the day, Worden decided to move against the ship and fort on the morrow.

A Privateer’s Fiery Fate

The Montauk moved to a position below the fort. Worden thought that by “moving up close to the obstructions in the river as I was able, although under heavy fire from the battery, to approach Rattlesnake, still aground within a distance of 1,200 yards.” Bradley Osbon, correspondent of the New York Herald, reported about the Confederate ship, “There she lay, hard and fast aground, the hasty unloading and sturdy labors of the little tug, which had been going on through the night, having failed to relieve her. She was a fair mark and knew that she was doomed.”

Browne noted that from the Montauk’s pilothouse, “we can see the whole steamer. She is newly painted, and is the same light drab colors as our own vessels of war. Her masts and spars look well, her rigging taut, and her figurehead newly gilded.”

At 0707, Worden opened fire on the privateer with both Dahlgrens to establish the range. The fifth shot from the Montauk’s XV-inch shell gun struck the Rattlesnake at 0758. Paymaster Browne was recording every shot fired from the fort against the Montauk as the ironclad’s shells pounded the Rattlesnake. He noted they could watch
the fifth shot from the ironclad’s XV-inch Dahlgren and “follow it distinctly with our eyes, and it penetrates the rebel’s deck near the foremast.” He further noted that the shot “has done its work and we can see a column of whitish-gray smoke from her fore-hatch, and in five minutes more tongues of flames leap out with the smoke, high into the air.”

Worden sent a total of 14 shots at the Rattlesnake, all while under heavy fire from Fort McAllister. Browne detailed the impact of the ironclad’s gunnery: “Another shell smashes through the paddle-box, and explodes at the base of the smoke-stack, which comes tumbling down.” The last shot was fired at 0803, “and as the smoke clears away from our last shot, we can see the flames bursting out around her paddle-boxes, issuing in great sheets from the fore-hatch, creeping up the foremast.”

Worden moved the Montauk away from the action and watched the privateer burn. At 0920, a large pivot gun forward of the foremast dramatically erupted, and at 0955, the Rattlesnake’s magazine exploded, leaving the Confederate warship a smoking ruin.

Peril Amid the Glow of Victory

Since Worden knew the Rattlesnake was doomed, he took his flotilla down the river out of range of the fort’s guns. While doing so, the Montauk struck a torpedo at 0935. Worden noted “that it was a violent, sudden and seemingly double explosion.” At first, he thought that a shell had entered the engine room and feared that the boilers might explode, sending steam throughout the ironclad.

The Montauk began to take on water, which was handled at first by bilge pumps. As the water rose six inches in the engine room, Worden ordered the bilge injection pump to be started. He also ordered a bucket line and handpumps be readied. He then learned that a torpedo had exploded under the vessel.

Worden ordered Murphy to beach the ironclad. The pilot did so on an even keel where marsh mud formed a temporary seal. The captain then learned that the hull was fractured, leaving a fissure about a quarter-inch wide. Permanent repairs were impossible, so a temporary fix using oakum was made before high tide lifted the Montauk off the mud bank. The engines were started at 1500, and the ironclad steamed down to Ossabaw Sound.

En route to the sound, the Montauk passed the Passaic-class monitor Nahant, commanded by Worden’s good friend, Commander John Downes. As their ships steamed by each other, Worden, according to Ship’s Boy Alvah Hunter, exhibited a “boy-like enthusiasm . . . was very manifest as he called across the narrow space between
the two vessels. . . . Worden fairly danced up and down with enthusiasm as he told of the jolly-good-time he had enjoyed.”

Captain John Lorimer Worden received national press coverage when he destroyed the Rattlesnake. He noted that the Montauk had reached “the final disposition of a vessel which had long been in the minds of the public as a troublesome pest.” His careful planning resulted in the privateer’s destruction, and his quick thinking helped to save his ship after striking a torpedo.