The Monitor Chronicles : One Sailor's Account. Today's Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck [Hardcover]

Mariners' Museum (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2000

Marking the ongoing efforts to recover the 136-year-old wreck of the USS "Monitor," The Mariners' Museum presents a lavishly illustrated commemorative volume of the renowned Civil War ironclad's past and present.

The short, fabled life of the USS "Monitor" began on January 30, 1862, at Green Point, Brooklyn, New York, and ended on December 31 of that same year, when the legendary Civil War ironclad sank in 230 feet of water off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Serving on the "Monitor" -- where engines and living space lay completely below the waterline and the iron deck rose a scant eighteen inches above it -- was like no other duty in the U.S. Navy.

"The Monitor Chronicles" brings shipboard experience to life through the words of Civil War sailor George S. Geer, whose never-before-published letters home to his beloved wife, Martha, faithfully chronicle the events of that dramatic year. Like many men of his station, George Geer had joined Abraham Lincoln's navy less to help save the Union than to earn money and learn a reliable trade, so his accounts are unflinchingly honest -- at times colored by the bravado of a man at war, at others tinged with the pathos of a man in danger and far from home.

When, on the morning of March 9, 1862, the Monitor and the CSS "Virginia" fought the first battle between ironclad warships, Geer recalled, "I often thought of you and the little darlings when the fight was going on and what should become of you should I be killed....But I should have no more such fears as our ship resisted everything they could fire at her as though they were spit balls." Whether he sweated in the searing heat or simply waited while the "Monitor" danced astrategic minuet with the enemy, his words confirm and amplify the proud legacy of the vessel whose very existence brought an end to the era of wooden warships.

On January 2, 1863, Geer reported, "I am sorry to have to write you that we have lost the "Monitor."" He survived, but sixteen men were lost in a raging sea that seemed to have claimed the ship for eternity. But the story told in "The Monitor Chronicles" doesn't end there. The book captures a piece of living history, as men and machines attempt to recover the wreck even as it begins to succumb to the elements after 136 years on the ocean floor. Because The Mariners' Museum serves as the official repository of the USS "Monitor" National Marine Sanctuary, readers will be treated to spectacular underwater views of the "Monitor," as well as to an unprecedented look at the salvage efforts. Although more than a century has passed since the ship itself sailed into history, "The Monitor Chronicles" provides not only a fresh, uniquely intimate view of the "Monitor'"s fateful year as the world's first iron warship but also a provocative glimpse of her uncertain future.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though her career was brief, the legendary Civil War ironclad the U.S.S. Monitor helped change the face of naval warfare. The Monitor Chronicles tells the story of the "180 feet of iron"--and some of the great battles of the Civil War--through the eyes of one of her seamen, George Geer.

Geer first stepped aboard the Monitor in February 1862, as a newly minted first-class fireman. Like many Northerners, Geer joined the army less out of a desire to preserve the Union--or free the slaves--than to learn a reliable trade. That said, he performed his duties admirably, earning two promotions in under a year. He also proved an admirable correspondent, sending dozens of letters to his beloved wife, Martha, during the ten and a half months the Monitor was afloat. These letters describe in detail what life was like aboard the ironclad--from poor rations to poor ventilation, and from the excitement of battle to the boredom when the ship remained still. In a letter written aboard a rescue vessel, Geer also described the final hours of the ironclad as she sank in stormy seas on December 30, 1862. Combined with dozens of evocative illustrations, Geer's letters provide historians with a fascinating glimpse inside the Monitor. The Monitor Chronicles also contains information on the fate of the ship in the 140 years since she sank and the ongoing campaign to recover her. Essential reading for Civil War buffs. --Sunny Delaney

From Library Journal

In 1862, George Geer boarded the U.S.S. Monitor as a fireman and engineer and stepped into history. In regular correspondence with his wife back in New York, he recorded the workings of the machinery and crew on the newfangled "cheesebox on a raft," as the Union ironclad was called. He also described the famous battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac, the posturing of commanders, and the sinking of the Monitor off the coast of North Carolina during a storm in 1863. This book collects Geer's very readable and revealing letters and augments them with an intelligent commentary on Union naval technology as well as the combined naval and military operations during the Peninsula campaign of 1862. A biography of Geer is included, while a concluding chapter surveys recent efforts to raise the Monitor from her watery grave. Whatever the success of the latter enterprise, this book triumphs as the best inside-the-hull account of life aboard an ironclad and gives Civil War sailors a rare voice in a subject area crowded with soldiers' accounts and the preoccupation with the war on land. Highly recommended for college and major public libraries.DRandall M. Miller, Saint Joseph's Univ., Philadelphia
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1ST edition (July 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684869977
• ISBN-13: 978-0684869971
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,447,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An O.K. book, February 8, 2003

By 

John A. Lefcourte (Reno, NV USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Monitor Chronicles : One Sailor's Account. Today's Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck (Hardcover)

The biggest disappointment is that Greer does not write about the most interesting parts of the Monitor's history: the trip down to Hampton Roads and the battle with the Virginia. He mostly writes about his shipboard life and details his illnesses and money making schemes done to augment his pay which was not paid out to him in full thus causing financial hardship at home. Mostly of interest for its insights into a sailor's life, less so for info on the Monitor. It's a decent book to supplement other info on the Monitor but not the book to get if you get only one.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, July 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Monitor Chronicles : One Sailor's Account. Today's Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck (Hardcover)

An interesting information source for life aboard the Monitor. There aren't alot of books out there about the ship, and I think this book was very interesting and needed. Also George Geer's actual letters are very interesting to read, as he tells everything that happened aboard the ship.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost a Great Book, February 15, 2001

By 

Nagato (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Monitor Chronicles : One Sailor's Account. Today's Campaign to Recover the Civil War Wreck (Hardcover)

The Mariner's Museum has done a commendable job in putting together such an attractive collection of letters from Monitor sailor George Geer to his wife. Through his eyes, we see a more human perspective on the Civil War and the famous battle between the Monitor and the C.S.S. Virginia than is available through most other sources. However, at times this perspective is altogether too human, as Geer devotes page after page of his letters to more mundane esoterica such as selling merchandise to his fellow crew members. The Mariner's Museum also used the needlessly repetitive and districting format style of putting some of the very same passages from Geer's letters in text, in bold, oversize text, and/or in actual illustrations of Geer's letters -- as a result, the reader constantly finds himself/herself reading duplicate passages. I also felt a little short-changed by the brevity of the discussion on the current state of the Monitor wreck and the plans for its future recovery and conservation. A few more illustrations of the wreck itself, and a few less of Geer's letters, would have been welcome. Other than these quibbles, it was a very enjoyable and informative look at a revolutionary ship through the eyes of someone who was there when history was made at Hampton Roads.