Customer Reviews

Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

James L. Nelson put his considerable writing skills of naval fiction into creating this outstanding historical work. Most history is dry reading, but this book reads like an excellent novel. Nelson covers the political turmoil and indecision at the outset of the Civil War and the failure of the incompetent commander of the Norfolk/Gosport naval facilities to destroy military stores and the Merrimack. The Confederates captured large numbers of cannon and tons of ordinance as well as the repairable Merrimack and a good dry-dock. When it was discovered that the Merrimack had been raised and the Confederates were converting it to an iron-clad, the Union panic began. It was hard to get the Monitor built because the old-school naval commanders did not like to innovate. Finally, the design of Swede John Ericsson was accepted, but to get the ship built, Ericsson mostly financed the construction with his own money.
In early March 1862 the Monitor was completed and sent to deal with the Merrimack (CSS Virginia), but she almost sank in rough seas and was barely saved. Meanwhile, a day before the Monitor arrived, the Merrimack had destroyed to Union frigates, the Cumberland and the Congress. It was a fierce battle but the wooden ships in the area could do nothing but run or be destroyed. The only thing keeping the Merrimack from escaping were large caliber cannon on forts in the area that could deliver plunging fire. On the 9th of March, the Monitor and Merrimack dueled for several hours with little damage to each other, few casualties, and no clear winner, but the Monitor and the forts were enough to keep the Merrimack bottled-up. The Confederates wanted to move the Merrimack to Richmond, but the waterways were too shallow, so they blew her up. The Monitor remained on station for several weeks before being sent to Charleston. On the trip, she again encountered heavy seas and sank. What a stupid waste.
What I found most interesting about this famous engagement was the weapons used by the ships. At times the ships were almost touching and a point-blank range, neither ship could deliver a crippling blow. Nelson reveals that the Merrimack was using explosive shells, which are very destructive when hitting wooden ships, but of no penetrating power when exploding against armor. The Monitor had large caliber cannon firing solid shot which should have been able to penetrate the sloping armor of the Merrimack. But the Monitor's cannon were restricted to using half powder charges. Using full charges would have enabled the Monitor's solid shot to penetrate the Merrimack's armor. One would think that after seeing the shots bouncing off the Monitor, someone would have had enough sense to increase the powder charges.

James L. Nelson brings their famous conflict to the fore in Reign of Iron, a historical study of the events leading up to and proceeding after the battle. The book begins with the Merrimack, newly recommissioned Virginia, steaming into its first battle and decimating the Union navy's proud wooden ships blockading Hampden Roads, and the Monitor, after struggling through rough seas down the coast, arriving on the scene at the end of a hard day's fighting. But Nelson, a master tactician himself, tears readers away before the two ironclads meet, taking us back to the beginning of the war and the race by North and South to develop ironclad vessels for battle.

Nelson carries readers quickly but thoroughly through the process, switching perspectives from North to South as each ship takes shape. Before you know it, you'll find yourself back at Hampden Roads on March 8, 1862 -- Virginia has ruled the day, leaving the pride of the Union's fleet -- the Congress and the Cumberland -- as smoking ruins, and the Minnesota aground in the shallow waters and waiting only for sunrise on March 9 for Virginia to finish the job.

But the Monitor, with timing worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster, arrived late on the 8th. Its diminutive size didn't inspire much confidence among sailors of the massive frigates who'd been bested that day, but the plucky iron "cheese box," as it was called, placed herself at Minnesota's side and defended her admirably. For hours, the two iron ships pounded each other with their big guns -- ultimately doing little real damage to each other, but stalemating in a spectacular fashion.

Nelson, a practiced novelist, shows his storytelling skills here by keeping history from being dry despite the long list of characters who appear in the narrative and the lengthy technical explanations that the story requires. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book that will appeal to history buffs, particularly those who enjoy Civil War or battles at sea.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor

I'm a huge fan of James Nelson's novels, so I jumped at the chance to finally read a non-fiction book from this author. While I'm not a huge history buff, I was relieved that Nelson used his abiity as a novelist to make this book on the ironclads read like one of his novels -- fast paced action with fascinating characters. I took it with me on vacation, and couldn't put it down. For anyone remotely interested in the Civil War, or for anyone who just wants a fun read (with the added bonus of impressing your friends with trivia that no one on earth should rightly know), I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Been a longtime civil war buff and recently my attention has turned to the naval side of the war and specificly ironclads. This one covering the battle of the Monitor and the Virginia is easily the best book on the topic I have read so far.

What really makes this one stand out is not just the writing or the scholorship, but the combination of the two. So often civil war history is written by scholors who know their facts but don't always have the best writing talents. In this case however James Nelson is an established author having written a number of fictional titles in the historical naval genre. Here however Nelson shows that his talents as a scholor rival his talents as an author. The result is a book of history that reads like a novel.

The book itself starts off with a bang literally as Nelson chronicles the Virginia's opening attacks on the Congress and Cumberland. From there we go back to the beginning and explore the long and winding roads both the Monitor and Virginia took to reach their epic confrontation. It's a facinationg trip as those in charge try and grapple with this new technology.

The story of the Monitor is especially interesting as it's visionary designer John Ericsson fights the doubters who don't even believe his ship will float let alone defeat the Virginia.

I do hope in the future that James Nelson writes more in the Civil War genre as this book is a must read for anyone interested in ironclads and leaves the reader wanting more.

Reign of Iron is how history should be written. The detail is terrific, every aspect of the building and operations of these ironclads is covered, in greater depth than in any of the other accounts I have read. Nelson, incidentally, discusses at length why the ship was still called Merrimack even after the Confederates had her, and goes into a lot of detail concerning her names. I have to guess the other reviewer has not read the book. William Davis's Battle of the First Ironclads is also incorrectly named.

Anyone who loves maritime history or Civil War history should read this book! I love Nelson's novels, but this makes me hope he will write more history too.

I first found James Nelson's writing when I was given "Glory in the Name" as a Christmas gift last year. It was one of the more unusual books I had read about the Civil War as it dealt with the Confederate Navy and was told from their point of view in a most riveting fashion. Since reading that book I have read all of Nelson's writings concerning Thomas Marlowe and his adventures in piracy and Isaac Biddlecomb and his adventures in the Revolutionary War, eight books in all. I have also read "The Only Life That Mattered" which involved a pirate legend and was highly entertaining.

Reign of Iron is Nelson's first venture into non-fiction and I can assure you that nothing suffers with the change. Exhaustively researched, Nelson brings back to life the days when the navies of the two waring factions were about to move from the days of wood to the reign of iron.

It is an important story, but one that was relegated to a supporting role in the overal panorama of the War Between the States. Now, Nelson has brought it forward, front and center and explained in detail the trials and tribulations that ushered in this dramatic change in how control of the oceans of the world evolved.

Most of us grew up with some knowledge of The Monitor and The Merrimac, but as Nelson explains, our general knowledge was superficial and usually wrong. This is the true story and it is an important one. Fans of this author will not be disappointed.

This book is so engrossing that I read the whole thing at a single sitting, well into the night! The author does a superb job of immersing the reader into the stories of the parallel protagonists, both the Confederate and Union teams, until the pivotal battle between them. This author has the rare gift of making the personalities and the time come alive again and he has the solid nautical background to help the reader understand the context of these technologies and the men that made them come about. If you have any interest at all in history, buy this book - you won't regret it.

Really this effort deserves more than 4 stars but maybe not a 5. Still he does a great job here covering nearly every aspect of what was a major technical and historical development. He covers all the major characters on both sides, it is in fact a very well-balanced account. The book could certainly have used a better map to show the Hampton Roads area and exactly where the events took place, the one in the paperback book is plain inadequate. It was hard to tell from the narrative and maps why exactly the Virginia was trapped by the land actions and could not escape. I have a brand new appreciation for what it took to create these ships, get them to battle (1 day apart!)and how it truly revolutionary they were!

James Nelson does an excellent job of describing the importance of the battle between the first two ironclads in world history. The USS Monitor (Erickson's Battery) against the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merricmack) was tactically a draw but each side claimed victory and the world naval community was forever changed. The CSS Virginia's easy destruction of the Cumberland and Constitution showed the end of the wooden era and although that as largely the end of its destructive rampage, the psychological damage would be immense for the Union. Shortly after the Virginia destroyed those two ships the Monitor arrived on scene and for four hours the two ships battered each other causing no damage to either. The book goes on to describe how the Virginia would be blown up as McClellan's army invaded the peninsula and took Norfolk. The Monitor would not outlast its foe much longer when it was damaged in a storm about a year later and sunk with several hands lost. Many other ironclads would be built throughout the civil war this battle represented the triumph of the new navy and the future of shipbuilding in the United States.
Each side realized the immense value of an ironclad and raced to build as many as they could. The North's immense industrial advantage gave them the lead in building. One of the things that Nelson does very well is laying out the naval administrative sides for both North and South. He has done a superb job to show how each navy debated which ironclads to use and how they went about building them. It is a great look at an often referenced Civil War story that is explained in a great detail. The only complaint worth maybe a half star off is he jumps from north and south frequently with very little transition and you have to read very closely to notice when he makes his switch. Otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable read and for Civil War fans a must.

Nelson is a fine novelist and an even better historian. Have read all but one of his books and have never been disappointed.