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

by Mariners' Museum (Author) "AT THE AGE OF FORTY-THREE, Lieutenant John L. Worden had been twenty-seven years a sailor and a seven months a prisoner of the Confederacy when,..." (more)
Key Phrases: much bettor, berth deck, armor belt, George Geer, Hampton Roads, New York (more...)

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First Edition 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.com Sales Rank: #876,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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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 (REAL NAME)

The biggest disapointment 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. It is about his shipboard life which details his illnesses and money making schemes to augment his pay which was not paid out to him in full 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

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	"nagato9" (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

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.