still knitting

sympathy for the rebels

In its January 20, 1918 Picture Section The New-York Times included a photo of a former supporter of the Confederacy. The paper seemed to view Sarah Eggleston with some admiration as she knitted sock after sock for America’s British allies. However, the caption did thankfully refer to the CSS Virginia by its Union name – the Merrimack. According to the caption, Sarah Eggleston’s deceased husband Captain “Jack” Eggleston was an officer on the Virginia during its very brief but influential career. The rebel ironclad effectively damaged wooden Union ships during the March 8 and 9, 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads and then duked it out with the Union’s ironclad Monitor. In a page of quotes about the battle, the Hampton Roads area Daily Press included words from a lieutenant named John Eggleston:

“…Suddenly there leaped from her sides the flash of 35 guns, and as many shot and shell were hurled against our armor only to be thrown from it high into the air.” — Lt. John Eggleston, commander of the CSS Virginia’s two hot-shot guns, describing the impact of a broadside from the USS Congress

“CSS Virginia (1862-1862) “

“CSS Virginia engages
USS Congress, 8 March 1862 “

“CSS Virginia destroying
USS Congress, 8 March 1862″

first clash of iron ships of war

A couple photos dated 1916 commemorating that first battle of ironclads:

General Smith and John Driscoll,
veterans of the fight

John Driscoll points out where
Virginia battled Monitor

U.S. Navy recruiting posters 100 years ago seemed to be trying a couple different psychological tactics to get men to sign up for the Great War.

New York Tribune

The New-York Times January 20, 1918

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It was good to visit the U.S. Navy site again to look at 150 (+) year old ships, but the navy is certainly keeping its home page current. For this weekend it features a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. and a link to “The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy”: There were “eight black Sailors who earned the Medal of Honor during the Civil War” and there were “14 black female yeomen who enlisted during World War I”. The quote from Dr. King:

“If you can’t fly then run, If you can’t run then walk, If you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward”

“you have to keep moving forward”

From the United States Navy website: CSS Virginia, engagement, destruction, two ironclads. The Library of Congress provides the images from NY Times and Tribune, as well as: two veterans, John Driscoll; Christopher Grubbs’s illustration of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial during its design phase – apparently those words on the side are not on the actual monument; Monitor and Merrimac

March 9, 1862