title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Hauser claimed that he found rye bread and water next to his bed each morning. At times, the water would taste bitter and drinking it would cause him to sleep more deeply than usual. On such occasions, upon awakening, his straw had been changed and his hair and nails cut. Hauser claimed that the first human being he had ever met was a man who visited him not long before his release. The man took great care not to reveal his face to him. This man taught him to write his own name by leading his hand. After learning to stand and walk, Hauser was brought to Nuremberg. The stranger allegedly taught him to say the phrase "I want to be a cavalryman, as my father was" (in Old Bavarian dialect), but Hauser claimed that he did not understand what the words meant.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: This tale aroused great curiosity and made Hauser an object of international attention. Rumours arose that he was of princely parentage, possibly of Baden origin, but there were also allegations that he was an impostor.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach, president of the Bavarian court of appeals, began to investigate the case. Hauser was formally adopted by the town of Nuremberg and money was donated for his upkeep and education. He was given into the care of Friedrich Daumer, a schoolmaster and speculative philosopher, who taught him various subjects and who thereby discovered his talent for drawing. He appeared to flourish in this environment. Daumer also subjected him to homeopathy and magnetic experiments. As Feuerbach told the story, "When Professor Daumer held the north pole [of a magnet] towards him, Kaspar put his hand to the pit of his stomach, and, drawing his waistcoat in an outward direction, said that it drew him thus; and that a current of air seemed to proceed from him. The south pole affected him less powerfully; and he said that it blew upon him."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: On 17 October 1829, Hauser was found in the cellar of Daumer's house bleeding from a newly cut wound on the forehead. He asserted that while sitting on the privy, he had been attacked and hurt by a hooded man who also threatened him with the words: "You still have to die before you leave the city of Nuremberg." Hauser related he recognised the speaker as the man who had brought him to Nuremberg. As was obvious from his blood trail, Hauser at first fled to the first floor where his room was, but then, rather than moving on to find his caretakers, had gone downstairs and climbed through a trap door into the cellar. Alarmed officials called for a police escort and transferred him to the care of Johann Biberbach, a municipal authority. The alleged attack on Hauser also fueled rumours about his possible ancestry from Hungary, England or the House of Baden.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Doubters of Hauser's story are of the opinion that he had self-inflicted the wound with a razor, which he then took back to his room before going to the cellar. He might have done so to arouse pity and thus escape chiding for a recent quarrel with Daumer, who had come to believe that the boy had a tendency to lie.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: On 3 April 1830, a pistol shot went off in Hauser's room at the Biberbachs' house. His escort hurriedly entered the room and found him bleeding from a wound to the right side of his head. Hauser soon revived and stated that he climbed on a chair to get some books, the chair had fallen, and then, while trying to find a handhold, he had by mistake torn down the pistol hanging on the wall and caused the shot to go off. There are doubts whether the superficial wound was actually caused by the shot. Some authors associate the incident with a preceding quarrel in which, again, Hauser had been reproached for lying. Whatever the case, the occurrence led the municipal authorities to come to another decision on Hauser, whose initially good relationship with the Biberbach family had soured. In May 1830, he was transferred to the house of Baron von Tucher. The baron also would later complain about Hauser's exorbitant vanity and lies. Mrs. Biberbach commented on his "horrendous mendacity" and "art of dissimulation" and called him "full of vanity and spite".


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: A British nobleman, Lord Stanhope, took an interest in Hauser and gained custody of him late in 1831. He spent a great deal of money attempting to clarify Hauser's origin. In particular, he paid for two visits to Hungary hoping to jog the boy's memory, as Hauser seemed to remember some Hungarian words and had once declared that the Hungarian Countess Maytheny was his mother. Hauser failed to recognise any buildings or monuments in Hungary. A Hungarian nobleman who had met Hauser later told Stanhope that he and his son had a good laugh when they recollected the strange boy and his histrionic behaviour. Stanhope later wrote that the complete failure of these inquiries led him to doubt Hauser's credibility. In December 1831, he transferred Hauser to Ansbach, to the care of a schoolmaster named Johann Georg Meyer, and in January 1832, Stanhope left Hauser for good. Stanhope continued to pay for Hauser's living expenses but never made good on his promise that he would take him to England. After Hauser's death, Stanhope published a book in which he presented all known evidence against Hauser, taking it as his "duty openly to confess that I had been deceived." Followers of Hauser suspect Stanhope of ulterior motives and connections to the House of Baden, but academic historiography defends him as a philanthropist, a pious man and a seeker of truth.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Schoolmaster Meyer, a strict and pedantic man, disliked Hauser's excuses and apparent lies. Their relationship was thus strained. In late 1832, Hauser was employed as a copyist in the local law office. Still hoping that Stanhope would take him to England, Hauser was dissatisfied with his situation, which deteriorated further when his patron, Anselm von Feuerbach, died in May 1833. This was a grievous loss to him. Other authors point out that Feuerbach, by the end of his life, had lost faith in Hauser. He had written a note, to be found in his legacy, which read, "Caspar Hauser is a smart scheming codger, a rogue, a good-for-nothing that ought to be killed." However, there is no indication that Feuerbach, already seriously ill, let Hauser feel this change of opinion.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: On 9 December 1833, Hauser had a serious argument with Meyer. Lord Stanhope was expected to visit Ansbach at Christmas and Meyer stated that he did not know how he would face him.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Five days later, on 14 December 1833, Hauser came home with a deep wound in his left breast. By his account, he had been lured to the Ansbach Court Garden, where a stranger stabbed him while giving him a bag. When policeman Herrlein searched the Court Garden, he found a small violet purse containing a pencilled note in "Spiegelschrift" (mirror writing). The message read, in German:


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: "Hauser will be able to tell you quite precisely how I look and from where I am. To save Hauser the effort, I want to tell you myself from where I come _ _ . I come _ _ _ the Bavarian border _ _ On the river _ _ _ _ _ I will even tell you the name: M. L. Ö."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Inconsistencies in Hauser's account led the Ansbach court of enquiry to suspect that he had stabbed himself and then invented a tale about being attacked. The note in the purse that was found in the Court Garden contained a spelling error and a grammatical error, both of which were typical for Hauser, who, on his deathbed, muttered incoherently about "writing with pencil". Although Hauser was eager that the purse be found, he did not ask for its contents. The note itself was folded into a specific triangular form, in the way in which Hauser would fold his letters, according to Mrs. Meyer. Forensic examiners agreed that the wound might indeed be self-inflicted. Many authors believe that he had wounded himself in a bid to revive public interest in his story and to persuade Stanhope to fulfill his promise to take him to England, but that he had injured himself more deeply than planned.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Hauser was buried in the Stadtfriedhof (city cemetery) in Ansbach, where his headstone reads, in Latin, "Here lies Kaspar Hauser, riddle of his time. His birth was unknown, his death mysterious. 1833." A monument to him was later erected in the Court Garden which reads ", meaning "Here lies a mysterious one who was killed in a mysterious manner."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Dr. Heidenreich, a physician present at the autopsy, claimed that the brain of Kaspar Hauser was notable for small cortical size and its few non-distinct cortical gyri, indicative to some that he suffered from cortical atrophy or, as G. Hesse argued, from epilepsy. Heidenreich may have been influenced by his phrenological ideas when examining Hauser's brain. Dr. Albert, who conducted the autopsy and wrote the official report, found no anomalies in Hauser's brain.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: A 1928 medical study supported the view that Hauser had self-inflicted the wound and accidentally stabbed himself too deeply. A 2005 forensic analysis argued that it seems "unlikely that the stab to the chest was inflicted exclusively for the purpose of self-damage, but both a suicidal stab and a homicidal act (assassination) cannot be definitely ruled out."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Hauser's various accounts of the story of his incarceration include several contradictions. In 1970, psychiatrist Karl Leonhard stated that "If he had been living since childhood under the conditions he describes, he would not have developed beyond the condition of an idiot; indeed he would not have remained alive long. His tale is so full of absurdities that it is astonishing that it was ever believed and is even today still believed by many people."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Karl Leonhard rejected the views of both Heidenreich and Hesse. He contended that "Kaspar Hauser was, as other authors already opined, a pathological swindler. In addition to his hysterical make-up he probably had the persistence of a paranoid personality since he was able to play his role so imperturbably. From many reports on his behaviour one can recognise the hysterical as well as the paranoid trend of his personality."


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: According to contemporary rumours, probably current as early as 1829, Kaspar Hauser was, in fact, the hereditary prince of Baden, who was born 29 September 1812. According to history, the prince died on 16 October 1812. It was alleged that he had been switched with a dying infant, only to subsequently surface 16 years later as Hauser. In that case, Hauser's parents would have been Charles, Grand Duke of Baden and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, cousin by marriage and adopted daughter of Napoleon. As Charles had no surviving male progeny, his successor was his uncle, Louis, who was later succeeded by his half-brother, Leopold. Leopold's mother, the Countess of Hochberg, was the alleged culprit for the plot. The Countess was supposed to have disguised herself as a ghost, the "White Lady," when kidnapping the prince. Her motive, evidently, would have been to secure the succession for her sons.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Following Hauser's death, it was further claimed that he was murdered, again to hide his supposed true identity. Since Hauser was unmarried and childless when he was stabbed to death in 1833, this heavily disputed claim joined with the actual succession laws of male-only primogeniture, as practiced in the Grand Duchy.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1876, Otto Mittelstädt presented evidence against this theory, in the form of official documents concerning the prince's emergency baptism, autopsy and burial. In his "Historical Mysteries", Andrew Lang summarises the results: "It is true that the Grand Duchess was too ill to be permitted to see her dead baby, in 1812, but the baby's father, grandmother, and aunt, with the ten Court physicians, the nurses and others, must have seen it, in death, and it is too absurd to suppose, on no authority, that they were all parties to the White Lady's plot." Historian Fritz Trautz went so far as to write that, "The silly fairytale, which to this day moves many pens and has found much belief, was fully disproved in Otto Mittelstädt's book." Letters of the Grand Duke's mother, published in 1951, give detailed accounts of the child's birth, illness and death, which would disprove the theory of switched babies.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In November 1996, the German magazine "Der Spiegel" reported an attempt to genetically match a blood sample from underwear thought to have been Hauser's. This analysis was made in laboratories of Forensic Science Service in Birmingham and in the LMU Institute of Legal Medicine at the University of Munich. Comparisons with descendants of the princely family proved that the blood examined could not have come from the hereditary prince of Baden.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 2002, the Institute for Forensic Medicine of the University of Münster analyzed hair and body cells from locks of hair and items of clothing that also belonged to Kaspar Hauser. The analysts took from the items used in the test six different DNA samples, all of which turned out to be identical. All, however, differed substantially from the blood sample examined in 1996, the authenticity of which was therefore questioned. The new DNA samples were compared to a mitochondrial DNA segment from Astrid von Medinger née von Zallinger zu Stillendorf (1954-2002), a female line descendant of Kaspar's supposed younger sister Princess Josephine of Baden through her granddaughter Princess Joséphine Caroline of Belgium. Since mitochondrial DNA passes only through the female line it cannot change except through mutation and so a brother of Josephine should be, if not identical, at least close to identical.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: The sequences were not identical, but the deviation observed is not large enough to exclude a relationship as the difference could be caused by a mutation during the previous generations. On the other hand, the relatively high similarity by no means proves the alleged relationship, as the "Hauser samples" showed a pattern amongst the German population.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: The House of Baden does not allow any medical examination of the remains of Stéphanie de Beauharnais or of the child that was buried as her son in the family vault at the Pforzheimer Schlosskirche.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Kaspar Hauser fits into the contemporary European image of the "wolf child" (despite the fact that he almost certainly was not one), and he became possibly the best-known example of the genre. As a result, his story inspired numerous works.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Herman Melville, in "The Confidence Man," published in 1857, has an anonymous member of a crowd, casting about for an identity for a "stranger," evidently a deaf mute, suggest he may be "Casper Hauser".


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Kaspar Hauser inspired the French poet Paul Verlaine to write the poem "Gaspard Hauser chante", in which he sees himself as Gaspard, published in his book "Sagesse" (1880).


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Perhaps the most influential fictional treatment of Kasper Hauser was Jakob Wassermann's 1908 novel "Caspar Hauser oder Die Trägheit des Herzens" ("Caspar Hauser or the Inertia of the Heart"), which was largely responsible for its popularity in Germany.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1913, Georg Trakl wrote the poem ""Kaspar Hauser Lied"" ("Kaspar Hauser Song"). It alludes to the works by Verlaine and Wassermann, and has been called the "most striking" expression of a literary trope in which Kaspar Hauser "stood for the natural, poetic genius lost in a strange world, lacking a home, a sense of origin and attachment, and fearing a violent but uncertain future." Martin Heidegger cited this poem in his essay on poetry and language, "Unterwegs zur Sprache".


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1963, Marianne Hauser gave a fictional account of Kaspar Hauser's life in her novel "Prince Ishmael".


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1994 the English poet David Constantine explored the story and its personae in "Caspar Hauser: A Poem in Nine Cantos".


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Canadian artist Diane Obomsawin tells the story of Kaspar Hauser in her 2007 graphic novel "Kaspar" and later adapted it into an animated short film of the same title in 2012.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: German journalist, satirist, and writer Kurt Tucholsky used "Kaspar Hauser" as one of several pseudonyms.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Michael Landon played Casper Hauser in the episode "The Mystery Of Caspar Hauser" of the television series "Telephone Time" in 1956.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1974, the German filmmaker Werner Herzog made Hauser's story into the film, "Jeder für sich und Gott gegen alle" ("Every Man for Himself and God Against All"). In English, the film was either known by that translation, or by the title "The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser". The film includes the main known features of Hauser's life, though it omits most of his changes of location and career. It does not question his veracity.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: "La leggenda di Kaspar Hauser" (2012, Davide Manuli) is a surreal drama based on "the legend" of Kaspar Hauser. In this modern western-like re-interpretation featuring Vincent Gallo, a music-obsessive Kaspar washes up on a Mediterranean beach, where half a dozen protagonists try to make sense of who he is.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Hauser's story has inspired numerous musical references. There have been at least two operas named after him, a 2007 work by American composer Elizabeth Swados and a 2010 work by British composer Rory Boyle.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1987, Suzanne Vega wrote "Wooden Horse (Caspar Hauser's Song)", based on how she imagined Hauser's experiences when he emerged from the dungeon.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In 1994, , then director and choreographer of the Saarbrücken Staatstheater Ballet in Germany, used the Hauser story as the basis for the ballet "Kaspar Hauser", which she presented at the Saarbrücken Staatstheater.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: In his later years, Paul Johann Anselm Ritter von Feuerbach took a deep interest in the fate of Kaspar Hauser. He was the first to publish a critical summary of the ascertained facts, under the title of "Kaspar Hauser, ein Beispiel eines Verbrechens am Seelenleben" (1832).


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: There was a January 1861 "Atlantic Monthly" . Circulated among the American intellectual establishment of the time, it provides a sense of perspective on many of the issues firing the debate about "Who Was Kaspar Hauser?" which continues to this day.


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: A brief discussion of Kaspar Hauser appears in the "Physiology" chapter of the editions of Mary Baker Eddy's "Science and Health" (published 1875–1910).


title: Kaspar Hauser

text: Anthroposophists have written several books on Kaspar Hauser. One in particular, a detailed work by Peter Tradowsky, addresses the mysteries surrounding Kaspar Hauser's life from the anthroposophical point of view. His analysis delves into the occult significance of the individuality he sees as incarnated in Kaspar Hauser.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: Vienna Blood is a British-Austrian psychological thriller television series set in Vienna, Austria in the 1900s. Based on the "Liebermann" novels by Frank Tallis, the series follows Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard), a doctor and student of Sigmund Freud, as he assists Police Detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Jürgen Maurer). By providing psychological insights into the subjects’ motives, they investigate disturbing murders with success. A continuing sub-theme is the growing anti-Semitism against the Liebermann family.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: It began broadcasting on BBC Two on 18 November 2019. On 6 July 2020, it was recommissioned for a second series. The third series began broadcasting on BBC Two on 14 December 2022.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: The series was filmed on location in Vienna and Lower Austria, beginning in October 2018. Locations included the Vienna State Opera house, as well as Schloss Grafenegg, the Vienna University Archive, the Natural History Museum, the Riesenrad, Palais Pallavicini, the Burggarten park, the Arsenal, Café Sperl, and Café Bräunerhof.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: The first series of three 90-minute episodes was broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two between 18 November and 2 December 2019. Austrian channel ORF 2 aired the show beginning 20 December 2019.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: In the United States, PBS showed the series in six 45-minute episodes; broadcast began on 19 January 2020.


title: Vienna Blood (TV series)

text: Vienna Blood received a 53% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus reading, 'Though it rarely rises above 'watchable,' fans of period crime series may enjoy passing time with Vienna Blood's charismatic cast anyway.' "The Guardian's" Emine Saner, giving three out of five stars to the first episode, remarked that the series was similar to Thompson's prior work on "Sherlock", particularly in its leads' dynamic and the presentation. However, she did praise the two lead actors. Sean O'Grady of "The Independent" gave it five out of five stars, praising the direction, recreation of the period and storytelling.


title: USS Monitor

text: USS "Monitor" was an ironclad warship built for the Union Navy during the American Civil War and completed in early 1862, the first such ship commissioned by the Navy. "Monitor" played a central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads on 9 March under the command of Lieutenant John L. Worden, where she fought the casemate ironclad (built on the hull of the scuttled steam frigate ) to a stalemate. The design of the ship was distinguished by its revolving turret, which was designed by American inventor Theodore Timby; it was quickly duplicated and established the monitor class and type of armored warship built for the American Navy over the next several decades.


title: USS Monitor

text: The remainder of the ship was designed by Swedish-born engineer and inventor John Ericsson, and built in only 101 days in Brooklyn, New York on the East River beginning in late 1861. "Monitor" presented a new concept in ship design and employed a variety of new inventions and innovations in ship building that caught the attention of the world. The impetus to build "Monitor" was prompted by the news that the Confederates were building an iron-plated armored vessel named the "Virginia" in the old Federal naval shipyard at Gosport, near Norfolk, that could effectively engage the Union ships blockading Hampton Roads harbor and the James River leading northwest to Richmond (capital of the Confederacy). They could ultimately advance unchallenged on Washington, D.C., up the Potomac River and other seacoast cities. Before "Monitor" could reach Hampton Roads, the Confederate ironclad had already destroyed the sail frigates and and had run the steam frigate aground. That night, "Monitor" arrived and, just as "Virginia" set to finish off "Minnesota" and "St. Lawrence" on the second day, the new Union ironclad confronted the Confederate ship, preventing her from wreaking further destruction on the wooden Union ships. A four-hour battle ensued, each ship pounding the other with close-range cannon fire, although neither ship could destroy or seriously damage the other. This was the first battle fought between armored warships and marked a turning point in naval warfare.


title: USS Monitor

text: The Confederates were forced to scuttle and destroy "Virginia" as they withdrew in early May 1862 from Norfolk and its naval shipyard, while "Monitor" sailed up the James River to support the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign under General-in-Chief George B. McClellan. The ship participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff later that month, and remained in the area giving support to General McClellan's forces on land until she was ordered to join the Union Navy blockaders off North Carolina in December. On her way there, she foundered while under tow during a storm off Cape Hatteras on the last day of the year. "Monitor"s wreck was discovered in 1973 and has been partially salvaged. Her guns, gun turret, engine, and other relics are on display at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, a few miles from the site of her most important military action.


title: USS Monitor

text: While the concept of ships protected by armor existed before the advent of the ironclad "Monitor", the need for iron plating on ship arose only after the explosive shell-firing Paixhans gun was introduced to naval warfare in the 1820s. The use of heavy iron plating on the sides of warships was not practical until steam propulsion matured enough to carry its great weight. Developments in gun technology had progressed by the 1840s so that no practical thickness of wood could withstand the power of a shell. In response, the United States began construction in 1854 of a steam-powered ironclad warship, "Stevens Battery", but work was delayed and the designer, Robert Stevens, died in 1856, stalling further work. Since there was no pressing need for such a ship at the time, there was little demand to continue work on the unfinished vessel. It was France that introduced the first operational armored ships as well as the first shell guns and rifled cannons. Experience during the Crimean War of 1854–1855 showed that armored ships could withstand repeated hits without significant damage when French ironclad floating batteries defeated Russian coastal fortifications during the Battle of Kinburn. Ericsson claimed to have sent the French Emperor Napoléon III a proposal for a monitor-type design, with a gun turret, in September 1854, but no record of any such submission could be found in the archives of the French Ministry of the Navy ("Ministre de la Marine") when they were searched by naval historian James Phinney Baxter III. The French followed those ships with the first ocean-going ironclad, the armored frigate in 1859, and the British responded with .


title: USS Monitor

text: The Union Navy's attitude towards ironclads changed quickly when it was learned that the Confederates were converting the captured to an ironclad at the naval shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia. Subsequently, the urgency of "Monitor"s completion and deployment to Hampton Roads was driven by fears of what the Confederate ironclad, now renamed "Virginia", would be capable of doing, not only to Union ships but to cities along the coast and riverfronts. Northern newspapers published daily accounts of the Confederates' progress in converting the "Merrimack" to an ironclad; this prompted the Union Navy to complete and deploy "Monitor" as soon as possible.


title: USS Monitor

text: Word of "Merrimack"s reconstruction and conversion was confirmed in the North in late February 1862 when Mary Louvestre of Norfolk, a freed slave who worked as a housekeeper for one of the Confederate engineers working on "Merrimack", made her way through Confederate lines with news that the Confederates were building an ironclad warship. Concealed in her dress was a message from a Union sympathizer who worked in the Navy Yard warning that the former "Merrimack", renamed "Virginia" by the Confederates, was nearing completion. Upon her arrival in Washington Louvestre managed to meet with Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles and informed him that the Confederates were nearing the completion of their ironclad, which surprised Welles. Convinced by the papers Louvestre was carrying, he had production of "Monitor" sped up. Welles later recorded in his memoirs that "Mrs. Louvestre encountered no small risk in bringing this information ...".


title: USS Monitor

text: After the United States received word of the construction of "Virginia", Congress appropriated $1.5  million on 3 August 1861 to build one or more armored steamships. It also ordered the creation of a board to inquire into the various designs proposed for armored ships. The Union Navy advertised for proposals for "iron-clad steam vessels of war" on 7 August and Welles appointed three senior officers as the Ironclad Board the following day. Their task was to "examine plans for the completion of iron-clad vessels" and consider its costs.


title: USS Monitor

text: Ericsson originally made no submission to the board, but became involved when Cornelius Bushnell, the sponsor of the proposal that became the armored sloop , needed to have his design reviewed by a naval constructor. The board required a guarantee from Bushnell that his ship would float despite the weight of its armor and Cornelius H. DeLamater of New York City recommended that Bushnell consult with his friend Ericsson. The two first met on 9 September and again on the following day, after Ericsson had time to evaluate "Galena"s design. During this second meeting, Ericsson showed Bushnell a model of his own design, the future "Monitor", derived from his 1854 design. Bushnell got Ericsson's permission to show the model to Welles, who told Bushnell to show it to the board. Upon review of Ericsson's unusual design, the board was skeptical, concerned that such a vessel would not float, especially in rough seas, and rejected the proposal of a completely iron laden ship. President Lincoln, who had also examined the design, overruled them. Ericsson assured the board his ship would float exclaiming, "The sea shall ride over her and she shall live in it like a duck". On 15 September, after further deliberations, the board accepted Ericsson's proposal. The Ironclad Board evaluated 17 different designs, but recommended only three for procurement on 16 September, including Ericsson's "Monitor" design.


title: USS Monitor

text: The three ironclad ships selected differed substantially in design and degree of risk. "Monitor" was the most innovative design by virtue of its low freeboard, shallow-draft iron hull, and total dependence on steam power. The riskiest element of its design was its rotating gun turret, something that had not previously been tested by any navy. Ericsson's guarantee of delivery in 100 days proved to be decisive in choosing his design despite the risk involved.


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor" was an unusual vessel in almost every respect and was sometimes sarcastically described by the press and other critics as "Ericsson's folly", "cheesebox on a raft" and the "Yankee cheesebox". The most prominent feature on the vessel was a large cylindrical gun turret mounted amidships above the low-freeboard upper hull, also called the "raft". This extended well past the sides of the lower, more traditionally shaped hull. A small armored pilot house was fitted on the upper deck towards the bow, however, its position prevented "Monitor" from firing her guns straight forward. One of Ericsson's prime goals in designing the ship was to present the smallest possible target to enemy gunfire. The ship was long overall, had a beam of and had a maximum draft of . "Monitor" had a tonnage of 776 tons burthen and displaced . Her crew consisted of 49 officers and enlisted men.


title: USS Monitor

text: The ship was powered by a single-cylinder horizontal vibrating-lever steam engine, also designed by Ericsson, which drove a propeller, whose shaft was nine inches in diameter. The engine used steam generated by two horizontal fire-tube boilers at a maximum pressure of . The engine was designed to give the ship a top speed of , but "Monitor" was slower in service. The engine had a bore of and a stroke of . The ship carried of coal. Ventilation for the vessel was supplied by two centrifugal blowers near the stern, each of which was powered by a steam engine. One fan circulated air throughout the ship, but the other one forced air through the boilers, which depended on this forced draught. Leather belts connected the blowers to their engines and they would stretch when wet, often disabling the fans and boilers. The ship's pumps were steam operated and water would accumulate in the ship if the pumps could not get enough steam to work.


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor"s turret measured in diameter and high, constructed with of armor (11 inches in front at the gun ports) rendering the overall vessel somewhat top heavy. Its rounded shape helped to deflect cannon shot. A pair of steam-powered donkey engines rotated the turret through a set of gears; a full rotation was made in 22.5 seconds during testing on 9 February 1862. Fine control of the turret proved to be difficult; the steam engines would have to be placed in reverse if the turret overshot its mark, or another full rotation would have to be made. The only way to see out of the turret was through the gun ports; when the guns were not in use, or withdrawn for reloading during battle, heavy iron port stoppers would swing down into place to close the gunports. Including the guns, the turret weighed approximately ; the entire weight rested on an iron spindle that had to be jacked up using a wedge before the turret could rotate. The spindle was in diameter which gave it ten times the strength needed in preventing the turret from sliding sideways. When not in use, the turret rested on a brass ring on the deck that was intended to form a watertight seal. In service, however, this proved to leak heavily, despite caulking by the crew. The gap between the turret and the deck proved to be a problem as debris and shell fragments entered the gap and jammed the turrets of several s, which used the same turret design, during the First Battle of Charleston Harbor in April 1863. Direct hits on the turret with heavy shot could bend the spindle, which could also jam the turret. To gain access to the turret from below, or to hoist up powder and shot during battle, the turret had to rotate to face starboard, which would line up the entry hatch in the floor of the turret with an opening in the deck below. The roof of the turret was lightly built to facilitate any needed exchange of the ship's guns and to improve ventilation, with only gravity holding the roof plates in place.


title: USS Monitor

text: The turret was intended to mount a pair of smoothbore Dahlgren guns, but they were not ready in time and guns were substituted, weighing approximately each. "Monitor"s guns used the standard propellant charge of specified by the 1860 ordnance for targets "distant", "near", and "ordinary", established by the gun's designer Dahlgren himself. They could fire a round shot or shell up to a range of at an elevation of +15°.


title: USS Monitor

text: The top of the armored deck was only about above the waterline. It was protected by two layers of wrought iron armor. The sides of the "raft" consisted of three to five layers of iron plates, backed by about of pine and oak. Three of the plates extended the full height of the side, but the two innermost plates did not extend all the way down. Ericsson originally intended to use either six 1-inch plates or a single outer plate backed by three plates, but the thicker plate required too much time to roll. The two innermost plates were riveted together while the outer plates were bolted to the inner ones. A ninth plate, only thick and wide, was bolted over the butt joints of the innermost layer of armor. Glass portholes in the deck provided natural light for the interior of the ship; in action these were covered by iron plates.


title: USS Monitor

text: After the duel between the two ironclads at Hampton Roads there was concern by some Navy officials who witnessed the battle that "Monitor"s design might allow for easy boarding by the Confederates. In a letter dated 27 April 1862 Lieutenant Commander O.C. Badger wrote to Lieutenant H. A. Wise, Assistant Inspector of Ordnance, advising the use of "liquid fire", scalding water from the boiler through hoses and pipes, sprayed out via the vents and pilothouse window, to repel enemy boarders. Wise who was aboard and inspected "Monitor" after the battle responded in a letter of 30 April 1862: "With reference to the Monitor, the moment I jumped on board of her after the fight I saw that a steam tug with twenty men could have taken the upper part of her in as many seconds ... I hear that hot water pipes are arranged so as to scald the assailants when they may dare to set foot on her." The chance to employ such a tactic never arose. There are conflicting accounts as to whether such an anti-personnel provision was installed.


title: USS Monitor

text: Commodore Joseph Smith, Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, sent Ericsson formal notice of the acceptance of his proposal on 21 September 1861. Six days later, Ericsson signed a contract with Bushnell, John F. Winslow and John A. Griswold which stated that the four partners would equally share in the profits or the losses incurred by the construction of the ironclad. There was one major delay, however, over the signing of the actual contract with the government. Welles insisted that if "Monitor" did not prove to be a "complete success", the builders would have to refund every cent to the government. Winslow balked at this draconian provision and had to be persuaded by his partners to sign after the Navy rejected his attempt to amend the contract. The contract was finally signed on 4 October for a price of $275,000 to be paid in installments as work progressed.


title: USS Monitor

text: Preliminary work had begun well before that date, however, and Ericsson's consortium contracted with Thomas F. Rowland of the Continental Iron Works at Bushwick Inlet (in modern-day Greenpoint, Brooklyn) on 25 October for construction of "Monitor"s hull. Her keel was laid the same day. The turret was built and assembled at the Novelty Iron Works in Manhattan, disassembled and shipped to Bushwick Inlet where it was reassembled. The ship's steam engines and machinery were constructed at the DeLamater Iron Works, also in Manhattan. Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, who once served aboard "Merrimack", was appointed Superintendent of the ship while she was undergoing construction. Although never formally assigned to the crew, he remained aboard her as an inspector during her maiden voyage and battle.


title: USS Monitor

text: Construction progressed in fits and starts, plagued by a number of short delays in the delivery of iron and occasional shortages of cash, but they did not significantly delay the ship's progress by more than a few weeks. The hundred days allotted for her construction passed on 12 January, but the Navy chose not to penalize the consortium. The name "Monitor", meaning "one who admonishes and corrects wrongdoers", was proposed by Ericsson on 20 January 1862 and approved by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus Fox. While Ericsson stood on its deck in defiance of all his critics who thought she would never float, "Monitor" was launched on 30 January 1862 to the cheers of the watching crowd, even those who had bet that the ship would sink straight to the bottom, and commissioned on 25 February.


title: USS Monitor

text: Even before "Monitor" was commissioned, she ran an unsuccessful set of sea trials on 19 February. Valve problems with the main engine and one of the fan engines prevented her from reaching the Brooklyn Navy Yard from Bushwick Inlet and she had to be towed there the next day. These issues were easily fixed and "Monitor" was ordered to sail for Hampton Roads on 26 February, but her departure had to be delayed one day to load ammunition. On the morning of 27 February the ship entered the East River preparatory to leaving New York, but proved to be all but unsteerable and had to be towed back to the navy yard. Upon examination, the steering gear controlling the rudder had been improperly installed and Rowland offered to realign the rudder, which he estimated to take only a day. Ericsson, however, preferred to revise the steering gear by adding an extra set of pulleys as he believed it would take less time. His modification proved to be successful during trials on 4 March. Gunnery trials were successfully performed the previous day, although Stimers twice nearly caused disasters as he did not understand how the recoil mechanism worked on Ericsson's carriage for the 11-inch guns. Instead of tightening them to reduce the recoil upon firing, he loosened them so that both guns struck the back of the turret, fortunately without hurting anybody or damaging the guns.


title: USS Monitor

text: Ericsson's revolutionary turret, although not without flaws, was a unique concept in gun mounting that was soon adapted and used on naval ships around the world. His "Monitor" design employed over forty patented inventions and was completely different from any other naval warship at the time. Because "Monitor" was an experimental craft, urgently needed, hurriedly constructed and almost immediately put to sea, a number of problems were discovered during her maiden voyage to Hampton Roads and during the battle there. Yet "Monitor" was still able to challenge "Virginia" and prevent her from further destroying the remaining ships in the Union flotilla blockading Hampton Roads.


title: USS Monitor

text: During the "boom time" of the Civil War, Ericsson could have made a fortune with his inventions used in "Monitor", but instead gave the U.S. government all his "Monitor" patent rights saying it was his "contribution to the glorious Union cause".


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor"s crew were all volunteers and totaled 49 officers and enlisted men. The ship required ten officers: a commander, an executive officer, four engineers, one medical officer, two masters and a paymaster. Before Worden was allowed to select, assemble, and commit a crew to "Monitor", the vessel had to be completed.


title: USS Monitor

text: Four of the officers were Line officers and responsible for the handling of the vessel and operation of guns during battle, while the engineering officers were considered a class unto themselves. In "Monitor"s turret, Greene and Stodder supervised loading and firing of the two 11-inch Dahlgrens. Each gun was crewed by eight men. In Worden's report of 27 January 1862 to Welles, he stated he believed 17 men and 2 officers would be the maximum number in the turret that allowed the crew to work without getting in each other's way.


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor" also required petty officers: among them was Daniel Toffey, Worden's nephew. Worden had selected Toffey to serve as his captain's clerk. Two black Americans were also among the enlisted men in the crew.


title: USS Monitor

text: Living quarters for the senior officers consisted of eight separate well-furnished cabins, each provided with a small oak table and chair, an oil lamp, shelves and drawers and a canvas floor covering covered with a rug. The entire crew were given goat-skin mats to sleep on. Lighting for each living area was provided by small skylights in the deck above, which were covered by an iron hatch during battle. The officer's wardroom was located forward of the berth deck where officers would eat their meals, hold meetings or socialize during what little spare time they had. It was well furnished with an oriental rug, a large oak table and other such items. Ericsson had personally paid for the costs of all the officer's furnishings.


title: USS Monitor

text: Many details of "Monitor"s history and insights of everyday crew life have been discovered from correspondence sent from the various crew members to family and friends while serving aboard the ironclad. In particular the correspondence of George S. Geer, who sent more than 80 letters, often referred to as "The Monitor Chronicles", to his wife Martha during the entire time of "Monitor"s service provide many details and insights into every chapter of the ironclad's short-lived history, offering a rare perspective of a sailor's experience on the naval front during the Civil War. The letters of Acting Paymaster William F. Keeler to his wife Anna also corroborate many of the accounts of affairs that took place aboard "Monitor". The letters of Geer and Keeler are available for viewing and are housed at the Mariners' Museum in Virginia. Other crew members were interviewed later in life, like Louis N. Stodder, one of the last crew members to abandon "Monitor" minutes before she sank in a storm at sea, who was the last surviving crew member of "Monitor" and lived well into the 20th century.


title: USS Monitor

text: On 6 March 1862, the ship departed New York bound for Fort Monroe, Virginia, towed by the ocean-going tug "Seth Low" and accompanied by the gunboats and . Worden, not trusting the seal between the turret and the hull, and ignoring Ericsson's advice, wedged the former in the up position and stuffed oakum and sail cloth in the gap. Rising seas that night washed the oakum away and water poured underneath the turret, as well as through the hawsepipe, various hatches, ventilation pipes, and the two funnels, so that the belts for the ventilation and boiler fans loosened and fell off and the fires in the boilers were nearly extinguished over the course of the next day; this created a toxic atmosphere in the engine room that knocked out most of the engine-room crew. First Assistant Engineer Isaac Newton ordered the engine room abandoned and had the able-bodied crew drag the afflicted engine room hands to the top of the turret where the fresh air could revive them. Both Newton and Stimers worked desperately to get the blowers to work, but they too succumbed to the noxious fumes and were taken above. One fireman was able to punch a hole in the fan box, drain the water, and restart the fan. Later that night, the wheel ropes controlling the ship's rudder jammed, making it nearly impossible to control the ship's heading in the rough seas. "Monitor" was now in danger of foundering, so Worden signaled "Seth Low" for help and had "Monitor" towed to calmer waters closer to shore so she was able to restart her engines later that evening. She rounded Cape Charles around 3:00 pm on 8 March and entered Chesapeake Bay, reaching Hampton Roads at 9:00 pm, well after the first day's fighting in the Battle of Hampton Roads had concluded.


title: USS Monitor

text: On 8 March 1862, "Virginia", commanded by Commander Franklin Buchanan, was ready to engage the Union flotilla blockading the James River. "Virginia" was powered by "Merrimack"s original engines, which had been condemned by the US Navy before her capture. The ship's chief engineer, H. Ashton Ramsay, served in "Merrimack" before the Civil War broke out and knew of the engines' unreliability, but Buchanan pushed forward undaunted.


title: USS Monitor

text: The slow-moving "Virginia" attacked the Union blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, Virginia, destroying the sail frigates "Cumberland" and "Congress". Early in the battle, the steam frigate ran aground while attempting to engage "Virginia", and remained stranded throughout the battle. "Virginia", however, was unable to attack "Minnesota" before daylight faded. That day Buchanan was severely wounded in the leg and was relieved of command by Catesby ap Roger Jones.


title: USS Monitor

text: Days before the battle a telegraph cable was laid between Fortress Monroe, which overlooked Hampton Roads, and Washington. Washington was immediately informed of the dire situation after the initial battle. Many were now concerned "Virginia" would put to sea and begin bombarding cities such as New York while others feared she would ascend the Potomac River and attack Washington. In an emergency meeting among President Lincoln, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary Welles and other senior naval officers, inquiries were made about "Monitor"s ability to stop "Virginia"s prospect of further destruction. When the temperamental Stanton learned that "Monitor" had only two guns he expressed contempt and rage as he paced back and forth, further increasing the anxiety and despair among members of the meeting. Assurances from Admiral Dahlgren and other officers that "Virginia" was too massive to effectively approach Washington and that "Monitor" was capable of the challenge offered him no consolation. After further deliberations Lincoln was finally assured but Stanton remained almost in a state of terror and sent telegrams to various governors and mayors of the coastal states warning them of the danger. Subsequently, Stanton approved a plan to load some sixty canal boats with stone and gravel and sink them in the Potomac, but Welles was able to convince Lincoln at the last moment that such a plan would only prevent "Monitor" and other Union ships from reaching Washington and that the barges should only be sunk if and when "Virginia" was able to make her way up the Potomac.


title: USS Monitor

text: About 9:00 pm, "Monitor" finally arrived on the scene only to discover the destruction that "Virginia" had already wrought on the Union fleet. Worden was ordered upon reaching Hampton Roads to anchor alongside and report to Captain John Marston where Worden was briefed of the situation and received further orders to protect the grounded "Minnesota". By midnight, under the cover of darkness, "Monitor" quietly pulled up alongside and behind the "Minnesota" and waited.


title: USS Monitor

text: The next morning at about 6:00 am "Virginia", accompanied by , and , got underway from Sewell's Point to finish off "Minnesota" and the rest of the blockaders, but were delayed sailing out into Hampton Roads because of heavy fog until about 8:00 am. In "Monitor" Worden was already at his station in the pilot house while Greene took command of the turret. Samuel Howard, Acting Master of "Minnesota", who was familiar with Hampton Roads with its varying depths and shallow areas, had volunteered to be the pilot the night before and thus was accepted, while Quarter Master Peter Williams steered the vessel throughout the battle (Williams was later awarded the Medal of Honor for this act). The speaking tube used to communicate between the pilothouse and the turret had broken early in the action so Keeler and Toffey had to relay commands from Worden to Greene. As "Virginia" approached, she began firing at "Minnesota" from more than a mile away, a few of her shells hitting the vessel. When the firing was heard in the distance, Greene sent Keeler to the pilot house for permission to open fire as soon as possible where Worden ordered, "Tell Mr. Greene not to fire till I give the word, to be cool and deliberate, to take sure aim and not waste a shot."


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor", to the surprise of "Virginia"s crew, had emerged from behind "Minnesota" and positioned herself between her and the grounded ship, preventing the Confederate ironclad from further engaging the vulnerable wooden ship at close range. At 8:45 am Worden gave the order to fire where Greene fired the first shots of the battle between the two ironclads which harmlessly deflected off the Confederate ironclad. During the battle "Monitor" fired solid shot, about once every eight minutes, while "Virginia" fired shell exclusively. The ironclads fought, generally at close range, for about four hours, ending at 12:15 pm, ranging from a few yards to more than a hundred. Both ships were constantly in motion, maintaining a circular pattern. Because of "Virginia"s weak engines, great size and weight, and a draft of , she was slow and difficult to maneuver, taking her half an hour to complete a 180-degree turn.


title: USS Monitor

text: During the engagement, "Monitor"s turret began to malfunction, making it extremely difficult to turn and stop at a given position, so the crew simply let the turret continuously turn and fired their guns "on the fly" as they bore on "Virginia". "Monitor" received several direct hits on the turret, causing some bolts to violently shear off and ricochet around inside. The deafening sound of the impact stunned some of the crew, causing nose and ear bleeding. However, neither vessel was able to sink or seriously damage the other. At one point, "Virginia" attempted to ram, but only struck "Monitor" a glancing blow and did no damage. The collision did, however, aggravate the damage to "Virginia"s bow from when she had previously rammed "Cumberland". "Monitor" was also unable to do significant damage to "Virginia", possibly because her guns were firing with reduced charges, on advice from Commander John Dahlgren, the gun's designer, who lacked the "preliminary information" needed to determine what amount of charge was needed to "pierce, dislocate or dislodge iron plates" of various thicknesses and configurations. During the battle Stodder was stationed at the wheel that controlled the turning of the turret, but at one point when he was leaning against its side the turret received a direct hit directly opposite to him which knocked him clear across the inside, rendering him unconscious. He was taken below to recover and relieved by Stimers.


title: USS Monitor

text: The two vessels were pounding each other at such close range that they collided five times. By 11:00 am "Monitor"s supply of shot in the turret had been exhausted. With one of the gun port covers jammed shut, she hauled off to shallow waters to resupply the turret and repair the damaged hatch, which could not be fixed. During the lull in the battle, Worden climbed through the gun port out onto the deck to get a better view of the overall situation. "Virginia", seeing "Monitor" turn away, turned her attention to the "Minnesota" and fired shots that set the wooden vessel ablaze, also destroying the nearby tugboat "Dragon". When the turret was resupplied with ammunition, Worden returned to battle with only one gun able to fire.


title: USS Monitor

text: Towards the end of the engagement, Worden directed Williams to steer "Monitor" around the stern of the Confederate ironclad; Lieutenant Wood fired "Virginia"s 7-inch Brooke gun at "Monitor"s pilothouse, striking the forward side directly beneath the sight hold, cracking the structural "iron log" along the base of the narrow opening just as Worden was peering out. Worden was heard to cry out, "My eyes—I am blind!" Others in the pilothouse had also been hit with fragments and were also bleeding. Temporarily blinded by shell fragments and gunpowder residue from the explosion, and believing the pilothouse to be severely damaged, Worden ordered Williams to sheer off into shallow water, where "Virginia" with her deep draft could not follow. There "Monitor" drifted idly for about twenty minutes. At the time the pilothouse was struck Worden's injury was only known to those in the pilothouse and immediately nearby. With Worden severely wounded, command passed to the executive officer, Samuel Greene. Taken by surprise, he was briefly undecided as to what action to take next, but after assessing the damage soon ordered "Monitor" to return to the battle area.


title: USS Monitor

text: Shortly after "Monitor" withdrew, "Virginia" had run aground, at which time Jones came down from the spar deck to find the gun crews not returning fire. Jones demanded to know why and was briefed by Lieutenant Eggleston that powder was low and precious, and given "Monitor"s resistance to shot after two hours of battle, maintained that continued firing at that point would be a waste of ammunition. "Virginia" soon managed to break away and headed back towards Norfolk for needed repairs, believing that "Monitor" had withdrawn from battle. Greene did not pursue "Virginia" and, like Worden, was under orders to stay with and protect "Minnesota", an action for which he was later criticized.


title: USS Monitor

text: As a result of the duel between the two ironclads, "Monitor" had been struck twenty-two times, including nine hits to the turret and two hits to the pilothouse. She had managed to fire forty-one shots from her pair of Dahlgren guns. "Virginia" had sustained ninety-seven indentations to her armor from the fire of "Monitor" and other ships. Neither ship had sustained any significant damage. In the opinion of "Virginia"s commander Jones and her other officers, "Monitor" could have sunk their ship had she hit the vessel at the waterline.


title: USS Monitor

text: Strategically, the battle between these two ships was considered the most definitive naval battle of the Civil War. The battle itself was largely considered a draw, though it could be argued "Virginia" did slightly more damage. "Monitor" did successfully defend "Minnesota" and the rest of the Union blockading force, while "Virginia" was unable to complete the destruction she started the previous day. The battle between the two ironclads marked a turning point in the way naval warfare would be fought in the future. Strategically, nothing had changed: the Union still controlled Hampton Roads and the Confederates still held several rivers and Norfolk, making it a strategic victory for the North. The battle of the ironclads led to what was referred to as "Monitor fever" in the North. During the course of the war improved designs based on "Monitor" emerged; 60 ironclads were built.


title: USS Monitor

text: Immediately following the battle Stimers telegraphed Ericsson, congratulating and thanking him for making it possible to confront the Confederate ironclad and for "saving the day". No sooner than "Monitor" had weighed anchor, numerous small boats and spectators on shore flocked around the ship to congratulate the crew for what they regarded as their victory over "Virginia". Assistant Secretary Fox, who observed the entire battle from aboard "Minnesota", came aboard "Monitor" and jokingly told her officers, "Well gentlemen, you don't look as though you just went through one of the greatest naval conflicts on record". A small tug soon came alongside and the blinded Worden was brought up from his cabin while crew members and spectators cheered. He was taken to Fort Monroe for preliminary treatment, then to a hospital in Washington.


title: USS Monitor

text: Stimers and Newton soon began repairing the damage to the pilot house, and reconfigured the sides from an upright position to a slope of thirty degrees to deflect shot. During this time, Mrs. Worden personally brought news of her husband's progress and recovery and was optimistic, informing the crew his eyesight would soon return but he would be laid up for some time. She also informed them President Lincoln had personally paid Worden a visit extending his gratitude. Worden was later taken to his summer home in New York and remained unconscious for three months. He returned to Naval service in 1862 as captain of , another "Monitor"-type ironclad.


title: USS Monitor

text: The Confederates were also celebrating what they considered a victory, as crowds of spectators gathered along the banks of the Elizabeth River, cheering and waving flags, handkerchiefs and hats as "Virginia", displaying the captured ensign of "Congress", passed along up the river. The Confederate government was ecstatic and immediately promoted Buchanan to Admiral.


title: USS Monitor

text: Both the Union and Confederacy soon came up with plans for defeating the other's ironclad. Oddly, these did not depend on their own ironclads. The Union Navy chartered a large ship (the sidewheeler ) and reinforced her bow with steel specifically to be used as a naval ram, provided "Virginia" steamed far enough out into Hampton Roads.


title: USS Monitor

text: On 11 April, "Virginia", accompanied by a number of gunboats, steamed into Hampton Roads to Sewell's Point at the southeast edge, almost over to Newport News, in a challenge to lure "Monitor" into battle. "Virginia" fired a few shots ineffectively at very long range while "Monitor" returned fire, remaining near Fort Monroe, ready to fight if "Virginia" came to attack the Federal force congregated there. Furthermore, "Vanderbilt" was in position to ram "Virginia" if she approached the fort, but "Virginia" did not take the bait. In a further attempt to entice "Monitor" closer to the Confederate side so she could be boarded, the James River Squadron moved in and captured three merchant ships, the brigs "Marcus" and "Sabout", and the schooner "Catherine T. Dix". These had been grounded and abandoned when they sighted "Virginia" entering the Roads. Their flags were then hoisted "Union-side down" to taunt "Monitor" into a fight as they were towed back to Norfolk. In the end, both sides had failed to provoke a fight on their terms.


title: USS Monitor

text: The Confederate Navy originally had devised a plan by which the James River Squadron would swarm "Monitor" with a party of men to board and capture the vessel, and disable her by using heavy hammers to drive iron wedges under and disable the turret, and by covering the pilothouse with a wet sail effectively blinding the pilot. Others would throw combustibles down the ventilation openings and smoke holes. At one point Jones made such an attempt to board the vessel, but she managed to slip away around the stern of "Virginia" in time.


title: USS Monitor

text: There was a second confrontation on 8 May, when "Virginia" came out while "Monitor" and four other Federal ships bombarded Confederate batteries at Sewell's Point. The Federal ships retired slowly to Fort Monroe, hoping to lure "Virginia" into the Roads. She did not follow, however, and after firing a gun to windward as a sign of contempt, anchored off Sewell's Point. Later, when Confederate forces abandoned Norfolk on 11 May 1862, they were forced to destroy "Virginia".


title: USS Monitor

text: After the destruction of "Virginia", "Monitor" was free to assist the Union Army and General McClellan's campaign against Richmond. As the Navy always gave command to officers based on seniority, Greene was replaced with Lieutenant Thomas O. Selfridge the day after the battle. Two days later, Selfridge was in turn relieved by Lieutenant William Nicholson Jeffers on 15 May 1862. "Monitor" was now part of a flotilla under the command of Admiral John Rodgers aboard "Galena", and, along with three other gunboats, steamed up the James River and engaged the Confederate batteries at Drewry's Bluff. The force had instructions to coordinate their efforts with McClellan's forces on land and push on towards Richmond to bombard the city into surrender if possible. Without any assistance, the task force got within of the Confederate capital but could not proceed further because of sunken vessels and debris placed in the river that blocked further passage. There were also artillery batteries at Fort Darling overlooking and guarding the approach, along with other heavy guns and sharpshooters positioned along the river banks. The fort was strategically situated on the west bank of the James River atop of a bluff some above and overlooking the bend in the river. "Monitor" was of little help in the assault because the confinement and small gun ports of her turret would not allow her to elevate her guns sufficiently to engage the Confederate batteries at close range, so she had to fall back and fire at a greater distance, while the other gunboats were unable to overcome the fortifications on their own. After "Monitor" received only a few hits, without incurring any damage, the Confederates, many of whom were former crew members of "Virginia" well aware of her ability to withstand cannon shot even at close range, concentrated their guns on the other ships, especially "Galena", which sustained considerable damage and moderate casualties. After a near four-hour artillery duel and sustaining numerous hits overall, the flotilla was unable to neutralize the fortification and had to turn back. Not a single Union ship reached Richmond until near the end of the war, when the city was finally evacuated by the Confederates.


title: USS Monitor

text: After the battle at Drewry's Bluff "Monitor" remained on the James River providing support, along with the "Galena" and other gunboats, to McClellan's troops at various points along the river including Harrison's Landing


title: USS Monitor

text: In September Captain John P. Bankhead received orders to take command of "Monitor", relieving Stevens, and was sent to Hampton Roads to take charge of the vessel. Shortly after Bankhead assumed command, "Monitor"s engines and boilers were condemned by a board of survey which recommended that they be overhauled completely. On 30 September the ironclad was sent to the Washington Navy Yard for repairs arriving there on 3 October.


title: USS Monitor

text: Upon arrival at Washington "Monitor" and her crew were greeted by a crowd of thousands of cheering admirers who came to see the ship that "saved the nation". "Monitor" was now a premier tourist attraction and the crowd was soon allowed on board to tour the vessel. During this time the vessel was picked clean of artifacts for souvenirs by the touring civilians that came aboard. When Stodder and others came to close up the dock and ship one evening Stodder noted, "When we came up to clean that night there was not a key, doorknob, escutcheon – there wasn't a thing that hadn't been carried away."


title: USS Monitor

text: Before "Monitor" was put into dry dock for repairs, Lincoln, Fox, various officials and a few of Worden's close friends arrived to ceremoniously review the vessel and pay respect to the crew and former commander Worden, who after a long and partial recovery arrived for the occasion. Entire army regiments were also directed to come by the navy yard and review the ship and honor the crew. "Monitor"s crew assembled on deck in formation with their officers in front, while Lincoln, Fox and other guests stood near the turret. When Worden, with part of his face blackened from the wounds he received at Hampton Roads, came aboard, the heavy guns in the navy yard were fired in . Lincoln came forward and greeted Worden and then introduced him to some of the others. After his formal greeting the crew swarmed around Worden and embraced and shook hands with their former commander and thanked God for his recovery and return. Worden called each of them by name and spoke friendly to and complimented each of them personally. When order was restored the President gave a short speech about Worden's career. At Fox's request, Worden gave a speech to the gathering about his voyage from New York to Hampton Roads, the trials they were faced with along the way and of the great battle between "Monitor" and "Virginia", while paying tribute to many of the officers and men involved. In closing he gave special thanks to Ericsson, Lincoln, Welles and all who made construction of "Monitor" possible.


title: USS Monitor

text: While "Monitor" was undergoing repairs her crew was put aboard and were eventually granted a furlough by Bankhead who himself went on leave. For approximately six weeks the vessel remained in dry dock while her bottom was scraped clean, the engines and boilers were overhauled, the entire vessel was cleaned and painted, and a number of improvements made, including an iron shield around the top of the turret. To make the vessel more seaworthy, a funnel-shaped smokestack was placed over the smoke outlet while taller fresh air vents were installed. The berth deck below was also enlarged and raised by removing some of the side storerooms and placing them below, thus reducing the height of the interior which now barely allowed the crew to stand upright. Several cranes were also added while interior improvements were made making the confining environment more livable. A large blower that operated with its own engine was installed which drew fresh air down through the pilothouse. During this time the two Dahlgren guns were each engraved with large letters, "MONITOR & MERRIMAC – WORDEN" and "MONITOR & MERRIMAC – ERICSSON", respectively. Additional iron plates were installed covering the dents from the previous battles. Each plate was inscribed with the name of the source from where the shell causing the dent was made. i.e. "Merrimack, Fort Darling", etc. Stanchions were also installed around the perimeter of the freeboard with a rope strung through each making it safer to walk about the deck amid stormy weather and rough seas. "Monitor" was finally taken out of dry dock on 26 October. By November the ship was fully repaired and ready to return to service.


title: USS Monitor

text: On 24 December 1862, orders were issued directing "Monitor" to Beaufort, North Carolina to join and for a joint Army-Navy expedition against Wilmington, North Carolina, where she would join the blockade off Charleston. The orders were received by the crew on Christmas Day, some of whom had been aboard "Monitor" on her harrowing journey from New York to Hampton Roads in March and were not pleased with the prospect of taking to the high seas once again. Dana Greene remarked, "I do not consider this steamer a sea going vessel".


title: USS Monitor

text: The crew celebrated Christmas aboard "Monitor" while berthed at Hampton Roads in what was described as a most merry fashion, while many other celebrations were occurring along the shore. The ship's cook was paid one dollar to prepare a meal for the crew befitting the day; it was received with mixed opinion. That day, "Monitor" was made ready for sea, her crew under strict orders not to discuss the impending voyage with anyone, but bad weather delayed her departure until 29 December.


title: USS Monitor

text: While the design of "Monitor" was well-suited for river combat, her low freeboard and heavy turret made her highly unseaworthy in rough waters. Under the command of John P. Bankhead, "Monitor" put to sea on 31 December, under tow from the steamship , as a heavy storm developed off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Using chalk and a blackboard, Bankhead wrote messages alerting "Rhode Island" that if "Monitor" needed help she would signal with a red lantern.


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor" was soon in trouble as the storm increased in ferocity. Large waves were splashing over and completely covering the deck and pilot house so the crew temporarily rigged the wheel atop the turret which was manned by helmsman Francis Butts. Water continued flooding into the vents and ports and the ship began rolling uncontrollably in the high seas. Sometimes she would drop into a wave with such force the entire hull would tremble. Leaks were beginning to appear everywhere. Bankhead ordered the engineers to start the Worthington pumps, which temporarily stemmed the rising waters, but soon "Monitor" was hit by a squall and a series of violent waves and water continued to work its way into the vessel. Right when the Worthington pump could no longer keep pace with the flooding, a call came from the engine room that water was gaining there. Realizing the ship was in serious trouble, Bankhead signaled "Rhode Island" for help and hoisted the red lantern next to "Monitor"s white running light atop the turret. He then ordered the anchor dropped to stop the ship's rolling and pitching with little effect, making it no easier for the rescue boats to get close enough to receive her crew. He then ordered the towline cut and called for volunteers, Stodder, along with crewmates John Stocking, and James Fenwick volunteered and climbed down from the turret, but eyewitnesses said that as soon as they were on the deck Fenwick and Stocking were quickly swept overboard and drowned. Stodder managed to hang onto the safety lines around the deck and finally cut through the towline with a hatchet. At 11:30 pm. Bankhead ordered the engineers to stop engines and divert all available steam to the large Adams centrifugal steam pump; but with reduced steam output from a boiler being fed wet coal, it too was unable to stem the rapidly rising water. After all of the steam pumps had failed, Bankhead ordered some of the crew to man the hand pumps and organized a bucket brigade, but to no avail.


title: USS Monitor

text: Greene and Stodder were among the last men to abandon ship and remained with Bankhead who was the last surviving man to abandon the sinking "Monitor". In his official report of "Monitor" to the Navy Department, Bankhead praised Greene and Stodder for their heroic efforts and wrote, "I would beg leave to call the attention of the Admiral and of the Department of the particularly good conduct of Lieutenant Greene and Acting Master Louis N. Stodder, who remained with me until the last, and by their example did much toward inspiring confidence and obedience on the part of the others."


title: USS Monitor

text: After a frantic rescue effort, "Monitor" finally foundered and sank approximately southeast off Cape Hatteras with the loss of sixteen men, including four officers, some of whom remained in the turret and went down with the ironclad. Forty-seven men were rescued by the life boats from "Rhode Island". Bankhead, Greene and Stodder barely managed to get clear of the sinking vessel and survived the ordeal, but suffered from exposure from the icy winter sea. After his initial recovery, Bankhead filed his official report, as did the commanding officers of the "Rhode Island", stating officers and men of both "Monitor" and "Rhode Island" did everything within their ability to keep "Monitor" from sinking. The Navy did not find it necessary to commission a board of inquiry to investigate the affair and took no action against Bankhead or any of his officers.


title: USS Monitor

text: Some time later a controversy emerged over why "Monitor" sank. In the "Army and Navy Journal", Ericsson accused the crew of drunkenness during the storm, being consequently unable to prevent the vessel from sinking. Stodder vigorously defended the crew and rebuked Ericsson's characterization of the crew and events and wrote to Pierce that Ericsson "covers up defects by blaming those that are now dead", pointing out that there were a number of unavoidable events and circumstances that led to the ship's sinking, foremost being the overhang between the upper and lower hulls which came loose and partially separated during the storm from slamming into the violent waves. Stodder's account was corroborated by other shipmates.


title: USS Monitor

text: The Navy tested an "underwater locator" in August 1949 by searching an area south of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse for the wreck of "Monitor". It found a long object bulky enough to be a shipwreck, in of water that was thought to be "Monitor", but powerful currents negated attempts by divers to investigate. Retired Rear Admiral Edward Ellsberg proposed using external pontoons to raise the wreck in 1951, the same method of marine salvage he had used on the sunken submarine , for the cost of $250,000. Four years later, Robert F. Marx claimed to have discovered the wreck based on the idea she had drifted into shallow water north of the lighthouse before sinking. Marx said he had dived on the wreck and placed a Coke bottle with his name on it in one of the gun barrels, although he never provided any proof of his story.


title: USS Monitor

text: Interest in locating the ship revived in the early 1970s and Duke University, the National Geographic Society and the National Science Foundation sponsored an expedition in August 1973 to search for the wreck using a towed sonar system. The Duke team was led by John G. Newton (no known relation to the Isaac Newton that served on the "Monitor"). On 27 August, "Monitor" was discovered 111 years after sinking, near Cape Hatteras at coordinates . They sent a camera down to photograph the wreck, but the pictures were so fuzzy as to be useless; on a second attempt the camera snagged something on the wreck and was lost. The sonar images did not match what they expected the wreck to look like until they realized that the sinking vessel had turned over while descending and was resting at the bottom upside down. The team announced their discovery on 8 March 1974. Another expedition was mounted that same month to confirm the discovery and the research submersible "Alcoa Sea Probe" was able to take still photos and video of the wreck that confirmed it was "Monitor".


title: USS Monitor

text: These photos revealed that the wreck was disintegrating and the discovery raised another issue. Since the Navy had formally abandoned the wreck in 1953, it could be exploited by divers and private salvage companies as it lay outside North Carolina's territorial limits. To preserve the ship, the wreck, and everything around it, a radius was designated as the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, the first U.S. marine sanctuary, on 30 January 1975. "Monitor" was also designated a National Historic Landmark on 23 June 1986.


title: USS Monitor

text: In 1977, scientists were finally able to view the wreckage in person as the submersible "Johnson Sea Link" was used to inspect it. The "Sea Link" was able to ferry divers down to the sunken vessel and retrieve small artifacts. U.S. Navy interest in raising the entire ship ended in 1978 when Captain Willard F. Searle Jr. calculated the cost and possible damage expected from the operation: $20 million to stabilize the vessel in place, or as much as $50 million to bring all of it to the surface. Research continued and artifacts continued to be recovered, including the ship's anchor in 1983. The growing number of relics required conservation and a proper home so the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in charge of all U.S. marine sanctuaries, selected the Mariners' Museum on 9 March 1987 after considering proposals from several other institutions.


title: USS Monitor

text: Initial efforts in 1995 by Navy and NOAA divers to raise the warship's propeller were foiled by an abnormally stormy season off Cape Hatteras. Realizing that raising the whole wreck was impractical for financial reasons as well as the inability to bring up the wreck intact, NOAA developed a comprehensive plan to recover the most significant parts of the ship, namely her engine, propeller, guns, and turret. It estimated that the plan would cost over 20 million dollars to implement over four years. The Department of Defense Legacy Resource Management Program contributed $14.5 million. The Navy divers, mainly from its two Mobile Diving and Salvage Units, would perform the bulk of the work necessary in order to train in deep sea conditions and evaluate new equipment.


title: USS Monitor

text: Another effort to raise "Monitor"s propeller was successful on 8 June 1998, although the amount of effort required to work in the difficult conditions off Cape Hatteras was underestimated and the fewer than 30 divers used were nearly overwhelmed. The 1999 dive season was mostly research oriented as divers investigated the wreck in detail, planning how to recover the engine and determining if they could stabilize the hull so that it would not collapse onto the turret. In 2000, the divers shored up the port side of the hull with bags of grout, installed the engine recovery system, an external framework to which the engine would be attached, in preparation for the next season, and made over five times as many dives as they had the previous season.


title: USS Monitor

text: The 2001 dive season concentrated on raising the ship's steam engine and condenser. Hull plates had to be removed to access the engine compartment and both the engine and the condenser had to be separated from the ship, the surrounding wreckage and each other. A Mini Rover ROV was used to provide visibility of the wreck and divers to the support staff above water. The engine was raised on 16 July and the condenser three days later by the crane barge "Wotan". Saturation diving was evaluated by the Navy that dive season on "Monitor" and proved to be very successful, allowing divers to maximize their time on the bottom. The surface-supplied divers evaluated the use of heliox due to the depth of the wreck. It also proved to be successful once the dive tables were adjusted.


title: USS Monitor

text: Much like the previous year, the 2002 dive season was dedicated to lifting the turret to the surface. Around 160 divers were assigned to remove the parts of the hull, including the armor belt, that lay on top of the turret using chisels, exothermic cutting torches and hydroblasters. They removed as much of the debris from inside the turret as possible to reduce the weight to be lifted. This was usually concreted coal as one of the ship's coal bunkers had ruptured and dumped most of its contents into the turret. The divers prepared the turret roof for the first stage of the lift by excavating underneath the turret and placed steel beams and angle irons to reinforce it for its move onto a lifting platform for the second stage. A large, eight-legged lifting frame, nicknamed the "spider", was carefully positioned over the turret to move it onto the platform and the entire affair would be lifted by the crane mounted on the "Wotan". The divers discovered one skeleton in the turret on 26 July before the lift and spent a week carefully chipping about half of it free of the concreted debris; the other half was inaccessible underneath the rear of one of the guns.


title: USS Monitor

text: With Tropical Storm Cristobal bearing down on the recovery team, and time and money running out, the team made the decision to raise the turret on 5 August 2002, after 41 days of work, and the gun turret broke the surface at 5:30 pm to the cheers of everyone aboard "Wotan" and other recovery ships nearby. As archaeologists examined the contents of the turret after it has been landed aboard "Wotan", they discovered a second skeleton, but removing it did not begin until the turret arrived at the Mariners' Museum for conservation. The remains of these sailors were transferred to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in the hope that they could be identified.


title: USS Monitor

text: Only 16 of the crew were not rescued by "Rhode Island" before "Monitor" sank and the forensic anthropologists at JPAC were able to rule out the three missing black crewmen based on the shape of the femurs and skulls. Among the most promising of the 16 candidates were crew members Jacob Nicklis, Robert Williams and William Bryan, but a decade passed without their identities being discovered. On 8 March 2013 their remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.


title: USS Monitor

text: In 2003 NOAA divers and volunteers returned to the "Monitor" with the goal of obtaining overall video of the site to create a permanent record of the current conditions on the wreck after the turret recovery. Jeff Johnston of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary (MNMS) also wanted a definitive image of the vessel's pilothouse. During the dives, "Monitor"s iron pilothouse was located near the bow of the vessel and documented for the first time by videographer Rick Allen, of Nautilus Productions, in its inverted position.


title: USS Monitor

text: Conservation of the propeller was completed nearly three years after its recovery, and it is on display in the Monitor Center at the Mariners' Museum. As of 2013, conservation of the engine, its components, the turret and the guns continues. The Dahlgren guns were removed from the turret in September 2004 and placed in their own conservation tanks. Among some of the artifacts recovered from the sunken vessel was a red signal lantern, possibly the one used to send a distress signal to "Rhode Island" and the last thing to be seen before "Monitor" sank in 1862 – it was the first object recovered from the site in 1977. A gold wedding band was also recovered from the hand of the skeletal remains of one of "Monitor"s crew members found in the turret.


title: USS Monitor

text: Northrop Grumman Shipyard in Newport News constructed a full-scale non-seaworthy static replica of "Monitor". The replica was laid down in February 2005 and completed just two months later on the grounds of the Mariners' Museum. The Monitor National Marine Sanctuary conducts occasional dives on the wreck to monitor and record any changes in its condition and its environment.


title: USS Monitor

text: The in McGolrick Park, Brooklyn, depicts a sailor from "Monitor" pulling on a capstan. The sculptor Antonio de Filippo was commissioned by the State of New York in the 1930s for a bronze statue to commemorate the Battle of Hampton Roads, John Ericsson, and the crew of the ship. It was dedicated on 6 November 1938. A vandal doused it with white paint on 7 January 2013.


title: USS Monitor

text: In 1995 the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp commemorating USS "Monitor" and CSS "Virginia" depicting the two ships while engaged in their famous battle at Hampton Roads. For an image of the stamp, see footnote link.


title: USS Monitor

text: The 150th anniversary of the ship's loss prompted several events in commemoration. A memorial to "Monitor" and her lost crew members was erected in the Civil War section of Hampton National Cemetery by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, together with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and dedicated on 29 December 2012. The Greenpoint Monitor Museum commemorated the ship and her crew with an event on 12 January 2013 at the grave sites of those "Monitor" crew members buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, followed by a service in the cemetery's chapel.


title: USS Monitor

text: New Jersey-based indie rock band Titus Andronicus named their critically acclaimed second album, 2010's "The Monitor", for the ship. Featured on the album's sleeve are the crewmen of "Monitor", taken from a tintype portrait. The album's interwoven references to the Civil War include speeches and writings from the period, as well as the side-long closing track "The Battle of Hampton Roads". The latter refers to the "Monitor"s encounter with CSS "Virginia" in prominent detail. Singer/guitarist Patrick Stickles commented while making the album that he was inspired by Ken Burns's "The Civil War" and the ship itself so much that he decided to name Titus Andronicus's second album in its honor.


title: USS Monitor

text: "Monitor" gave her name to a new type of mastless, low-freeboard warship that mounted its armament in turrets. Many more were built, including river monitors, and they played key roles in Civil War battles on the Mississippi and James Rivers. The breastwork monitor was developed during the 1860s by Sir Edward Reed, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, as an improvement of the basic Monitor design. Reed gave these ships a superstructure to increase seaworthiness and raise the freeboard of the gun turrets so they could be worked in all weathers. The superstructure was armored to protect the bases of the turrets, the funnels and the ventilator ducts in what he termed a breastwork. The ships were conceived as harbor defense ships with little need to leave port. Reed took advantage of the lack of masts and designed the ships with one twin-gun turret at each end of the superstructure, each able to turn and fire in a 270° arc. These ships were described by Admiral George Alexander Ballard as being like "full-armoured knights riding on donkeys, easy to avoid but bad to close with". Reed later developed the design into the , the first ocean-going turret ships without masts, the direct ancestors of the pre-dreadnought battleships and the dreadnoughts.


title: USS Monitor

text: The battle between the "Monitor" and the Confederate ironclad CSS "Virginia" was reenacted using scale models in the 1936 film "Hearts in Bondage" from Republic Pictures. The battle was also dramatized in the 1991 made-for-television movie "Ironclads", produced by Ted Turner.


title: Mural

text: A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.


title: Mural

text: The word "mural" is a Spanish adjective that is used to refer to what is attached to a wall. The term "mural" later became a noun. In art, the word mural began to be used at the beginning of the 20th century.


title: Mural

text: In 1906, Dr. Atl issued a manifesto calling for the development of a monumental public art movement in Mexico; he named it in Spanish "pintura mural" (English: "wall painting").


title: Mural

text: In ancient Roman times, a mural crown was given to the fighter who was first to scale the wall of a besieged town. "Mural" comes from the Latin "muralis", meaning "wall painting".


title: Mural

text: Murals of sorts date to Upper Paleolithic times such as the cave paintings in the Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave in Borneo (40,000-52,000 BP), Chauvet Cave in Ardèche department of southern France (around 32,000 BP). Many ancient murals have been found within ancient Egyptian tombs (around 3150 BC), the Minoan palaces (Middle period III of the Neopalatial period, 1700–1600 BC), the Oxtotitlán cave and Juxtlahuaca in Mexico (around 1200-900 BC) and in Pompeii (around 100 BC – AD 79).


title: Mural

text: During the Middle Ages murals were usually executed on dry plaster (secco). The huge collection of Kerala mural painting dating from the 14th century are examples of fresco secco. In Italy, circa 1300, the technique of painting of frescos on wet plaster was reintroduced and led to a significant increase in the quality of mural painting.


title: Mural

text: The term mural became better known with the Mexican muralism art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and José Orozco).


title: Mural

text: There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably "fresco", which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The "marouflage" method has also been used for millennia.


title: Mural

text: Murals today are painted in a variety of ways, using oil or water-based media. The styles can vary from abstract to "trompe-l'œil" (a French term for "fool" or "trick the eye"). Initiated by the works of mural artists like Graham Rust or Rainer Maria Latzke in the 1980s, trompe-l'œil painting has experienced a renaissance in private and public buildings in Europe.


title: Mural

text: Today, the beauty of a wall mural has become much more widely available with a technique whereby a painting or photographic image is transferred to poster paper or canvas which is then pasted to a wall surface "(see wallpaper, Frescography)" to give the effect of either a hand-painted mural or realistic scene.


title: Mural

text: A special type of mural painting is Lüftlmalerei, still practised today in the villages of the Alpine valleys. Well-known examples of such façade designs from the 18th and 19th centuries can be found in Mittenwald, Garmisch, Unter- and Oberammergau.


title: Mural

text: "A fresco" painting, from the Italian word "affresco" which derives from the adjective "fresco" ("fresh"), describes a method in which the paint is applied on plaster on walls or ceilings.


title: Mural

text: The "buon fresco" technique consists of painting in pigment mixed with water on a thin layer of wet, fresh, lime mortar or plaster. The pigment is then absorbed by the wet plaster; after a number of hours, the plaster dries and reacts with the air: it is this chemical reaction which fixes the pigment particles in the plaster. After this the painting stays for a long time up to centuries in fresh and brilliant colors.


title: Mural

text: "Fresco-secco" painting is done on dry plaster ("secco" is "dry" in Italian). The pigments thus require a binding medium, such as egg (tempera), glue or oil to attach the pigment to the wall.


title: Mural

text: "Mezzo-fresco" is painted on nearly-dry plaster, and was defined by the sixteenth-century author Ignazio Pozzo as "firm enough not to take a thumb-print" so that the pigment only penetrates slightly into the plaster. By the end of the sixteenth century this had largely displaced the "buon fresco" method, and was used by painters such as Gianbattista Tiepolo or Michelangelo. This technique had, in reduced form, the advantages of "a secco" work.


title: Mural

text: Tempera painting is one of the oldest known methods in mural painting. In tempera, the pigments are bound in an albuminous medium such as egg yolk or egg white diluted in water.


title: Mural

text: In 16th-century Europe, oil painting on canvas arose as an easier method for mural painting. The advantage was that the artwork could be completed in the artist's studio and later transported to its destination and there attached to the wall or ceiling. Oil paint may be a less satisfactory medium for murals because of its lack of brilliance in colour. Also, the pigments are yellowed by the binder or are more easily affected by atmospheric conditions.


title: Mural

text: Different muralists tend to become experts in their preferred medium and application, whether that be oil paints, emulsion or acrylic paints applied by brush, roller or airbrush/aerosols. Clients will often ask for a particular style and the artist may adjust to the appropriate technique.


title: Mural

text: A consultation usually leads to detailed design and layout of the proposed mural with a price quote that the client approves before the muralist starts on the work. The area to be painted can be gridded to match the design allowing the image to be scaled accurately step by step. In some cases, the design is projected straight onto the wall and traced with pencil before painting begins. Some muralists will paint directly without any prior sketching, preferring the spontaneous technique.


title: Mural

text: Once completed the mural can be given coats of varnish or protective acrylic glaze to protect the work from UV rays and surface damage.


title: Mural

text: In modern, quick form of muralling, young enthusiasts also use POP clay mixed with glue or bond to give desired models on canvas board. The canvas is later set aside to let the clay dry. Once dried, the canvas and the shape can be painted with your choice of colors and later coated with varnish.


title: Mural

text: As an alternative to a hand-painted or airbrushed mural, digitally printed murals can also be applied to surfaces. Already existing murals can be photographed and then be reproduced in near-to-original quality.


title: Mural

text: The disadvantages of pre-fabricated murals and decals are that they are often mass-produced and lack the allure and exclusivity of original artwork. They are often not fitted to the individual wall sizes of the client and their personal ideas or wishes cannot be added to the mural as it progresses. The Frescography technique, a digital manufacturing method (CAM) invented by Rainer Maria Latzke addresses some of the personalisation and size restrictions.


title: Mural

text: Digital techniques are commonly used in advertisements. A "wallscape" is a large advertisement on or attached to the outside wall of a building. Wallscapes can be painted directly on the wall as a mural, or printed on vinyl and securely attached to the wall in the manner of a billboard. Although not strictly classed as murals, large scale printed media are often referred to as such. Advertising murals were traditionally painted onto buildings and shops by sign-writers, later as large scale poster billboards.


title: Mural

text: Murals are important as they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art.


title: Mural

text: Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffee shops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues. State-sponsored public art expressions, particularly murals, are often used by totalitarian regimes as a tool of propaganda. However, despite the propagandist character of that works, some of them still have an artistic value.


title: Mural

text: Murals can have a dramatic impact whether consciously or subconsciously on the attitudes of passers-by, when they are added to areas where people live and work. It can also be argued that the presence of large, public murals can add aesthetic improvement to the daily lives of residents or that of employees at a corporate venue. Large-format hand-painted murals were the norm for advertisements in cities across America, before the introduction of vinyl and digital posters. It was an expensive form of advertising with strict signage laws but gained attention and improved local aesthetics.


title: Mural

text: Other world-famous murals can be found in Mexico, New York City, Philadelphia, Belfast, Derry, Los Angeles, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Philippines, and in India. They have functioned as an important means of communication for members of socially, ethnically and racially divided communities in times of conflict. They also proved to be an effective tool in establishing a dialogue and hence solving the cleavage in the long run.


title: Mural

text: The Indian state Kerala has exclusive murals. These Kerala mural painting are on walls of Hindu temples. They can be dated from 9th century AD.


title: Mural

text: The San Bartolo murals of the Maya civilization in Guatemala, are the oldest example of this art in Mesoamerica and are dated at 300 BC.


title: Mural

text: Many rural towns have begun using murals to create tourist attractions in order to boost economic income. Colquitt, Georgia was chosen to host the 2010 Global Mural Conference. The town had more than twelve murals completed, and hosted the Conference along with Dothan, Alabama, and Blakely, Georgia.


title: Mural

text: The Mexican mural movement in the 1930s brought new prominence to murals as a social and political tool. Diego Rivera, José Orozco and David Siqueiros were the most famous artists of the movement. Between 1932 and 1940, Rivera also painted murals in San Francisco, Detroit, and New York City. In 1933, he completed a famous series of twenty-seven fresco panels entitled "Detroit Industry" on the walls of an inner court at the Detroit Institute of Arts. During the McCarthyism of the 1950s, a was placed in the courtyard defending the artistic merit of the murals while attacking his politics as "detestable".