Personal Memoirs Author:Philip Henry Sheridan General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1890 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER II THE ALBEMARLE Chap. n. rriHE successive captures and recaptures of the JL town of Plymouth, in North Carolina, were episodes of the war so unimportant that they would scarcely claim a place in history were it not for the memorable naval fights in the spring of 1864 in which the Confederate ironclad Albemarle gained great distinction, and the splendid heroism of a young sailor, by which, in the autumn of the same year, she was destroyed. This famous vessel was slowly and painfully constructed, far inland, in a cornfield on the banks of the Roanoke River, about thirty miles below Weldon. The same officer who had changed the Merrimac into the ironclad Virginia used the experience acquired in that service in the building of the Albemarle. Nearly everything requisite in shipbuilding was lacking; but, in spite of all difficulties, the vessel was built at last, and slid from the bluff into the river without springing a leak. She measured 152 feet in length, 45 in width, and, with her armor on, drew eight feet. In general construction she resembled all the other Confederate ironclads. Her casement, or shield, was sixty feet long, sloping to the deck at an angle of forty-five degrees; plated with two courses of two- Gilbert Elliott, " Battles and Leaders. i Vol. IV., p. 628. inch iron, rolled at the Tredegar Works. She was Chap. ii. armed with two rifled Brooke guns, mounted on pivot carriages, so disposed that each gun commanded three portholes. Her beak was of oak, plated with two-inch iron. She was a year under construction ; rumors of her progress occasionally transpired, and the brave ...« less