Elliott believed it would be necessary to build his ironclad away from the Union fleet, so it was built on Peter Smith's Edwards Ferry plantation. It was built on the Roanoke River on dry land. Elliott wrote "The river rises and falls and it was necessary to locate the yard on ground sufficiently free from overflow, to admit the uninterrupted work for at least twelve months."
John L. Porter, the man responsible for converting the USS Merrimac into the CSS Virginia in 1861, prepared the vessel's plans and specifications and joined Elliott at Edwards Ferry to supervise construction. They were soon joined by Captain James Wallace Cooke, the ironclad's designated commander.
Everything in the cornfield shipyard was makeshift, but plantation owner Smith became a willing partner in the enterprise and had three portable lumber mills constructed to cut the sturdy yellow pine timber for the ship's hull. Construction by a team of white carpenters and slaves from nearby plantations continued night and day in spite of the stifling heat and humidity you get in North Carolina summers.
For many months there was a fear that the 376-ton ship would never launch since the iron needed for its plating was so scarce in the South. Elliott finally obtained 700 tons of iron from abandoned railroad tracks in February 1864.
--Old B-Runner
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