Timby and the Monitor Blog

Also included in the Timby and the Monitor blog was a drawing of what Theodore Timby believed his revolving turret would look like on a ship.  The one he designed also had a low freeboard and looked a whole like Ericsson's Monitor.  Only, the pilot house was on top of the turret instead of on the deck.

This was sent to China in 1842 at the suggestion of Caleb Cushing, whom I have written about in this blog as the name of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Charles Read was going to attack in Portland, Maine, was named after him.

Another drawing in the blog showed how the turret was to turn.  Also a cutaway of the turret tower which had three levels.

There was also a patent for an  improvement in Timby's Revolving  Battery-Towers.

--Old B-Runner

Theodore Walcott Dickes, Great Great Grandson of Thedore Timby-- Part 2

They had many dear friends among their neighbors.  He loved to sail.  He was a great reader and late in life began a writing career.  In 2005, he published "Virginia - Who Is She" a memoir of his wife.

He was at work on a non-fiction  work on the life of his ancestor Theodore Timby, inventor and writer, who created the revolving turret design on the Civil War era "Monitor" battleship.  (Well, ironclad.  But revolving turrets were used on U.S. warships and around the world from the Civil War to even the current ships.)

Theodore was a beautiful, caring man who gave unconditional  love and support to his wife and children, always.  He showed great generosity and respect to everyone he met.  On his final holiday in Venice, standing tall and white-haired on a balcony above the Grand Canal, passing tourists on the canal waved at  at what they took to be a count at home on his terrace.

His urn will be placed next to his wife Virginia's at Riverside Cemetery in Old Saybrook, Connecticut.  May they rest together in peace forever.

Theodore's family and friends  will be invited to a  graveside ceremony in May.

It is too bad he didn't get a chance to finish the book on Theodore Timby.

Published in the Hartford (CT.) Courant on April 4, 2010.

Theodore Walcott Dickes-- Part 1

I was sorry that there had only been a few posts from the Monitor and Monitor blog and also thought it would be interesting to contact Dickes.  I have been writing from his blog the last several posts.

However, after typing in his name, I found out that he had died in 2010.

Part of his obituary reads:

Theodore Walcott Dickes, of Encinitas, California,  formerly of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, passed away on March 20, 2010, at the age of 82.  He was born in Middletown, Connecticut.

He served in the U.S. Navy 1945-1946 in Europe.  At discharge, he married Virginia, both were age 19.  He joined the Standard-Knapp Corporation of Portlant, Ct., in 1947 and was with them for fifty years, and was Vice-President of Sales and Marketing.

He received a Master of  Science degree from Rennselear Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in 1981.

For thirty years, he and Virginia lived in Old Saybrook, Ct., in a home overlooking a salt marsh at the mouth of the Connecticut River.

--Old B-Runner

The Timby and the Monitor Blog-- Part 6: 'The Duplicity of Ericsson'

When Ericsson's vessel was completed it was quickly recognized as Theodore Timby's  turreted, low freeboard ship concept which he had  modeled and exhibited in New York as early as 1843.

Despite high levels of protest by military and political principals of the times and others who knew, duplicity of Ericsson in high places, and a government acting in denial of its own official records, Timby's revolutionary design became famous as the Civil War USS Monitor, but in history, alas to the credit and fame of the wrong man.

Of course, these are the words of Theodore Walcott Dickes, great -great grandson of Theodore Timby.  He definitely has an axe to grind and rightfully so.  Until I came across that article about seeing the remains of the USS Monitor at the Mariners' Museum and under Monitor designers saw the names of Ericsson and Timby, I had never heard of Theodore Timby.

That is why I have been writing about this the last several weeks.

--Old B-Runner

The Timby and the Monitor Blog-- Part 5: Trying to Set the Record Straight

In the ensuing  world famous battle,  which would render all the navies of the world obsolete, the Monitor with its Timby Turret and low freeboard technology turned back the Confederate threat and gave Abraham Lincoln the strategic victory he needed to prosecute the war  toward the preservation of the fledgling American democracy.  (I'm not sure this was the whole reason.)

The Dr. Timby story that follows will reveal why he remains unknown in that final resting place.  It s to be hoped  that this publication and the "telling of the tale" can bring some recognition for him, almost 100 years after his death in 1908.

Although seemingly protected, by law,  thru his  US patent #356789 first filed as a caveat in 1842, his designs were  plagerized by Swedish engineer John Ericsson who used them to offer and win, when war loomed in 1861, a government contract to  build a vessel.

--Old B-Runner

The Timby and the Monitor Blog-- Part 4: And, Then It Appeared

On the morning of March 9, 1862, the CSS Virginia was preparing to finish off the Union fleet in Hampton Roads.  As the daylight increased, watchers on shore and ship noted with disbelieving eyes, the slow approach of an object  and shape never seen before in naval history.

Admiral Farragut, who had remained aboard the helpless  Federal flagship later described it as a "giant shingle, floating on the water with a cheesebox on top."  (I am not sure Farragut was at the battle as he was headed for the Battle of New Orleans in April.)

It was, in fact,  the Theordore Ruggles Timby inspired USS Monitor, as black and menacing  as the mythical monster of Loch Lommand with only a few inches of  its slim iron hull above the waterline, as it parted the waves and closed upon the CSS Virginia.

Most striking to onservers, it bore at its midsection a cylindrical iron turret that was seen to revolve around its center.  Twenty feet in diameter, with iron walls  8 inches thick the turret rotated, as if in the hunt for a line of fire to its prey.  Upon command, the gaping muzzles of two huge 11 inch smoothbore guns appeared from behind small ports in the armored wall  of the turret.

The genius of the Timby machine and patent, as intended of course,  was that it could fire in any direction, with devastating effect on targets.

--Old B-Runner

The Timby and the Monitor Blog-- Part 3: March 8, 1862

Continued from June 23.

How did Timby's role in the creation of the USS Monitor come to be essentially forgotten?

To find an answer, , we go back to the morning of March 8th of 1862.  The Civil war is raging. On this day, the powerful Confederate Navy ironclad CSS Virginia steamed into Hampton Roads and immediately attacked two wooden hulled Union ships, the USS Congress and the USS Cumberland.  It wasn't much of a battle.  The Virginia steamed triumphantly.

It was one of the worst defeats in U.S. Navy history "not to be equalled in scope, until the Japanese attack of December 7th, 1941."

News reached Washington, D.C. almost immediately.    Secretary of War Edwin Stanton told President Lincoln:  "It is certain that the Confederates will come up the Potomac River now and destroy our city."  Orders were given to sink anything available in the river tio serve as obstructions.

Then, came the next day.  And, you know what ship arrives on the scene.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin' with Theo Timby-- Part 5: Stanton, Wilkes, a Confederate General and Spy

And, these are just a few of the notable burials in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C..

**  Joseph Bryant Smith (1826-1862)--  USN.  Acting commander of USS Congress and decapitated in the fight with the CSS Virginia.

**  Also, his father Josph Smith (1790-1877)   Rear Admiral.  In 1862 appointed  Chief of Bureau of Yards and Docks.  And his brother Albert Nathaniel Smith (1822-1866), Commander USN  Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting.

**  Edwin McMasters Stanton  (1814-1869)--  Lincoln's Secretary of War.

**  Abel Parker Upshur  ((1790-1844)--  Secretary of the Navy and Secretary of State under President Tyler.  Killed by explosion of cannon on the USS Princeton.  This ship used some of John Ericsson's inventions including the cannon that blew up.

**  Bettie Duval Webb  (1845-1891)--  Confederate spy.

**  Cadmus Wilcox  (1824-1890)--  Confederate general.

**  Charles Wilkes  (1798-1877)--  Union naval officer.  As commander of the USS San Jacinto, he stopped the British ship Trent and removed Confederate commissioners  Mason and Slidell.  Reburied at Arlington National Cemetery.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin' with Theo Timby-- Part 4: The Famed Rodgers Naval Family and Howard K. Smith

Continuing with notable and interesting burials in Washington, D.C.'s Oak Hill Cemetery.

**  George Peter  (1779-1861)--  Officer in War of 1812.    U.S. House of Representatives.

**  John Rodgers  (1812-1882)--  U.S. Navy.  Son of Navy hero John Rodgers.    Commanded South Atlantic Blockading Squadron during Civil War.

**  William Ledyard Rodgers (1860-1904)--  U.S. Navy.  Son of John Rodgers (above).  Officer in Spanish-American War and World War I.

**  George Washington Roosevelt (1843-1907)--  Third cousin of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Civil War Medal of Honor recipient.

**  Howard K. Smith  (1914-2002)--  Famed pioneer television newscaster.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin' With Theo Timby-- Part 3: Some More Burials at Oak Hill Cemetery

Continuing with Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

**  John Harris  (1793-1864)  USMC, commissioned 2nd lt. in 1814.   War of 1812.   Commandant of USMC during first three years of the Civil War.

**  John Berrien Montgomery  (1794-1873)  War of 1812 and at Battle of Lake Erie.  Mexican War.  Also Civil War.  I have written about the USS Montgomery destroyer which was at Pearl Harbor and is named after him in my World War II blog.

**  John George Nicolay  (1832-1901)  Lincoln's personal secretary.  Involved with day to day details of the Lincoln administration.

**  Charles Harting Percy  (1919-2011)  U.S. Senator from Illinois.

**  Jesse Lee Reno   (1823-1862)  USMA graduate Class of 1846.  Classmates included George Pickett, George B. McClellan and Stonewall Jackson.  Mortally wounded September 14, 1862, near Battle of South Mountain in the Antietam Campaign.

--Old B-Runner

RoadTrippin' With Theo Timby-- Part 2: Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Continuing with Roadtrippin Through History with Theodore Timby.  His body was removed from Evergreen(s) Cemetery in New York City and moved to this cemetery in the nation's capital.

These people, as in the last post, are not necessarily involved in the Civil War.  They're just people I've heard of or thatn I found interesting reading some about them.

**  DEAN ACHESON: (1893-1971)  Presidential cabinet secretary.  Secretary of State.

**  JOSEPH K. BARNES:  (1817-1883)    Union Surgeon General.  On the morning after Lincoln was assassinated, he attended  the death bed and oversaw the autopsy.  Also served as surgeon for the dying President  James Garfield after he was mortally wounded by an assassin.

**  HORACE CAPRON:  (1804-1885)  One of the oldest field officers in Union Army.    His son, Horace Capron, Jr. was a Medal of Honor recipient and killed in action.

**  SALMON CHASE:  (1808-1873)  U.S. Senator, Ohio governor, Lincoln Presidential cabinet secretary

**  WILLIE LINCOLN:  (1850-1862)  Third child of President Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln.  Reburied in Springfield, Illinois with his father.

--Old B-R'er

RoadTrippin' With Theo Timby

The Monitor's revolving turret inventor (and patent holder) Thordore Timby was buried initially at Evergreen Cemetery (now called Evergreens Cemetery) in New York City.  Whenever I am writing about someone or something, I like to go Roadtripping through history and follow places or people I mention in the blog entries and see where it takes me.

I especially like to find out if other people of interest are buried in the cemeteries where our person was buried.

So, I looked up Evergreen(s) Cemetery.

**  GEORGE HENRY ELLIS:  (1875-1898)  The only U.S. sailor killed in the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

**  THOMAS DILWARD:  (1817-1887)  Called the African Tom Thunb because of his size.  Appeared in minstrel shows and is credited with inventing the phrase "Hunky Dory" meaning everything's alright.

**  MARTIN HILDEBRANDT:  (1825-1890)   Early American tattoo artist.   During the Civil War, he was a Union soldier in the Army of the Potomac and traveled from camp to camp tattooing soldiers.

**  A lot of early entertainers and baseball players.

**  CHARLES A. READ:  (1837-1865)  Awarded Medal of Honor during Civil War as a sailor on the USS Kearsarge in its battle with the CSS Alabama.

**  BILL ROBINSON:  (1878-1949)  Nickname "Bojangles."  As in "Mr. Bojangles."   Most highly paid black  tap dancer, singer and actor in the U.S. in first half of 20th century.

**   TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE:  (1911)   Six women whose bodies could not be identified buried under a statue of a kneeling woman.

Some Interesting People.  --Old B-Runner

An Unmarked Grave for Timby-- Part 7: A Man of Many Inventions and Litttle Profit

Will Carleton told how Timby, who was born in Duchess County, N. Y., in 1819, had invented a floating drydock at the age of 16.

"Some older men told the boy that his invention was no good in salt water," said Mr. Carleton.  "Then they took it over to Austria and made $4,000,000 out of it.  When Timby was  19 years old he was crosiing New York Bay on a ferryboat and saw the round, turret-like shape of Castle Williams on Governors Island blazing in the sunlight.  This suggested to him the idea of the revolving turret, which has revolutionized modern naval warfare.

"Timby made forty to fifty good inventions, but he reaped such meagre rewards from them that he frequently had to walk the streets.  We human beings don't know what the subtle connection is between the soul and the body.  But I believe that Theodore Ruggles Timby is conscious of the tribute we are paying to him and knows that we are going to take his body home."

"The casket containing  the dead inventor's remains was carried to the Dock Department tug Manhattan and around Governors Island within sight of Castle Williams, the vessel making the same trip which the ferryboat in which Timby had been inspired with his first revolving turret idea had made.

"The body will be taken to Washington this morning on a special train on the Baltimore & Ohio.  The burial will be in the Oak Hill Cemetery at the capital."

--Old B-Runner

An Unmarked Grave for Timby-- Part 6: They Both Deserve Credit

Park Commisiiner Stover told of a visit he paid to Timby in Brooklyn two years ago, only a few days before his death.  Timby was then in his ninetieth year.

"I became deeply interested in Mr. Timby and his rights in the invention of  the revolving turret," said the Park Commissioner.  "I attended Mr. Timby's funeral and since have always wished to have the fame of both Ericsson and Timby written according to each one's merits." 

"The recently discovered letters of the syndicate which built the Monitor show that they recognized the priority of Mr. Timby's rights.  One member of the syndicate states in one letter that he doesn't see the use of trying to break Timby's patent.  Timby unquestionably carries out the whole plan  of the revolving turret in 1842.  Ericsson is, on the other hand, entitled to the credit for putting Timby's invention into practical exemplification."

--Old B-Runner

An Unmarked Grave for Timby-- Part 5: 'To Honor the Man Whose Invention Enabled the Monitor to Do Its Work'

Disappointed in this, Mr. Timby's friends have recently arranged on their own responsibility to have his remains taken to Washington. Yesterday, the body was removed from the public vault at Evergreen Cemetery and taken to Battery Park, where it was placed on the bandstand.

Above the coffin was a big monitor of red and yellow chrysanthemums with a turret of white chrysanthemums was placed.  The coffin itself was opened, and those who gathered to witness the ceremonies were allowed to view the dead inventor's keen-featured, clerical-looking face.

The Rev. H. A. Tupper made a speech, saying that the meeting was not meant to belittle the fame of John Ericsson, who made the revolving turreted monitor a practical achievement, and whose memorial monument stood only a few yards away in Battery Park

"The purpose of this meeting is to honor the man whose invention enabled the Monitor to do its work," Dr. Tupper said.

--Old B-Runner