The Dec. 30, 2009, entry of the Civil War Gazette had a carte de visite portrait of Boatswain's Mate John Stocking, called "the Unsung hero of the Monitor." I'd never heard of him.
He was on board the USS Monitor during its famous battle with the CSS Virginia in March and was also there when the Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, December 31, 1862.
In the stormy seas, he volunteered to go onto the unprotected deck and cut the heavy hawser that connected the ship with the USS Rhode Island. He was swept overboard and drowned and never seen again making him one of the 16 officers and men who died that night.
A Might Brave Man. --Old B-R
No comments:
Post a Comment