I came across an entry in the Connecticut Travel Blog about the Allis-Bushnell home in Madison which was built around 1785. It was once the home of Cornelius Scranton Bushnell who was a railroad wxwcutive andshipbuilder. It said he had a lot to do with the USS Monitor.
I've never heard of him or this connection. Unfortunately, the blog entry onlt talked about the Monitor and said nothing about his connection.
Using good old Wikipedia, I found out what it was. At the outbreak of the war, Bushnell was in DC and volunteered to serve with a militia unit to protect the capital.
When word reached of the Confederates converting the Merrimack into an ironclad, Washington got into a tizzy. Bushnell and a group of others came up with a design that later became the ironclad USS Galena. Concerned about the vessel's stability, Bushnell visited Catain John Ericsson who was working on his own design. Upon seeing the low-slung ironclad with a revolving turret, Bushnell was so impressed he returned to DC and pitched it to the Navy and within a short eight days it was accepted.
Work on the vessel was rushed, and, as we know, it got to Hampton Roads just in time to save the day.
Good Thing for the Union. --Old B-R
The Battle of Fort Fisher, N.C.
