Non-Sequitur: After the Union took control of the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac in March '62, they were afraid of the
Virginia being brought up the river to harass shipping in and out of D.C. So, a navy officer confiscated the seine net from an entrepeneur, Samuel Cropley, who ran a fishery in Prince William County, and stretched it below the surface of the river's channel, figuring that they would entangle the props. The net was 1.5 miles in length.
After the war Mr. Cropley filed a claim with the Southern Claims Commission but passed away before a verdict was rendered. His sons pressed the case and they were awarded the value of the net and other items that were confiscated. He had seven sons so the settlement was divided seven ways with each receiving a share, except for the youngest who had joined a Confederate cavalry regiment. Mr. Cropley was English by birth and lived in Georgetown, D.C. (he leased the land in Virginia, and ironically the owner was a staff officer under Gen. Longstreet), and had never denounced his loyalty to the U.S. during the war.
No pictures of the entire U.S.S. Monitor exist.
Only two double turreted Monitors served in the war, one being the U.S.S. Onondaga.
More images of the Monitors were taken during the war than any other vessel.
The monitor, U.S.S. Saugus was used as a temporary prison for the Lincoln conspirators. One of it's duties was working as a Minesweeper on the James River.
