A Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter

Studies in Maritime History

by Alvah F. Hunter

This memoir begins with the sixteen-year-old Hunter's plaintive efforts to enlist in the Navy. At a time when the Union was about to announce its first conscription, young Hunter is told the Navy has no need for him. But he perseveres and is 'rewarded' by an appointment to the monitor Nahant as a wardroom boy. Hunter thus becomes an intelligent and articulate observer at the very bottom of the Navy's pecking order. As a novice to naval life, Hunter takes pains to describe in detail the day-to-day aspects of working and living on an ironclad monitor--a type of vessel whose life span was very short. The accuracy of his memory is assured by the fact that he compiled his narrative from a diary that he kept during the war.--Craig L. Symonds, History Professor, U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

Genres: History

184 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1987

Reviews

[Anna Mary Starr · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice memoir of a starry-eyed, young sailor during the civil war. Interesting to see into his daily life aboard the ship. Quick read.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

So yes by now you may have figured out that my Naval History course in college was the only class I kept my books from, and that I re-read the books from. (Did not help that all my communications books were for the most part woefully out of date by time I was out of college)

This book follows a sailor as he served on not THE Monitor, but one of her sister ships during the Civil War. More a personal account and diary then a in depth look at tactics or the war beyond the actions of this one ship.

[Robert Snow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a view into the life of another individual who was also a cabin boy on a Monitor out of Boston at the same time as Hunter. Hunter may have even met the individual I’m researching, same age, engaged in the same battles, same lengthen of service. There are not many books about the enlisted boys of the US Navy during the Civil War. A very interesting book of an older man reflecting on his youth during the Civil War.

[Cameron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by a great-great-granduncle of mine. Much of the book is quite tedious, but the combat portions are very interesting. Did you know you can see the fuses on cannon balls burning as they spin through the air?