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S OON after the surrender of Fort Sumter, while in St. Louis , I received aletter from Attorney-Gleneral Bates, dated Washington, April 17th, inwhich he said: “ Be not surprised if you are called here suddenly by telegram.If called, come instantly. In a certain contingency it will be*neeessary tohave the aid of the most thorough knowledge of our Western rivers and theuse of steam on them, and in that event I have advised that you should beconsulted.” The call by telegraph followed close upon the letter. I hurried
J Of the services of Captain Eads to the Westernflotilla, the Reverend C. B. Boynton says, in his“ History of the Navy ”:
“ During the month of July, 1861, the Quartermaster-General advertised for proposals to construct a numberof iron-clad gun-boats for service on the MississippiRiver . The bids were opened on the 5th of August, andMr. Eads was found to be the best bidder for the wholenumber, both in regard to the time of completion andprice. . . . On the 7th of August, 1861, Mr. Eads
signed a contract with Quartermaster-General Meigs toconstruct these seven vessels ready for their crews andarmaments in sixty-five days. At this early period thepeople in the border States, especially in the slave States ,had not yet learned to accommodate themselves to astate of war. The pursuits of peace were interrupted;hut the energy and enterprise which were to providethe vast material required for an energetic prosecutionof the war had not then been aroused. None could fore-see the result, and a spirit of doubt and distrust per-vaded financial and commercial circles. It was at thistime that the contractor returned to St. Louis with anobligation to perform wliat, under ordinary circum-stances, would have been deemed by most men an im-possibility. Rolling-mills, machine-shops, foundries,forges, and saw-mills were all idle. The demands ofpeace had ceased for months before, and the working-men were enlisting, or seeking in States more quiet theiraccustomed employment. The engines that were todrive this our first iron-clad fleet were yet to be built.The timber to form their hulls was uncut in the forests,
and the huge rollers and machinery that were to formtheir iron armor were not yet constructed. The rapiditywith which all these various parts were to he suppliedforbade depending alone on any two or three establish-ments in the country, no matter how great were theirresources. The signatures were vsearcely dry upon thisimportant contract before persons in different parts ofthe country were employed upon the work through tele-graphic orders issued from Washington. Special agentswere dispatched in every direction, and saw-mills weresimultaneously occupied in cutting the timber requiredin the construction of the vessels, in Kentucky , Ten-nessee, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, and Missouri ;and railroads, steamboats, and barges were engagedfor its immediate transportation. Nearly all of thelargest machine-shops and foundries in St. Louis , andmany small ones, were at once set at work day andnight, and the telegraph lines between St. Louis andPittsburgh and Cincinnati were occupied frequently forhours in transmitting instructions to similar establish-ments in those cities for the construction of the twenty-one steam-engines and the five-and-thirty steam-boilersthat were to propel the fleet. . . . Within two weeksnot less than four thousand men were engaged inthe various details of its construction. Neither thesanctity of the Sabbath nor the darkness of night waspermitted to interrupt it. The workmen on the hullswere promised a handsome bonus in money for each onewho stood steadfastly at the work until it was com-pleted, and many thousands of dollars were thus gratui-tously paid by Mr. Eads when it was finished. On the12th of October, 1861, the first United States iron-clad,
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