...s that cannot be sustained by the records. The student of these records will find that very extravagant claims were made for the Monitor, and later on that such claims were not founded upon fact. Chief Engineer Stimers , of the Monitor, in a letter to Commodore Joseph Smith, under date of March 17th, page 27, says: We fired nothing but solid cast-iron shot, and when we were directly abeam of her (Merrimac) and hit h...