Lincoln had endorsed the construction of ironclad ships months earlier, when it seemed as if the Confederates would build one. (The French and British fleets already included a few such vessels.) When plans for the unusual craft were presented to him, he remarked: “All I have to say is what the girl said, when she put her foot into the stocking, ‘It strikes me there’s something in it.’ ” Work on the Monitor had begun in October. Despite its small size, it fought the Merrimack to a draw and forced the Confederate behemoth to retreat to its base, where it remained bottled up until the Rebels scuttled it later in the spring, lest it fall into Union hands.
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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