Stanton, however, felt no relief. Deepening his gloom was the excitable Montgomery Meigs, who stampeded. “I do not see that any thing can be done,” the quartermaster general gloomily announced, unless the Monitor were to disable the Merrimack, which otherwise might “come up to Washington or go to Annapolis & destroy our transports.” The enemy ironclad could also possibly reach New York and “call for the specie for coal for any thing she wants & compel it to be given up by burning the city.” Meigs made several suggestions: “Notify the steamers at Annapolis to be ready to run for it—send the transports back into the canal or into some shallow water out of her reach. Notify the authorities at N Y, & Balt[imore] & Boston & Portland to be on the lookout & prepare obstructions. … Get steamers ready to run into her[,] the only thing except the Monitor’s eleven inch guns that can do her any harm.”
Source: Abraham Lincoln ∶ A Life ▫𓂃
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