t still on heavy plating. So he revised his designs once, and then
once more. Finally the draught was reduced to only three and a half
feet. Eads has himself described his going back to his room in the
hotel, and in a few hours making over his designs. When these boats
were finished they were found to draw even less than had been
contracted for, so that extra armor was ordered for them, and three of
them exceeded the contract speed. At first two boats were ordered,
later four others. For the turrets Eads submitted designs of his own,
but as it was then only a month after the Monitor's fight, Ericsson's
turrets were insisted on for the first two boats, although
modifications were allowed. As the other four had two turrets each,
Eads was allowed on two of them to try one turret of his own, with the
guns worked by steam, on condition of replacing them at his own cost
with Ericsson's in case of failure. This was the first manipulation of
heavy artillery by steam. The guns were fired every forty-five seconds,
or seven times as fast as in Ericsson's turrets.

In addition to the fourteen gunboats, Eads also converted seven
transports into musket-proof "tinclads," and built four mortarboats.
"Such men," says Boynton, "deserve a place in history by the side of
those who fought our battles."

The career of some of the gunboats subsequent to the war is
interesting. In 1880 the Chickasaw and the Winnebago, which were two of
the six iron boats, and both of which took part in the naval campaign
at Mobile, had come into the hands of Peru; and old as they were, they
were used very effectively against some of the larger and more modern
boats of the Chileans.

During those trying war times all of Eads's tremendous energy had by no
means been exhausted by the gunboats. In more ways than one he had been
showing himself a good citizen and a kind-hearted man. Much as his
fortune had been drained by the boats, he still found money to give to
the sufferers in the war. Out of a belated partial payment on the
Benton he at once sent money to Foote for use in relief work, and with
characteristic persistence he sent several letters and telegrams to
make sure of the money's arriving. A month or so later he sent a check
from Washington to Saint Louis to the Sanitary Commission, asking that
its receipt might not be made public. In the letter sent with this he
speaks of the war as "an accursed contest between brothers," but adds
that the "cause is m