"With Zeal and Intelligence":: Captain Jeffers Commands the Monitor

Paymaster William Keeler of the Monitor recognized Jeffers as a man of great "scientific attainment," but also saw him as "brutal, selfish & ambitious." "With Zeal and Intelligence": Captain Jeffers Commands the Monitor, is the first full-length biography of Commodore William N. Jeffers, a New Jersey native and acclaimed ordnance expert. Jeffers' forty years of service in the United States Navy are chronicled, spanning two wars, and in particular, his experiences in command of the USS Monitor. Replacing the wounded John Worden as Captain of the Monitor, the Union Navy's first ironclad warship, would not only pit Jeffers against the fledgling Confederate Navy, but also against his disgruntled officers and crew.