December 5, 1876 the monitor Miantonomah was launched at John Roach & Son in Chester, Pennsylvania. The construction of Miantonomah and her sisters caused a national scandal when it was learned that Secretary of the Navy George Robeson had circumvented the congress by claiming that the ships were being rebuilt when in fact the ships were new builds from the keel up, and congress had not authorized the construction of new ships.

It took several years before she was ready to join the navy and in 1882 a columnist from the New York Times wrote several very snarky editorials aimed at Robeson, about the upcoming voyage of the Miantonomah from League Island to Norfolk.

The below editorial was published Nov. 25, 1882 and despite the opinion, Miantonomah continued in service to the U.S. Navy until 1915, she was scrapped in 1921.