Horace Abbott (July 29, 1806 – August 8, 1887) was an American iron manufacturer and banker. His work included the armor plating for the USS Monitor, USS Agamenticus, USS Roanoke, and USS Monadnock.
He was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, to Alpheus Abbott and Lydia Fay, who were both farmers. After his father's death and subsequent blacksmithing apprenticeship, Abbott moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in 1836 and purchased the Canton Iron Works in Canton, which specialized in the production of steamboat and railroad components. It was renamed the Abbott Iron Company. The company's 1850 mill was the largest iron mill in the United States at that time. It was said that iron plates were rolled here for shipment to New York City for John Ericsson's revolutionary new ship, the ironclad USS Monitor which fought in the 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads during the Civil War. (Full article...)