The Battle of Hampton Roads offers many of the excellent essays that have resulted. Convinced that Virginia was quitting, with orders only to protect Minnesota and not to risk his ship unnecessarily, Greene did not pursue. Over the two day battle, the Federal navy suffered 261 killed and 108 wounded in its struggle with the Virginia more killed and wounded than any other sea battle in American history at that time. Some of the iron mined there and used in the plating on the Confederate ironclad is displayed at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth. Near midnight, the flames reached her magazine and she exploded and sank, stern first. var ue_sid = "604-3115163-9100228"; Had it come loose, the two ships might have gone down together. At one point in the battle, crew members aboard the Virginia resorted to attempting to fire muskets into the open gun ports of the Monitor. She was used for running the blockade until she was captured and taken into Federal service, still named Merrimac. } googletag.pubads().setTargeting("author", [177344]); John L. Worden, promoted to rear admiral after the war, was the commandant of the United States Naval Academy between 1869 and 1874. [49][50], Buchanan next turned Virginia on Congress. The next day, the U.S.S. Subscribe to the American Battlefield Trust's quarterly email series of curated stories for the curious-minded sort! }("apstag", window, document, "script", "//c.amazon-adsystem.com/aax2/apstag.js"); The US immediately started the construction of ten more monitors based on Ericsson's original larger plan, known as the Passaic-class monitors. for(var i=0; i
=0){return}if("ue_https" in e){f=e.ue_https}else{f=e.location&&e.location.protocol=="https:"?1:0}i=f? Battle between the Monitor and Merrimac-fought March 9th 1862 at Hampton Roads, near Norfolk, Va. LCCN91482238.tif 8,468 6,831; 165.52 MB. var stylesheet = document.createElement("link"); [67], Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote to Confederate President Davis of the action:[68]. Our FREE Virtual Teacher Institute is the can't miss online educator event of the summer. if (window.Mobvious === undefined) { The Battle of Hampton Roads, also known as the Battle of the ironclads, occurred on March 9, 1862 between the U.S.S. The name of the warship that served the Confederacy in the Battle of Hampton Roads has been a continuing source of confusion and some contention. } (function() { Like his antagonist Jones, Greene was deemed too young to remain as captain; the day after the battle, he was replaced with Lieutenant Thomas Oliver Selfridge Jr. Two days later, Selfridge was in turn relieved by Lieutenant William Nicholson Jeffers.[72]. [80] Confederate advocates can counter, however, by arguing that Virginia had a military significance larger than the blockade, which was only a small part of the war in Tidewater Virginia. Expand. Although Minnesota was still aground, the falling tide meant that she was out of reach. var googletag = googletag || {}; q("i", arguments) [46] Virginia did not open fire until she was within easy range of Cumberland. Her name was a spelling variant of the river, namesake of USS Merrimack. She burned through the rest of the day and most of the following night; shortly before dawn, the flames reached her magazine, and she blew up. Seeing what had happened to Cumberland, Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, captain of Congress, ordered his ship grounded in shallow water. Karen Witemeyer I was a great student. The three men were Captains Joseph Smith,[31] Hiram Paulding, and Commander Charles Henry Davis. !function(){function n(n,t){var r=i(n);return t&&(r=r("instance",t)),r}var r=[],c=0,i=function(t){return function(){var n=c++;return r.push([t,[].slice.call(arguments,0),n,{time:Date.now()}]),i(n)}};n._s=r,this.csa=n}(); [79], However, initially after the Battle of Hampton Roads, both the Confederate and Union media claimed victory for their own sides. googletag.pubads().setTargeting("gr_author", "false"); With its ram stuck fast inside the Cumberland, the Virginia risked be carried under by the sinking Federal ship. The sloop-of-war Cumberland and frigate Congress were anchored in the channel near Newport News. googletag.pubads().disableInitialLoad(); url = "https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/mobile/phone_hd_images-2b89833762f600506d44865a33582d11.css"; [91], Because of Monitor's advanced state of deterioration, timely recovery of remaining significant artifacts and ship components became critical. By this time, the James River Squadron, commanded by John Randolph Tucker, had arrived and joined Virginia in the attack on Congress. In October of 1861 it was determined that the Virginia (the converted ex-USS Merrimack) would require two layers of two inch iron armor plate covering its entire casement. We hope that these ten interesting facts will help expand your knowledge and appreciation of this important Civil War naval battle. Minnesota? Every purchase supports the mission. The United States had spent a lot of money supporting the development of the, After the war, Brooke and Porter engaged in an unseemly fight for recognition as the originator of the, This is a more telling comment on the handicaps faced by the South than it may appear. var url; It is formed at the mouths of the James, Nansemond and Elizabeth Rivers and empties into the Chesapeake Bay. return true; function q(c, r) { [89] The alliteration of Monitor and Merrimack has persuaded most popular accounts to adopt the familiar name, even when it is acknowledged to be technically incorrect. With each broadside, the Virginia would expend 350lbs of ordnance. After viewing a white flag above the stricken USS Congress, Franklin Buchanan ordered that the Congress be taken as a prize. Lieutenant Catesby ap Roger Jones had directed much of the conversion of Merrimack to Virginia, and he was disappointed when he was not named her captain. A thousand crushed bleeding lips pushed back at me . Unfortunately for the Confederates, Union soldiers on shore nearby knew or cared little for naval tradition and fired upon the exposed officers and men. She was originally a screw frigate in the United States Navy carrying the name USSMerrimack. Virginia headed directly for the Union squadron. He was replaced by Stimers. } a[a9] = { To prevent any catastrophic gun bursting within the confined turret, each of the 11-inch guns was restricted to using 15-lb gunpowder charges. Virginia, met off Sewell's Point on March 9, 1862, their drawn battle signalled the end for navies of wooden warships: everyone already knows that, too. . Part of the American Civil War. Tests conducted after the battle showed that the Dahlgren guns could be operated safely and efficiently with charges of as much as 30lb (14kg). On the other hand, the blockade was not seriously threatened, so the entire battle can be regarded as an assault that ultimately failed. [citation needed]. Thus, each side misinterpreted the moves of the other, and as a result each claimed victory. Learn More: USS Monitor: A Cheesebox on a Raft. Mallory evaded the issue by appointing Buchanan, head of the Office of Orders and Detail, flag officer in charge of the defenses of Norfolk and the James River. window.csa("Config", { And I'm sorry dad, no, I'm not making this up! //]]> When they were passing the Union batteries at Newport News, Patrick Henry was temporarily disabled by a shot in her boiler that killed four of her crew. In Virginia, the state dedicated the Monitor-Merrimack Overlook at Anderson Park on a jetty that overlooks the site of the battle. } [citation needed], After resting undetected on the ocean floor for 111 years, the wreck of Monitor was located by a team of scientists in 1973. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. These gunboats played an important role in the battles for Fort Henry and Fort Donelson in February of 1862. The crew instantly took to their boats and landed. googletag.pubads().enableAsyncRendering(); Virginia was finalized, the Virginia would be activated first and would wreak havoc in Hampton Roads before the . "The Battle in Hampton Roads" Daily Intelligencer (Wheeling, WV), March 13, 1862, Page 1, Image 1, col. 3. if(cookiePair[0] === name) { Williamson.[24]. //, The Memoirs Of General William T. Sherman, Memoirs of Gen. William T. Sherman - Volume 1. [10] Merrimack burned only to the waterline, however, and her engines were more or less intact. [75], The end came first for Virginia. Then I'ma give it to them tonight. He stopped off at Fortress Monroe to augment his force with a detachment of Regular Army troops, but by the time they arrived at the Navy Yard it was too late. var cookiePair = cookie.split('='); On April 27, after Virginia and North Carolina had also passed ordinances of secession, the blockade was extended to include their ports also. [17] To further the blockade, the Union Navy stationed some of its most powerful warships in the roadstead. The Battle of the Ironclads, also known as the Battle of Hampton Roads, was likely the most important naval battle of the American Civil War. }; googletag.pubads().setTargeting("sid", "osid.f930f7fd7ff3a4d41aa72d27a68bcb0e"); [11] Without firing a shot, the advocates of secession had gained for the South its largest navy yard, as well as the hull and engines of what would be in time its most famous warship. You have to do what you can to keep the family going. Unlike the Monitor, whose belt of armor descended well below its waterline, the Virginias iron plating extended barely to its waterline when fully loaded. By late April, the new ironclads USRC E. A. Stevens and USSGalena had also joined the blockade. ", implying a Union victory, while Confederate media focused on their original success against wooden Union ships. The Merrimack served in the Caribbean and was the flagship of the Pacific fleet in the late 1850s. [61] Monitor's guns were used with the standard service charge of only 15lb (6.8kg) of powder, which did not give the projectile sufficient momentum to penetrate her opponent's armor. [4], Determined to complete the destruction of Minnesota, Catesby ap Roger Jones, acting as captain in Buchanan's absence, returned the ship to the fray the next morning, March 9. // page settings The Battle of Hampton Roads, which took place in March, 1862 in Virginia, was a naval engagement during the American Civil War. The arrival of the Monitor saved the Minnesota, and possibly many of the other Union's wooden ships. The Virginia and the Monitor were not the first ironclad warships. //