When the Union Navy burned the USS Merrimack during the evacuation of Norfolk and Portsmouth in 1861, little did they know that the Merrimack would be re-floated and transformed into the Confederate Navy's first ironclad.

The CSS Virginia was rebuilt at the Gosport Shipyard in the first dry dock in America with ironclad plating and a reduced superstructure from the burned out hull of the Merrimack, and was commissioned on February 17, 1862.

Despite an all-out effort to complete her, the Virginia still had workmen on board when it sailed, and was rushed into service without the customary sea trials or under-way training.

2.1 March 8, 1862 - Virginia wreaks havoc on wooden Union warships

The battle began when the large and somewhat unwieldy ironclad warship called CSS Virginia by the Confederate States Navy, steamed into Hampton Roads on the morning of March 8, 1862, and set to work attempting to break the Union blockade.

Virginia, commanded by Captain Buchanan, was supported by the CSS Raleigh and Beaufort , and accompanied by the Patrick Henry, Jamestown, and Teaser .

That fateful morning, the Virginia headed directly for the Union squadron. She opened the engagement when less than a mile distant from USS Cumberland Cumberland and the firing became general from blockaders and shore batteries. Virginia rammed Cumberland below the waterline and she sank rapidly, "gallantly fighting her guns," Buchanan reported in tribute to a brave foe, "as long as they were above water."

Buchanan next turned the fury of Virginia on ' USS Congress. Seeing what had happened to the Cumberland, the captain of the Congress ordered his ship grounded in shallow water. The Congress and Virginia traded fire for an hour, after which the badly-damaged Congress surrendered. While the surviving crewmen of the Congress were being ferried off the ship, a Union battery on the north shore opened fire on the Virginia. In retaliation, the captain of the Virginia ordered the Congress fired upon with red-hot shot and incendiary shell. Congress later exploded when fires caused by the rebel ironclad caused her magazine to explode.

The Virginia was also damaged. Shot from the Cumberland, Congress, and Union troops had riddled her smokestack, reducing her already low speed. Two of her guns were out of order, and a number of armor plates had been loosened. Even so, her captain attacked the USS Minnesota, which had run aground on a sandbank trying to escape the Virginia. However, because of the deep draft of the ship, the Virginia was unable to do significant damage.

It being late in the day, the Virginia left with the expectation of returning the next day and completing the destruction of the Union fleet. She retreated into the safety of rebel controlled waters for the night.

The day was the Virginia's but it was not without loss. Part of her ram was wrenched off and left embedded in the side of stricken Cumberland, and Capt. Buchanan received a wound in the thigh, which necessitated his turning over command to Lieutenant Catesby R. Jones.

Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory wrote to Confederate President Davis of the action: "The conduct of the Officers and men of the squadron . . . reflects unfading honor upon themselves and upon the Navy. The report will be read with deep interest, and its details will not fail to rouse the ardor and nerve the arms of our gallant seamen. It will be remembered that the Virginia was a novelty in naval architecture, wholly unlike any ship that ever floated; that her heaviest guns were equal novelties in ordnance; that her motive power and obedience to her helm were untried, and her officers and crew strangers, comparatively, to the ship and to each other; and yet, under all these disadvantages, the dashing courage and consummate professional ability of Flag Officer Buchanan and his associates achieved the most remarkable victory which naval annals record."

It had been a frightening and demoralizing day for the Union Navy. Late that night, USS Monitor, an innovative ironclad vessel built for the Union, and commanded by Lieutenant Worden, arrived in Hampton Roads. This Union ironclad had been rushed to Hampton Roads in hopes of protecting the Union fleet and preventing the Virginia from threatening Union cities.

The stage was set for the dramatic battle with CSS Virginia the following day. 'Upon the untried endurances of the new USS Monitor and her timely arrival, observed Captain Dahlgren, did depend the tide of events. . .'

2.2 March 9, 1862 - Monitor engages Virginia

The next morning, on March 9, 1862, after undergoing repairs, Virginia returned to finish her kill of Minnesota. The confederates found their way blocked by the newly arrived Monitor, which the commander of the rebel ship later described as "little more than a cheesebox on a raft".

After fighting for hours, mostly at close range, neither could overcome the other. The smaller and nimbler Monitor was able to outmaneuver the Virginia, but neither ship proved able to do significant damage to the other. Finally, the Virginia retreated, leaving the Monitor and the rest of the Union fleet in possession of the "battlefield". Both sides claimed victory.

During the next two months, the Virginia made several sorties to Hampton Roads hoping to draw the Monitor into battle. Most days the Virginia would slowly steam down the Elizabeth River to the Confederate forts on Craney Island or Sewell’s Point. Across Hampton Roads, the Monitor and vast number of Union ships waited for the Confederate ship to venture down towards Fort Monroe.

The Union plan was to engage the Virginia in waters of their own choosing. The Monitor was under presidential orders not to enter a fight unless it was absolutely unavoidable. The Union Navy Department had leased several large steamers for the express purpose of running the Virginia down. The plan was to wait for the Confederate ship to venture into deep water and the large steamers would attempt to run up on the Virginia’s submerged deck ends and hopefully sink the ship.

The Virginia did venture into Hampton Roads on two occasions and attempted to entice the Monitor out to fight, but owing to the presidential order, the challenge went unanswered.

What was probably the most anticipated naval battle of its day never materialized. The USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia would never fight each other again.

Events on land surrounding Hampton Roads forced the Confederates to abandon the Norfolk area. As the evacuation of Norfolk and Portsmouth got under way on May 10, 1862, the officers and crew of the Virginia were left with few options. Commander Josiah Tattnall realized that his ship had too much draft to make it up the James River to Richmond, and there was little chance of successfully escaping out of Hampton Roads past the waiting fleet of Union warships off Fort Monroe that were surely anticipating just such a move.

To keep her from being captured, early on the morning of May 11, 1862, Tattnall ordered the Virginia run aground at Craney Island and set afire. After burning fiercely for about an hour, the flames reached her magazine and the ship was destroyed by a great explosion.

The broad impact of the Monitor-Merrimac (Union historians refer to the Virginia by its original name) battle on naval thinking was summarized by Captain Levin M. Powell of USS Potomac writing later from Vera Cruz: "The news of the fight between the Monitor and the Merrimac has created the most profound sensation amongst the professional men in the allied fleet here. They recognize the fact, as much by silence as words, that the face of naval warfare looks the other way now and the superb frigates and ships of the line ... supposed capable a month ago, to destroy anything afloat in half an hour ... are very much diminished in their proportions, and the confidence once reposed in them fully shaken in the presence of these astounding facts." And as Captain Dahlgren phrased it: "Now comes the reign of iron and cased sloops are to take the place of wooden ships."

5.1 Historical names: Merrimack became, Virginia, Merrimac

The name of the warship which served the Confederacy in the famous Battle of Hampton Roads eventually became a continuing source of confusion, to the present day. In the years after the war, the common terminology became Merrimac. (see article on CSS Virginia)

6 USS Monitor - rediscovery and display