The Battle of Hampton Roads: New Perspectives on the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (review)

The Civil War naval battle fought in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 9 March 1862 and watched by thousands of people on shore, inaugurated a new chapter in the history of warfare. It was the first-ever clash between ironclads. Only the day before, the Confederate ironclad Virginia had rammed and sunk the U.S. sloop Cumberland and attacked and burned the frigate Congress. The Virginia withdrew at dusk, its crew confident that the next day they would complete the destruction of the Union squadron, including the grounded flagship Minnesota, and transports and supply ships off Fort Monroe.

As the Virginia withdrew, the Union ironclad Monitor put into the roads. A far more innovative design and much more nimble than its Confederate opponent, the Monitor was nonetheless only a fraction of the Virginia's size and mounted but two guns as opposed to ten on the Confederate ship. The ensuing engagement, fought at very close range and extending over a four-hour period, ended in a draw. But in merely surviving, the Monitor won a significant victory, for Union transports and supply ships were now safe and the Peninsula Campaign could continue.

Neither vessel survived long. Several months later, the Virginia was scuttled when the Confederates evacuated Norfolk, and the Monitor subsequently sank in a storm off North Carolina while under tow. Nothing of the Virginia remains, but divers located the wreck of the Monitor in 1975 and key parts of the ship, including its turret, guns, and other artifacts have been recovered and are now undergoing restoration at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, near where the epic battle was fought.

The Battle of Hampton Roads is a joint publishing venture of the Mariners' Museum and Fordham University Press and is made up of edited papers from the Mariners' Museum's first-ever Civil War symposium. It contains two extensive photographic sections: the first of contemporary illustrations of the two ships and their battle; and the second of photographs of the recovery, conservation, and display of Monitor artifacts.

Editors Harold Holzer and Tim Mulligan have put together a splendid collection of lively essays by recognized authorities. William C. Davis is the author of the first essay, which treats the battle itself. Craig Symonds, chief historian of the Monitor project, discusses the construction of the two ironclads. David Mindell provides a view of life aboard the Monitor, while Jon Quarstein relates the saga of the Virginia. Mabry Tyson discusses the historiography of the battle, and Harold Holzer examines the battle in art. Other chapters treat the recovery of artifacts from the Monitor and the impact of U.S. Navy monitor construction on British policy toward the war. The most lively and interesting chapter is perhaps the record of what must have been animated exchanges between Virginia partisan Quarstein and Monitor defender Joseph Gutierrez over which ship "won" the battle. This chapter consists of brief presentations by each treating such areas as fighting capabilities, command decisions, impact of the battle, and the legacy of each ship.

The Mariners' Museum's long-anticipated Monitor Center will open in 2007. No doubt this book will be a deservedly popular purchase there.