The Battle of Hampton Roads (March 8-9, 1862)

First Battle Between Ironclad Warships

When the American Civil War broke out on April 12, 1861, southern state militias took over federal armories and forts on their territory.
A week into the war, Virginia militia closed in on the Navy Yard at Gosport (today’s Portsmouth) on the southside of the Hampton Roads waterway. Union forces at the Navy Yard hastily destroyed their depots and set fire to the ships in drydock. They evacuated the Yard on April 20.

Building the CSS Virginia

Confederate forces entered the next day. Among the wreckage they found the frigate USS Merrimack. It was damaged, but not beyond repair.
They reconfigured the wooden frigate into an ironclad warship. The top decks were removed and replaced with an iron-covered casemate structure with ten guns. the freeboard was also covered with iron plates. An iron ram was installed at the prow.
The ship was commissioned as the CSS Virginia in February 1862. Captain Franklin Buchanan was appointed her commander.

The USS Monitor

Meanwhile the Union built its own ironclad vessel in New York. The USS Monitor was a unique design with a very low freeboard and a revolving iron turret mounting two 11-inch guns. The ship, built specifically as a response to the Confederate ironclad project, was launched on January 30, 1862.
On March 6 the Monitor departed New York in tow. Her destination: The confluence of the James River and Elizabeth River into Chesapeake Bay, known collectively as Hampton Roads, Virginia. Confederate held Norfolk sat on the southern side of Hampton Roads. The Union held cities of Hampton and Newport News were on the northern side.

Read the entire article at Hampton Roads Military History

US Army’s Oldest Fort Shutting Gates Soon

Old Meets New - a USAF F-22 Raptor Soars Over Fort Monroe, Virginia

This image of USAF’s newest fighter jet over the Army’s oldest post, Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, is available as a poster or framed art print from our own patriotic art gallery at

http://www.cafepress.com/TEAMultimedia/845080 Fort Monroe, in Hampton Virginia, is the oldest active duty US Army post in America. Fort Monroe will shut its gates in 2011.

So what is in store for the star-shaped casemate fort built in 1819, which played such a vital role in the American Civil War and the emancipation of slaves?

It will be turned over to the state of Virginia. But then what?