ECW Hat – $22 (Includes Shipping)
ECW Archives
-
Recent Posts
Search by Post Categories
Subscribe BY RSS
Email Subscription
Tag Archives: CSS Virginia
The ECW Series Gets Naval: Prepare for the clash of the ironclads!
The clash of the Monitor vs. the Merrimack—the alliterative “M’s” made for a catchy hook for many of us as kids!—is one of the best-known stories of the Civil War: two iron sea beasts trading explosive blows, battling to a … Continue reading
First Battle of Ironclads: Myths, Facts, What Ifs
Today is the 159th anniversary of the battle and my new Emerging Civil War Series book, Unlike Anything That Ever Floated: The Monitor and Virginia and the Battle Hampton Roads, March 8-9, 1862 is just hitting the shelves. Time for … Continue reading
What’s In a (Confederate) Name?
Visitors to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis are engulfed in history. The magnificent grounds on the Severn River (known officially as “the yard”) abound in monuments, plaques, halls, and displays memorializing the nation’s naval heritage. Names of heroes … Continue reading
The Emergency Ironclads
In late summer 1861, the United States Navy initiated a crash program to build their first ironclad warships, leading directly to the titanic clash between the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia (ex USS Merrimack) in Hampton Roads on March … Continue reading
Posted in Navies
Tagged Civil War Strategy, CSS Virginia, Gideon Welles, International affairs, ironclads, naval strategy, USS Monitor
6 Comments
An Ancient and Fearsome Weapon: The Ram
The ram—the main armament of sleek and swift Greek triremes powered by 180 rowers—turned back a Persian invasion at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC and launched Western Civilization. Rowing galleys ruled the Mediterranean for two more millennia, the … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Navies, Weapons
Tagged Battle of Hampton Roads, Catesby ap R. Jones, CSS Virginia, Franklin Buchanan, USS COngress, USS Cumberland
2 Comments
Sink Before Surrender: The CSS Virginia Gets Underway
In the dawn of that fateful Saturday, March 8, 1862, the CSS Virginia lay alongside the Gosport Shipyard quay on the west bank of the Elizabeth River across from Norfolk, Virginia, and just upriver from Hampton Roads. The storm passed … Continue reading
ECW Weekender: View from the Ramparts – Fortress Monroe, Virginia
In the gathering dusk of Saturday, March 8, 1862, a young Union telegrapher, John Emmet O’Brien, stood on the ramparts of Fortress Monroe on Old Point Comfort dominating the entrance to Hampton Roads, Virginia. He looked to the right and … Continue reading
Around We Go: In the Monitor Turret
Lieutenant Samuel D. Greene, USN, had a problem. He was encased within a dim, claustrophobic, metal drum—20 feet in diameter—behind eight layers of bolted and riveted 1-inch-thick iron plates in charge of two immense 11-inch Dahlgren shell guns, each 13 … Continue reading
Sunk In The Mill Pond: The Fate of the Ironclad Models
The model vessels floated quietly on the millpond water. On the bank, the boys aimed their toy cannon. They’d finally found a target that wouldn’t shoot back and would keep them from getting a scolding. Or so they thought… After-all, … Continue reading
Posted in Navies, Personalities
Tagged CSS Virginia, Henry Wise, John S. Wise, model ships, toy cannon, USS Merrimack
8 Comments
Watching the “Merrimac”
One of the joys of a historian is finding that perfect eye-witness account of momentous events, one that puts you alongside our ancestors and sees through their eyes. The following is just such a viewpoint. “IN March, 1862, I was … Continue reading