Monitor vs Merrimack
The Battle of Ironclads
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Who was Involved?​
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Introduction to the Battle of Merrimack
Monitor vs Merrimack, also known as the battle of Hampton roads, was one of the most significant battles of the revolutionary war. The battle was fought over a period of two days from March 8-9 1862. The main reason why this war was fought, was an attempt to break the confederacy into a union blockade. A union blockade was created in the Revolutionary war to prevent the Confederacy from trading. This battle is also called the battle of battle of the "Ironclad warships" as it was the first battle in which two Ironclad ships fought. Ironclad ships are ships protected by iron or steel armor plates. These ships had a better advantage over the derogatory wooden ships, as it made it less vulnerable for water to seep inside the ship. This battle consisted of two very famous ironclad ships, which were the USS Merrimack(also known as the CSS Virginia), and the USS Monitor. That is also the reason why this battle is called the "Battle of Monitor vs Merrimack." This battle was also a very crucial battle in the American Civil War.
How the Battle was set up.
The diagram on the right shows us how the Battle of Hampton Roads was set up.
Who was involved in the War?
This battle was a war between the Union States and the Confederate States. The Union States, were the Northern States, who wanted to abolish slavery. The commander of the Union States, was Louis M. Goldsborough. There was a very significant lieutenant called John L. Worden, who played a major role in this battle. The Confederates, however, were people who supported slavery. These people were mostly part of the southern states. The commander of this side was Franklin Buchanan. This battle was fought aver a period of two days. The battle consisted of over more than 1500 people in the union side and more than 1000 people less than the confederate side. Therefore all the states near the chesapeake bay, which is near the north had an advantage, as more people fought in the union states, than in the confederate states. This battle took place off Sewell's Point, near Hampton Roads, Virginia.
The reason why the battle occured.​​
When the war broke out in 1861, President Lincoln ordered a blockade(something that leaves out or isolates) all the states that broke out from the union. By the end of April the blockade had extended to the anchorage of the battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia. This was found of the shore of Chesapeake Bay. Then, after that, the Confederate states, were nearer to the Union States. They wanted to destroy the USS Monitor with their ship, The CSS Virginia. Therefore to sum it up, the real reason why this war was fought was because, the CSS Virginia attacked the Union states, because they were blockading all the states that were not part of the union. They wanted to break the blockade. The Confederate States attacked the Union ships at Hampton Roads and then the Union States retaliated the next day.
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Sequence of events​
The battle of Hampton Roads was a very important battle because it made history in the United States. It was the first ever battle between two ironclad warships.
The major events that happened in the war were such :
​The battle started or triggered by the CSS Virginia, which sunk two union ships and made one ship crash off the coast in Hampton Roads , in eastern Virginia. This happened on the first day of the battle, which was January 8th, 1862. The reason why they did this was because they wanted to disturb the Union States, when they were blockading all the states that broke out from the union. They wanted to attack their ship, which was surprisingly at Hampton Roads.
The union states, who were angered by this, made their own tactical attack the next day! Their new ship the USS Monitor, made its way to the Chesapeake Bay. This ship was very big and it was built using very good materials. However, the CSS Virginia(a.k.a The USS Merrimack) was made using the same materials too! The reason why this happened was because they wanted the confederate army to stop attacking their ships. They wanted to show them that they could fight back with their own ships, and they did.
This battle began in the morning and continued only for 4 hours. The reason why the battle lasted for a very less amount of time was because all the cannons being fired were doing no harm for both of the ships. The ships were not made of wood but out of iron, hence the name "ironclad". The cannons were not made to go through the ship. Therefore, they stopped the war.
Though, neither ship was damaged, the union states, prevented the confederate states from attacking their naval vessels(the ships). The reason why the confederate states backed of from the union states, was because, the confederate states thought they could easily "demolish" the CSS Virginia. However, this did not happen. Therefore, they stopped attacking the vessels and re
The war was a draw, and the result was inconclusive. The reason was, that no one was showing any type of defeat ad their attacks were not harming any ship. Therefore, it was a draw. However, there were 100 casualties on the confederate side, and 500 on the union side. Though the Union States had more casualties, the Confederate states still could not break the territory the Union states were blockading.
Two months later, the Confederates sank the CSS Virginia. They sank it because they did want to be reminded by their "loss". It was a loss in a way, as they could have easily broken the blockade.
Louis M. Goldsborough
Louis M. Goldsborough was an admiral in the United States Navy in the Civil War. He served for the Union army in the Civil War. Under the orders of his general, he was forced to protect union forces from being attacked from the confederate army. Even though a lot of his members died, or recieved casualties, he still held the blockade and did not allow it to break. He was a well known commander after this incident.
Franklin Buchanan
Franklin Buchanan was a very strict commander. He was very stern on his policies, and did whatever his general told him to do. He was also responsible for the bombing of the The USS Congress, which further escalated to the Battle of Hampton Roads. He however, received a wounded leg during the bombing, and was then forced to hand over the position to Commander Roger Jones to fight in the Battle of Hampton Roads. Some people also believed that they could have broken the blockade, if Franklin Buchanan was the commander in the Battle of Hampton Roads.
Impact of this event on the CivilWar and the outcome
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Since the battle resulted in a draw, no land was actually changed between the union and the confederates. The whole reason why the battle erupted was because the confederates were desperate to break the blockade created by the union states. The confederates and the union ships basically achieved nothing, but just senseless bombing and shootings on the ship for 4 hours, even though both of the sides knew that there was no way of breaking the blockade. However, the union and the confederate sides have discovered new materials that could be used in the war. They knew new ways of building new machines with better materials, because both of the ships received very less damage. Therefore this encouraged both sides to use better materials in order to win over the other sides. Some people considered this battle to be one of the "bloodiest" battles of the navy(Not including pearbor.)
TRIVIA!!
The commander of the CSS Virginia was wounded on the first day of the battle on March 8th 1862. The war was much more harder to fight without the help Commander Franklin Buchanan.
The battle was a very short naval battle that occured for only 4 or 7 hours.
The USS Monitor, which was made out of really good materials, was receiving very little blows from the CSS Virginia. Therefore, the CSS Virginia actually stopped firing at the ship for about an hour.
The USS Monitor could have won the war, if it used large gunpowder inch guns. The war wouldn't have been declared inconclusive if this had been done.
Franklin Buchanan and John L. Worden, became superintendents after just 7 hours of battle,
