We close our Hampton Roads sesquicentennial celebration with this one final quote about the famed clash of the ironclads:
THE engagement in Hampton Roads on the 8th of March, 1862, between the Confederate iron-clad Virginia, or the Merrimac (as she is known at the North), and the United States wooden fleet, and that on the 9th between the Virginia and the Monitor, was, in its result, in some respect the most momentous naval conflict ever witnessed. No battle was ever more widely discussed or produced a greater sensation. It revolutionized the navies of the world.
– Colonel John Taylor Wood, C.S.A. –
Source: Wood, John Taylor. “The First Fight of Iron-Clads.” Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume 1. New York: The Century Co., 1887.
Image Credit: Naval Historical Center’s Online Library of Selected Images.
