The CSS Virginia:: Sink Before Surrender by John V. Quarstein

by John V. Quarstein

When the CSS Virginia ( Merrimack ) slowly steamed down the Elizabeth River toward Hampton Roads on March 8, 1862, the tide of naval warfare turned from wooden sailing ships to armored, steam-powered vessels. Little did the ironclad's crew realize that their makeshift warship would achieve the greatest Confederate naval victory. The trip was thought by most of the crew to be a trial cruise. Instead, the Virginia 's aggressive commander, Franklin Buchanan, transformed the voyage into a test by fire that forever proved the supreme power of iron over wood. The Virginia's ability to beat the odds to become the first ironclad to enter Hampton Roads stands as a testament to her designers, builders, officers and crew. Virtually everything about the Virginia s design was an improvisation or an adaptation, characteristic of the Confederacy's efforts to wage a modern war with limited industrial resources. Noted historian John V. Quarstein recounts the compelling story of this ironclad underdog, providing detailed appendices, including crew member biographies and a complete chronology of the ship and crew.

Paperback Bunko

First published March 4, 2012

Reviews

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having grown up in Hampton Roads and seen the Monitor’s turret so often at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, I have become inured to the glories of this first battle of the ironclads. But Quarstein’s narrative restored much of its luster to me, capturing the drama of the Confederates, ever making a virtue of necessity, quickly cobbling together an ironclad from the hulk of a burned out steam frigate. The author captured a great sense of irony, with the same explosive shells which the Virginia used to sink the Cumberland, burn the Congress, and drive Minnesota aground, being utterly useless against the Monitor’s ironclad turret when she showed up on the second day of battle. The castemate ironclad borne of Rebel desperation had almost sunk the entire blockading squadron in Hampton Roads, only to be effectively parried by a craft borne of Yankee industry and ingenuity. Ironic too that a potentially strategy-shifting vessel such as the Virginia should be so underestimated and let down by the Confederate land forces, first by Magruder’s noncooperation with Buchanan, then by Johnston’s abandonment of the Yorktown siege, and lastly by Huger’s skedaddle out of Norfolk, which forced her abandonment and scuttling. When she had first sailed, she was too light, which had threatened to expose her lightly armored hull. At the end of her brief career, she was too heavy to cross the James River bar to shelter under the guns of Drewry’s Bluff. And so the vessel which had withstood tons of shot was exploded by her crews’ own powder charges. Often copied, Virginia’s success against the wooden frigates was never repeated to the same scale.

The second half of the book contains many appendices full of information on Virginia’s crew, as well as notes and bibliography. Highly recommended for any student of Naval Civil War History and of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complete account

Detailed, annotated account of the ship and those who served upon her. Outstanding historical resource that will be of lasting value.