And the Winner Is... Who Won the Battle of Hampton Roads?

March 9, 2022

Join historian John V. Quarstein as he dives into the 160-year-old question, "Who Won the Battle of Hampton Roads?" The first clash between ironclad vessels was over by mid-day on March 9, 1862. Both North and South claimed victory; neither side admitted the battle was a draw. USS Monitor declared victory because it had stopped the Confederate ironclad from destroying any more Union wooden warships. And CSS Virginia also claimed success because it had damaged Monitor, destroyed five ships, and remained the defender of Norfolk and the James River during the first two months of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign. This engagement changed naval warfare forever, proving the power of iron over wood.

John is director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center at The Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia, home of the award-winning Ironclad Revolution exhibition. A noted Civil War historian John is the author of A History of Ironclads: The Power of Iron Over Wood, The Monitor Boys: The Crew of the Union's First Ironclad, and CSS Virginia: Sink Before Surrender.

A popular lecturer, John hosts the Mariners' Civil War and Hampton Roads History Lecture Series, presented in person and virtually.