Civil War Lecture: Last Days of USS Monitor

Join us for a virtual lecture with author and historian John V. Quarstein! Quarstein will give a presentation live from his home in Hampton, Virginia, on the remaining days of USS Monitor.

Viewers are welcome to send Quarstein any comments or questions during the presentation, and he will answer following his talk.

About this presentation: On Christmas Eve 1862, the ironclad Monitor received orders to proceed to Beaufort, North Carolina, to join a planned operation against Wilmington, North Carolina. Executive Officer S. D. Greene noted that Monitor was not a “sea-going vessel.” (The ship had almost sunk twice during its March 1862 trip from New York to Hampton Roads.) Monitor left Hampton Roads in clear weather on December 29, but encountered a heavy gale the next afternoon. The ironclad was overwhelmed by the heavy seas and sank in the early morning of December 31, 1862. As crew member Frank Butts noted, “The Monitor is no more.”