Explore these 1862 Peninsula Campaign Sites in Newport News, VA

Congress and Cumberland Overlook
2700 block of West Ave., Newport News, VA 23607

Deep beneath the James River lie the remains of the 24-gun USS Cumberland, the first wooden ship to fall victim to the powerful Confederate ironclad ram Virginia. The Confederates had converted the CSS Virginia from the former steam frigate, the USS Merrimack, by cutting the hull down to the waterline and then covering it with 4 inches of iron plate on top of 22 inches of oak and pine. Armed with 10 guns, she was also fitted with a 6-foot long, 1,500-pound cast-iron ram. 

On March 8, 1862, the Virginia, appearing like a “floating barn belching smoke,” emerged from the Elizabeth River to challenge both the Cumberland and its sister vessel, the 50-gun USS Congress. The Cumberland was rammed and sank with the loss of 121 men. Next, the Virginia shelled the Congress into submission and reduced it to a blazing hulk that later exploded. The powerful Union wooden fleet was no match for the Confederate ironclad.  According to a telegram from a newspaperman who witnessed the encounters, the Union cannon shot had no effect on the Virginia, “but glanced off like pebble stones.”

MONITOR-MERRIMACK OVERLOOK
1500 block of 16th St., Newport News, VA 23607

As the burning Congress cast an eerie glow across the waters of the harbor, the USS Monitor arrived in Hampton Roads. A completely new concept in naval design by Swedish-born inventor John Ericsson, the Monitor featured a steam-powered rotating circular turret mounted with two 11-inch Dahlgren cannons. There were 8 inches of iron plate on the turret and 4-1/2 inches of armor plate covered the deck.

In the morning light of March 9, 1862, the Monitor approached the Virginia. For four hours, the ironclads dueled each other with neither ship able to inflict a deathblow on the other. “I often thought of you and the little darlings when the fight was going on and what should become of you should I be killed,” wrote Union sailor George Geer to his wife, Martha, “but I should have no more such fears as our ship resisted everything they could fire at her as though they were spit balls.”

The two ironclads never fought again – the Virginia was destroyed by its crew on May 11, 1862, when its home port fell into Union hands, and the Monitor sank in the waters off Cape Hatteras on December 31, 1862 – but their imprint on history was assured. Modern naval warfare was forever changed.

Re-enactments, living history programs, children’s day camps and other Civil War-related events take place in Newport News throughout the year. Additionally, complete vacation packages – including suggested itineraries, accommodations and admission tickets – are available, as well as specialized group tours with step-on guides and costumed interpreters. For information on individual or group packages, call the Newport News Visitor Center at 888- 493-7386 or visit www.newport-news.org.