159th Anniversary of the Battle of Hampton Roads commemorated by The Mariners’ Museum and Park with Free Virtual Programs

The Mariners’ Museum and Park will offer free virtual programming for the Battle of Hampton Roads’ upcoming 159th anniversary on March 5 and March 6.
This year’s virtual programs will provide insight and perspectives to the famous Civil War battle where the Union USS Monitor and the Confederate CSS Virginia fought relentlessly for hours on the waters near Chesapeake Bay in Hampton Roads March 8 – March 9,1862. While the battle ended in a draw, it also demonstrated a supremacy of iron over wood and changed modern naval warfare forever.

John V. Quarstein, renowned author, historian, and director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center, will kick off the commemoration March 5 at noon. Quarstein will present “Spirits on USS Monitor: Alcohol and the Civil War Navy,” and how the consumption of alcohol plagued sailors. This talk is also part of the Civil War Lecture Series.

The Mariners’ virtual schedule will be filled with four intriguing programs starting on March 6 at 10 a.m. when Erika Cosme, content and interpretation developer, takes viewers through the reasons and significance of ironclads in “The Development of European Ironclads.”
The Mariners’ Interpretation Team and Eric Jeanneret, a longtime costumed interpreter for the Museum’s iconic event, collaborate to reveal important details about the history of Civil War food and present a comparison of food for enlisted and officers aboard USS Monitor. The program will begin at 11 a.m.

The commemoration of the Battle of Hampton Roads will continue into the afternoon when Kyra Duffley, digital content assistant at The Mariners’ Museum and Park, brings an artistic element to the historic battle as she examines how romanticism and commercial patriotism paved the way for the Civil War to be the first “illustrated” war at 1 p.m. The series concludes with Hannah Fleming, maritime archaeologist at the Mariners’, when she pieces together the history of an artifact found from USS Monitor in “Follow the Phoenix.” It starts at 2 p.m.

Viewers will be able to send comments or questions to the presenters, which they will answer following the presentations.
Recent changes to registration have been made to make it easier to sign up. A personal Zoom account is no longer required, but advance registration is still necessary. For more information about the Battle of Hampton Roads Series and how to register, visit MarinersMuseum.org/BOHR.