This colored lithograph was created by Charles Parsons for the Endicott lithography company after the photograph by Mathew Brady. Vignettes around the central image show the different areas inside the ironclad Confederate vessel Merrimac (right) and the Union vessel Monitor (left). In the central image, the two vessels are shown in battle surrounded by other non-iron clad vessels. The names and geographic locations are inscribed at the bottom of the image, corresponding to its location.
The Confederate government built an ironclad vessel by reusing the sunken USS Merrimack and cutting it down to its berth deck, adding a sloped roof of pitch-pine and oak twenty-four inches thick, and covering it with four inches of iron plate. The finished product was rechristened the CSS Virginia. To combat the Confederate Navy, the Union navy, through John Ericsson, designed an ironclad vessel with a tabletop deck and a round center turret.
On March 9, 1862, these two vessels clashed in combat at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Although the four-hour engagement ended in a draw, the monitor drew international attention and signaled a new era of marine warfare. The Merrimack successfully sunk part of the Union fleet before it was stopped by the Monitor.
