And The Winner Was By Francis Ducoin

1013 Words5 Pages

The Battle of Hampton Roads was an important naval battle during the Civil War. Like the name states the battle happened right here in Hampton Roads where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River right before it enters the Chesapeake Bay. This battle is important for our region as it was the first time the ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia met in combat. The battle was apart of the Confederacy’s plan to try and dismantle the Union blockade, which had cut off Virginia’s largest cities, Norfolk and Richmond, from international trade. The battle itself lasted only two days, March 8th and 9th of 1862. The first day of battle the CSS Virginia was opposed by several wooden-hulled ships of the Union Navy. The Virginia …show more content…

There are many books about the naval efforts during the Civil War and the meeting of the first ironclads. The article “And the Winner Was….” by Francis Ducoin was a citation of first hand accounts of the battle from a variety of individuals. The author’s sources include documents from Lieutenant Greene to his parents, the log of the USS Monitor, and the Pierce Papers. The point of the article was to try to figure out if either side thought they had won the battle, which they both did. However, it was accessed that the battle had two victors. The method used in this article was more of a content analysis. The writer chose to use first hand account and newspaper publication from the period to analyze whether each side thought they had won this …show more content…

The publication does go into great detail about the blockade on the South which prompted the Battle of Hampton Roads. The publication provides a general overview of the naval contribution to the war. The book seems to tell the history of the naval efforts of the war in a story-like fashion. The author uses footnotes to cite their sources. The sources include letters from Lincoln’s Secretary of the Navy, letters from Robert E. Lee to Jackson, and many peer reviewed articles. One publication called the Rebellion Record, Vol. VIII was used to illustrate how the navy was a big contribution to the Union War effort. It also included a quote from Lincoln, in which is thanked the navy for their efforts in the war. The publication used a quantitative approach to the topic by drawing from various historical texts, documents and