May 11, 1862 (Sunday): Destruction of the Virginia

Destruction of the Virginia (history.navy.mil)

FORT MONROE, May 11, 1862.

P. H. WATSON,
Assistant Secretary of War:
The Merrimac was blown up by the rebels at two minutes before 5
o'clock this morning. She was set fire to about 3 o'clock, and the explosion took place at the time stated. It is said to have been a grand sight by those who saw it. The Monitor, Stevens, and the gunboats have gone up toward Norfolk.


EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

[Similar dispatch to McClellan.]

CAMP, NINETEEN MILES FROM WILLIAMSBURG, May 11 - 9 a. m.

Honorable E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:
I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart upon the destruction of the Merrimac. I would now most earnestly urge that our gunboats and the iron-clad boats be sent as far as possible up the James River without delay. This will enable me to make our movements much more decisive.


GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
Major-General, U. S. Army.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 11, Part 3, Page 163.

The Virginia drew 22 feet and could not ascend the James River to Richmond.  With Norfolk abandoned there was no choice but to blow it up.  The Virginia is best known as the opponent of the Monitor, but a reading its entire history reveals an impact on Union operations which was far more important than a single encounter with another ironclad.  In all the Union plans for the Peninsula Campaign it had to be accounted for, as potentially it could destroy transports and wreck havoc with supply bases.  Union accounts always refer to the Virginia by the name Merrimac (the name of the Union vessel captured at Norfolk and converted to the Virginia).