The Naval Battle of the Monitor Merrimac

A complete and authentic issue of ‘The Weekly Herald’, NYC, March 15, 1862, 8pp., disbound. The front page map, “Conflict Off Newport News, Scene of the Fight Between Iron Clad Gunboats and Union Vessels Of War.” Reports include: Triumph of the Ericsson Battery Monitor; Union Frigate Cumber land Sunk; Two Hundred Lives Lost; Surrender of the Frigate Congress; Official Report Of Flag Officer ... The Merrimack changed naval history by destroying wooden Union ships. It then fought the new Union ironclad USS Monitor to an unforgettable draw. Union leaders were terrified the Confederate ironclad would return to Hampton Roads, Virginia, to break the naval blockade. The Vanderbilt Deal: Secretary of War Edwin Stanton by passed normal military channels and turned to Vanderbilt. He asked him to sink or block the Merrimack by any means necessary. Vanderbilt ultimately offered his massive steamship, the Vanderbilt, to the Union Navy to ram and destroy the Merrimack.