Iron and Heavy Guns Duel between the Monitor and the Merrimac by Gene A. Smith

"an excellent series [that] should be in every Texas school!"—Empire Books

"The maps, illustrations, diagrams, and even authentic photographs help the history student do more than just buffet his brain with facts, names and places; these, plus the biographical sketches, help the student experience the event, like a good history book should. . . . what is so inviting about the entire series is the depth and length to which Civil War Campaign and Commanders writers go to tell more than just battlefield statistics."—Eclectic Homeschool Online

March 1862. The Union ironclad warship, Monitor, with its two eleven-inch Dahlgren smoothbores in a unique revolving turret assembly, leaves New York City under tow to serve blockade duty off the coast of North Carolina. Meanwhile, the Confederate ironclad Virginia (formerly the wooden frigate Merrimac) is raising havoc with Union blockaders in Hampton Roads. The inevitable showdown takes place on March 9. For more than four hours the two ironclads battle furiously at close range. The Merrimac finally withdraws and returns to Norfolk to protect the river approaches to Richmond, leaving the Monitor in control of the Roads and in position to protect the Union blockaders. In May, the Merrimac is destroyed by its own crew to prevent capture; in December, the Monitor sinks in a storm off Cape Hatteras while under tow from Hampton Roads to North Carolina waters. An exciting account of two ships that would change naval warfare forever.

GENE A. SMITH holds a Ph.D. from Auburn University and is a Professor of History at Texas Christian University. He is author, with Frank L. Owsley, Jr., of "For the Purpose of Defense": The Politics of the Jeffersonian Gunboat Program.

Other Civil War Campaigns and Commanders Series Naval Titles

LAST STAND AT MOBILE 1-893114-09-0 CLOTH $24.95 1-893114-08-2 PAPER $14.95	COTTONCLADS! 1-886661-09-X PAPER $11.95
RAPHAEL SEMMES AND THE ALABAMA 1-886661-11-1 PAPER $11.95	UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER 1-893114-11-2 CLOTH $24.95 1-893114-10-4 PAPER $16.95

For a complete list of the books in the Civil War Campaigns and Commanders Series

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Iron and Heavy Guns
ISBN 1-886661-15-4 paper $12.95

LC 96-27927. 6x9. 120 pp. 24 b&w illus. 17 biographical sketches.
2 maps. 4 apps. Bib. Index.

Publication Date: 1996.

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