A little over 150 years ago, the famous fight between the world’s first ironclads, Merrimac and Monitor, took place. It was an epic battle of the Civil War and forever altered naval warfare.
One of the earliest military strategies by the Union at the start of the conflict in 1861 was a naval blockade of the South. Its purpose was two-fold, economic strangulation and preventing incoming armaments from Europe.
Along with privateers running the blockade, the Confederates came up with the idea of building an ironclad warship. Such an armored vessel, completely sheathed in iron plates, would be invincible against the wooden ships of the day.
Christened Merrimac, she was built from the ruins of the USS Virginia, which had been abandoned by fleeing Federal troops in the opening months of the war. In March of 1862, Merrimac steamed out to sea and began sinking and disabling the warships blockading Southern ports.
The North’s response came quickly. On March 9, a startled Merrimac crew encountered the Monitor, the Union’s own experimental ironclad. Two hours of battle followed ending in a draw. Both ships withdrew and never fought again.
Merrimac, berthed at Fort Norfolk, was blown up the following month to prevent its falling into the hands of invading Yankees. The Monitor sank on December 31 of that year, while being towed to North Carolina.
Though both ironclads were gone, naval warfare had been changed. Ships of the line would now be made of iron and armed with multiple gun turrets.
The battle quickly became part of Memorial Day lore. The May holiday, originally called Decoration Day, had evolved into an annual observance throughout the North a short while after the war’s end.
People never forgot the two ships or their historic fight. By the turn of the 20th century, recreations of the battle were favorite amusement park and exposition attractions. Ingenious mechanical devices and elaborately designed backdrops were crafted to portray the famous naval duel.
Probably the most elaborate of these took place at the 1907 Jamestown Exposition in an amusement area called the “War Patch.” This same sideshow also showed up two years later at the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle, Wash. Later, it moved to Luna Park on Coney Island and was enjoyed by large audiences for another decade.
The public’s fascination with the Merrimac and Monitor never wavered. Hollywood took advantage of this obsession by making a romantic motion picture about it, Republic Pictures’ “Hearts in Bondage” in 1936. The film told the story of two close friends, and their sweethearts, who chose different sides in the war and ended up in the opposing ironclads.
Souvenir postcards about the two ships and their great naval battle were issued by more than a dozen printers in the years between 1904 and 1914. In addition, some of the dozens of Memorial Day postcards produced during this era had illustrations of the ironclads. Publishers included L.R. Conwell and Raphael Tuck & Sons (Series N. 1078).
At expositions, along with toy models of the Merrimac and Monitor, illustrated premium storybooks, and other souvenirs, exposition postcards about them were favorites with a generation of fairgoers.
Forty-five years after the epic Civil War battle, the Jamestown (Virginia) Exposition of 1907 opened (mentioned previously). Located in the general area where the two ships had fought and heralding a general theme of national reconciliation, it focused renewed attention on the 1862 event. All of this, combined with the fact that recreations of the naval battle were being staged continuously at a sideshow in the amusement area, created a demand for pictorial postcards abut the ironclads.
New York City’s A.C. Bosselman & Co.’s output was a major presence at the expo. As part of their two sets were several about the armored vessels. No. 5987, a double scene, offered “Monitor and Merrimac” and “Virginia Sinking the Cumberland.” Another double-scene, No. 5989, portrayed “Destruction of the Virginia, May 11, 1862” and “Destruction of the Merrimac.”
Among Jamestown A&V Co.’s extensive line of postcards for the expo can be found an artist’s rendition of the historic clash. Raphael Tuck & Sons borrowed some of A&V’s illustrations, including “Battle Between the Monitor and Merrimac” for its set with silver backgrounds.
Most interesting of all is the set by The Merrimac & Monitor Post Card Co. (Norfolk, Virginia), which was printed by American Colortype Co. from the paintings of C.S. Richards. Originally a set of at least six, surplus stock left over after the expo’s closing was later used to promote Coney Island’s battle recreation sideshow.
Illustrated Post Card Co. and Fairchild Co. also published cards about the ships for sale at the Virginia Fair.
The Merrimac and Monitor exhibit at the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, after its move from the Jamestown Expo, resulted in two cards by E.W. McConnell.
In the decade leading up to the U.S. entry into World War I, quite a few postcards about the historic vessels were sold as part of general, everyday stock. Among the best was “Civil War Scenes. 10 for 10 ct.” by Bosselman, which included a scene of the ironclads. Unsold inventory from the Jamestown Exposition, they were mostly wholesaled to various local firms, such as American Art Works of New Haven, Conn.
And thus ends the saga of the Merrimac and Monitor and the many postcards published about them.