May 11, 1862

May 11, 1862: Hampton Roads, Chesapeaker Bay, Virginia - After having lightened the CSS Virginia of her guns, her coal, and her stores, Commodore Josiah Tatnall orders his men to strip off her armor, too, in an attempt to make her light enough to cross the bar into the James River. But even then, she will not clear the bar. Since her home base of Norfolk was now in Union hands, the Virginia had no where to go. In the wee hours of this morning, Tatnall orders her burnt and destroyed. The crew lights her on fire, and after an hour, the flames reach the magazine and the ship explodes.

CSS Virginia (nee Merrimac) under steam

—Pres. Lincoln boards the USS Baltimore at Ft. Monroe to return to Washington, but hears of the destruction of the CSS Virginia, and has the Baltimore steam over to where it happened. They then go upstream into the Elizabeth River to the newly-occupied city of Norfolk, where the ship spends the night, with Lincoln on board.


—Flag Officer Louis Goldsborough, in command of the USN fleet in Chesapeake Bay, orders a small flotilla, including the USS Monitor, to steam up the James River, shelling shore batteries as she does so, and to eventually to shell Richmond into surrender.


—Sarah Morgan of Baton Rouge, having just yesterday delighted in flaunting her Rebel flag in the faces of the Yankees, now has a profound change of heart about her conquerors and her behavior:


I was not ashamed of the flag of my country, — I proved that by never attempting to remove it in spite of my mortification, — but I was ashamed of my position; for these are evidently gentlemen, not the Billy Wilson’s crew we were threatened with. Fine, noble-looking men they were, showing refinement and gentlemanly bearing in every motion. One cannot help but admire such foes! They set us an example worthy of our imitation, and one we would be benefited by following. They come as visitors without either pretensions to superiority, or the insolence of conquerors; they walk quietly their way, offering no annoyance to the citizens, though they themselves are stared at most unmercifully, and pursued by crowds of ragged little boys, while even men gape at them with open mouths. They prove themselves gentlemen, while many of our citizens have proved themselves boors, and I admire them for their conduct.