Hampton Roads Naval Museum

17. Intro to the Civil War

Norfolk, VA

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From the secession of Virginia in 1861 until the collapse of the Confederacy in 1865, Hampton Roads was the center of intense naval activity. The strategically located harbor provided a staging area for Union blockading operations and was the guardian of the river approaches to the Confederate capital at Richmond. Although boldly contested by the Confederates, control of the waters of Hampton Roads and its tributaries was a major factor in the Union victory. On April 20, 1861, a few days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Union troops burned and evacuated Gosport Navy Yard to prevent the Confederates from seizing US Navy ships and supplies. The ships-of-the-line Delaware and Pennsylvania were destroyed in flames, but the Federals left the Confederates a working drydock. The Southerners also raised the sunken hull of USS Merrimack at Gosport, and began her conversion to an ironclad ram. In order to survive, the Confederacy would have to rely on ocean commerce to export cotton and import manufactured war materiel. To restrict this trade, the Navy embarked on a blockade strategy which called for the constant control of southern ports. Hampton Roads became the anchor of the Atlantic blockade, as the fleet of Union warships rapidly expanded under the protective guns of Fort Monroe. Army units encamped along the shores of Hampton Roads joined the fleet in amphibious operations against the Confederate positions along the Atlantic coast. The newly-formed Atlantic Blockading Squadron was activated on May 13, 1861. Commodore Silas Stringham spread his diverse fleet of antiquated sailing ships, side-wheel steamers, large screw frigates, and an assortment of purchased gunboats from Hampton Roads to the Florida Keys. In August 1861, Flag Officer Stringham commanded the naval forces in the first significant Union victory, the seizure of Hatteras Inlet.