[Original Drawing]: The Great Naval Battle at Hampton Road's, Va. March 8th 1862. Iron Clads. Drawn by J.R.T. March 12th 1862

Philadelphia: Charles De Silver, 1856. Unbound. Near Fine. Original drawing. Approximately 13¾" x 17¾". The drawing, in black, blue, and red colored pencil, watercolor, and gouache, unidentified but almost certainly youthful and Signed "J.R.T." Composed on the back of page 37 of a late 1850s edition of Mitchell's School Atlas which depicts: "A New Map of the State of California, The Territories of Oregon, Washington, Utah & New Mexico. Published by Charles De Silver. 1856." Detached at the left margin with minimal damage, near fine.

The drawing shows the USS *Minnesota* in the foreground, with a burning ship (probably the USS *Congress*) in full flame in the background, and with the USS ironclad *Monitor* approaching the Confederate ironclad ship *Virginia* (as it had been renamed, from the captured USS *Merrimack*) as the Confederate ironclad fires upon another ship in the upper center of the page.

In the battle, the C.S.S. *Virginia*, (made by adding metal cladding to the captured *Merrimack*), attempted to break the Union blockade at Hampton Roads, succeeding in destroying the USS *Cumberland* and *Congress*, and running the USS *Minnesota* aground. However darkness caused her to withdraw before she could finish the *Minnesota*. Returning the next day, she was greeted by the newly arrived Union ironclad *Monitor*, which protected the *Minnesota* and fought the *Virginia* to a draw, forcing her to withdraw.

The battle, which revolutionized naval warfare, took place over two days and ended in a stalemate. It's likely the young artist made the drawing relying on newspaper accounts and not from personal observation, and in the process of composing this drawing conflated the action of both days into a single engagement in the drawing. Despite the naive nature of the drawing, a contemporary and in many ways compelling depiction of a landmark naval battle, and a central legend of American Civil War naval lore.