Ed Vebell (American, 1921 - 2018) "Battle of Monitor and Merrimac" Signed lower right. Original Acrylic painting on Masonite.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This artwork was originally published on the Fleetwood Commemorative Cover for Epic Events in American History series issued in 1985.

Just as General Lee aimed at capturing Washington in order to gain recognition for the Confederacy from abroad, so Lincoln aimed at Richmond, heart and soul of the Confederacy, to make clear that the southerner's cause was lost. The grand strategy of the campaign was to bypass Lee's Army of Northern Virginia by launching an invasion from the York Peninsula, where the Union Army could be supplied and reinforced by sea, and fight its way to Richmond from the South. This strategy was threatened by the presence of the frigate, Merrimack, which the Confederates had salvaged from the deep, converted into an ironclad, and renamed the Virginia. Soon the Virginia destroyed three Union warships. Alarmed by this, the Navy Department commissioned the most gifted naval engineer in American -- John Ericsson -- to build an armored vessel which could meet the Confederacy's ironclad on equal terms. This he did, almost miraculously, in one hundred working days. On March 9, 1862, the two ships met in Hampton Roads in what was the first all-ironclad battle of naval history. The two ships were well matched, but the Monitor had the advantage of one of Ericsson's innovations, a revolving turret, and of lying so low in the water that it was difficult to hit. In the end, the Virginia withdrew. She continued to protect the James River for the Confederates however, until they themselves destroyed her lest she be captured by the Union forces after they took Norfolk in May.

Image Size: 19.75 x 21 in.
Overall Size: 25.75 x 26.5 in.
Unframed.
(B05307)

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