Historical Chronology:1862

January 5: Congressman John Winslow (an investor in the Monitor project ) informed John Ericsson that if the Monitor is successful he has obtained a guarantee that 20 ironclads will be constructed.

January 6: Ericsson and partners receive $37,500 payment from U.S. Navy.

January 10: Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough orders the tugs Zouave and Dragon to remain constantly in company with the U.S.S. Congress and U.S.S. Cumberland so as to tow them into an advantageous position in case of an attack from the Merrimack.

January 11: Gosport Navy Yard's blacksmiths and finishers signed a public testament volunteering 'to do any work that will expedite the completion of the Merrimac, free of charge, and continue on until eight o'clock every night'.

January 12: The 100-day timetable for the Ericsson's Battery's construction expires.
Union amphibious expedition to Roanoke Island, North Carolina, departed Fort Monroe under the command of Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough and Brigadier General Ambrose Everett Burnside.

January 13: Lieutenant John L. Worden detailed as commander of Ericsson's Battery.

January 16: Lieutenant John L. Worden arrives in New York and assumes 'command of the U.S. Steamer built by Captain Ericsson.'

January 20: 'Ericsson's Battery' officially named U.S.S. Monitor.

January 25: Flag Officer French Forrest wrote Major General Benjamin Huger: 'I have just learned that one of the enemy's vessels has been driven ashore with several hundred gallons of oil on board. We are without oil for the 'Merrimack'.

January 27: Workman finish iron plating of the Merrimack.

January 28: Lieutenant Samuel Dana Greene detailed to the Monitor as executive officer.

January 30: John Ericsson is informed that the Monitor's guns, two XI-inch Dahlgrens, would be transferred from the U.S.S. Dacotah.
10:00 a.m. U.S.S. Monitor launched at Greenpoint, Continental Iron Works.
4:30 p.m. All of the Monitor's turret armor is placed aboard the ironclad.

February 7: Lubricating oil for the Confederate ironclad arrived from Richmond.

February 8: Union forces capture Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

February 11: Food and other supplies stored on the Merrimack.

February 13: Merrimack floated in dry dock for the first time.

February 14: U.S.S. Galena, an experimental seagoing ironclad, is launched at Mystic, Connecticut.

February 16: Brigadier General U.S. Grant forces Fort Donelson, Tennessee into unconditional surrender.

February 17: Merrimack launched, commissioned and re-christened as the C.S.S. Virginia.

February 19: Monitor experiences steering problems requiring significant repair. Lieutenant John L. Worden receives orders from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to 'Proceed with the U.S.S. Monitor, under your command, to Hampton Roads, Virginia'. Major General John Ellis Wool reports to Secretary of War Edwin Staunton that the Confederates would soon attack Newport News Point and requested a larger naval force to defend Hampton Roads.

February 23: When hearing that the Merrimack had finally been launched, Captain Gershom Jacques Henry Van Brunt, commander of the U.S.S. Minnesota, advised the Navy Department that 'the sooner she gives us the opportunity to test her strength the better.'

February 24: Flag Officer Franklin Buchanan is named commander of the Confederate James River Defenses with the C.S.S. Virginia as his flagship.

February 25: U.S.S. Monitor commissioned as a fourth-rate ship.
Flag Officer French Forrest reports that the lack of gunpowder will delay the C.S.S. Virginia's sortie.
Lt. Catesby ap Roger Jones advised Lt. John Mercer Brooke that the naval constructor had miscalculated the ironclad's displacement causing the Virginia to ride too high in the water.

February 27: U.S.S. Monitor develops a steering malfunction due to a misbalanced rudder.

March 4: U.S.S. Monitor successfully completes her sea trials.

March 6: Last gunpowder shipment arrives for the C.S.S. Virginia.

Captain Thomas Kevill and 31 members of the United Artillery (Co. E, 41st Virginia Volunteer Infantry) muster on board the C.S.S. Virginia. The men of the United artillery fill the ironclad's roster.

Kevill assumes command of one of the Virginia's 9-inch Dahlgrens.
11:00 a.m. Monitor taken under tow by U.S.S. Seth Low.

4:00 p.m. Monitor and Seth Low join gunboats U.S.S. Currituck and U.S.S. Sachen. This flotilla rounds Sandy Hook enroute to Hampton Roads. Just as the Monitor steams out of communication ranges, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles changes the Monitor's orders and directs the ironclad to steam to Washington, D.C. Orders are transmitted from New York to Hampton Roads where they await the Monitor's arrival.

March 7: C.S.S. Virginia is ready for sea trials. A heavy gale keeps the ironclad at Gosport Navy Yard.

Major General Bankhead Magruder advises Captain Buchanan that the Army of the Peninsula will not co-operate with the Virginia's planned attack on Newport News Point.

Gales strike U.S.S. Monitor along New Jersey coast nearly sinking the ironclad. 1
General Joseph Eggleston Johnston completes the withdrawal of his Confederate army from Manassas to Fredericksburg.