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The Mariners' Museum and Park

John V. Quarstein

Director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center

John presents Civil War tours and lectures across the country and is the author of 18 books, with three more on the way. He leads the Museum’s Civil War and Hampton Roads Lecture Series and is now writing blogs and presenting online content via YouTube Live. John’s deep interest in all things related to the Civil War stems from his youth living on Fort Monroe, walking where heroes like Abraham Lincoln and R. E. Lee once stood. An avid collector of decoys, waterfowl/maritime art, and oriental rugs, John lives among them in his home, the 1757 Herbert House on Sunset Creek in Hampton, Virginia. On the National Register of Historic Places, this is the only house to have survived August 7, 1861, burning of Hampton.

Latest from John V. Quarstein

  • RAPHAEL SEMMES AND CSS SUMTER

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict

    The Sumter’s cruise launched the career of one of the greatest commerce raider commanders in history.

  • USS ROANOKE: THE THREE-TURRETED MONSTER

    • Civil War
    • Hampton Roads History
    • Military Conflict

    The USS Roanoke was a Merrimack-class steam screw frigate built at the Gosport Navy Yard. When the Civil War erupted, Roanoke captured several blockade runners and fought during the March 1862 Battle of Hampton Roads.

  • USS Hatteras: The First Warship Sunk by CSS Alabama

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict

    When President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a blockade of the entire southern coastline, the US Navy only had 93 warships, and almost half of these were outdated or unusable. So, the US Navy went on a buying spree purchasing every steamer that could mount cannons. One of these vessels was the St. Mary which was soon commissioned as USS Hatteras.

  • Hampton Roads History: The Founding of Newport News

    • Hampton Roads History
    • Military Conflict
    • Shipbuilding

    In less than 60 years after the end of the Civil War, the city of Newport News was internationally known as a shipbuilding center with excellent port facilities.

  • Confederate Pirates: Capture of Steamer St. Nicholas

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict

    On June 28, 1861, the Union’s first charge of Confederate piracy since the Civil War erupted took place in the Potomac River when the passenger steamer St. Nicholas was captured.

  • USS Mississippi: Ship of the Manifest Destiny    

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict

    Matthew Calbraith Perry guided the US Navy’s transition from sail to steam and shot to shell. It was he who recognized how these new tools would ensure the Navy’s ability to project American trade and power throughout the world.

  • Capture of New Orleans: Farragut’s Rise to Fame

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict

    While it was ever so critical for the Confederacy to maintain control of New Orleans, events elsewhere, especially in Tennessee, resulted in the city having inadequate defenses and naval support. 

  • The First Ironclad Emerges: Battle of the Head of Passes

    • Civil War
    • Military Conflict
    • Shipbuilding

    When the Civil War erupted, Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Russell Mallory knew that the South could only counter and defeat the larger US Navy if ironclads were employed.

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