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Civil War Lecture: Battle of Wassaw Sound, Georgia

June 18, 2021 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

FREE VIRTUAL LECTURE 

Presented by John V. Quarstein, director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center

Advance registration is required.

Join us for a virtual lecture with author and historian John V. Quarstein, director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center. Quarstein will give a presentation on the Civil War naval battle between the Confederate ram CSS Atlanta and the Passaic-class ironclad monitors USS Weehawken and USS Nahant.

About the lecture:
When the British-built blockade-runner Fingal could not escape from Savannah, Georgia, in 1862, the Confederates transformed the iron-hulled vessel into the ironclad CSS Atlanta. The Atlanta was equipped with four Brooke rifles, a 20-foot ram, and a spar torpedo. Many Southerners believed that this ram could be a match for any Union monitor. When the test came on June 17, 1863, in Wassaw Sound, Georgia, Atlanta was captured by two Passaic-class monitors, Weehawken and Nahant, in a brief encounter. The captured ironclad was repaired and commissioned as USS Atlanta, serving in the James River against its former Confederate owners. The ram was eventually sold to Haiti, but sank en route to the Caribbean Sea.

Civil War Lecture: Battle of Wassaw Sound, Georgia
June 18, 2021 • 12 p.m. (ET)

Image credit: The capture of CSS Atlanta (at left) by USS Weehawken, in Wassaw Sound, Georgia, 17 June 1863. Courtesy of the Naval History and Heritage Command, NH 58896.
John Quarstein

John V. Quarstein

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Pre-registration is required.
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Details

Date:
June 18, 2021
Time:
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EDT

Venue

The Mariners’ Museum
100 Museum Drive
Newport News, VA 23606 United States
Phone:
(757) 596-2222
Website:
https://marinersmuseum.org