Photo #: NH 1896
Damaged Dahlgren gun from CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack)
Photographed at the Washington Navy Yard, D.C., 27 April 1933.
Several other guns, relics of the Civil War and earlier conflicts,
are beyond.
The gun is inscribed: "One of the Guns of the MERRIMAC in
the action with the U.S. Frigates CUMBERLAND and CONGRESS March
8th 1862 when the chase was shot off". The lower inscription
reads: "The mutilation of Trunnions &c shows the ineffectual
attempts to destroy the Gun, when the U.S. abandoned the Norfolk
Navy Yard, April 20th 1861".
This gun, presumably one of Virginia's six IX-inch Dahlgren
smoothbore guns, was on exhibit at Dahlgren, Virginia, in 1973.
The Parrott gun (second from right in the row behind) is inscribed
"Tug Teaser"
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 130KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 1797
Damaged Dahlgren gun from CSS Virginia
Halftone reproduction of a photograph, probably taken at the
Washington Navy Yard, D.C., circa the late 19th or early 20th
Century. Several other guns, relics of the Civil War and earlier
conflicts, are beyond.
This gun, presumably one of Virginia's six IX-inch Dahlgren
smoothbores, had its muzzle shot off in Virginia's engagement
with USS Cumberland and USS Congress on 8 March
1862. Its trunnions and cascabel were mutilated, though not not
beyond use, by U.S. forces during the abandonment of the Norfolk
Navy Yard on 20 April 1861.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 420 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 46251
"From the Ironclad Merrimac"
Halftone reproduction of an artwork, published in the "Richmond
Magazine", 1930, depicting a purported section of the conning
tower of CSS Virginia (ex-USS Merrimack).
The following text accompanied this illustration: "... Number
6 North Second Street live the descendants of Captain Catesby
Ap Roger Jones, who commanded the Merrimac. In this house
also lived that gallant soldier, Major Ap Catesby Jones, who
lost an arm at Gettysburg. At the back of the house are brick
walks and curved brick walls, mellowed to a patina which would
delight the soul of a landscape gardener. The walls, the old
brick walks, the ancient ivy, all combine in a cloistered peace.
Peace now, but in this old garden lies a souvenir of war. Buried
in a flower bed, is no less than a part of the conning tower
of the Merrimac. Here it lies in the middle of the garden,
an every day object in the life of the family, and one is shown
it with merely a wave of the hand as one looks out of the window."
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.
Online Image: 143KB; 675 x 675 pixels |
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