When the Virginia emerged on its sortie in the Battle of Hampton Roads it inflicted major damage on the Union fleet in the harbor.
The ship was launched 101 days from the signing of the contract, in time to defend the Union blockade during the Battle of Hampton Roads.
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But the area was captured by Union troops by May 1862 soon after the ironclad CSS Virginia failed to hold off the U.S. Navy at the Battle of Hampton Roads (aka Monitor-Merrimack) within sight of the mouth of Bennett Creek.
Possibly the most popular attraction was a re-creation of the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia, which had taken place within sight of Sewell's Point 40 years earlier during the Civil War.