Rob's Historic Sites

Salute! NEVER FORGET! This Warwick County Confederate Memorial (redesignated as a memorial to ALL VETERANS) in Newport News, Virginia was removed in 2020 and remains in storage to this day! (photos I took March 2019). It had stood in front of the 1884 Warwick County Courthouse for over a century and was considered the most important war memorial in the city. Having been rededicated "In Honor of our Brave Warwick County Veterans" in 2009, this +20-foot granite obelisk had been erected in 1909 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor locals who honorably answered the call to serve and who had died while in service to their country as Confederate soldiers. The monument bore the inscription; "Unveiled May 27, 1909 to our Gallant Soldiers of the Confederacy, Warwick County." (photos taken March 3, 2019) Following George Floyd protests, on July 7, 2020, the Newport News City Council voted 6-1 to remove it. The monument was removed on October 21, 202...

This week in history, the world’s first battle between ironclads occurred when the CSS Virginia battled the USS Monitor at the Battle of Hampton Roads on the southern Virginia coastline. The epic 2 day battle on March 8-9, 1862 received worldwide attention and marked a new age in naval warfare for the entire world. Great Britain and France immediately halted construction of wooden-hulled ships and others followed suit. Battlefield.org explains: In an attempt to end the blockade on their ports, “on March 8, [Confederate] Virginia steamed down the Elizabeth River into the roadstead where it sank USS Cumberland and ran USS Congress aground and set it afire. The Virginia retired, intending to sink other ships the next day. That evening, the new Union ironclad USS Monitor arrived to protect the wooden fleet. The Monitor mounted only two guns but they were placed inside a revolutionary revolving turret. The next morning, Monitor and Virginia met in the first engagement of ironclads in ...