how many union navy sailors died fighting in the civil war

The battle would remain the bloodiest day in U.S. By then, the Virginia had sunk two Union ships and killed over 240 sailors. The ironclad would have moved on to the steam frigate USS Minnesota, which was also grounded in the shallows, but after Buchanan was wounded in the thigh, acting commander Catesby Jones elected to call off the attack and return the following morning. Despite knowing that his own brother was among its crewmen, Buchanan raked the Congress with cannon fire for several minutes, inflicting horrific casualties and eventually setting it ablaze. While the Cumberland sank, the Virginia turned its attention to USS Congress, which had intentionally run itself aground in shallow water to avoid being rammed. “The once clean and beautiful deck was slippery with blood, blackened with powder and looked like a slaughterhouse,” one Cumberland crewman later remembered.

When the crippled Cumberland refused to surrender, the Virginia pummeled it with cannon fire. The Cumberland instantly began to sink, and it nearly took the Virginia down with it before the ironclad’s ram broke off. Ignoring the enemy guns, Buchanan steamed toward the Cumberland and plowed into it with his ram, cleaving a seven-foot-wide hole in its hull. The Congress unleashed a broadside, but its cannonballs bounced harmlessly off the Virginia’s metal armor. At around 2 p.m., the ironclad entered Hampton Roads and made a beeline for the American ships USS Cumberland and USS Congress. The men of the Union blockading fleet had heard rumors about the “great Southern bugaboo” lurking at Gosport, but nothing could have prepared them for actually facing the Virginia in combat. “Sailors,” he announced, “in a few minutes you will have the long-expected opportunity to show your devotion to your country and our cause.” As the ironclad neared the Federals’ wooden flotilla, Confederate commander Franklin Buchanan addressed his crew. On March 8, 1862, the Virginia left Gosport on its maiden voyage and steamed toward nearby Hampton Roads, a vital sea junction that was patrolled by a Union blockading fleet. Neither of the ironclads was much to look at-the Monitor was labeled a “tin can on a shingle” and the Virginia a “floating barn roof”-but critics were silenced the minute their destructive power was put on display. CSS Virginia, constructed from the ruins of the frigate USS Merrimack

How many union navy sailors died fighting in the civil war