On March 9, 1862, the world's first battle between two ironclad warships took place in the confined waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The previous day the Confederate ironclad CSS Merrimack - officially the CSS Virginia - impervious to her enemy's guns, had sunk two Union warships. When she re-emerged from Norfolk to complete the destruction of the Union blockading squadron, the USS Monitor steamed out to meet her. The four-hour duel that ensued was a stalemate, but crucially the Virginia had failed to break the Northern blockade of the Southern ports. In a single battle these two ironclads rendered wooden warships obsolete and transformed the face of naval warfare forever. This full-color comic book includes further reading, essential information on the background, aftermath and key players of the conflict, illustrating one of the most revolutionary naval battles in world history and transports the reader to the cramped and dangerous conditions that the sailors faced for the first time.

On July 21, 1861, two inexperienced armies of a divided nation clashed for the first time in Manassas, Virginia. As the 35,000-strong Union forces began their long-awaited campaign to capture Richmond, the public gathered to watch what they thought would be a colorful pageantry. Neither the citizens nor the soldiers could conceive of the long war that lay ahead. Culminating in a stalwart defensive fight by Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson's Virginia Brigade, the Battle of Bull Run marked the Confederacy's first victory. By the day's end, after ten hours of fierce fighting, soldiers on both sides were shocked by the violence and destruction they had encountered. As the Union army retreated they took with them any notion that the war's outcome would be decided quickly. This book vividly evokes the real-life experiences of the men on the battlefield in graphic novel format and includes eight additional pages of background information detailing the key players, the experience of the forces, and the aftermath of the battle.