U.S.S. Monitor Tablet - Nashua, NH - Smithsonian Art Inventory Sculptures on Waymarking.com

This rather unassuming bronze marker, mounted on a granite block, identifies the approximate location where the Nashua Iron and Steel Works once stood. Established in 1939, "The Old Black Forge" grew to become an important regional manufacturing center and employer - by some accounts, by the 1840s it was producing more steel goods than any other location in the United States.

The U.S.S. Monitor was the U.S. Navy's first ironclad warship, famous for its battle with the Confederate ironclad CSS Virginia in the American Civil War Battle of Hampton Roads (March 9, 1862). When construction on the Monitor began in 1861, the Nashua Iron and Steel works was called up to produce the port stoppers (the large iron swinging plates that covered the gun openings when the guns were not in use).

The bronze relief tablet mistakenly identifies the Monitor's battle as having taken place with the "Merrimac" (the CSS Virgina was constructed from the remains of the scuttled Merrimac eariler that year). The tablet also indicates that the Monitor "defeated" its opponent in the battle, but some historians now consider the specific encounter betweeen the ironclads to have been a draw. The tablet does commemorate Nashua's contributions to the Civil War effort.

The tablet was erected by the City of Nashua in May of 1931 in front what, at the time, was Osgood's Hardware Store. The hardware store has now been replaced by a parking lot for the nearby Dartmouth-Hitchcock healthcare center.

TITLE: U.S.S. Monitor Tablet ARTIST(S): George J Faneuf (designer) DATE: May 31, 1931 MEDIUM: Metal: bronze Sculpture: bronze; Base: granite stone: granite CONTROL NUMBER: IAS NH000422 Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link] PHYSICAL LOCATION: 25 East Hollis Street Nashua, NH 03060 DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH: The inventory listing identifies the location of the table as "Osgood's Hardware Store" - the store has been replaced by a parking lot.

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