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Attacked by the Confederate ironclad, CSS Virginia (ex-USF Merrimack) and five other small ships. After exchanging broadsides with Virginia, Congress slipped her moorings and ran aground in shallow water. The ironclad and her consorts attacked from a distance and inflicted great damage on the ship, killing 120, including the commanding officer. Ablaze in several places and unable to bring guns to bear on the enemy, Congress was forced to strike her colors. Heavy shore batteries prevented Virginia from taking possession, instead she fired several rounds of hot shot and incendiary causing Congress to burn to the water's edge, and her magazine to explode.
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Size | Image Description | Contributed By |
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87k | A Nineteenth Century photograph of a painting by Vandenburg, depicting USF Congress under sail in heavy seas. USS Congress US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 590. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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119k | USF Congress Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century photograph of an artwork titled "U.S. Frigate Congress 1842". US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 55326. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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52k | Sketch by Fred S. Cozzens of USF Congress, copied from his book "Our Navy -- Its Growth and Achievements", 1897 US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 74536. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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69k | Lithograph by Martinet, depicting the Brazilian ships Armacao and Nitherohy at left, HMS Alfred
in the right center foreground and USF Congress in the right distance. Date is during the 1840s or 1850s, when Congress was serving in the South Atlantic or passing through on her way to or from the Pacific. Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 1936.
US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 55325. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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108k | Artwork by J. Glen Wilson, Royal Navy, 1852, depicting USF Congress at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, October (presumably 1852).
The work is inscribed: "Presented by Captain Henry N. Denham, R.N., Commdg. H.M. Frigate Arnold ... Commodore I. McKeever, Commdg. U.S. Brazil Squadron". Courtesy of
the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 93579. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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78k | Oil painting by Desimone of USF Congress (right) and USS Susquehanna (left distance) at Naples in 1857. Courtesy of the U.S. Navy Art Collection, Washington, D.C. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1310-KN (Color). |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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61k | Oil painting by Desimone of USF Congress (right) and USS Susquehanna (left distance) at Naples about 1857. Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 1430. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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76k | Oil painting probably by Desimone of USF Congress (right) and USS Susquehanna (left) at Naples about 1857. Note local rowing craft in the foreground. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 55327. Courtesy of Mr. K. Scofield, July 1939. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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594k | USS Cumberland and USF Congress at Newport News Point, Hampton Roads shortly before the March 8-9, 1862 battle of Hampton Roads. From Harper's Weekly |
Tommy Trampp | |
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82k | "The Rebel Steamer 'Merrimac' running down the Frigate 'Cumberland' off Newport News" A line engraving, published in the "Harper's
Weekly", January-June 1862, pages 184-185, depicting CSS Virginia (ex-USF Merrimack) ramming
USF Cumberland, 8 March 1862. USF Congress and the bow of a Confederate gunboat are shown at right. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 59222. |
US Naval History and Heritage Command | |
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89k | CSS Virginia destroying USF Congress, 8 March 1862. Painting by Xanthus Smith, depicting
Virginia at left, firing into Congress. The masts of the sunken USF Cumberland are in the right background. Other Confederate
warships are visible in the distance, toward the left. Collection of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 42218 |
Robert Hurst | |
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123k | CSS Virginia engages USF Congress, 8 March 1862. Oil painting by F. Muller,
photographed in the offices of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee during the later 1920s or the 1930s. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 42216 |
Robert Hurst | |
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64k | Sinking of US Frigate Congress Civil War Lithographs (J. Steeple Davis + Warren Sheppard) 1899, "The History of Our Country" by Edward S. Ellis published by The History Company, Philadelphia, PA in 1899. Ship lithograph signed in the plate by artist Warren Sheppard. |
Tommy Trampp | |
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147k | The burning USF Congress, 8 March 1862. Line engraving after a painting by J.O. Davidson, published 1892 with the permission
of C. Klackner, New York. It depicts Congress burning, with crewmen swimming toward shore, after she was attacked by
CSS Virginia, which is visible in the right background. US Naval History and Heritage Command Photo # NH 55328 |
Robert Hurst | |
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125k | CSS Virginia vs USF Congress, print after oil on canvas by Irek T. Szelag (Tad Shelong), | Tommy Trampp |
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