Monitor and Merrimac

These formations, north of Canyonlands and visible from the road into the park, are known as the Monitior and Merrimac, named for the two ships that fought the first battle between ironclad vessels during the American Civil War. The battle was fought after the Merrimac, a Confederate vessel also known as the Virginia, had sailed into Hampton Roads near Norfolk and decimated the Union fleet there. When the Monitor arrived the two vessels fought an indecisive battle. The Merrimac was later destroyed by its crew when the Confederates evacuated Norfolk. The Monitor sank in a storm off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and its wreck was found in 1973.