Welcome back to Civil War Stories. I'm Philip Champion, and today we're going to explore one of the most overlooked yet symbolically crucial engagements of the American Civil War's opening weeks—a story of the first shots fired in Virginia's waters, of a hastily constructed battery facing down the might of the United States Navy, and of decisions made in the chaos of secession that would set the stage for four years of unprecedented naval warfare.

Picture this: It's dawn on May 18, 1861, in the choppy waters of Hampton Roads, Virginia. The morning sun glints off the dark hull of the USS Monticello, a 655-ton steam-powered gunboat cutting through the gentle swells toward a seemingly insignificant point of land jutting into the Elizabeth River. At the ship's bow, Captain Henry Eagle peers through his spyglass at the sandy bluff of Sewell's Point, where Confederate earthworks are taking shape under the direction of men who, just weeks ago, were fellow Americans.