This is a summary from Sarah when she was a 4th grader in Level 1 way back in 2008.
As the War Between the States raged furiously on land, terrific sea battles roared off the coast of war-torn America. A noteworthy battle between the Virginia and the Monitor resulted in the abandonment of wooden warships. During her previous service, the Virginia had sailed as a wooden vessel named the Merrimac which the Federals had sunk in Norfolk Harbor. The southern navy resurrected the Merrimac, covered it with iron, and renamed it the Virginia. Deliberately, the mighty metal monster unleashed its weaponry against the unsuspecting Union navy. Scores of northern galleons looked like toothpicks fighting a rebel chainsaw until the Virginia retired for the night. Although the skirmish favored the South, the Union surprised the Confederates the next morning with a dose of their own medicine in the arrival of the Monitor, a tremendous ironclad. The Virginia met her equal and dueled ferociously with the Monitor for hours. Overpowered, the Virginia soundly lost as she ran aground, and the Monitor retired victoriously. The Civil War, known for its tragic land battles, updated warship technology in lesser known yet significant sea showdowns.
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