A recent acquisition offers a look at one way the USS Monitor entered into popular culture after the historic Battle at Hampton Roads in March 1862. Following the Civil War, images of the Monitor and variations on the name and style of ship were used for a variety of businesses and products, including telegraph equipment, windmills, cast iron stoves, patent medicines, silver mines, playing cards and produce, just to name a few.
The ironclad ships represented strength and innovation, two qualities many companies wished to highlight about their products.