An 1886 painting by artist J.O. Davidson is one of the most accurate depictions of the March 9, 1862, battle between the CSS Virginia (left), originally called the Merrimack, and the Union ironclad, USS Monitor. It’s on display at the The USS Monitor Center at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Va., which has the most extensive collection of Civil War ironclad artifacts from the battle, which ended in a draw.

A circa 1862 photo of officers aboard the USS Monitor.

A photo from 1862 of crew members aboard the USS Monitor, including Siah Carter (right), a black sailor.

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A replica model of the bow area shows the stealth-design of the CSS Virginia after conversion from a federal frigate known as the Merrimack.

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David Krop, a conservation project manager for the USS Monitor at the Mariners' Museum, stood next to the 1862 Ericsson 20-ton steam engine, recovered from the ocean bottom, which belonged to the ironclad USS Monitor.

A letter written by USS Monitor crew member James R. Fenwick, of Boston, to his wife.

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Cindi Verser, a collections specialist, brushed dust from the frame of a painting depicting the sinking of the Cumberland on March 8, 1862, by the ironclad Virginia on the first day of the Battle of Hampton Roads.

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Anna Holloway, vice president of museum collections and programs for the Mariners’ Museum, held a ring recovered from the gun turret of the USS Monitor.

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A facial reconstruction of a Monitor crew member that could be James Fenwick, from Boston’s North End, was unveiled for the first time last week. Reconstructions were made from the skulls of two crew members found in 2002 in the gun turret of the USS Monitor.

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A silver fork belonging to crew member Samuel Augee Lewis was found in the gun turret of the USS Monitor.

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Anna Holloway showed a lantern that was the first artifact recovered from the USS Monitor.

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Historian Marcus Robbins took a photo of one of the cast iron guns recovered from the CSS Virginia.

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USS Monitor captain John Lorimer Worden.

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Howard B. Lowell, the great-great-great grandson of USS Monitor captain John Lorimer Worden, looked out over the waterway, know as Hampton Roads, where the battle between the Monitor and Merrimack took place.

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John Lorimer Worden III at his home with his parrot, Tosca.