While the Battle of the Bulge, and particularly the defense of the crossroads at the Belgian town of Bastogne have received more attention, the much lesser known defense on the north edge of the attack, where the outnumbered troops of the American 99th and 2nd infantry divisions blunted and stalled the attack of the most powerful German divisions assigned to the battle, was arguably more important.
Of the vaunted ironclad warships of the US Civil War perhaps the mightiest and most terrifying was the confederate ram Tennessee. On August 5, 1864, she would be put to the test in the largest naval engagement of the war, an engagement that defined the divided loyalties of the War of the Rebellion.