War on the Waters

War on the Waters PDF

Author: James M. McPherson

Publisher: UNC Press Books

Published: 2012-09-17

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0807837326

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Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because they represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war's naval campaigns and their military leaders. McPherson recounts how the Union navy's blockade of the Confederate coast, leaky as a sieve in the war's early months, became increasingly effective as it choked off vital imports and exports. Meanwhile, the Confederate navy, dwarfed by its giant adversary, demonstrated daring and military innovation. Commerce raiders sank Union ships and drove the American merchant marine from the high seas. Southern ironclads sent several Union warships to the bottom, naval mines sank many more, and the Confederates deployed the world's first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. But in the end, it was the Union navy that won some of the war's most important strategic victories--as an essential partner to the army on the ground at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and all by itself at Port Royal, Fort Henry, New Orleans, and Memphis.

Commanding Lincoln's Navy

Commanding Lincoln's Navy PDF

Author: Stephen Taaffe

Publisher: Naval Institute Press

Published: 2009-05-01

Total Pages: 740

ISBN-13: 1612515177

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The Union Navy played a vital role in winning the Civil War by blockading Confederate ports, cooperating with the Union Army in amphibious assaults, and operating on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. To wage this multifaceted war, Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles divided the Union Navy into six squadrons. The book examines who Welles assigned to squadron command and why he appointed these officers. Taaffe argues that President Abraham Lincoln gave Welles considerable latitude in picking squadron commanders. Lincoln not only trusted Welles's judgment, but he also understood that the Navy was not as important to the Union war effort militarily and politically as the Army, so there was less of a need for him to oversee closely its operations. Welles used this authority to make appointments to squadron command based on several criteria. Welles factored into his mental calculations seniority, availability, and political connections, but he was most interested in an officer's record, character, and abilities. Although some of Welles's earliest selections left something to be desired, his insight improved markedly as the war continued and he gained a greater understanding of the Navy and its officer corps. Indeed, by the end of the conflict, Welles had become quite ruthless in his search for effective squadron commanders capable of filling the Navy's increasingly difficult missions. In doing so, he contributed greatly to Union victory in the Civil War. The book covers some of the Civil War's most important campaigns and battles, such as the Union assaults on New Orleans, Charleston, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and the fighting on the Mississippi River.

The Union Navy

The Union Navy PDF

Author: Arthur Wyllie

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2007-04

Total Pages: 712

ISBN-13: 1430321172

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This book is over 660 pages and lists all 513 ships of the Union navy that were actively involved in the Civil War. It includes over 160 illustrations and gives highlights of each ships major engagements. A MUST for all Civil War buffs.

The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia [2 volumes]

The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia [2 volumes] PDF

Author: Spencer C. Tucker

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-12-09

Total Pages: 952

ISBN-13: 1598843397

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Long overlooked in favor of land engagements, this is the first encyclopedia to analyze the naval aspects of the American Civil War. The brilliance of both sides' secretaries of the navy, Stephen Mallory and Gideon Welles. The Dahlgren guns of the Union forces and the Confederate Navy's Brooke guns that were essential in battles involving ironclad ships. The significant contributions of African Americans in the ship crews of the U.S. Navy during the Civic War. These are examples of the fascinating details contained in The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia that provide readers with a complete understanding of the naval aspects of the American Civil War. The entries in this sweeping text provide comprehensive treatment of overall strategies on each side, the role of diplomacy, leading naval officers and other personalities, battles and important engagements, ship types, well-known individual warships, naval ordnance and weapons systems, and new developments such as mines and submarines. Topics such as shipboard life, major waterways, prominent seaports, and the role of logistics in determining the outcome of the war are also covered.

Faces of the Civil War Navies

Faces of the Civil War Navies PDF

Author: Ronald S. Coddington

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2016-11-15

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 1421421364

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Archival images and biographical sketches of common sailors on both sides of the conflict reveal the human side of the Civil War. During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought on ships at sea or on one of America’s great inland rivers. There were no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length. The first hostile shots roared from rebel artillery at Charleston Harbor. Along the Mississippi River and other inland waterways across the South, Union gunboats were often the first to arrive in deadly enemy territory. In the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard, blockaders in blue floated within earshot of gray garrisons that guarded vital ports. And on the open seas, rebel raiders wreaked havoc on civilian shipping. In Faces of the Civil War Navies, renowned researcher and Civil War photograph collector Ronald S. Coddington focuses his considerable skills on the Union and Confederate navies. Using identifiable cartes de visite of common sailors on both sides of the war, many of them never before published, Coddington uncovers the personal histories of each individual who looked into the eye of the primitive camera. These unique narratives are drawn from military and pension records, letters, diaries, period newspapers, and other primary sources. In addition to presenting the personal stories of seventy-seven intrepid volunteers, Coddington also focuses on the momentous naval events that ushered in an era of ironclad ships and other technical innovations. The fourth volume in Coddington’s series on Civil War soldiers, this microhistory will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, social history, or photography. The narratives and photographs in Faces of the Civil War Navies shed new light on a lesser-known part of our American story. Taken collectively, these “snapshots” remind us that the history of war is not merely a chronicle of campaigns won and lost, it is the collective personal odysseys of thousands of individual life stories.