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Author Archives: Dwight Hughes
Around We Go: In the Monitor Turret
Lieutenant Samuel D. Greene, USN, had a problem. He was encased within a dim, claustrophobic, metal drum—20 feet in diameter—behind eight layers of bolted and riveted 1-inch-thick iron plates in charge of two immense 11-inch Dahlgren shell guns, each 13 … Continue reading
Unvexed Waters: Mississippi River Squadron, Part 2
Part I of this post introduced the unprecedented U.S. Army Western Gunboat Flotilla—soon to be reorganized as the U.S. Navy Mississippi River Squadron—and carried it through the victorious battles of Forts Henry and Donelson, Tennessee, in February 1862. The next … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Campaigns, Navies, Weapons, Western Theater
Tagged Andrew H. Foote, Battle of Island Number 10, Battle of Memphis, Charles Davis, Charles Ellet Jr., Confederate River Defense Fleet, David D. Porter, Henry Walke, Mississippi Marine Brigade, Mississippi River Squadron, Plumb Point Bend, Siege of Vicksburg, Ulysses S. Grant, USS Carondelet, USS Cincinnati, USS Mound City, USS Queen of the West, Western Gunboat Flotilla
1 Comment
Artillery: Big Guns at Pulaski
“From the opening shots at Fort Sumter to the annihilating fire from Little Round Top against Pickett’s men and the months of bombardment at Petersburg, artillery played a role not really seen in American experience before the Civil War,” wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Artillery
Tagged artillery, Artillery-18, Fort Pulaski, Quincy Adams Gillmore, Robert E. Lee, Tybee Island
1 Comment
Sea Power at Port Royal Sound: A Missed Opportunity?
On November 5, 1861, the Confederate Secretary of War established the coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and East Florida as a military department, assigning one of his most senior and experienced officers, General R. E. Lee, to command it. No … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Emerging Civil War, Leadership--Federal, Navies, Personalities, Weapons
Tagged Battle of Port Royal, blockade, Charleston, Coast Defenses, David Farragut, David Porter, Fort Beauregard, Fort Walker, Joint Army and Navy Operations, Port Royal Sound, Robert E. Lee, Samuel F. DuPont, Savannah, Sea Power, Thomas W. Sherman, Ulysses S. Grant
4 Comments
From the ECW Archives: Queen of Delphine, Part II
(Continuing the story from Part I of Lillias Nichols as prisoner of war and her captors aboard the CSS Shenandoah.) New Year’s Day 1865 continued clear and balmy. All sails were set with just enough breeze to fill them, the … Continue reading
Posted in Civil War Events, Civilian, Holidays, Navies
Tagged CSS Alabama, CSS Shenandoah, James Waddell, Women's History Month
3 Comments
From the ECW Archives: Queen of the Delphine, Part I
A warship at sea was an exclusively male domain and sailors were a superstitious lot. Having a woman on board was unlucky as well as a confounded nuisance. In December 1864, one New England lady found herself a prisoner of … Continue reading
Posted in Civil War Events, Civilian, Navies
Tagged Captain George Nichols, Charles Lining, CSS Shenandoah, Delphine, James Waddell, Women's History Month
2 Comments
Watching the “Merrimac”
One of the joys of a historian is finding that perfect eye-witness account of momentous events, one that puts you alongside our ancestors and sees through their eyes. The following is just such a viewpoint. “IN March, 1862, I was … Continue reading
Slaves and Sailors in the Civil War
The enlistment of African Americans as soldiers in the United States Army during the Civil War is a well-examined topic, but less appreciated is the story of freedmen and former slaves as sailors in the navy. Wartime experiences of these … Continue reading
Posted in Navies, USCT
Tagged African American sailors, African American soldiers, Battle of Mobile Bay, black history, black history month, black-history-2018, Civil War Navy, contraband, freedmen, fugitive slaves, integrated, Isaac Chauncy, John H. Lawson, maritime history, Medal of Honor, Oliver H. Perry, racially integrated, second great awakening, Union Blockade, USS Constitution, USS Hartford, USS Minnesota, War of 1812
2 Comments
Confederates Invade San Francisco?
Shortly before his death in 1886, James I. Waddell, former captain of the CSS Shenandoah, wrote in his memoirs: “I had matured plans for entering the harbor of San Francisco and laying that city under contribution.”[i] Waddell never did pass … Continue reading
