2018 ECW Early Bird Symposium Admission
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Category Archives: Navies
Sailors, Diplomats, Tycoons and the Campaign to Control California’s Gold in the Civil War
Today, we are pleased to welcome back guest author Neil Chatelain As massive operations spread across the United States during the Civil War, a secret and ever-important campaign was being waged at sea. This was not ironclad warships battling one … Continue reading
Posted in Civil War Events, Navies
Tagged C.S.S. Alabama, C.S.S. Shenandoah, Henry Sibley, Jefferson Davis, Raphael Semmes, Stephen Mallory
2 Comments
Down the Yazoo with the Ironclad CSS Arkansas
Running downriver with the surging Mississippi in the CSS Arkansas on July 15, 1862, Captain Isaac N. Brown peered through the morning mist and saw: “A forest of masts and smoke-stacks—ships, rams, iron-clads, and other gun-boats on the left side, … Continue reading
Posted in Battles, Emerging Civil War, Navies, Western Theater
Tagged CSS Arkansas, ironclads, Issac Brown, USS Carondelet, USS Queen of the West, USS Tyler, Vicksburg, Yazoo River
2 Comments
Archibald Wilson’s Infernal Submarine Armor
Today, we are pleased to welcome guest author Neil Chatelain It was pelting rain across the Richmond-Petersburg siege lines on March 31, 1865. General Robert E. Lee’s attack against Fort Stedman had failed only days before and General Ulysses Grant … Continue reading
Posted in Arms & Armaments, Leadership--Confederate, Navies
Tagged Archibald Wilson, Stephen Mallory
3 Comments
My Favorite Historical Person: Eugene Matthew O’Brien
Eugene Matthew O’Brien is among those obscure Civil War multitudes whose collective stories inspire for their courage, dedication, and sacrifice even if we know little about them individually—although his story is a bit unusual. O’Brien was a steam engineer who … Continue reading
On Location: Fort Fisher
At a recent speaking engagement along the Cape Fear River, I had the opportunity to spend some time at one of the Confederacy’s strongest spots: Fort Fisher.
Posted in Battlefields & Historic Places, Navies, On Location
4 Comments
Does That Star-Spangled Banner Yet Wave?
I must admit, they sat breathless as I spun the tale about two young men aboard the ship HMS Minden, traveling from Baltimore under a flag of truce to see if they could free their friend Dr. William Beanes from … Continue reading
The Great Naval Leaders
On May 10 I lectured about the Battle of Midway to Old Dominion University’s Institute of Learning in Retirement. Over the course of a wonderful discussion, I assessed one of the U.S. commanders, Raymond Spruance, as “one of the greatest … Continue reading
Posted in Leadership--Federal, Navies, Personalities, Ties to the War, Trans-Mississippi, Western Theater
Tagged Admiral David G. Farragut, Battle of Lake Erie, Battle of Mobile Bay, Battle of Perryville, David Dixon Porter, David Farragut, David Porter, Fall of New Orleans, Fort Fisher, George Dewey, Lake Erie, Manila, Midway, Mobile Bay, Okinawa, Oliver Hazard Perry, Perryville, Philippine Sea, Raymond Spruance, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, Red River Campaign, U.S. Grant, U.S. Navy, Vicksburg Campaign, War of 1812, World War II
9 Comments
Failed Ironclads: CSS Mississippi and CSS Louisiana at New Orleans
In October 1861, the skeletons of two strange iron monsters began to emerge from the Mississippi bank at Jefferson City, just north of New Orleans. They would become the CSS Mississippi and CSS Louisiana. Confederate Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory had … Continue reading
ECW Weekender: The Farthest Battlefield—CSS Shenandoah at Pohnpei
This Civil War site is a paradisiacal place to pass a weekend—if you can get there. April fool’s day, 1865: In the misty glow of dawn, soaring emerald peaks sprouted from azure seas as the CSS Shenandoah, last of the … Continue reading
