War on the Waters: The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861-1865

288 Pages·2012·4.63 MB·English

by  James M. McPherson

War on the Waters
THE LITTLEFIELD HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR ERA
Gary W. Gallagher and T. Michael Parrish, editors
Supported by the Littlefield Fund for Southern History,
University of Texas Libraries
WAR
on the Waters
The Union and Confederate Navies, 1861–1865
James M. McPherson
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS Chapel Hill
© 2012 The University of North Carolina Press
All rights reserved.
Designed by Kimberly Bryant and set in Miller by Rebecca Evans.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources. The University of North Carolina Press has been a member of the
Green Press Initiative since 2003.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McPherson, James M.
War on the waters : the Union and Confederate navies, 1861–1865 / James M. McPherson.
(cid:29)p. cm. — (The Littlefield history of the Civil War era)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8078-3588-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. United States—History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Naval operations. 2. United States—
History—Civil War, 1861–1865—Riverine operations. 3. United States—History—Civil
War, 1861–1865—Campaigns. 4. United States. Navy—History—Civil War, 1861–1865.
5. Confederate States of America. Navy—History. I. Title.
E591.M44 2012(cid:29)973.7(cid:118)5—dc23(cid:29)2012007160
16 15 14 13 12(cid:29)5 4 3 2 1
To Annie,
who enjoys rocking the boat

Contents
Introduction, 1
{one } Mobilizing for War, 11
{two } Establishing the Blockade, 31
{three } We’ve Got New Orleans, 50
{four } The River War in 1861–1862, 70
{five } The Confederacy Strikes Back, 96
{six } Nothing but Disaster, 118
{seven } A Most Signal Defeat, 135
{eight } Unvexed to the Sea, 154
{nine } Ironclads, Torpedoes, and Salt, 1863–1864, 170
{ten } From the Red River to Cherbourg, 187
{eleven } Damn the Torpedoes, 207
Conclusion, 224
Acknowledgments, 227
Notes, 229
Bibliography, 253
Index, 269

Illustrations and Maps
ILLUSTRATIONS
Captain Samuel Francis Du Pont, 12
Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, 15
Commodore Franklin Buchanan of the Confederate navy, 16
Captain Raphael Semmes of the Confederate navy, 23
Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory, 28
David Glasgow Farragut after he had been promoted to rear admiral, 37
The sinking of the USS Varuna by the Confederate gunboats
J. C. Breckinridge and Governor Moore, April 24, 1862, 61
Part of Farragut’s fleet passing Fort St. Philip, April 24, 1862, 63
The USS St. Louis,71
Attack by the Union Western Flotilla on Fort Henry, February 6, 1862, 75
Mortar raft firing on Island No. 10 at night, March 18, 1862, 80
Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote in 1862, 83
The CSS Virginia sinking the USS Cumberland, March 8, 1862, 100
Part of the crew of the USS Monitor relaxing on deck after their fight
with the Virginia,106
“No. 290” in British waters near Liverpool before she took on her guns
and became the CSS Alabama,115
The attack on the Charleston forts by Du Pont’s ironclads, April 7,
1863, 147
The CSS Atlanta, photographed after its capture, with Union sailors
on deck, 151
David Dixon Porter, photographed after his promotion to rear
admiral, 168
Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren standing next to one of the guns
named after him, 176
One of Porter’s gunboats going through the chute created by Colonel
Joseph Bailey’s dam at Alexandria, Louisiana, 196