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Book A Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter

Download or read book A Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter written by Alvah Folsom Hunter and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the age of 16, Alvah F. Hunter enlisted in the Navy and was assigned to a Union Civil War monitor. He engaged in 19 sea battles, principally in the destruction of the batteries that protected Charleston, S.C., thereby closing the ports to blockade runners. In 1863, he received an honorable discharge as a "1st Class Cabin Boy." The following year, he joined the Signal Corps of the Army, where he served until the war was over. He later married and became a father and a successful businessman, although he is known to Civil War historians solely on the basis of his manuscript, A Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter. The memoir is believed to have been written during the war or shortly thereafter and is virtually the only writing in print by an enlisted person during the Civil War era.

Book Sumter After the First Shots

Download or read book Sumter After the First Shots written by Derek Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everyone knows the story of how the Civil War began at Fort Sumter, but what happened to the fort after the first shots were fired there? The North wanted to restore Sumter to its rightful place in the Union and close the vital Confederate supply port of Charleston while the South needed to defend its birthplace and keep the supplies flowing--thus making Fort Sumter one of the most fervently attacked and most tenaciously defended pieces of real estate in the United or Confederate States of America throughout four years of war.

Book Union Jacks

    Book Details:
  • Author : Michael J. Bennett
  • Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
  • Release : 2005-12-15
  • ISBN : 0807863246
  • Pages : 360 pages

Download or read book Union Jacks written by Michael J. Bennett and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2005-12-15 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians have given a great deal of attention to the lives and experiences of Civil War soldiers, but surprisingly little is known about navy sailors who participated in the conflict. Michael J. Bennett remedies the longstanding neglect of Civil War seamen in this comprehensive assessment of the experience of common Union sailors from 1861 to 1865. To resurrect the voices of the "Union Jacks," Bennett combed sailors' diaries, letters, and journals. He finds that the sailors differed from their counterparts in the army in many ways. They tended to be a rougher bunch of men than the regular soldiers, drinking and fighting excessively. Those who were not foreign-born, escaped slaves, or unemployed at the time they enlisted often hailed from the urban working class rather than from rural farms and towns. In addition, most sailors enlisted for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons. Bennett's examination provides a look into the everyday lives of sailors and illuminates where they came from, why they enlisted, and how their origins shaped their service. By showing how these Union sailors lived and fought on the sea, Bennett brings an important new perspective to our understanding of the Civil War.

Book Thunder in the Harbor

    Book Details:
  • Author : Richard W. Hatcher
  • Publisher : Savas Beatie
  • Release : 2023-12-15
  • ISBN : 1611215943
  • Pages : 257 pages

Download or read book Thunder in the Harbor written by Richard W. Hatcher and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2023-12-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fort Sumter. Charleston. April 1861. The start of the Civil War. The bombardment and surrender of Sumter were only the beginning of the story. Both sides understood the military significance of the fort and the busy seaport, which played host to one of the longest and most complicated and fascinating campaigns of the entire Civil War. Richard Hatcher’s Thunder in the Harbor: Fort Sumter and the Civil War is the first modern study to document the fort from its origins, through the war, and up to its transfer to the National Park Service in 1948. After its surrender, Southern troops immediately occupied and improved Sumter’s defenses. The U.S. blockaded Charleston Harbor and for two years the fort, with its 84 heavy guns and a 500-man garrison, remained mostly untested. That changed in July 1863 when a powerful combined operation set its sights on the fort, Charleston, and its outer defenses. The result was a grueling 22-month land and sea siege—the longest of the Civil War. The complex effort included ironclad attacks, land assaults, raiding parties, and siege operations. Some of the war’s most famous events unfolded there, including the assault against Battery Wagner, led by the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment (depicted in the movie Glory), the shelling of the city by the “Swamp Angel,” and the beginning of submarine warfare when the H. L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic and was herself lost at sea. The destruction of Fort Sumter remained a key Federal objective throughout the siege. Despite repeated concentrated bombardments of the fort and the city, Sumter never fell. The defiant fort, Charleston, and its defensive lines were evacuated in February 1865 once word arrived that Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman approached Columbia, South Carolina. Hatcher, the former historian at Fort Sumter Fort Moultrie National Historical Park, mined a host of primary sources to produce an in-depth and fascinating account of the intricacies, complexities, and importance of this campaign to the overall war effort. Nearly 18 months of shelling had rendered Fort Sumter almost unrecognizable, but the significance of its location remained. During the eight decades that followed, the United States invested millions of dollars and thousands of hours rebuilding and rearming the fort to face potential foreign threats in three different wars. By the end of World War II, sea and air power had made Sumter obsolete, and the fort was transferred to the National Park Service. Thunder in the Harbor fills a large gap in the historiography and underscores that there is still much to learn about our endlessly fascinating Civil War.

Book Civil War Eyewitnesses

Download or read book Civil War Eyewitnesses written by Garold Cole and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A bibliographical guide to recently published Civil War diaries, journals, letters, and memoirs.

Book Ironclad Captains of the Civil War

Download or read book Ironclad Captains of the Civil War written by Myron J. Smith, Jr. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1861 to 1865, the American Civil War saw numerous technological innovations in warfare--chief among them was the ironclad warship. Based on the Official Records, biographical works, ship and operations histories, newspapers and other sources, this book chronicles the lives of 158 ironclad captains, North and South, who were charged with outfitting and commanding these then-revolutionary vessels in combat. Each biography includes (where known) birth and death information, pre- and post-war career, and details about ships served upon or commanded.

Book Empire  Technology and Seapower

Download or read book Empire Technology and Seapower written by Howard J. Fuller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-01-03 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines British naval diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, showing how the mid-Victorian Royal Navy suffered serious challenges during the period. Many recent works have attempted to depict the mid-Victorian Royal Navy as all-powerful, innovative, and even self-assured. In contrast, this work argues that it suffered serious challenges in the form of expanding imperial commitments, national security concerns, precarious diplomatic relations with European Powers and the United States, and technological advancements associated with the armoured warship at the height of the so-called 'Pax Britannica'. Utilising a wealth of international archival sources, this volume explores the introduction of the monitor form of ironclad during the American Civil War, which deliberately forfeited long-range power-projection for local, coastal command of the sea. It looks at the ways in which the Royal Navy responded to this new technology and uses a wealth of international primary and secondary sources to ascertain how decision-making at Whitehall affected that at Westminster. The result is a better-balanced understanding of Palmerstonian diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War to the American Civil War, the early evolution of the modern capital ship (including the catastrophic loss of the experimental sail-and-turret ironclad H.M.S. Captain), naval power-projection, and the nature of 'empire', 'technology', and 'seapower'. This book will be of great interest to all students of the Royal Navy, and of maritime and strategic studies in general.

Book The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia  2 volumes

Download or read book The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia 2 volumes written by Spencer C. Tucker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-12-09 with total page 952 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Book Gate of Hell

    Book Details:
  • Author : Stephen R. Wise
  • Publisher : Univ of South Carolina Press
  • Release : 1994
  • ISBN : 9780872499850
  • Pages : 350 pages

Download or read book Gate of Hell written by Stephen R. Wise and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Relates the details of the Battle of Morris Island during the Civil War.

Book The Best Station of Them All

Download or read book The Best Station of Them All written by Maurice Melton and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2012-08-30 with total page 558 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the Confederate navy's Savannah Squadron, its relationship with the people of Savannah, Georgia, and its role in the city's economy. The author charts the history of the unit, the sailors (both white and black), the officers, their families, and their activities aboard ship and in port. The Savannah Squadron worked, patrolled, and fought in the rivers and sounds along the Georgia coast. Though they saw little activity at sea, the unit did engage in naval assault, boarding, capture, and ironclad combat. The sailors finished the war as an infantry unit in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, fighting at Sayler's Creek on the road to Appomattox. The author concentrates on navy life and the squadron's place in wartime Savannah. The book reveals who the Confederate sailors were and what their material, social, and working lives were like.

Book Battle Of Hampton Roads  A Revolution In Military Affairs

Download or read book Battle Of Hampton Roads A Revolution In Military Affairs written by Major Alan J. Deogracias II and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This thesis examines the Battle of Hampton Roads, 8 and 9 March 1862, the first battle of ironclads, to determine if it was a Revolution in Military Affairs. This study is an analysis of naval developments prior to March 1862, the battle, and the impact the battle had on the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy from 1862 to 1871. The battle signaled the end of the wooden warship era when the CSS Virginia destroyed two wooden warships on 8 March 1862. The USS Monitor influenced a change in naval design, which led the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy to build turreted warships, which culminated in the launching of the first modern battleship in 1871. The transformation from sailing and steam ships with broadside armament to steam-powered turret ships led to a reduction in the size of the crews and the acceptance of engineers into the naval community. The battle led both navies to assign ironclads to their squadrons to counter ironclads of hostile nations. The battle influenced the development of tactics for fighting ironclads including ramming and coastal warfare. The Battle of Hampton Roads was a Revolution in Military Affairs and the onset of modern naval warfare.

Book The Laird Rams

    Book Details:
  • Author : Andrew R. English
  • Publisher : McFarland
  • Release : 2021-10-01
  • ISBN : 1476643679
  • Pages : 214 pages

Download or read book The Laird Rams written by Andrew R. English and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built in Birkenhead, England, from 1862 to 1865, the "Laird rams" were two innovative armored warships intended for service with the Confederate Navy during the Civil War. The vessels represented a substantial threat to Union naval power, and offered the Confederacy a potential means to break the Union blockade of the Southern coastline. During 1863, the critical year of the Confederacy's last hope of recognition by the British and French, President Lincoln threatened war with Britain if the ships ever sailed under Confederate colors. Built in some secrecy, then launched on the River Mersey under intense international scrutiny, the ships were first seized, and then purchased by Britain to avoid a war with the United States. These armored warships were largely forgotten after the Admiralty acquired them. Historians rarely mention these sister warships--if referred at all, they are given short shrift. This book provides the first complete history of these once famous ironclads that never fired a shot in anger yet served at distant stations as defenders of the British Empire.

Book Life in Jefferson Davis  Navy

Download or read book Life in Jefferson Davis Navy written by Barbara B Tomblin and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Civil War is often considered a "soldiers' war," but Life in Jefferson Davis' Navy acknowledges the legacy of service of the officers and sailors of the Confederate States Navy. In this full-length study, Barbara Brooks Tomblin addresses every aspect of a Confederate seaman's life, from the risks of combat to the everyday routines which sustained those sailing for the stars and bars. Drawing upon diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and published works, Tomblin offers a fresh look at the wartime experiences of the officers and men in the Confederate Navy, including those who served on gunboats, ironclads, and ships on western rivers and along the coast and at Mobile Bay, as well as those who sailed on the high seas aboard the Confederate raiders Sumter, Alabama, Florida, and Shenandoah. The author also explores the daily lives, deprivations, and sufferings of the sailors who were captured and spent time in Union prisoner of war camps at Point Lookout, Elmira, Camp Chase, Johnson's Island, Ship Island, and Fort Delaware. Confederate prisoners' journals and letters give an intimate account of their struggle, helping modern audiences understand the ordeals of the defeated in the Civil War.

Book The American Civil War

    Book Details:
  • Author : Steven E. Woodworth
  • Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
  • Release : 1996-12-09
  • ISBN : 0313008302
  • Pages : 769 pages

Download or read book The American Civil War written by Steven E. Woodworth and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1996-12-09 with total page 769 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The single most important volume for anyone interested in the Civil War to own and consult. (From the foreword by James M. McPherson) The first guide to Civil War literature to appear in nearly 30 years, this book provides the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and informative survey and analysis of the vast body of Civil War literature. More than 40 essays, each by a specialist in a particular subfield of Civil War history, offer unmatched thoroughness and discerning assessments of each work's value. The essays cover every aspect of the war from strategy, tactics, and battles to logistics, intelligence, supply, and prisoner-of-war camps, from generals and admirals to the men in the ranks, from the Atlantic to the Far West, from fighting fronts to the home front. Some sections cover civilian leaders, the economy, and foreign policy, while others deal with the causes of war and aspects of Reconstruction, including the African-American experience during and after the war. Breadth of topics is matched by breadth of genres covered. Essays discuss surveys of the war, general reference works, published and unpublished papers, diaries and letters, as well as the vast body of monographic literature, including books, dissertations, and articles. Genealogical sources, historical fiction, and video and audio recordings also receive attention. Students of the American Civil War will find this work an indispensable gateway and guide to the enormous body of information on America's pivotal experience.

Book Prologue

    Book Details:
  • Author :
  • Publisher :
  • Release : 2001
  • ISBN :
  • Pages : 336 pages

Download or read book Prologue written by and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Book Reader s Guide to Military History

Download or read book Reader s Guide to Military History written by Charles Messenger and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 2817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains some 600 entries on a range of topics from ancient Chinese warfare to late 20th-century intervention operations. Designed for a wide variety of users, it encompasses general reviews of aspects of military organization and science, as well as specific wars and conflicts. The book examines naval and air warfare, as well as significant individuals, including commanders, theorists, and war leaders. Each entry includes a listing of additional publications on the topic, accompanied by an article discussing these publications with reference to their particular emphases, strengths, and limitations.