Author: Gary D. Joiner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742550988
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
The Union inland navy that became the Mississippi Squadron is one of the greatest, yet least studied aspects of the Civil War. Without it, however, the war in the West may not have been won, and the war in the East might have lasted much longer and perhaps ended differently. The men who formed and commanded this large fighting force have, with few exceptions, not been as thoroughly studied as their army counterparts. The vessels they created were highly specialized craft which operated in the narrow confines of the Western rivers in places that could not otherwise receive fire support. Ironclads and gunboats protected army forces and convoyed much needed supplies to far-flung Federal forces. They patrolled thousands of miles of rivers and fought battles that were every bit as harrowing as land engagements yet inside iron monsters that created stifling heat with little ventilation. This book is about the intrepid men who fought under these conditions and the highly improvised boats in which they fought. The tactics their commanders developed were the basis for many later naval operations. Of equal importance were lessons learned about what not to do. The flag officers and admirals of the Mississippi Squadron wrote the rules for modern riverine warfare.
Author: Richard S (Richard Sedgewick) West
Publisher: Hassell Street Press
ISBN: 9781014359797
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 368
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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Thomas B. Allen
Publisher: National Geographic Books
ISBN: 9781426303791
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 152
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Book Description
Shows the part technology played in the North winning the Civil War over the South and how Lincoln appreciated technology after awhile.
Author: Craig Symonds
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199793123
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 446
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Book Description
Abraham Lincoln began his presidency admitting that he knew "but little of ships," but he quickly came to preside over the largest national armada to that time, not eclipsed until World War I. Written by naval historian Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals unveils an aspect of Lincoln's presidency unexamined by historians until now, revealing how he managed the men who ran the naval side of the Civil War, and how the activities of the Union Navy ultimately affected the course of history. Beginning with a gripping account of the attempt to re-supply Fort Sumter--a comedy of errors that shows all too clearly the fledgling president's inexperience--Symonds traces Lincoln's steady growth as a wartime commander-in-chief. Absent a Secretary of Defense, he would eventually become de facto commander of joint operations along the coast and on the rivers. That involved dealing with the men who ran the Navy: the loyal but often cranky Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, the quiet and reliable David G. Farragut, the flamboyant and unpredictable Charles Wilkes, the ambitious ordnance expert John Dahlgren, the well-connected Samuel Phillips Lee, and the self-promoting and gregarious David Dixon Porter. Lincoln was remarkably patient; he often postponed critical decisions until the momentum of events made the consequences of those decisions evident. But Symonds also shows that Lincoln could act decisively. Disappointed by the lethargy of his senior naval officers on the scene, he stepped in and personally directed an amphibious assault on the Virginia coast, a successful operation that led to the capture of Norfolk. The man who knew "but little of ships" had transformed himself into one of the greatest naval strategists of his age. Co-winner of the 2009 Lincoln Prize Winner of the 2009 Barondess/Lincoln Prize by the Civil War Round Table of New York John Lyman Award of the North American Society for Oceanic History Daniel and Marilyn Laney Prize by the Austin Civil War Round Table Nevins-Freeman Prize of the Civil War Round Table of Chicago
Author: Dennis J. Ringle
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 9781557507365
Category : Military hospitals
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Every aspect of the common sailor's life in the Union navy--from recruiting, clothing, training, shipboard routine, entertainment, and wages to diet, health, and combat experience--is addressed in this study, the first to examine the subject in rich detail. The wealth of new facts it provides allows the reader to take a fresh look at nineteenth-century social history, including issues like racial integration in the military. As he examines daily life in the Union navy, Dennis Ringle also calls attention to the enlisted sailor's enormous contributions to the development of the U.S. Navy as it moved from wood and sail to steam and iron. A marine engineer with more than twenty years of naval experience, Ringle describes the lives of the steam engineers whose work later proved critical to the success of the ironclad monitors and the development of the powerful predreadnought warships. His focus is on the sailors assigned to the western river vessels, the ships enforcing the blockade, and those dispatched to destroy Confederate commerce raiders. To reconstruct daily life, he draws on a large number of published and unpublished diaries, journals, and letters. To put the information in context, he compares the sailor's life to that of a soldier's, including health conditions to explain why, for example, fewer sailors died from disease than soldiers. Ringle's efforts to gain respect for the courageous Union sailors who helped save the nation are certain to bring them recognition, just as Bell Wiley's landmark studies Billy Yank and Johnny Reb did for the Civil War soldiers.
Author: Ralph Joseph Roske
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 9781557507372
Category : Ship captains
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This captivating book details the life of one of the Union navy's most heroic young officers and his involvement in the Southern blockade and the sinking of the ironclad Albemarle.
Author: Roswell Hawks Lamson
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195130936
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267
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Book Description
The war-time letters of Lt. Roswell H. Lamson, one of the boldest, most skillful young officers in the Union Navy, reveal his deep ambivalence about the war. "An absorbing contribution to Civil War literature".--"Kirkus Reviews". 16 illustrations.
Author: Tom Wheeler
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0061749834
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
This “intriguing” look at the sixteenth president’s telegraph usage during the Civil War “revisits a familiar hero, but does so from an utterly new perspective” (Ken Burns). The Civil War was the first “modern war.” Because of rapid changes in American society, Abraham Lincoln became president of a divided United States during a period of technological and social revolution. Among the many modern marvels that gave the North an advantage was the telegraph, which Lincoln used to stay connected to the forces in the field in almost real time. No leader in history had ever possessed such a powerful tool to gain control over a fractious situation. An eager student of technology, Lincoln (the only president to hold a patent) had to learn to use the power of electronic messages. Without precedent to guide him, Lincoln began by reading the telegraph traffic among his generals. Then he used the telegraph to supplement his preferred form of communication—meetings and letters. He did not replace those face-to-face interactions. Through this experience, Lincoln crafted the best way to guide, reprimand, praise, reward, and encourage his commanders in the field. Written by a former FCC chairman, Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails tells a big story within a small compass—both an elegant work of history and a timeless lesson in leadership. By paying close attention to Lincoln’s “lightning messages,” we see a great leader adapt to a new medium. No reader of this work of history will be able to miss the contemporary parallels. Watching Lincoln carefully word his messages—and follow up on those words with the right actions—offers a striking example for those who spend their days tapping out notes on their various devices. “Mr. Lincoln’s T-Mails shines. . . . an accessible jaunt through this formative American event.” —USA Today “Wheeler shows a Lincoln groping for a best-use of new technology and learning the limitations of the ‘killer app.’”—Booklist “Altogether captivating.” —Harold Holzer, author of Brought Forth on This Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration
Author: William Marvel
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547523866
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481
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Book Description
A portrait of a pivotal chapter in the Civil War, “featuring scheming politicians, bumbling generals, and an increasingly disheartened Northern public” (Brooks Simpson, author of Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph Over Adversity, 1822–1865). In Mr. Lincoln Goes to War, award-winning historian William Marvel focused on President Abraham Lincoln’s first year in office. In Lincoln’s Darkest Year, he paints a picture of 1862—again relying on recently unearthed primary sources and little-known accounts to offer newfound detail of this tumultuous period. Marvel highlights not just the actions but also the deeper motivations of major figures, including Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, George B. McClellan, Stonewall Jackson, and, most notably, Lincoln himself. As the action darts from the White House to the battlefields and back, the author sheds new light on the hardships endured by everyday citizens and the substantial and sustained public opposition to the war. Combining fluid prose and scholarship with the skills of an investigative historical detective, Marvel unearths the true story of our nation’s greatest crisis.
Author: Gideon Welles
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
ISBN: 0252096436
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 881
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Book Description
Gideon Welles’s 1861 appointment as secretary of the navy placed him at the hub of Union planning for the Civil War and in the midst of the powerful personalities vying for influence in Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet. Although Welles initially knew little of naval matters, he rebuilt a service depleted by Confederate defections, planned actions that gave the Union badly needed victories in the war’s early days, and oversaw a blockade that weakened the South’s economy. Perhaps the hardest-working member of the cabinet, Welles still found time to keep a detailed diary that has become one of the key documents for understanding the inner workings of the Lincoln administration. In this new edition, William E. and Erica L. Gienapp have restored Welles’s original observations, gleaned from the manuscript diaries at the Library of Congress and freed from his many later revisions, so that the reader can experience what he wrote in the moment. With his vitriolic pen, Welles captures the bitter disputes over strategy and war aims, lacerates colleagues from Secretary of State William H. Seward to General-in-Chief Henry Halleck, and condemns the actions of the self-serving southern elite he sees as responsible for the war. He just as easily waxes eloquent about the Navy's wartime achievements, extols the virtues of Lincoln, and drops in a tidbit of Washington gossip. Carefully edited and extensively annotated, this edition contains a wealth of supplementary material. The appendixes include short biographies of the members of Lincoln’s cabinet, the retrospective Welles wrote after leaving office covering the period missing from the diary proper, and important letters regarding naval matters and international law.
