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Confederate Navy
History: The Confederate States Navy
"For every ship that the Confederate Navy commissioned,
the Union produced five."
Many individuals often overlook
the contributions of Confederate naval services in the Civil War. The Confederate
Navy and Marine Corps, however, played significant roles in the conflict. They
not only hampered the Union Navy’s numerous missions, but took part in some of the largest battles. At the outset
of the Civil War, the Union Navy implemented a strategy to blockade the Confederate coast from Alexandria, Virginia, to the
Rio Grande. Although initially unprepared for this daunting task, the U.S. Navy, in time, increased its fleet to more
than 600 ships and gained control of almost every port along the southern coast and the Mississippi River. The Union
war effort benefited greatly from the implementation of General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan.
Genesis of the Confederate
Navy
At Montgomery,
Alabama, the Confederate Congress created a Navy Department in February 1861. Stephen R. Mallory of Florida
was selected by President Jefferson Davis to lead the department and was confirmed by Congress on May 5. Mallory appeared capable of leading the new navy due to his service on the U.S. Senate Naval Affairs Committee
prior to secession. The newly created navy absorbed the state navies of South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana,
Texas, Alabama, Virginia,
and North Carolina.
These state navies, however, only consisted of about a dozen small ships, mounting few guns. By war’s end the Confederate Navy managed to put 130 ships into service--a far cry from the 670-vessel
US Navy. The disparate numbers should not be considered a failure on Mallory’s
part, however, for he performed as well as could be expected considering the circumstances. Simply
stated, a lack of government interest and funding throughout the war hampered Mallory’s efforts.
After 1862, only three
ports—Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; and Mobile, Alabama—remained open for the Confederate
blockade runners.
The Confederate Navy’s
mission was three-fold. First, it was to provide coastal defense and protection
for inland waterways. Second, its ironclad construction program was designed
to break the Union blockade of the southern coast. Third, it was seen as a function
of the navy to raid enemy commerce. Today, students of the Civil War remember
the Confederate Navy primarily because of the exploits of the CSS Alabama and CSS Shenandoah.
While the Confederate Navy was moderately successful at commerce raiding, it never provided an adequate coastal defense
or broke the Union blockade.
In
North Carolina, for example, the Confederate Navy and Marine
Corps played significant roles because much of the war in the state involved coastal operations. Early in the war, North Carolina contributed
what was nicknamed the “Mosquito Fleet,” a small force of lightly armed
vessels, to the Confederate cause. During the 1862 Burnside Expedition in coastal North Carolina, these ships participated in
the Battle of Roanoke Island, and all but the CSS Beaufort were subsequently destroyed during the Battle of Elizabeth City. These battles ended what little threat the fleet posed to the Union forces.
(Sources and related reading below)
Recommended
Reading:
Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads. Description: William
N. Still's book is rightfully referred to as the standard of Confederate Naval history. Accurate and objective accounts of
the major and even minor engagements with Union forces are combined with extensive background information. This edition has
an enlarged section of historical drawings and sketches. Continued below...
Mr. Still explains the political background that gave rise to the Confederate Ironclad program and his research
is impeccable. An exhaustive literature listing rounds out this excellent book. While strictly scientific, the inclusion of
historical eyewitness accounts and the always fluent style make this book a joy to read. This book is a great starting point.
Recommended Reading:
A History of the Confederate Navy (Hardcover). From Publishers Weekly:
One of the most prominent European scholars of the Civil War weighs in with a provocative revisionist study of the Confederacy's
naval policies. For 27 years, University of Genoa history professor Luraghi (The Rise and Fall of the Plantation South) explored
archival and monographic sources on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a convincing argument that the deadliest maritime
threat to the South was not, as commonly thought, the Union's blockade but the North's amphibious and river operations. Confederate
Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory, the author shows, thus focused on protecting the Confederacy's inland waterways and controlling
the harbors vital for military imports. Continued below…
As a result, from Vicksburg to Savannah
to Richmond, major Confederate ports ultimately were captured
from the land and not from the sea, despite the North's overwhelming naval strength. Luraghi highlights the South's ingenuity
in inventing and employing new technologies: the ironclad, the submarine, the torpedo. He establishes, however, that these
innovations were the brainchildren of only a few men, whose work, although brilliant, couldn't match the resources and might
of a major industrial power like the Union. Nor did the Confederate Navy, weakened through
Mallory's administrative inefficiency, compensate with an effective command system. Enhanced by a translation that retains
the verve of the original, Luraghi's study is a notable addition to Civil War maritime history. Includes numerous photos.
Recommended
Reading:
The Rebel Raiders: The Astonishing History of the Confederacy's Secret Navy
(American Civil War). From Booklist: DeKay's modest monograph pulls together four separate stories from the naval aspects
of the American Civil War. All have been told before but never integrated as they are here. The first story is that of James
Bulloch, the Confederate agent who carefully and capably set out to have Confederate commerce raiders built in neutral England. Continued below...
The second is that of the anti-American attitudes of British politicians, far more extreme than conventional
histories let on, and U.S. Ambassador Charles Francis Adams' heroic fight against them. The third is a thoroughly readable
narrative of the raider Alabama and her capable, quirky captain, Raphael Semmes. The final story is about the Alabama claims--suits for damages done to the U.S.
merchant marine by Confederate raiders, which became the first successful case of international arbitration. Sound and remarkably
free of fury, DeKay's commendable effort nicely expands coverage of the naval aspects of the Civil War.
Recommended
Reading:
The Confederate Navy in Europe. Description: The Confederate Navy
in Europe is an account of the Confederate officers and officials who went on missions to Britain
and France to buy ships for the CS Navy,
and to support CSN operations on the high seas, such as commerce raiding. Spencer tells the story of how some officers rose
to the occasion (some did not) and did a lot with limited resources. Continued below...
The majority of the ships ordered never reached America. Shipbuilding takes time, and
as the war dragged on the European powers were persuaded by Confederate battlefield misfortunes and US diplomatic pressure that it was most expedient to deny the sales of such innovative
designs as ocean-going ironclads. Like other out-manned and out-gunned powers, the CSA did have to resort to ingenuity and
innovation.
Recommended Reading:
Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running
During the Civil War (Studies in Maritime
History Series). From Library Journal: From the profusion of books about Confederate blockade running, this one will stand
out for a long time as the most complete and exhaustively researched. Continued below...
Wise sets out to provide a detailed study, giving particular attention to the blockade runners' effects
on the Confederate war effort. It was, he finds, tapping hitherto unused sources, absolutely essential, affording the South
a virtual lifeline of military necessities until the war's last days. This book covers it all: from cargoes to ship outfitting,
from individuals and companies to financing at both ends. An indispensable addition to Civil War literature.
Recommended Reading:
Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism.
Description: One of the most overlooked aspects of the American Civil War is the naval strategy played out by the U.S. Navy
and the fledgling Confederate Navy, which may make this the first book to compare and contrast the strategic concepts of the
Southern Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory against his Northern counterpart, Gideon Welles. Both men had to accomplish
much and were given great latitude in achieving their goals. Mallory's vision of seapower emphasized technological
innovation and individual competence as he sought to match quality against the Union Navy's (quantity) numerical superiority.
Welles had to deal with more bureaucratic structure and to some degree a national strategy dictated by the White House. Continued
below...
The naval blockade of the South
was one of his first tasks - for which he had but few ships available - and although he followed the national strategy, he
did not limit himself to it when opportunities arose. Mallory's dedication
to ironclads is well known, but he also defined the roles of commerce raiders, submarines, and naval mines. Welles's contributions
to the Union effort were rooted in his organizational skills and his willingness to cooperate with the other military departments
of his government. This led to successes through combined army and naval units in several campaigns on and around the Mississippi River.
Recommended Reading:
Submarine Warfare in the Civil War. Description: Many people have heard
of the Hunley, the experimental Confederate submarine that sank the USS Housatonic in a daring nighttime operation. Less well
known, however, is that the Hunley was not alone under the waters of America
during the Civil War. Both the Union and Confederacy built a wide and incredible array of
vessels that could maneuver underwater, and many were put to use patrolling enemy waters. Continued below...
In Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, Mark Ragan, who spent years mining factory records and log books,
brings this little-known history to the surface. The hardcover edition, Union and Confederate Submarine Warfare in the Civil War, was published to wide acclaim
in 1999. For this new paperback edition, Ragan has revised and updated the text to include the full story of the Hunley's
recovery and restoration.
Sources: Leslie S. Bright, William H. Rowland, and James C. Bardon, CSS
Neuse: A Question of Iron and Time (Raleigh, 1981); R. Thomas Campbell, Storm Over Carolina: The Confederate Navy’s
Struggle for Eastern North Carolina (Nashville, 2005); Richard G. Elliott, Ironclad of the Roanoke: Gilbert Elliott’s
Albemarle (Shippensburg, 2005); Chris E. Fonvielle, Jr., Last Rays of Departing Hope: The Wilmington Campaign (Campbell, CA,
1997); Rod Gragg, Confederate Goliath: The Battle of Fort Fisher (New York, 1991); Richard A. Sauers, The Burnside Expedition
in North Carolina: A Succession of Honorable Victories (Dayton, 1996); William N. Still, Jr., The Confederate Navy: The Ships,
Men and Organization, 1861-65 (Annapolis, 1998); and William N. Still, Jr., Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Armorclads
(Columbia, 1971).
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