Pushing aside the long-held belief that the answers went up in flames when the Confederate Navy archives were torched during the evacuation of Richmond, Luraghi combed fifty archives in four countries and uncovered information that shattered prevailing myths about that service's contributions.

By Richard T. Frey.

Although previously undervalued for their strategic impact because they represented only a small percentage of total forces, the Union and Confederate navies were crucial to the outcome of the Civil War. In War on the Waters, James M. McPherson has crafted an enlightening, at times harrowing, and ultimately thrilling account of the war's naval campaigns and their military leaders. McPherson recounts how the Union navy's blockade of the Confederate coast, leaky as a sieve in the war's early months, became increasingly effective as it choked off vital imports and exports. Meanwhile, the Confederate navy, dwarfed by its giant adversary, demonstrated daring and military innovation. Commerce raiders sank Union ships and drove the American merchant marine from the high seas. Southern ironclads sent several Union warships to the bottom, naval mines sank many more, and the Confederates deployed the world's first submarine to sink an enemy vessel. But in the end, it was the Union navy that won some of the war's most important strategic victories--as an essential partner to the army on the ground at Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Mobile Bay, and Fort Fisher, and all by itself at Port Royal, Fort Henry, New Orleans, and Memphis.

During the American Civil War, British-crewed warships harassed Union merchantmen, sinking a total value of more than $15,000,000 in ships and cargo. Considered pirates by the federal government, these ships and crew were at the center of a largely unknown but fascinating struggle between Commander James Dunwoody of the Confederate Navy, U.S. Ambassador Charles Francis Adams, and Consul Thomas H. Dudley. This history of British assistance to the Confederate Navy covers that story in full and provides a close look at the British seamen who manned warships and blockade runners.

In v. 1-11 each state has at end a "Biographical" section; "Additional sketches illustrating the services of officers and privates and patriotic citizens" are appended in v. 2 (Maryland, p. 185-447; West Virginia, p. 139-296) ; in v. 3 (Virginia) p. 693-1295 ; in v. 4 (North Carolina) p. 355-813; in v. 5 (South Carolina) p. 425-931. 1. Curry, J. L. M.; Legal justification of the South in secession. Garrett, W.R.; The South as a factor in the territorial expansion of the United States. Evans, C. A.; The Civil history of the Confederate States.--2. Johnson, B. T.; Maryland. White, Robert; West Virginia.--3. Hotchkiss, Jed; Virginia.--4. Hill, D. H. Jr.; North Carolina.--5. Capers, Ellison; South Carolina.--6. Derry, J. T.; Georgia.--7. Wheeler, Joseph; Alabama. Hooker, C. E.; Mississippi.--8. Porter, J. D.; Tennessee.--9. Johnston, J. S.; Kentucky. Moore, J. C.; Missouri.--10. Dimitry, John; Louisiana. Harrell, J. M.; Arkansas.--11. Roberts, O. M.; Texas. Dickinson, J. J.; Florida.--12. Parker, W. H.; The Confederate States navy. Jones, J. W.; The morale of the Confederate armies. Evans, C. A.; An outline of Confederate military history. Lee, S. D.; The South since the war. Documental and statistical appendix.