naval warfare
Published: 5/4/12
The Blockade on the “Connecticut Plan”
Good Morning! To celebrate the end of another long work week, we bring you a “Friday Funny.” Today’s Civil War era cartoon is an 1862 Currier & Ives sketch entitled,...
Published: 4/27/12
Bowling with Beauregard
Good afternoon! Here’s a little Friday Funny to celebrate the end of the work week. Published in the April 26, 1862 edition of Harper’s Weekly, this Justin Howard cartoon celebrates...
Published: 4/26/12
Introducing “Iron Men Afloat” – A New Series on the Civil War Navy
Good morning! I am sure many of you noticed that yesterday we posted a two-part series on the fall of New Orleans (April 25th, 1862). Part 1: “The Men and...
Published: 4/25/12
The Surrender of New Orleans Part 1: The Men and The Skirmish
Today marks the sesquicentennial of the fall of New Orleans (April 25, 1862). As such, The Civil War Monitor is commemorating this event with a two-part series on the surrender....
Published: 4/25/12
The Surrender of New Orleans Part 2: The Machines and Technology
As you know, today—April 25th—marks the 150th anniversary of the fall of New Orleans. Part 2 of our tribute to the surrender of the Crescent City is located on the...
Published: 3/27/12
Then and Now: Pope’s Canal to New Madrid
One-hundred and fifty years ago, Brigadier General John Pope faced a tactical dilemma on the Mississippi River. Confederate batteries at Island No. 10 blocked passage through a complex series of...
Published: 3/23/12
A Slave and A Spy
Good afternoon! Today’s Women’s History Month tribute is of Mary Touvestre. Touvestre, a former slave, worked for one of the Confederate engineers transforming the USS Merrimack into the CSS Virginia....
Published: 3/16/12
The Monitor, The Merrimack, and Me
Last week, I packed up my husband and my dog and headed north to Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia. We were bound for the Civil War Navy Conference at the...
Published: 3/9/12
Voice from the Past: “It revolutionized the navies of the world”
We close our Hampton Roads sesquicentennial celebration with this one final quote about the famed clash of the ironclads: THE engagement in Hampton Roads on the 8th of March, 1862,...
Published: 3/9/12
Voice from the Past: “In the Monitor Turret”
Good afternoon. In honor of the Battle of Hampton Roads, we bring you another Voice from the Past—this time from the Union perspective. The following is Commander S. Dana Greene’s...
Published: 3/9/12
Voice from the Past: “How These Powerful Machines Are To Be Stopped Is A Problem I Can Not Solve”
Good morning! We continue our celebration of the Battle of Hampton Roads with another “Voice from the Past.” The following is Confederate Major General Benjamin Hunger’s report on the famed...
Published: 3/8/12
Do You Know These Men?
They died in the sinking of U.S.S. Monitor off Cape Hatteras on December 31, 1862. Their remains were found in the turret of that ship, which was recovered from the...
Published: 2/15/12
Voice from the Past: “Absolute Naval Supremacy”
We continue our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial celebration with the following diary entry by William Howard Russell, December, 1861: On my return to New York, at the end of February, the...
Published: 2/6/12
Voice from the Past: “The 6th Dawned Mild and Cheering”
The following is Rear Admiral Henry Walke’s recollection of the Battle of Fort Henry. …Heavy rains had been falling, and the river had risen rapidly to an unusual height; the...
Published: 2/6/12
Aboard a Gun Deck During the Battle of Fort Henry
Gun-Deck of one of the Mississippi Gun-Boats Engaged in the Attack on Fort Henry – sketched by Alexander Simplot – Image Credit: Harper’s Weekly, February 22, 1862
Published: 1/30/12
The Launching of a Legend…the USS Monitor
Naval Historical Center’s Online Library of Selected Images 150 years ago today, the Union Navy launched the USS Monitor—its first ironclad—from the Continental Iron Works, at Greenpoint in Long Island,...
Published: 1/30/12
Inboard the USS Monitor
Naval Historical Center’s Online Library of Selected Images The above image is the USS Monitor‘s general plan featuring an inboard profile of the ironclad. First published in in 1862, the...
Published: 11/17/11
Voice from the Past – “Am afloat, adrift”
“Am afloat, adrift, abroad, motion uneasy, “Inner man” “stomach” becoming so. I think I’ll try full-length. A cotton-bale & the open air on the for’ard deck. “Very grand.” The sea—if...