The American Civil War has been studied and interpreted from many different angles to include its political causes and ultimate effects on American society, the War’s great leaders, and of course, its armies. With the exclusion of the famous battle of the Monitor versus Virginia that every student learns about, naval engagements are notably lacking in Civil War histories.
The naval aspect of the war was as important to the war’s conduct and outcome as any ground campaign. Despite ongoing advances in transportation technology, the majority of men and materiel moved by water. He who controlled America’s waterways would win the war. This naval war was directed by two men: Gideon Welles, the 24th U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Stephen Mallory, the
Confederate States of America’s Secretary of the Navy. Both leaders faced an impossible task. Welles had to transform a peacetime flotilla of fifty decrepit ships into a global fighting force capable of patrolling and controlling thousands of miles of coastline and rivers. Mallory did not even have a navy, yet he had to stave off the U.S. fleet, all the while maintaining a steady flow of supplies from Europe to supply a Confederate Army.
