CW Naval Bibliography: “CONFEDERALS” WHO GOT WET:
A SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY ON NAVAL ASPECTS OF THE ACW
Compiled by Ed Reed, Ottawa, CWRT
In contrast with land operations during the American Civil War, naval operations during the War have attracted far less attention from students of the War. The aim of the present bibliography is to offer a list of sources that could provide members of the OCWRT (and other students of the War) with an introduction to and an overview of naval aspects of the War. In the circumstances, the bibliography does not include, for example, accounts of specific naval engagements, biographies of particular admirals, personal reminiscences, or ship “biographies” – for example, The CSS Florida: Her Building and Operations. Instead, the focus of the books listed below is on strategy, command, naval policy-making, naval administration – by no means as dull a topic as would appear at first blush – and the evolution of naval technology. The books also contain their own bibliographies that will enable members to pursue the various subjects of especial interest to them in greater detail.
The bibliography will be updated from time to time as interesting or new books come to the attention of the compiler.
George F. Amadon, Rise of the Ironclads
Bern Anderson, By Sea and by River: The Naval History of the Civil War
James Phinney Baxter, III, The Introduction of the Ironclad Warship The “classic” work on the subject
Michael D. Bennett, Union Jacks: Union Sailors in the Civil War
Donald L. Canney, Africa Squadron: The U.S. Navy and the Slave Trade, 1842-1861
Donald L. Canney, Lincoln’s Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65 The companion volume to the similarly titled volume by William N. Still, Jr., noted below
Donald L. Canney, The Old Steam Navy
Donald L. Canney, Sailing Warships of the US Navy
Lance E. Davis and Stanley L. Engerman, Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History Since 1750
Joseph T. Durkin, S.J., Confederate Naval Chief: Stephen J. Mallory
Ira Dye, Uriah Levy: Reformer of the Antebellum Navy
William M. Fowler, Jr., Under Two Flags: The American Navy in the Civil War
Howard J. Fuller, Clad in Iron: The American Civil War and the Challenge of British Naval Power
Robert Gardiner, ed., Steam, Steel and Shellfire: The Steam Warship, 1815-1905 Includes a chapter on the ACW and chapters on technological developments
Richard D. Hill, War at Sea in the Ironclad Age Includes a chapter on the ACW
Tony Gibbons, Warships and Naval Battles of the US Civil War
- Allen Gosnell, Guns on the Western Waters: The Story of the River Gunboats in the Civil War
Gary D. Joiner, Mr. Lincoln’s Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron
Howard Jones, Blue and Gray Diplomacy: A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations\
Virgil Carrington Jones, The Civil War at Sea (3 vols.)
- Luraghi, History of the Confederate Navy
Frank J. Merli, Great Britain and the Confederate Navy, 1862-65
Frank J. Merli, edited by David M. Fahey, The Alabama, British Neutrality, and the American Civil War
James M. Merrill, The Rebel Shore: The Story of Union Sea Power in the Civil War
John D. Milligan, Gunboats Down the Mississippi
Ivan Musicant, Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War
Milton F. Perry, Infernal Machines: The Story of Confederate Submarines and Mine Warfare
- Thomas Scharf, History of the Confederate States NavyPublished in 1868, the first, and not always accurate, book on the subject
Rowena Reed, Combined Operations in the Civil War
Dennis J. Ringle, Life in Mr, Lincoln’s Navy
Paul H. Silverstone, Warships of the Civil War Navies, 1855-1883 Contains many illustrations, chiefly photographs, and basic technical details of individual ships
Philip Van Doren Stern, The Confederate Navy: A Pictorial History
William N. Still, Jr., Confederate Navy: The Ships, Men and Organization, 1861-65
William N. Still, Jr., Confederate Shipbuilding
William N. Still, Jr., Iron Afloat: The Story of the Confederate Ironclads
Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and the Navy
Craig L. Symonds, Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy, and the Civil War
Craig L. Symonds, ed., Union Combined Operations in the Civil War
Stephen R. Taaffe, Commanding Lincoln’s Navy: Union Naval Leadership during the Civil War
Spencer C. Tucker, Arming the Fleet: U.S. Naval Ordnance in the Muzzle-Loading Era
Spencer C. Tucker, Blue and Gray Navies: The Civil War Afloat
Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The Civil War Naval Encyclopedia
Richard S, West, Gideon Wells Lincoln’s Navy Department
Stephen R. Wise, Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the Civil War