V. The First Year
A. First Clashes - part 1
B. Blockade
1. Lincoln makes it the 1st priority on his July 23 memo
Gideon Welles builds worlds largest Navy - 670 ships, 60,000 men
USS Tuscarora blockader built in 3 mos. at Phil. Naval Yard
"90-day" gunboats, side-wheel double-enders, Bushnell ironclads
CSA Navy Secretary Stephen Mallory rebuilt USS Virginia 5/61-2/62
John Ericsson designs new monitor with steam-powered turret
had developed screw propeller 1836, used on USS Princeton 1842
USS Monitor stops CSA Merrimac at Hampton Roads Mar. 9, 1862
Samuel De Pont and Blockade Strategy Board
Ben Butler attacks Hatteras Inlet Aug. 28, 1861, with Silas Stringham
new tactic of firing on forts while moving
Biloxi in Sept., Port Royal in Nov. and Ft. Walker retaken, Ft. Pulaski in
Nov. , Roanoke Is. in Jan. '62 with 60 transports, "mosquito fleet"
defeated at Elizabeth City NC Feb. 9,' 62 - all became bases for
the North - Hilton Head community
North and South Atlantic and Gulf Blockading Squadrons - seized cargo auctioned, 1/2 to government, commanders 5%, 1%, rest into 20 shares for captain and crew $10 million total prize money
2. was "the central diplomatic issue"
"cotton diplomacy" - sold for 90 cents per pound in London
British proclaim neutrality May 13 - but allowed "continuous voyage"
Trent with Mason & Slidell seized Nov. 8 but let go by Lincoln Dec. 26
J. Bulloch buys raiders from Liverpool's Fraser, Trenholm - 50 ships
R. Semmes CSA Alabama captures 64 Union ships
finally was sunk 1864 by USS Kearsage in English Channel
Charles F. Adams prevents Laird rams from being delivered
3. CSA runners most successful
games of hares & hounds - 9 of 10 got through in 1861
John Wilkinson's R.E. Lee - 18 knots, anthracite, shallow draft, luxuries
8500 successful trips - 1 million bales cotton out and 600,000 rifles in
but only 1 of 2 by 1865 - Union blockade more successful, more ships
4. CSA tried but failed to break blockade
unable to build ironclads like the Albemarle that took Plymouth '64
unable to build large cannon like Dahlgren 15" or Rodman columbiad
created Torpedo Service Oct. 1862 - to mine harbors & rivers
would sink or damage 43 Union ships, including 4 monitors
Rains keg torpedo made from beer kegs; drift torpedo down river
Capt. Gabriel Rains developed impact fuse for land mines; Beauregard used frame torpedoes to mine harbors in Savannah and Charleston in 1863
cigar-shaped David 1863 and Hunley 1864 pushed torpedo ram
C. The River War in the West - part 3
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revised 3/17/2000 by Schoenherr | Civil War