A Sophisticed Analytical Look at the Naval Side of the Civil War

Many reviewers have called this modestly sized book an excellent introduction to its subject. But an introduction for whom? And how is it excellent? I note that Virgil Carrington Jones’s 3-volume The Civil War at Sea (1962) has sat on my bookshelf for many decades, and is worth a comparison. What Jones has is a lot more narrative detail, and perhaps it’s a better place to start for the raw beginner, for example a younger reader. (Don’t forget, it’s the youthful discovery of ships, battles, and heroes that so often leads to a lifelong addiction to naval history). What Chatelain offers in contrast is:

1. In depth analysis, nicely summarized,

2. Very valuable statistical information, the product of decades of very serious scholarship, and

3. A sophisticated depth of understanding of politics and personalities that developed over the years through the thoughtful reflection of many writers.

[Indeed, the intellectuals’ obsession with doctrinaire political ideology seems to have peaked, and we are returning to a more humanistic – and realistic – understanding of the past.]

Neil Chatelain is vice-president of “Emerging Civil War” an organization devoted to communicating the developing perspectives on the Civil War to a wider interested public, of scholars, enthusiasts, and the growing fraternity of lovers of history in general. This book has something to offer all of these. It very rationally divides things into four naval “wars” – the Blockade, the Coastlines, the Mississippi, and Commerce Raiding on the high seas. Its concise summary of each offers some very valuable statistical information that I personally would have very much appreciated knowing before.

For example: the overnight, massive expansion of the US Navy at the beginning of the war – from 57 to over 600 warships, and from 10,000 to 50,000 officers and men. This expansion was the first instance of a phenomenon repeated in the two World Wars, with the implementation of new technologies, particularly ironclad warships including Ericsson’s monitors and Eads’ riverine gunboats, and Dahlgren’s heavy artillery. Chatelain also explains the long-running controversy over the effectiveness of the blockade; he tells us a maximum of 540,000 bales of cotton left the Confederacy on blockade-runners, versus 4,000,000 bales exported in 1869. He notes Stephen Wise’s claim that 300 steamers attempted to run the blockade, with about 1,000 out of 1,300 attempts succeeding. But 221 of these were captured or sunk during the war – so who won this contest, blockade-runners or blockaders? And on the open oceans, eight Confederate commerce-raiding cruisers captured 240 Union merchant ships, with ruinous effect on Union shipping. The economic results were huge, with a very moderate cost to the Confederates – but not really sufficient to change the outcome.

Another “emerging” aspect of the Civil War is the growing depth of our understanding of the major players, above all Lincoln. Doris Goodwin’s “team of rivals” concept is very visible, and in his list of suggested readings (with capsule reviews) Chatelaine recommends Craig Symond‘s Lincoln and his Admirals (2010), again revealing Lincoln’s gifts for dealing with his subordinates and frequent frustration with them, stuck between the fiery hotheads and the competent but over-cautious.

The book would certainly benefit from a list of names and brief biographies of the leading naval figures. Indeed, a few other features would go a long way to making it a handy desktop reference – a timeline of a few pages, perhaps, to go with its complete maps. It does lack a real bibliography and notes are on a website. But perhaps the purpose is to reduce size and cost?

Still, This Great Contest Afloat is a very useful book to read and own – a good introduction for the beginner, a good brush-up for the enthusiast, and for the professional scholar…maybe a good look at what the competition is up to?

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StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium