Faces of the Civil War Navies: An Album of Union and Confederate Sailors

by Ronald S. Coddington, Craig L. Symonds (Foreword by)

Overview

Archival images and biographical sketches of common sailors on both sides of the conflict reveal the human side of the Civil War.

During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought on ships at sea or on one of America’s great inland rivers. There were no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length. The first hostile shots roared from rebel artillery at Charleston Harbor. Along the Mississippi River and other inland waterways across the South, Union gunboats were often the first to arrive in deadly enemy territory. In the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard, blockaders in blue floated within earshot of gray garrisons that guarded vital ports. And on the open seas, rebel raiders wreaked havoc on civilian shipping.

In Faces of the Civil War Navies, renowned researcher and Civil War photograph collector Ronald S. Coddington focuses his considerable skills on the Union and Confederate navies. Using identifiable cartes de visite of common sailors on both sides of the war, many of them never before published, Coddington uncovers the personal histories of each individual who looked into the eye of the primitive camera. These unique narratives are drawn from military and pension records, letters, diaries, period newspapers, and other primary sources. In addition to presenting the personal stories of seventy-seven intrepid volunteers, Coddington also focuses on the momentous naval events that ushered in an era of ironclad ships and other technical innovations.

The fourth volume in Coddington’s series on Civil War soldiers, this microhistory will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Civil War, social history, or photography. The narratives and photographs in Faces of the Civil War Navies shed new light on a lesser-known part of our American story. Taken collectively, these “snapshots” remind us that the history of war is not merely a chronicle of campaigns won and lost, it is the collective personal odysseys of thousands of individual life stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421421360
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2016
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ronald S. Coddington is assistant managing editor at The Chronicle of Higher Education. His work has appeared in USA Today, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the San Jose Mercury News. He is a contributing writer to the New York Times Disunion series and writes a monthly column for The Civil War News. He is the author of Faces of the Confederacy and Faces of the Civil War, both published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Craig L. Symonds
Preface
Cartes de Visite
Notes
References
Acknowledgments
Index

—C&RL News

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

The latest in Ron Coddington's unique series of books featuring Civil War photographs, Faces of the Civil War Navies is an extremely successful and excellently written volume. Its stories of particular vessels and the men who served on them read like a Patrick O'Brian novel.
—J. Matthew Gallman, University of Florida, coeditor of Defining Duty in the Civil War: Personal Choice, Popular Culture and the Union Home Front

J. Matthew Gallman

The latest in Ron Coddington's unique series of books featuring Civil War photographs, Faces of the Civil War Navies is an extremely successful and excellently written volume. Its stories of particular vessels and the men who served on them read like a Patrick O'Brian novel.

Editorial Reviews

An engaging look at a neglected part of the history of the American Civil War.
—Booklist

Coddington has hit upon a unique and fascinating niche in the seemingly endless march of Civil War books.
—C&RL News

A lavishly produced visual record of southern Civil War soldiers . . . will appeal to serious photography enthusiasts and collectors, as well as those readers captivated by the personal stories of Civil War soldiers.
—Civil War Books and Authors

Coddington's prose is as unpretentious as the faces he shares, yet authoritative. It resurrects details that broaden our understanding of those sad times and sheds valuable light on the shape of modern culture.
—Atlanta Constitution

Even at a distance of over a hundred years, the faces staring out of these pages create an undeniable emotional connection with the reader. This book is highly recommended.
—H-CivWar, H-Net Reviews

A fascinating window into the war's impact on the individual soldier . . . well researched and engagingly written. Any teacher of the Civil War would do well to consult this volume and incorporate some of the captivating tales into lectures and readings.
—Journal of Military History

Faces of the Civil War Navies is a notable addition to anyone's Civil War library—whether they are interested in the War's naval history or social aspects. Coddington does a worthy job providing scholarly biographies that are both interesting to read and informative. The scholarly nature of this work can be appreciated through the thoroughly cited entries, and extensive bibliography. In the end Faces of the Civil War Navies does accomplish Coddington's goal of adding the human story of the war at sea.
—Civil War Book Review

The book is a fine addition to Coddington's Faces series, bringing a human sensibility to what history has recorded as a fierce and brutal conflict.
—Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society News

Readers will delight in opening the book to any page to discover a new face, name, and story that might otherwise have gone untold. Though admittedly not a naval historian, Coddington navigates the topic with ease, using his subjects' own words when possible to create vivid new portraits of life at sea during the American Civil War.
—The Journal of Southern History

The seventy-seven stories and photos constitute a unique kind of social history, a cross section of ordinary human lives before, during, and after the most traumatic and lethal conflict in American history.
—Michigan War Studies Review

From the Publisher

A fascinating window into the war's impact on the individual soldier . . . well researched and engagingly written. Any teacher of the Civil War would do well to consult this volume and incorporate some of the captivating tales into lectures and readings.

Journal of Military History

Readers will delight in opening the book to any page to discover a new face, name, and story that might otherwise have gone untold. Though admittedly not a naval historian, Coddington navigates the topic with ease, using his subjects' own words when possible to create vivid new portraits of life at sea during the American Civil War.

The Journal of Southern History

A lavishly produced visual record of southern Civil War soldiers . . . will appeal to serious photography enthusiasts and collectors, as well as those readers captivated by the personal stories of Civil War soldiers.

Civil War Books and Authors

Even at a distance of over a hundred years, the faces staring out of these pages create an undeniable emotional connection with the reader. This book is highly recommended.

H-Net Reviews H-CivWar

Coddington has hit upon a unique and fascinating niche in the seemingly endless march of Civil War books.

C&RL News

Faces of the Civil War Navies is a notable addition to anyone's Civil War library—whether they are interested in the War's naval history or social aspects. Coddington does a worthy job providing scholarly biographies that are both interesting to read and informative. The scholarly nature of this work can be appreciated through the thoroughly cited entries, and extensive bibliography. In the end Faces of the Civil War Navies does accomplish Coddington's goal of adding the human story of the war at sea.

Civil War Book Review

Coddington's prose is as unpretentious as the faces he shares, yet authoritative. It resurrects details that broaden our understanding of those sad times and sheds valuable light on the shape of modern culture.

Atlanta Constitution

The book is a fine addition to Coddington's Faces series, bringing a human sensibility to what history has recorded as a fierce and brutal conflict.

Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society News

An engaging look at a neglected part of the history of the American Civil War.

Booklist

The seventy-seven stories and photos constitute a unique kind of social history, a cross section of ordinary human lives before, during, and after the most traumatic and lethal conflict in American history.

Michigan War Studies Review

"An engaging look at a neglected part of the history of the American Civil War."

Booklist