The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River

by Barbara Brooks Tomblin

Overview

Flowing from its source in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River borders or passes through ten different states and serves as one of the most important transportation systems in the country. During the Civil War, both sides believed that whoever controlled the river would ultimately be victorious. Cotton exports generated much-needed revenue for the Confederacy, and the Mississippi was also the main conduit for the delivery of materials and food. Similarly, the Union sought to maintain safe passage from St. Louis, Missouri, to Cairo, Illinois, but also worked to bisect the South by seizing the river as part of the Anaconda Plan.

Drawing heavily on the diaries and letters of officers and common sailors, Barbara Brooks Tomblin explores the years during which the Union navy fought to win control of the Mississippi. Her approach provides fresh insight into major battles such as Memphis and Vicksburg, but also offers fascinating perspectives on lesser-known aspects of the conflict from ordinary sailors engaged in brown-water warfare. These men speak of going ashore in foraging parties, assisting the surgeon in the amputation of a fellow crewman's arm, and liberating supplies of whiskey from captured enemy vessels. They also offer candid assessments of their commanding officers, observations of the local people living along the river, and their views on the war.

The Civil War on the Mississippi not only provides readers with a comprehensive and vivid account of the action on the western rivers; it also offers an incredible synthesis of first-person accounts from the front lines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813167046
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	07/07/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	388
Sales rank:	611,305
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Barbara Brooks Tomblin taught military history at Rutgers University and is the author of several articles and books.

Table of Contents

Map vi

Introduction 1

1 The Western Gunboat Flotilla: "A Mongrel Service" 13

2 USS Carondelet and Fort Henry 33

3 Fort Donelson 51

4 Island No. 10 61

5 Securing New Orleans 81

6 The Battle of Plum Point Bend 93

7 The Battle of Memphis 109

8 On to Vicksburg! 123

9 CSS Arkansas 145

10 The Mississippi Squadron 165

11 The First Vicksburg Campaign 179

12 Arkansas Post and Fort Hindman 199

13 The Steele's Bayou Expedition 211

14 The Yazoo Pass Expedition of 1863 223

15 Port Hudson 233

16 Grand Gulf 247

17 Blockade and Siege: Milliken's Bend and Simmesport 261

18 Final Push to Victory 273

Conclusion 281

Acknowledgments 291

Notes 293

Selected Bibliography 337

Index 345

Photographs follow page 178

Editorial Reviews

Barbara Brooks Tomblin provides a fascinating and detailed look at everyday life aboard the ships of the Union navy charged with securing control of the Mississippi River.

Spencer C. Tucker

The Civil War literature is well known for producing a multitude of overview histories of varying size and quality for its grandest subjects, and even for many smaller events and themes. Among those dealing with the naval war on the Mississippi and its major tributaries, Tomblin's book is especially remarkable for its comprehensive coverage and depth of detail.... [It] also possesses some fresh elements....

Civil War Books and Authors

The Civil War on the Mississippi is a well written, logically organized and clear account of the naval war on the Mississippi. Its coverage is thorough, and its research is impressive.

Civil War Book Review

An invaluable and inherently interesting work of groundbreaking Civil War scholarship, The Civil War on the Mississippi: Union Sailors, Gunboat Captains, and the Campaign to Control the River will prove to be a welcome and instructive contribution to community, college, and university library American Civil War histories. Informationally enhanced for the reader with the inclusion of an eight page Bibliography, forty-four pages of Notes, and a twenty-five page Index, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, Civil War historians, and Civil War buffs that The Civil War on the Mississippi is also readily available in a paperback edition and in a digital book format.

Midwest Book Review

This is a good account of the war on the western waters for the novice, which may be read with profit by the more serious student of the Civil War or riverine operations.

NYMAS Review

Her extensive use of the writings of officers and sailors adds vivid detail to her descriptions of combat. This well-written, fast-paced narrative belongs on your bookshelf, even if you think you have read the last word about this innovative naval force.

Civil War News

While the American Civil War's naval operations have an ample historiography, they have never garnered as much academic or popular attention as those of the Union and Confederate armies. Episodes from the war's naval history are remembered mostly for their novelty... rather than their historical significance. Nevertheless, historians have persuasively shown that the Union Navy played a pivotal role in the Western Theater. With The Civil War on the Mississippi, prolific naval historian Barbara Tomblin has made a compelling addition to this literature.

Michigan War Studies Review - Robert L. Glaze

Tomblin has made good use of several diaries and collections of letters by common sailors that provide glimpses and insights into their experiences and actions on the Western rivers that goes beyond anything in the existing literature on the river navy.

James M. McPherson James M. McPherson

Tomblin has made good use of several diaries and collections of letters by common sailors that provide glimpses and insights into their experiences and actions on the Western rivers that goes beyond anything in the existing literature on the river navy.

James M. McPherson

"Barbara Brooks Tomblin provides a fascinating and detailed look at everyday life aboard the ships of the Union navy charged with securing control of the Mississippi River." — Spencer C. Tucker, author of Blue and Gray Navies: The Civil War Afloat

"Tomblin has made good use of several diaries and collections of letters by common sailors that provide glimpses and insights into their experiences and actions on the Western rivers that goes beyond anything in the existing literature on the river navy." — James M. McPherson, author of The War that Forged a Nation: Why the Civil War Still Matters

"The Civil War literature is well known for producing a multitude of overview histories of varying size and quality for its grandest subjects, and even for many smaller events and themes. Among those dealing with the naval war on the Mississippi and its major tributaries, Tomblin's book is especially remarkable for its comprehensive coverage and depth of detail....

[It] also possesses some fresh elements...." — Civil War Books and Authors

"Her extensive use of the writings of officers and sailors adds vivid detail to her descriptions of combat.

[T]his well-written, fast-paced narrative belongs on your bookshelf, even if you think you have read the last word about this innovative naval force." — Civil War News

" The Civil War on the Mississippi is a well written, logically organized and clear account of the naval war on the Mississippi. Its coverage is thorough, and its research is impressive." — Civil War Book Review

"This is a good account of the war on the western waters for the novice, which may be read with profit by the more serious student of the Civil War or riverine operations." — NYMAS Review

"While the American Civil War's naval operations have an ample historiography, they have never garnered as much academic or popular attention as those of the Union and Confederate armies. Episodes from the war's naval history are remembered mostly for their novelty... rather than their historical significance. Nevertheless, historians have persuasively shown that the Union Navy played a pivotal role in the Western Theater. With The Civil War on the Mississippi, prolific naval historian Barbara Tomblin has made a compelling addition to this literature." — Robert L. Glaze, Georgia Military College, Michigan War Studies Review

From the Publisher