Sea Power and Maritime Affairs

1. Sea Power and Maritime Affairs Lesson 7: The Civil War, 1861-1865

2. Learning Objectives • Comprehend the role of the Union Navy in the strategy for the defeat of the Confederacy. • Comprehend the role of the Confederate Navy in the strategy for the defeat of the Union. • Know the reasons for vital importance of acquisition of European allies in the South’s Naval Strategy. • Know the innovations in naval weapons and technology that emerged during the Civil War.

3. Remember our Themes! • The Navy as an Instrument of Foreign Policy • Interaction between Congress and the Navy • Interservice Relations • Technology • Leadership • Strategy and Tactics • Evolution of Naval Doctrine

4. Scope • Background • Naval Comparison • Diplomacy • Strategy • Important Operations and Battles • The Influence of Technology

5. Background of the War

6. War between the States • Dispute between slave and free states over status of western territories. • Missouri Compromise - 1820. • Kansas-Nebraska Act - 1854. • Dred Scott Decision - 1857. • Southern states secede after Lincoln elected in 1860. • Confederate States of America established - Feb 1861. • Status of federal territory in the Confederacy in question. • Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina: • Attacked by Confederate forces on April 12, 1861.

7. Fort Sumter

8. Naval Comparison

9. David Glasgow Farragut David Dixon Porter John Ericcson John Dahlgren Charles Wilkes Samuel F. DuPont Franklin Buchanan Matthew Fontaine Maury Raphael Semmes A Navy Divided

10. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards • Ship Builders • Industrial Base • Number of Ships • Leadership

11. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards 4 • Ship Builders • Industrial Base • Number of Ships • Leadership

12. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards 4 • Ship Builders 4 • Industrial Base • Number of Ships • Leadership

13. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards 4 • Ship Builders 4 • Industrial Base 4 • Number of Ships • Leadership

14. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards 4 • Ship Builders 4 • Industrial Base 4 • Number of Ships 4 • Leadership

15. Balance of Naval Power North South • Naval Yards 4 • Ship Builders 4 • Industrial Base 4 • Number of Ships 4 • Leadership 4

16. Common Operational HeritageUnion and Confederate Navies • War of 1812 — Coastal defense and commerce raiding: • Fighting from an inferior position against an enemy that has “command of the sea”. • 1815-1846 — Global deployments: • Protection of American maritime commerce overseas. • 1846-1848 — Mexican-American War • U.S. Navy controls the seas throughout the war. • Ports established on the Pacific Coast.

17. Naval Comparison • The Confederate Navy • Inferior naval strength. • U.S. Navy traditions prior to the Mexican-American War - Defensive. • Coastal defense. • Commerce raiding (Guerre de course). • The Union Navy • Superior naval strength built up throughout the war. • Royal Navy traditions and U.S. Navy traditions in the Mexican-American War - Offensive. • Establish control of sea lines of communication. • Blockade of enemy coast. • Power projection through amphibious assault.

18. Diplomacy

19. Diplomacy for the North • Keep Great Britain truly neutral • Reconcile the blockade of Southern ports with British freedom of trade. • Problem: Strong pro-Confederacy sentiment in important segments of British policy-making elites.

20. Diplomacy for the South • Win British recognition and naval aid. • Problems: • War is viewed as a rebellion - not a conflict between sovereign states. • Outcome of the war is uncertain. • Diplomatic inexperience and a weak State Department. • Fallacy of the "King Cotton" thesis. • Slavery • 1861- The “Trent Affair” • Union Navy violates neutral rights of British ship.

21. Outcome of Diplomacy • Ultimately a Failure • Naval Agent James Bulloch gets that aid - Commerce raiders (Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah) - Blockade Runners - Laird rams (clearly warships; blockade breakers) • Battle of Antietam (September 1862), Emancipation Proclamation, and Charles F. Adams’ protests end aid.

22. Strategy 19 June 1864

23. Union Naval Strategy • Part of General Winfield Scott’s master “Anaconda Plan” for victory. • Blockade the entire Confederate coast. • Capture Southern ports for coal, water, food: bombardment and amphibious assaults. • Control of Mississippi River. • Vital line of communication for Confederacy. • Cut off Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. • Riverine operations in western areas. • Combined Army-Navy operations against Confederate forces. • Union Army -- Capture Confederate capital at Richmond.

24. Confederate Naval Strategy • Part of overall strategy of “Attrition Warfare”. • Army will defend territory and threaten Washington. • Coastal defense: • Army forts and new naval weapons systems. • Blockade-running: • Attempt to continue commercial trade with Europe. • Operations hurt by Southerners’ desires for luxury goods. • Union blockade’s increasing effectiveness increases profits. • Commerce raiding: • Successful cruises divert Union ships from blockade duty. • Privateers (1861): • Declaration of Paris - 1856. • Unable to secure prize courts (sovereignty problems).

25. Naval Administration in the North • Union Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles • Rapid and massive ship-building program. • Only 42 ships at the beginning of the war. • 264 commissioned by December, 1861 • Convened Ironclad Board, August 1861, to combat Virginia

26. UnionSecretaryof theNavyGideon Welles

27. Naval Administration in the South • Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory • Confederacy issues letters of marquee to privateers. • Attempts to use new technology to gain advantage. • Conversion of older ships to armored “ironclads”. • Re-emergence of the ram as a naval weapon.

28. Naval Administration in the South (cont’d) • James Bulloch attempts to gain British aid. • Coordinates construction of warships in Great Britain. • Questions of legality for a neutral power (Great Britain) • Antietam (September 1862), Emancipation Proclamation, and Union protests end aid.

29. THE BATTLE OF THE MALLORYS ConfederateSecretaryof theNavyStephen Mallory MidshipmanFourth ClassPhilip Mallory

30. Naval Operations and Important Battles

31. Early Naval Operations • Norfolk Navy Yard • Largest naval base and arsenal in the United States. • Captured by Confederate forces on 21 April. • USS Merrimack scuttled by retreating Union forces. • Large number of guns captured by Confederates. • Union blockade of the Confederacy: • “Paper Blockade” needs to become real as soon as possible. • Forward bases required for an effective blockade. • Amphibious operations launched to seize bases in the South.

32. Battle of Port Royal • Attempt to establish first Union base on Confederate territory at Port Royal Sound -- 7 November 1861. • Commodore Stephen F. DuPont • Superior naval gunfire: • Directed against Confederate forts defending the Sound. • Confederates abandon forts. • Union soldiers and Marines land unopposed. • Other Union amphibious operations will resemble Port Royal operation.

33. USS Port Royal

34. Battle of Hampton Roads “The Monitor and the Merrimack”

35. CSS Virginia • USS Merrimack raised at Norfolk. • Iron armor and ram added by Confederate Navy. • Renamed Virginia and commanded by Franklin Buchanan. • Defeats conventional Union ships on 8 March 1862.

36. Franklin BuchananConfederate States NavyCommanding OfficerofCSS Virginiaat theBattle of Hampton Roads.

37. USS Monitor • Welles’ Ironclad Board • John Ericcson’s Monitor • Highly armored with low freeboard. • Single turret mounting two Dahlgren guns. • Moved to Norfolk area to engage Virginia. • Pounded each other for four hours • Tactical draw but a strategic Union victory - Confederate Navy unable to break the blockade of Norfolk.

39. USS Monitor

40. USS Monitor versus CSS Virginia 9 March 1862

41. John Ericcson “Monitor” design is improved and used to produce large numbers of ships for the Union Navy necessary for the assault of Confederate coasts and ports.

44. Three Theaters Great Inland Rivers Mississippi River Basin Vicksburg Mobile Bay Atlantic and Gulf Coasts Fort Fisher Blue Water CSS Alabama

45. Inland River Campaigns • Combined Union Army - Navy offensives • Goal: Control of the Mississippi River • Navy gunboats and transports used to support Army • Union forces advance down Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers to the Mississippi

46. Capture of New Orleans • Flag Officer David G. Farragut commanding • Commander David Dixon Porter • Tried to mortar bomb Fort Jackson and St. Philip into submission • knocked a hole in the wall • Farragut charged through and took the city • Congress makes him an Admiral

47. Mortar Boats

48. Vicksburg the big obstacle to dominance of the Mississippi Porter ferried Grant’s troops across to the east bank of the river, south of the fort Grant takes the fort from the rear Surrender on 4 July 1863 Naval support: gunfire, troop transport, and logistical reinforcement Siege of Vicksburg

49. Siege of Vicksburg

50. David Dixon Porter Siege of Vicksburg