Category Archives: Naval Matters

Rule, Britannia! rule the waves

Posted on January 26, 2013 by SUMPTER

The following Southern editorial questions why Great Britain was remaining neutral during the American Civil War because, if the American states had not broken up, the United States would have eventually overtaken Britain as the world’s leading maritime power. The … Continue reading →

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High and Dry in Jamaica

Posted on January 11, 2013 by SUMPTER

1863 has been quite a year so far for John Arnett, a ship’s mate in the Union navy from Seneca Falls, New York. On New Year’s Day his ship, the Westfield, was blown up to prevent capture by the Confederates … Continue reading →

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Putting Mouth Where Money Is

Posted on January 10, 2013 by SUMPTER

According to Wikipedia The three major tasks of the Confederate Navy during the whole of its existence were the protection of Southern harbors and coastlines from outside invasion, making the war costly for the United States by attacking U.S. merchant … Continue reading →

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Fireworks for the New Year

Posted on January 1, 2013 by SUMPTER

Why it’s good to keep your pilot on board ship. In the very early hours of 1863 a combined Confederate force under John Bankhead Magruder attacked the Union occupiers of Galveston, Texas. During the Battle of Galveston (or the Second … Continue reading →

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Purdy Promoted

Posted on November 29, 2012 by SUMPTER

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper in November 1862: Promoted. William B. Purdy, eldest son of A.S. Purdy, of this village, who enlisted in the Navy, as a marine, from the city of Hartford, Conn., where he has been … Continue reading →

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Hyde Parked – for good!

Posted on November 15, 2012 by SUMPTER

Civil War Interactive used to have a great paragraph about 150 years ago today – the gadget loving President Lincoln visited the Washington Navy Yard with Secretaries Seward and Chase to watch Captain John A.B. Dahlgren test a device called … Continue reading →

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Battling the Blockade … and Yellow Fever

Posted on October 8, 2012 by SUMPTER

It’s month old news but a fresh source of Confederate pride for the Dispatch editors. From the Richmond Daily Dispatch October 8, 1862: Brilliant Naval exploit. We doubt whether the late exploit of the Confederate shipsteamer Florida, in running the … Continue reading →

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Pursuing coy maidens

Posted on September 13, 2012 by SUMPTER

150 years ago this month the CSS Alabama, commissioned on August 24, 1862 as a commerce raider and commanded by Raphael Semmes, began its career by capturing Yankee whaling ships around the Azores. The captured ships were burned after securing … Continue reading →

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