USS Arkansas
Civil War Confederate Naval Ship

CSS Arkansas (1862-1862)

CSS Arkansas , an ironclad ram, was built at Memphis, Tennessee, in 1861-62. Incomplete when Union forces closed in on Memphis in May 1862, she was towed up the Yazoo River to Yazoo City, Mississippi, and finished as far as circumstances allowed. On 15 July 1862, her enterprising commanding officer, Lieutenant Isaac Newton Brown , CSN, took Arkansas down the Yazoo, where she encountered the U.S. gunboats Carondelet and Tyler and the ram Queen of the West , leaving the first two badly damaged. Continuing out into the Mississippi River, she boldly fought her way through the assembled Federal fleet and came to rest under the protection of the Confederate fortress at Vicksburg. While at Vicksburg on 22 July, Arkansas was attacked by the Queen of the West and ironclad Essex , but was not severely damaged. Though badly in need of repairs, she was next ordered to steam down the river to assist Confederate forces in an attack on Baton Rouge, Louisiana. While carrying out this mission on 6 August 1862, CSS Arkansas suffered a severe machinery breakdown during an engagement with the Essex , drifted ashore and was burned to prevent capture.

Sepia wash drawing by R.G. Skerrett, 1904.
Courtesy of the Navy Art Collection, Washington, DC

19th Century photograph of a sketch by S. Milliken, CSN

Line engraving after a drawing by J.O. Davidson, published in "Battles and Leaders of the Civil War", Volume III, page 573, depicting the ship fitting out off Yazoo City, Mississippi, in June-July 1862. Assisting in the work is the CSS Capitol .

The Arkansas ran the Gauntlet of the Whole Fleet
Artwork published in "Deeds of Valor", Volume II, page 31, by the Perrien-Keydel Company, Detroit, 1907.
It depicts CSS Arkansas during her passage through the Federal fleet above Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 15 July 1862


The Rebel Ram 'Arkansas' Running Through the Union Fleet off Vicksburg
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862, depicting the passage of CSS Arkansas through the Federal fleet above Vicksburg, Mississippi, on 15 July 1862



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DVD DVD Book Book

Quest for the Monitor
The first group of non-governmental divers to dive the Monitor. All diving operations were conducted under the close supervision of NOAA.This was beautifully photographed by veteran lensman Ric O'Donnell and narrated and written by Jackie Stone. The video shows a lot of action both on the deck of the dive boat as well as wonderfully clear underwater views of the Monitor
Raise the Alabama
Known as "the ghost ship." During the Civil War, the CSS Alabama sailed over 75,000 miles and captured more than 60 Union vessels. But her career came to an end in June of 1864 when she was sunk by the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Northern France, where the Alabama had gone for repairs.RAISE THE ALABAMA! descends into the murky depths of the English Channel with the marine archeology team led by the renowned Gordon Watts. 200 feet beneath these foreign waters, the legendary Confederate ship is surrendering her secrets, despite weather conditions that make it safe to dive only a few days a year. The program also documents the Alabama's extraordinary career, from her construction in Liverpool to the surprise attacks that made her the scourge of Union shipping and the valiant, 90-minute battle with the Kearsarge
War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
David Mindell has combined a sensitive and incisive reading of the documentary evidence with insightful historical analysis to illuminate not only his central theme, the experience of battle in an emerging machine age, but also the process of invention, negotiation, and politics that brought the Monitor into existence and the quite different process of narration, memory, and imagination that invested the ship and its exploits so heavily with symbolic meaning.
Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy
Ringle is among the first to examine the many aspects of sailors' lives during the American Civil War. He examines topics such as the recruiting efforts of the U.S. Navy, compensation and promotion, training, entertainment, and disease to name but a few. The extensive research and sheer fact that this is one of the first books to examine this aspect of CW naval history makes it a must for any American naval library

 

The Complete DVD History of U.S. Wars (1700-2004)
War has always been part of the American experience. From the time the first colonists set foot upon North America's shores, they were in conflict with the Native inhabitants. One hundred years later the colonies suddenly found themselves an extension of the conflicts in Europe. Less than a century later, the Revolutionary War freed the fledgling United States from its British overlords and European entanglements. Born and nurtured in war, America grew in strength and power until at the beginning of the 21st century it was the foremost military power in the world.

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
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US Naval Archives