USS Arizona (1863-1865).

The 950-ton iron side-wheel steamship Arizona was built at Wilmington, Delaware, in 1859 for commercial employment. She was seized by the Confederates at New Orleans in January 1862 and placed in service as a blockade runner. On 29 October 1862, while bearing the name Caroline and attempting to run into Mobile, Alabama, she was captured in the Gulf of Mexico by USS Montgomery .

Purchased by the U.S. Navy in January 1863, she was commissioned as USS Arizona in early March and sent back to the Gulf. On 23 March, while en route to her new station, she captured a blockade-running schooner. Upon joining the West Gulf Blockading Squadron, Arizona was assigned to the forces fighting to control the waters west of the lower Mississippi River. She participated in the successful engagement with CSS Queen of the West on 14 April 1863 and the capture of Fort Burton, Louisiana, six days later. During May she took part in operations on the Red, Black and Ouachita Rivers. After that, she supported the campaign that took Port Hudson in July, eliminating the final Confederate strong point on the Mississippi River.

On 8 September 1863, Arizona joined the gunboats Granite City , Sachem and Clifton in an attack on Sabine Pass, Texas, that resulted in a defeat for the Federal forces and the loss of Sachem and Clifton . The rest of her service was spent blockading the Texas coast with occasional operations on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. While steaming up the great river en route to New Orleans on 27 February 1865, USS Arizona was accidently destroyed by fire.

"Destruction of the 'Queen of the West' by Union Gun-Boats"
Line engraving published in "Harper's Weekly", 1863, depicting CSS Queen of the West being destroyed in Grand Lake, Louisiana, during an attack by USS Estrella (extreme left), Calhoun (extreme right) and Arizona (second from right), 14 April 1863

U.S. Navy gunboats Estrella , Calhoun , Arizona and Clifton (listed clockwise from lower right) engaging the Confederate gunboat J.A. Cotton off Butte a la Rose, Louisiana, on 20 April 1863. Confederate Fort Burton (shown at left) was captured on the same day.

Union Monitor 1861-65
The first seagoing ironclad was the USS Monitor, and its profile has made it one of the most easily recognised warships of all time. Following her inconclusive battle with the Confederate ironclad Virginia on March 9, 1862, the production of Union monitors was accelerated. By the end of the year a powerful squadron of monitor vessels protected the blockading squadrons off the Southern coastline, and were able to challenge Confederate control of her ports and estuaries





Confederate Submarines and Torpedo Vessels 1861-65
Interesting information and many excellent illustrations. It addresses the CSA David class torpedo boats and the Hunley (and its predecessors), as well as Union examples such as the Alligator and the Spuyten Duyvil

1860 Enfield Civil War Musketoon
This piece is a full-size non-firing reproduction of the rifle used in the Civil War. The body is made of European hardwood





Civil War Cannon
Collectible Models and childrens playsets
Miniature Collectible Civil War Cannon12 pound Civil War field cannon replica weapon

Sid Meier's Civil War Collection
Take command of either Confederate or Union troops and command them to attack from the trees, rally around the general, or do any number of other realistic military actions.



History Channel
Civil War A Nation Divided
Rally the troops and organize a counterattack -- Your strategic decision and talent as a commander will decide if the Union is preserved or if Dixie wins its independence

American Civil War Marines 1861-65
Marines wearing blue and grey fought in many dramatic actions afloat and ashore – ship-to-ship engagements, cutting-out expeditions, and coastal landings. This book offers a comprehensive summary of all such battles, illustrated with rare early photographs

Union River Ironclad 1861-65
At the start of the American Civil War, neither side had warships on the Mississippi River. In what would prove the vital naval campaign of the war, both sides fought for control of the river. While the Confederates relied on field fortifications and small gunboats, the Union built a series of revolutionary river ironclads

Kindle Available

Raising the Hunley: The Remarkable History and Recovery of the Lost Confederate Submarine
For more than a century the fate of the Hunley remained one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Civil War. Then, on August 8, 2000, with thousands of spectators crowding Charleston Harbor, the Hunley was raised from the bottom of the sea and towed ashore.

The Story of the H.L. Hunley
During the Civil War, Union forces blockade the port of Charleston so the Confederate army seeks a way to attrack the Yankee Ships. George Dixon is part of the group of men given the task of creating and building the "fish boat," a submarine. The H.L. Hunley ultimately sets out on its mission to sink Yankee ships, but fails to return, its whereabouts unknown.

Halls of Honor
The U.S. Navy Museum takes you on an informed and entertaining romp through one of North America s oldest and finest military museums. The museum has been in continuous operation at the Washington Navy Yard since the American Civil War

Raise The Alabama
She was 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

The Civil War - A Film by Ken Burns
Here is the saga of celebrated generals and ordinary soldiers, a heroic and transcendent president and a country that had to divide itself in two in order to become one

Civil War Journal
The Conflict Begins
These four programs from the History Channel series Civil War Journal cover critical aspects of the early days of the war.