USS General Lyon
CSS De Soto
Confederate and Union Naval Ship

USS General Lyon

A 390-ton side-wheel river steamer, was built in 1860 at New Albany, Indiana, as the civilian ship De Soto . After serving as the Confederate gunboat De Soto in 1861-62, she was captured by Federal forces at Island Number Ten on 7 April 1862. The U.S. Army employed her as a transport until the U.S. Navy acquired her in September 1862. Changing her name from De Soto to General Lyon in October 1862, the Navy's Mississippi Squadron used her as a ordnance, stores and dispatch vessel during the remainder of the Civil War. General Lyon was decommissioned and sold in August 1865. Renamed Alabama as a civilian steamer, she burned on 1 April 1867 at Grand View, Louisiana.

CSS De Soto (1861-1862)

De Soto , a 390-ton side-wheel river steamer, was built at New Albany, Indiana, in 1860. In 1862, Confederate forces employed her as a gunboat on the Mississippi River. She was captured by the United States at Island Number Ten on 7 April 1862. In October 1862, after briefly serving as a U.S. Army transport, she became USS General Lyon .


12 Pound Howitzer on upper deck of the USS General Lyon

Line engraving, based on a sketch by Alexander Simplot, published in "Harper's Weekly", 1862
depicting ships sunk by the Confederates off their fortifications at Island Number 10, circa 7 April 1862.
As identified on the engraving, the ships are (from left to right): Champion , Yazoo , Grampus , John Simonds , Red Rover , Prince , Admiral , Ohio Belle , De Soto , Kanawha Valley , Winchester and Mars . Most of these vessels, some of which were not sunk, were later employed by the Union forces.

USS Monitor
War, Technology, and Experience aboard the USS Monitor
The experience of the men aboard the Monitor and their reactions to the thrills and dangers that accompanied the new machine. The invention surrounded men with iron and threatened their heroism, their self-image as warriors, even their lives




Kindle Available
Naval Strategies

Naval Strategies of the Civil War: Confederate Innovations and Federal Opportunism
Compare and contrast the strategies of the Southern Secretary of the Navy, Mallory, against his rival in the North, Welles. Mallory used technological innovation and the skill of individuals to bolster the South's seapower against the Union Navy's superior numbers



Engagement Between the Federal Steam-Sloop Kearsarge and the Confederate War-Steamer Alabama
Engagement Between the Federal Steam-Sloop Kearsarge
and the Confederate War-Steamer Alabama

24 in. x 18 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed   Mounted

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

Civil War Ships and Battles


Civil War Submarines

RAM Ships

Civil War Naval Timeline

American Civil War Exhibits

State Battle Maps

Civil War Summary

Civil War Timeline

Women in the Civil War

Battles by Campaign
Sid Meiers
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.


Nation Divided
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 Naval Book Titles
Civil War Marines
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 Ironclad
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

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 CSS Hunley
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.

Civil War History Documentary DVD Movie Titles
Halls of Honor
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
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
Civil War
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
Conflict Begins
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.

 

Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives


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