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 .

Kindle Available

The CSS Arkansas: A Confederate Ironclad on Western Waters
While the Monitor and Merrimack are the most famous of the Civil War ironclads, the Confederacy had another ship in its flotilla that carried high hopes and a metal hull. The makeshift CSS Arkansas, completed by Lt. Isaac Newton Brown and manned by a mixed crew of volunteers, gave the South a surge of confidence when it launched in 1862.




Duel on the Roanoke - The True Story of the CSS Albemarle
A 158-foot Confederate ironclad ship built in a cornfield 90 miles up North Carolina's Roanoke River, under the direction of an 18-year-old boy, and the deadly cat-and-mouse game between the two opposing captains.



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Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama
In July 1862, the Confederate captain Raphael Semmes received orders to report to Liverpool, where he would take command of a secret new British-built steam warship.





Ironclad Down: USS Merrimack-CSS Virginia from Design to Destruction
A treasure trove of detailed information about one of history s most famous vessels. Describing Stephen Russell Mallory, John Mercer Brooke, John Luke Porter, et al.--who conceived, designed and built one of the world's first ironclads

Confederate Ironclad Merrimac, c.1862
24 in. x 18 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed Mounted

Monitor 21" Civil War Ship
Wood Model Fully Assembled

• Dimensions 21" Long x 5" Wide x 3" High
• Meticulously painted to the actual Monitor
• Museum quality model. Fully assembled and ready to display.
• The model rests perfectly on a polished marble base and 4 arched dolphins
• Built with rare, high quality rosewood.

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Reign of Iron: The Story of the First Battling Ironclads, the Monitor and the Merrimack
The first ironclad ships to fight each other, the Monitor and the Virginia (Merrimack), were the unique products of American design genius





Kindle Available

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

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

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

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.