USS Southfield (1861-1864)

USS Southfield , a 750-ton side-wheel steam gunboat, was built in 1857 at Brooklyn, New York, as a civilian ferryboat. Purchased by the Navy and converted to a gunboat, she was commissioned in December 1861. Early in 1862, Southfield was sent to the North Carolina Sounds, where her relatively light draft and double-ended ferryboat configuration made her a valuable asset. She participated in the captures of Roanoke Island in February, New Bern in March and Beaufort in April.

After spending most of the rest of 1862 operating on Virginia's James and York Rivers and under repair, Southfield returned to North Carolina's internal waters in December. On the 10th of that month, she was badly damaged by Confederate forces attacking Plymouth, N.C. During March and April 1863, she helped sustain beseiged Federal troops at Washington, N.C. The Confederates again took the offensive in early 1864, involving Southfield in further combat actions. She was off Plymouth on 19 April, in company with USS Miami , when the new Confederate ironclad ram Albemarle attacked. During that action, Southfield was rammed and sunk.

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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 Civil War on Hatteras Island North Carolina
New light on the experiences of Civil War soldiers stationed on the Outer Banks. It follows the crucial maritime battles along the Outer Banks and the famous Burnsides Expedition. Aa fascinating history of how one of America's most treasured islands played a significant part in the Civil War

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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.

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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. His mission: to prey on Union commercial vessels and undermine the North's ability to continue the war

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
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The Blue and the Gray
The Complete Miniseries
The Civil War proved a backdrop for this 1982 miniseries. Complete and uncut three disc set. Two families divided by the War Between the States. A Southerner caught when he becomes a war correspondent for the Northern newspaper. He finds himself where history's in the making from the Battle of Bull Run to Abraham Lincoln's assassination

Blue Vs. Gray - Killing Fields
Relive the most vicious fighting of the Civil War, in which General Ulysses S. Grant forcibly reversed the tide of the conflict by paying with the blood of thousands. It was a desperate time for the Union