CSS Sumter (1861-1862)CSS Sumter , a 437-ton bark-rigged screw steam cruiser, was built at Philadelphia as the merchant steamship Habana . Purchased by the Confederate Government at New Orleans in April 1861, she was converted to a cruiser and placed under the command of Raphael Semmes . Renamed Sumter , she was commissioned in early June 1861 and broke through the Federal blockade of the Mississippi river mouths late in the month. Early in July, the pioneering Confederate Navy commerce raider captured eight U.S. flag merchant ships in waters near Cuba, then moved to the South American coast where she took another pair. Two more merchantman fell to Sumter in September and October 1861. While coaling at Martinique in mid-November, she was blockaded by the Federal sloop of war Iroquois , but was able to escape to sea and resume her activities. Sumter captured another six ships from late November into January 1862, while cruising from the western hemisphere to European waters. Sumter then took refuge at Gibraltar. Unable to obtain needed repairs, she was laid up in April and remained inactive, watched through the year by a succession of U.S. Navy warships, among them the sloop of war Kearsarge and gunboat Chippewa . Semmes and many of her officers were reemployed in the new cruiser Alabama . CSS Sumter was sold to private owners in December 1862. Renamed Gibraltar , she worked as a blockade runner in 1863. The ship was reportedly lost in an English Channel storm in about 1867. "The Confederate cruiser 'Sumter', Captain Semmes, leaving New Orleans, June 18, 1861." "The Confederate privateer steamer Sumter, taking in coal at the Dutch island of Curacoa, in the Caribbean Sea." |
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 Kindle Available  Confederate Ironclad vs Union Ironclad: Hampton Roads 1862 The Ironclad was a revolutionary weapon of war. Although iron was used for protection in the Far East during the 16th century, it was the 19th century and the American Civil War that heralded the first modern armored self-propelled warships.  Confederate Ironclad 1861-65 Every aspect of Confederate ironclads is covered: design, construction, armor, armament, life on board, strategy, tactics, and actual combat actions. |
 Civil War: Flags, Badges, c.1895 40 in. x 26 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed |
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 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 |
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 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. |
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Battle of Shiloh Civil War Map First Manassas Civil War Pictures Civil War Cooking Gettysburg Civil War Ships |
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Sources:
U.S. National Park Service
U.S. Library of Congress
US Naval Archives
