DacotahA steam sloop, was launched 23 March 1859 by Norfolk Navy Yard and commissioned 1 May 1860, Commander W. Radford in command. Sailing from Norfolk 30 June 1860 Dacotah rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Hong Kong 8 January 1861 to join the East Indian Squadron. She cruised off China until returning to Hong Kong on 14 June. On 6 August she sailed for home and arrived at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, 21 November for 2 weeks of patrolling before arriving at New York 20 December. Out of commission from 31 December 1861 to 25 February 1862, Dacotah sailed on 9 March to join the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron. She served in the waters around Hampton Roads from 13 March to 14 September except for a cruise to New Orleans in May and June to carry messages to Flag Officer D. G. Parragut. Prom 19 July she was assigned to the James River Flotilla. She had several skirmishes with the Confederates including those in which a company of her sailors and marines, destroyed a Confederate battery of 11 guns at Harden's Bluff, Va., on 2 July, and one of 15 guns at Day's Point, Va., the next day. Ordered to Nassau 4 September 1862 to search for the Confederate privateers Alabama and Florida, she patrolled off the Bahamas until 1 November when she was sent to search further northward to Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. She joined the blockading forces off Wilmington, N.C., on 8 December and served there until 11 June 1863 when she stood out for Baltimore, Md., and repairs to her boilers. Returning to the blockade 15 September she was ordered into quarantine at New York the next month when several cases of smallpox were discovered on board. During a repair period at Portsmouth, N.H., she participated in the search for the captured steamer Chesapeake, turned raider, from 13 to 23 December. Decotah departed Portsmouth 28 January 1864 to rejoin the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron at Beaufort, N.C., serving' there until 2 August when she sailed for Boston Navy Yard and overhaul. Out of commission from 19 August 1864 to 29 May 1865 she cruised in the West Indies from 13 June 1865 until her arrival at Philadelphia Navy Yard 31 August. Dacotah put to sea from Philadelphia 27 January 1866 for a voyage to the Pacific, calling at Funchal, Maderia, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and after passing through the Straits of Magellan, at Valparaiso. Following duty off the coasts of South and Central America, Mexico, and California until 26 July 1869, Dacotah remained in an inactive status until sold 30 May 1873 at Mare Island Navy Yard. |
 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 |
 Civil War: Flags, Badges, c.1895 40 in. x 26 in. Buy at AllPosters.com Framed |
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 Civil War Musket Wood & Steel Frontier Rifle Designed After The Original Rifle  72 Piece Civil War Army Men Play Set 52mm Union and Confederate Figures, Bridge, Horses, Canon
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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 |
 History Channel Civil War Secret Missions There are about a half-dozen different small arms types, but the Henry is the best for rapid repeating fire and least reloading. The shotgun they give you is useless: you must aim spot-on to affect an enemy, so why not just use the rifle? Grenades are useful at times.  Civil War Model 1851 Naval Pistol |
Kindle Available The H. L. Hunley The Secret Hope of the Confederacy On the evening of February 17, 1864, the Confederacy H. L. Hunley sank the USS Housatonic and became the first submarine in world history to sink an enemy ship. Not until World War I "half a century later” would a submarine again accomplish such a feat. But also perishing that moonlit night, vanishing beneath the cold Atlantic waters off Charleston, South Carolina, was the Hunley and her entire crew of eight |
 Confederate Blockade Runner 1861-65 The blockade runners of the Civil War usually began life as regular fast steam-powered merchant ships. They were adapted for the high-speed dashes through the Union blockade which closed off all the major Southern ports, and for much of the war they brought much-needed food, clothing and weaponry to the Confederacy |
 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 |