USS Cumberland
Civil War Union Naval Ship

USS Cumberland (1843-1862)

USS Cumberland , a 1,726-ton sailing frigate, was built between 1825 and 1843 at the Boston Navy Yard. She was commissioned in November 1843 and served for the next few years in the Mediterranean. She was in the Home Squadron in 1846-48, sometimes as its flagship, and participated in Mexican War operations during this time. Cumberland made two more deployments to the Mediterranean in 1849-51 and in 1852-55.

In 1855-56, Cumberland was converted to a sloop of war, allowing her to carry a battery of heavier, though fewer, guns. She was flagship of the Africa Squadron in 1857-59 and was again flagship of the Home Squadron in 1860.

As the secession crisis turned warlike in the spring of 1861, Cumberland was at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, and was towed to safety when that facility was burned and abandoned on 20 April. Thereafter, she served on Civil War blockading duty off the Confederacy's Atlantic coast, taking part in, among other things, the capture of Forts Hatteras and Clark in late August 1861. Cumberland was anchored off Newport News, Virginia, on 8 March 1862, when the ironclad CSS Virginia came out to attack Federal warships in Hampton Roads. In a battle that decisively demonstrated the power of the armored steam-powered warships against the earlier wooden sailing types, Cumberland was rammed and sunk by the Virginia . Her own guns were unable to significantly hinder the Confederate ironclad, and she was incapable of sailing away from the encounter.

 

 

Colored lithograph by N. Currier, 1843
entitled: "U.S. Frigate Cumberland, 54 Guns. The flag ship of the Gulf Squadron, Com. Perry." .

CSS Virginia
Confederate Phoenix
The CSS Virginia

The CSS Virginia of the Confederate States Navy destroyed two of the most formidable warships in the U.S. Navy. Suddenly, with this event, every wooden warship in every navy in the world became totally obsolete






USS Monitor Fighting the CSS Merrimack, Battle of Hampton Broads, American Civil War, c.1862
USS Monitor Fighting the CSS Merrimack
Battle of Hampton Broads, American Civil War, c.1862

24 in. x 18 in.
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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

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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
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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.



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