Review: Steamboats, Chesapeake Bay, Oystermen, Civil War,
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 28, 2013
July 22, 2013A review by Anthony T. Riggio of Ken Rossignol's "Chesapeake 1850" (Steamboats & Oyster Wars: The News Reader)I purchased this book on Kindle and having been somewhat familiar with the Chesapeake Bay and being a charter member of the Chesapeake Bay, Bluefish and Beverage Society, circa 1981 thru 1995, a group of supervisors from FBIHQ who would fish two or three time a year from Maryland on a Charter boat and spend the day fishing and "beering".In any event, the title caught my attention and I thought it would be interesting to read about some of the history of the Chesapeake Bay. As I began to read the book, I was pleasantly surprised to see it dealt with issues on the Bay involving the Civil War, as this is one of my favorite parts of American History.The story involves a young boy named Ethan Douglas who effectively grows up on a steamboat operated by his grandpa. It deals with the history and issues involving maritime commerce and passenger transportation during the time before and after the Civil War. The story revolves around the adventures of the ten year old Ethan Douglas as he grows into a very a successful seafarer on the Chesapeake. He falls in love with the daughter of President Zachery Taylor. Being unfamiliar with the life of Taylor I had to search out the daughter of Taylor and who she actually married. I could not verify this point as an historical fact but this does not affect the overall historical accuracy's of the story.I totally loved the fact that Ethan was a newspaper reader for the passengers on board the steamboat. The times before and subsequent to the Civil War, newspaper articles are both entertaining and informative. This is an excellent book for anyone interested in these times and especially recommended for the young reader. It is a remarkable fun book to read and sets out a sort of story of growing success and successes of Ethan Douglas' siblings. I learned some things about the history of the Bay, namely the wars between Oystermen and how incredibly lawless they were.I gave this book a rating of five stars because it is both a fast and very informative historical read and the story of successes of a family.