num_pages: 437
description: Few books on the Civil War are likely to command more attention than Virgil Carrington Jones's THE CIVIL WAR AT SEA. Against a backdrop of the over-all war Mr. Jones presents some of the most thrilling sea adventures that our country has ever experienced. Authoritative and comprehensive, this account draws the reader into the heart of events and provides him with a vivid picture of the daring and unsuccessful attempts to provision Fort Sumter; the North's efforts to blockade 3,549 miles of coast with 90-odd vessels; the South's acquisition of the Norfolk Navy Yard and its enormous supplies, including the steam frigate Merrimack; "piracy" on the Potomac; the battles for Hatteras and Port Royal; Wilkes's seizure of Confederate commissioners Slidell and Mason on board H.M.S. Trent; Grant's capture of Fort Henry with the aid of Foote's naval force; and Union victories at Fort Donelson and Roanoke island. The reader will follow these exciting chapters from our past as though they were happening now,THE CIVIL WAR AT SEA is Volume 1 of a 3-volume narrative history of naval operations during the Civil War. the entire work, when completed, will be the definitive study of this romantic and only partly understood aspect of the war. The present volume covers the period from January, 1861, when Anderson and 128 men holed up in Fort Sumter, to March 1862, the time of the first engagement of the Merrimack and the Monitor and the beginnings of the modern U.S. Navy.
language: English
title: The Civil War at Sea, Volume One:  The Blockaders
publisher: Broadfoot Publishing Company