num_pages: 273
description: First published in 1949 and now available for the first time in a paperback edition. H. Allen Gosnell's Guns on the Western Waters present a full accurate treatment of the important gunboat operations in the western theater of the Civil War or naval history. Gosnell provides descriptions of the major types of Union and Confederate gunboats with a brief but authoritative essay on the strategy and tactics of river warfare. He shows that the extremely heavy guns mounted on the shallow-draft vessels proved to be both terrible and effective weapons in certain aspects of the war. The guns played major roles for example in the Red River campaign the Vicksburg campaign and the attacks on Forts Henry and Donelson. Employing a concise graphic style Grosnell also draws on firsthand accounts to describe many of the dramatic episodes in which the boats figured. The book contains photographs of the principal gunboats and the soldiers who fought on them and maps illustrating the important river and bayou operations in the West.
language: English
title: Guns on the Western Waters: The Story of River Gunboats in the Civil War
publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr