CIVIL WAR NEWS

Reviewer: Joseph Derie
Joseph Derie is a VMI graduate and a long time Civil War buff and military book reviewer. A retired Coast Guard officer and licensed officer of the Merchant Marine, he is a Certified Marine Investigator and marine surveyor.

 Review:
Mr. Lincoln’s Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron tells of the Civil War as fought by the U.S. Navy and various waterborne U.S. Army elements on the Western island waters from the early days of the war to the surrender of the last Confederate Naval forces at Shreveport on the Red River in June 1865.

Along the way the Navy battled high water, low water, heat, mosquitoes, the newly invented torpedo (we would call them mines today), guerillas, the Confederate Navy and Army, and the U.S .Army, which at first thought any vessels on the inland waters should be Army manned and commanded.

Historian and author Gary D. Joiner is an expert on the Red River steamboats and the Red River Campaign, in which the U..S Navy played a significant part (and almost lost a fleet), and has used that expertise to describe the Navy’s contributions to the Western campaigns.

After a slow start the Navy’s strategy and tactics were such that the Confederates would find that no body of water that could float a vessel would be safe from a visit by a Navy ironclad or its more lightly armored, and therefore more shallow draft sister, the tinclad.

The U.S. Army did have vessels on the water in those days (as a matter of fact, it still does), in this case army transports and hospital ships.

It also had Ellet’s Marine Brigade, the brainchild of a noted civil engineer. This was a specially built collection of rams, gunboats and transports with embarked “horse marines” (U.S. Army troops, not U.S. Marines) who would be let ashore to raise havoc behind the lines on unsuspecting Confederate forces.

This unit sometimes cooperated with the Navy, and sometimes cooperated with the Army, deeming itself a special circumstance, and was generally difficult to control.

The problem initially was that the U.S. Navy had traditionally been a blue water Navy. Its leadership thought of the high seas and coastal waters, where it had been successful in all its undertakings. A blockade of Southern ports and chasing blockade-runners was well understood. Going inland to tideless brown water with land on both beams and muddy shallows abounding was something else.

With the same spirit that later generations of Navy men would take with them to the Mekong Delta and their riverine patrol boats (PBRs), the Civil War sailors learned to adapt and improvise and work closely with the Army. The Army learned how a gunboat could provide an escort to vulnerable transports in contested territory or flank a Confederate force and provide support as a floating battery.

The vessels were either modified from existing steamboats or special designed for the unique requirements of river service. Technologically wide, they were mostly a naval architecture dead end, with no lessons learned and improved hull classes following the Civil War.

The book’s pictures of vessels like the USS Idianola, the USS Tyler and the Ellet ram fleet make a person wonder what would drive a man to go to war in a vessel like that, and what it was like to be afloat in one on a July day on the lower Mississippi, especially during battle.

Mr. Lincoln’s Brown Water Navy: The Mississippi Squadron is a well-written, well-researched account of a little described story. It will be of interest to Civil War Navy aficionados and those whose particular interest is the Western campaigns of the Civil War. It is highly recommended.

From Booklist
The riverine warfare on the Mississippi during the Civil War was an essential component of ultimate Union victory but frequently gets lost in general histories and even broader naval histories. The Mississippi system was vital for Southern commerce and also for penetrating into the Southern heartland. The Union began with two important advantages, for it possessed most of the shipbuilding and metallurgical industries, and its military leadership had keener eyes for strategy (Joiner gives Grant much well-deserved credit). Fighting on the heartland rivers continued after the capture of Vicksburg, but the Red River campaign was a sideshow, and Confederate guerrillas were no more than an annoyance. Clearly written and well researched, Joiner's sound study also offers a superior selection of photographs of the weird and wonderful craft that won the rivers for the Union. Green, Roland

The Mississippi Squadron was no mere junior partner to the U.S. army's efforts in the western theater during the Civil War. The navy was indispensable in a number of roles, and was a decisive factor in the success of many of the major Union campaigns. With Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy, Gary Joiner provides readers with a useful, up-to-date survey history of this celebrated naval organization.

As with many American Crisis Series volumes, Brown Water Navy successfully covers a broad swath of ground in a limited amount of space. From its inception as the Western Gunboat Flotilla to its complete dismantling shortly after war's end, Joiner chronicles all the major events and personalities involved in the history of the Mississippi Squadron. The author lauds the political and administrative capabilities of Navy Secretary Gideon Welles and his assistant Gustavus V. Fox, granting the pair the lion's share of credit for laying the groundwork for success on western waters. He also conveys to the reader a good sense of the strengths and weaknesses of the various gunboats, especially the famous Eads/Pook designs. All of the major naval actions* are summarized, and the command abilities of officers John Rodgers, Andrew Foote, Charles Ellet, David Porter, and Samuel Lee are evaluated with a depth appropriate to the book's scope. At a similar level, there is some discussion of naval tactics and strategy.

Brown Water Navy is a richly illustrated volume as well. Ten maps help trace the myriad of inland waterways traversed by men and machine. Numerous photographs (many unfamiliar to me) of the ships that served in the squadron are also included. It's really a great visual record of the wild array of ironclad, timberclad, tinclad, and ram designs utilized by the U.S. Navy, either as original construction or converted civilian vessels. The only thing missing are pictures of some of the more specialized members of the squadron, like pump boats.

While Joiner's study relies heavily on published sources, the detriment is not significant for a work that is essentially one of synthesis. Thus, those readers primarily seeking a broad introduction to the subject based on the latest research will be most rewarded. However, others already steeped in the literature of the war on western waters should also be satisfied with the level of detail found in Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy, its content serving as a valuable quick reference guide.

* = Battles and campaigns include - Belmont, Forts Henry & Donelson, Shiloh, New Madrid, Memphis, Ft. Pillow, New Orleans, Vicksburg, and Red River. Various smaller actions along the Mississippi, Cumberland, Tennessee, White, Arkansas, Yazoo, Red, Black, and Ouachita rivers are also covered.