they had this statue sculpt and tried to raise enough money to finance it. they got some, but it was the daughters of the confederacy of new york that finished up paying for it. it's between north and south and that's what i think winnie tried to do and he edged it closer to that happening. >> did maggie ever get involved? >> maggie and her mother had an interesting relationship.

>> they could not get along for to go. she is very independent. she is used to winnie taking care of her. the different family dynamics and being very close later in life. thank you so much. this was great. >> next the author discusses the fall of a confederate navy in 1864. coming into that year, they are

at the peak of her sea power. the loss of two ships and the union and the 50-minute talk was hosted by the emerging civil war blog. >> it's a good fellow tollish boy. a lot of man love between the two of us. let me tell you. i love your book and they have been coming up to say thanks so much for having me. one good polish crisp deserves another. that's the way it works. once upon a time, he worked here at the spotsylvania military park, but has gone on to do amazing things. the highlights are many. he served as the supervise chor

is a state park for kentucky. currently he is with the general mcarthur memorial. he spents most of his days thinking about the pacific theater, but his heart will remain in 1861, 62, 63, 64. we are pleased to have him come here and marrying his two loves, talking about the confederate navy. >> thank you very much, chris. that's certainly one of the more interesting introductions having given a speech. it's actually both a great slot, but it carries of caveat that chris warmed up, but since i'm

the guy and i don't put you to sleep. what can i say? we will talk and i'm looking forward to being open to a discussion as well. we will be open for questions and things of that nature after we are done with the presentation here. both the union and confederacy knew that 1864 would be the decisive year. regardless of how the fighting went on land and sea, by the end of the year, the future course of the civil war would be decided. for the confederacy, every effort on land and sea bends towards the cause and victory and the navy achieved the peak strength and expected to do its part. what i want to talk about today is the results of those efforts. before we do that, and what they see is the setting. the confederate navy has three main missions.

the first is to support land operations. they want to destroy union commerce. they want to wage warfare on the north. the u.s. navy by contrast has the opposite missions. they tighten the blockate and maintain and tighten the blockade and protect commerce. five fronts if you will, the u.s. navies stand by ball to eyeball. james river, the north carolina sounds and charleston, south carolina, the gulf of mexico, specifically the eastern gulf of mexico and the atlantic. three of these fronts, three theaters will see decisive action during the year. charleston and the james remain effectively steal mated through the year. there will be engagements for local superiority, but for all

intents and purposes, that can prevents the navy from interfering with grants from cold harbor to petersburg in june of 1864. having just said all of that, i have to also make the following comment and following clarification. one cannot talk about the navy in 1864. without mentioning the submarine hunley and the sinking of the uss off charleston harbor. this was a technical achievement, however. not a strategic one. this statement that i just made inio way takes away from the bravery and skill of lieutenant dixon and his crew in their success. but the hunley was really like the right flyer. either further development or refinement. the next warship sunk by

submarine was not until 1914 when the british path finder was destroyed by the u 21 november 5th. next month is the centennial of it. i want to make one final note before we get into the story here. that is that the naval warfare and history is complex. it involves the intersection of technology and politics and a host of other factors. in the end, the great stories like thes i will share with you today, they turn on the human factory. they are talking about the fights in 1864. let us begin on the spring of season 64 and the sounds of north carolina. the confederates for the last 18 months in the cornfield have been building themselves.

they are finally ready. she is designed by the same man that designed the css virginia in 1862. he basically built a smaller river going version of the css virginia. her captain is a man named cook and he is anxious to go after the union. the union in 1862 captured the sounds of north carolina and recognized the outer banks and the sounds behind there will be outstanding holes and opportunities for confederate runners to go back and forth. that's why they went after him. the assaults the union army makes in 1862. what they have done over the course of 1862, they managed to plug all of the rivers that lead into the rivers that lead into the sounds.

there is one vulnerability that the federal situation had. the federal dispositions in the sounds of north carolina. no ocean going iron clad can get in. they all have too deep of a draft. they cannot get over and through the barrier islands into the sounds of north carolina. what is left to guard them? plug up the confederates? paddles made out of wood. that is a good prospect of success. now the confederate army realizes the experience of north carolina because the army in

virginia draws a lot of supplies from eastern north carolina. any force in eastern north carolina threatens that line of communication. they want to watch a counter offensive in the spring before the main fighting starts which is expected to start in may. the commander in the area. they coordinate the place he picks that is one of the largest with 7,000 men in plymouth. in mid-april, with about a division's worth about 10,000 men and will go down towards plymouth and attack. they will come out and on the 16th of april as the confederates approach, they will announce their presence with authority. the two union steamers, the miami and the south field will engage. the album rams the south field and almost sinks herself in the process and until the last minute they twist and pops back

up. back on to the surface. and the miami is going to withdraw. two days later, plymouth falls and surrendered in a combined army-navy attack by the confederates. all of a sudden the roanoke river is back open to traffic. a few weeks later, we will both go at it and they get the better of the fight going after these union double enders will explode one of the boilers and force the others to retreat as one of the commodores and officers said at the time. he said if she had disabled one or two more and the confederates came within a stono throw of ripping a hole in the north carolina senate.

note the date, may 5th, 1864. this is also the day they move towards bermuda. the command in north carolina has to be with drawn to fight and reinforce the confederates in virginia. it is loosened and not broken. they start off on a good note thanks to the album. as the calender turns from may to june, the focus for both sides shifts and shifts eastward to the atlantic theater. the confederates in 1862 and as early as 1861 developed a strategy they term as war against the economy.

war against commerce. we want to outfit the raiders. build them under assumed names, most of them under assumed names in london and liverpool and england. put them to sea and has a confederate crew and has all the necessary implements of war. they go capture union ships. most of these raiders in the confederacy will field the raiders over the course of war. most have confederate southern officers. most are europeans that sign on in the sharing of prizes that they capture and the money that is there by attained. as i mentioned, three of them achieve a market success and set

world records for commerce rating. the css alabama which we will talk about, the merchant ships off the coast of texas. 65 that sets a world record. with 38 from 1862 to 1864 and in 1864 to 65, the css shenandoah with 37. until the 20th century, those records will stand. i will tell you among americans, u.s. and confederate sailors, those records even today. the top scoring american submarine ace, dick o cain in world war ii. these records still stand among the american and confederate navies. this panics the north and drives up the northern war effort.

the union merchant men do and we may have all american crew and all the guy who is talked with a boston accent. that's a british flag. we are registered in london. you can't touch us. alabama, again, the most successful under the command of a captain and the alabama puts to sea in may of 1862 and she operates in the north atlantic and the caribbean and the south around the horn of africa and even as far as the southwest pacific where she takes a couple of ships around singapore as we know it today. 64 american merchant ships she takes over the course of her career. by early 1864, the alabama is

starting to fray at the edges. both in a literal and figurative sense. much like a car where you drive it and don't maintain it. the alabama hasn't seen a significant president in over two years. literally the seems are starting to break. the copper and the bottom of the ship is fouling which is slowing the ship. the sails and the ropes are getting more and the men are exhaust and he admits he is exhausted. they need a refit and need a rest. he chooses them and decides the best place to go is france. that poll iii has been supportive of the confederacy. he heads for the port at the edge of the peninsula and 70 years ago last month or in june was the scene of another american drama in the normandy camp. june 11th 1864.

he has chosen a long french navy port. all the ship yards there and places he could go are french navy. they are governments. the laws allow mutual ports and private ship yards to service belligerent ships. government ship yards are different. it requires a telegraph to the emperor himself for permission to dock the alabama and refit her. permission which is not forth coming. but the telegraph sends news via another chain as well. that is the chain of the united states consuls. the united states consul telegraphs the embassy and the embassy telegraphs western belgium because up there is an american. the command of a captain named john winslow.

the alabama is here and winslow immediately recalls his crew have been out on liberty and sets sail. on the 14th of june arrives off. the union navy after hunting for the alabama for many, many months has now found her. winslow comes in and gets provisions and figures out it is the alabama and goes out within the limit of three miles. now we come to the moment where the human element begins to play in. the human element is raphael simms. raphael sims is a man of great prize and passion and also a lightning rod for north and south. arguably the greatest southern naval hero. he is also the greatest villain in the north. they have denounced him as a pirate and threatened to be hanged. any number of things have

beenuraled against raphael simms. his actions carry great weight north and south. in this election year that he is well aware, he understands the political implications of his actions and what he might choose to do at this point. sims also has a great sense of personal honor and understands the reputation of the ship and very protective and the reputation of his ship. there is another thing as well. this is something that has been thrown at him. yeah, the alabama is good. you have eight guns against zero. even when one gun boat has three guns. he can do fine. simms is determined to blot that stain off of his record. he sends a message via the federal agent to the sarnlg. it said basically don't go

anywhere. i want to come out and fight you. i will be out there in 48 hours, but it takes four days. john winslow gets this message. i am not going anywhere. come and get me. they will go forth and engage in single combat. on the morning of 19th june 1864 at 9:00 in the morning, the css alabama weighs anchor and begins to set sail. she has a lot of eyes on her because word has reached paris and there have been trains from paris, 15,000 french men are on the bluff bluffs overlooking the harbor. if you have been today, they have the remains of german bunkers on them. among them by the way, that's

the painter who will later paint a great scene of the battle he is about to witness. they see her coming and as soon as the french escort her out to the three-mile limit of french water and that ship turns around and heads back as fast as she can. they lead the alabama further out about seven or miles out and all of a sudden john winslow turns and starts towards the confederate. now these two ships as i tell the story, these two ships are extremely evenly matched. alabama has nine guns and the sergeant has eight. his guns are heavier. 149 men and 163 men. speed, size, almost exactly a push. there is one advantage that there is some debate as to how much he knew about this at the time. he got a nasty education in the

next few minutes. john winslow had taken anchor chain and put him on the sides of his wooden ship and covered that chain with wooden planking. at a distance it looks normal. it has makeshift armor on it. as they come in showing the starboard or right side, the alabama shows her starboard side and these two ships go around and around chasing each other in consent rick circles. they open fire and one of the trends of the fight will be that the alabama will fire more often, but the shots will be wilder. they will fire more directly and more slowly, but also more surely. the alabama aim at the top of the ship and the rigging and the deck. john winslow orders to aim at the water line. aim at the water line.

aim low, boys. aim low. go around once. alabama fires three before the sarnlg fires first. they continue the fight. they go around a third time. during this third revolution, they shutter from stem to stern. they later find that a shell struck the post where the rutter connects with the ship. two years of storage and varying climates has withered. it doesn't explode. had it exploded, that would have been the day for the sarnlg. she would have been at the confederate's mercy. they go around a fifth or a 6th

time. they start to notice his ship is getting sluggish. the federal fire is telling. they go around a seventh time, when the head and they execute a turn and they got miles to go. they go around the seventh time and that was too hard and did as much damage to the ship and winslow gives chase and runs her down sand he is not getting awa. before they strike the alabama

colors. they have been out watching the fight. the dinner of the night before poll his family. three teenage boys and a mother and a father, should we go out the next day and watch the fight from the yacht? guess who won. the children outpoled the parents and they were out there and he said go save the survivors. help me rescue the men. they saved him and virtually all of his officers and takes them to them. so he survived to fight another day. the csn alabama miles off the coast of france. they were killed during the battle or drowned in the process. confederates at the union loses

three wounded in action. i don't know how many of you have been here, have raised one of the guns and it sits in the de la mer museum downtown. if you go up into the city cemetery, all you have to do is ask for them. the tomb of the alabama. they are buried in the city cemetery on a bluff overlooking the harsh issuer. they know about the american civil war. when the secretary of the navy sums it up, he said this. the loss of the alabama had all the manifestations of joy usher

the news of great national victories, showing that the calculating enemy fully oobd and appreciated the importance of her destruction. the northern political situation has any major land victory will over the course of that year. a violation of brazilian neutrality is an overzealous officer. at a stroke early this fall of 1864. the most successful commerce raider and the second most commerce raider have been wiped off the chess board. there is one more that would be put on the chess board which is the css shenandoah.

they sum up well the atlantic. they go to the bearing sea and take out the whaling fleet and then and the war is not going well. you may have to use your own discretion in 1865. in 1864, they will. they start in late 1864 and beyond the scope of our discussion here today. again our focus shifts. it's west and southward to the

gulf of mexico. specifically the eastern gulf coast, mobile, alabama and mobile bay. why is this place important. i will tell you. none less a figure that they consider it a critical point for the union to operate from. if you capture mobile you can use the rivers that flow into mobile and mobile bay to go into the heartland of the confederacy and cut them from the south. cut them from the underdog. he actually proposed this as part of the campaign plan for season 64 because of insufficient resources, the expedition has been postponed until late july, early august of 1864. thissy ises up one of the iconic naval battles of the entire civil war and the human factor here is really paramount and i

want to discuss specifically how the human factor manifests itself. it's in the two protagonists that will meet at mobile bay. i am referring to david g. fair get and admiral franklin buck buchanan. these two men in many ways are yin and yang. we must pause for a moment because these figures are tightened. not just to the navy and the civil war, but of the preu.s. navy also. a tennesseean who remained loyal and went south for reasons we will discuss here in a moment. he had been a seaman at sea since he took that at age 12. at age 14 he commanded a prize crew in 1814 serving with as adopted uncle. at age 14.

he is truly one of the great sailors this country has produced. he by the way is hispanic. he has spanish ancestry on his mother's side. a little known fact. most people have no idea. buck buchanan, the first superintendent of the naval academy in annapolis. he was one of the captains of the ships that perry took to tokyo bay in 1853 and 1854. he commanded them to be precise. the beginning of the war, he will be back up and personal-wise. calm, professional, good planner, good sense, calm leader, good sense of what needs to be done and a good sense of how to do it and when to act and not to act. plan and execute an operation. buchanan is more of a fiery, passionate and aggressive officer. a driver. buck buchanan starting in 1861

allows that passion and aggression to override the judgment from time to time. there have been twice where this happened and it cost him personally and some cases cost. maryland is about to seceed, but buchanan who is commanding the washington navy yard in the united states at the time and the united states navy. he resigns his commission anticipating they will seceed. when it doesn't, he writes to the navy department asking to be reinstated. we don't want any sunshine patriots. have a nice day. he becomes the first admiral and he becomes the first in the

united states navy. it goes to norfolk. norfolk if you speak tide water. the css virginia. they take the virginia out against the navy and hampton roads. and deals them one of the greatest defeats the navy suffered. the greatest defeat they will suffer for sure. late in the day as the uss congress is sinking before the css virginia, the iron clad starts to take incoming fire onshore at newport news point. buck buchanan decides the best to do is go on deck with a rifle and start shooting back. he sustains a leg wound and they have to put into norfolk and he is evacuated.

was that the appropriate response and the appropriate reaction for a commanding officer? i leave you to decide. he is sent to mobile and sent there to super intend the construction of the newest and most mod skpern most powerful iron clads of css tennessee. it takes about 16 months and he does a lot of aggressive and driving to get the css tennessee into the commission of spring of 1864. he has with him the css tennessee and three smaller gun boats. on the other hand, he is going into mobile bay with 18 ships. seven smaller gun boats. the other is the uss galina.

they have been enjoying lunch. this is the fleet composition here. now, you need to understand what's about to happen. you have to understand the geography of mobile bay. it's big, first of all. mobile sits at the top. imagine a half inflated balloon where it's narrow at the stem and fans out into sort of a semi circle or oval shape. that's mobile bay. at the bottom at the south end, there is a mile or a mile and a half wide channel and at the book ending that channel are two stone forts that were built in the 1830s. ft. gains, dell feign island, ft. morgan on the american mainland. across that channel, the confederates put torpedos in the

1864 parliaments. they have left only a small channel for blockate runners to run in and out of mobile bay. here's the plan. the army will land on the island. on the fourth of august which they do. the next day on the morning of the fifth, they will take his fleet and run the forts and with the support of the mobile bayside, a combined army-navy advance will reduce ft. gains and they can pinch off mobile bay. to do this, they have to defeat the css tennessee at some point and they know it will be a running fight. because of running under ft. morgan, they are not going to survive. he lashes them all to the side

so they can combine and get through faster and safer and less time under the confederate guns. 5:30 in the morning august 5th, 1864, the fleet turns north. the four iron clads are leading to the outside and then the line of gun boats. and said we don't want to you go first. also stay clear of the minds. they have craven. as he approaches the navigation boy, he steers too far to one side of the channel. at 6:47 in the morning, he hits a mine. it explodes.

two minutes with 119 men are at the bottom of mobile bay where they sleep today. craven has a little note and the randomness of death at sea, as he is exploding and the ship is listing, his pilot and he arrive at the food of the later at the same time. after you, pilot he said. the pilot gets out and he is at the bottom of the bay today. now watching the destruction in front of the fleet, the captain of the brooklyn immediately realizes if there is a mine there, there might be a mine here. instead of continuing full speed, he stops and he begins to reverse. the entire federal fleet just like a traffic back up begins to back up you should the guns of ft. morgan.

when i say under the guns, if we are the federal fleet, ft. morgan is spotsylvania courthouse. it's that close. the heavy naval guns is point blank range. they flay into these federal ships. this is the moment where the human factor and the leadership on the federal side makes the difference. he is in the rigging of the flag ship and lashed to his safety sees what is about to happen and cease the disaster not five minutes away. he calls down to the captain of the hartford from south carolina and his brother is a general. turn left and turn to the port and go around the wrecks and go around the brooklyn and get into mobile bay and signal the rest of the fleet to follow. but sir, the torpedos. here's the immortal word.

you know it's coming. damn, the torpedos. dreyton. four bells. he turns to the captain of the ship. full speed. these two ships acting in concert, their propellers move forward at great speed and the rest follows them. they go into the mine field through the mine field and in the mobile bay. as the men underneath in the kabouls of the ships as they pass through, they hear pop, pop, pop, pop. those are the detonators. they have been there about 18 months. none explode. they push into the bay and at that point gets into a running fight as buck buchanan comes in.

that will result in the bun boats being sunk, driven off or captured. buck buchanan back to the guns. the anchors fully expecting to have a few minutes to assess damage and repair and plot his next move. buck buchanan under the guns of ft. morgan has the advantages. he can steam west and block the retreat out of mobile bay and stay under the guns and force him to go after him both engaging the ft. and engaging the iron clad at the same time at great advantage to the confederacy. or he can just sit there and wait for him to do something and act as necessary. he has the advantage and the initiative. for the third time in the civil war, buck buchanan allows passion and aggression to override that judgment. his judgment. he puts the tennessee's helm

northward and goes after his fleet. one ship against 17. he can't believe it. he goes after him. it's a running melee. he started a fight and he could not win. after melee and bombarding and pounding and disabling or steering and block most of the ports and injuring buchanan and at 10:00 in the morning, the css tennessee strikes her colors and the battle is over. and the united states has been handed a great victory. what are the effects of this fighting? less than four hours worth of fighting south of mobile? within the next fort night, both fall to the union. and the last viable port for the

confederacy east of the mississippi river on the gulf coast, the last major port is now closed off. they will remain closed off for the rest of the war. there is and that is, is that fredericksburg native is the commander. commander maury of post of mobile. and he and 10,000 men are forced to sit in mobile for the rest of the war. almost completely the rest the war until they're forced out in the spring of 1865. guarding against any possible federal incursion north ward into the heart of the confederacy. these troops sit there and they could be badly needed. they are badly missed and badly needed on other battle fronts. all of these effects are a director indirect result to the fact that buck buchanan couldn't keep his head when he was under

the guns at fort morgan and put to the tennessee north ward against the fleet. once again, the a human factor making the difference. lieutenant william b. cushing. it has been a stalemate, the stalemate has continued because of lack of resources and lack of ground troops the con fed rates propose attacks into the sounds of north carolina. but always been cancelled. the albomoro is docked. it is a fleet and is tying up federal resources that could be used elsewhere. best plan is the one that cushing comes up with. give me a small skiff, about 40 feet with a steam engine.

i'll put a 12-pound dalgrin on it. put a long spar with an explosive at the end. i'll run up against her and blow her up. go for it. so he takes a pick force of 20 men. and on the night of 27 october 1864 goes upstream, the roanoke river, the night of 26th, 27th october 1867, goes past the federal picketts and is actually very close to doing plan b. if he goes that far and is not detected he will land on the dock, take the ship and sail away. he knows the crew berthed to shore. he notices they land at the dock and gets challenged and greets him with gunfire which is answered from ship and shore and so the skiff turns out, goes back into the river. and at this moment, cushing sees something he didn't count on. there had been log berms placed

to prevent just such an attack around the albomoro. but there is a little bit of space between the ship and lock. cushing goes back out into the stream about a hundred yards. at this point most officers would say, well we tried. we will try again some other time. but not cushing. cushing gambles and said they are probably good and slippery with muck. he tushs, pupushes, puts on ful goes up over the logs and in and bumps up against the side of the albomoro. very calmly standing in the proud just like the picture of george washington. you have probably all seen. crossing the delaware. standing in the prou, puts the spar underneath the armor and then pulls the explosive. the explosion is the chief engineer of the albomoro would later say, blew a hole big enough to drive a wagon into.

and in five minutes, the ccs albomor so at the bottom of the river. after an epic escape of 36 hours, manages to get back to the union fleet. 72 hours after the sinking, plymouth is back in federal hands. federals immediately attacked and armor navy expedition and have retaken plymouth and had retightened the blockade and had undone the confederate gains of the spring on the north carolina sound. what does all this mean? i pose this question to you. would the competitions of fort fisher have occurred or would the movement of john schofield's army to assist the carolina's campaign in 1865 through the north carolina sounds have occurred add the css albomoro been in tact? that is the impact of cushing's

success. in the span of 150 days, june through october of 1864, confederate navy fought three decisive actions again the united states navy in the atlantic, specifically english channel. north carolina sounds and mobile bay. they've come out the loser on all three. and bit end of 1864 the confederacy has been effectively defeated. with no hope of recovery. and the sailors knew it. the final word on 1864's impact and impact of all of the operations we've discussed goes to confederate flag office every john mitchell who commands the officer of three attached ships at richmond who wrote this on january 4, 1865. the enemy with his large naval establishment and unlimited transportation has in all skpe dilgss against us appeared in such overwhelming force as to render a successful resistance by us utterly out of question.

as went the navy, so would the confederacy. a few months later. folks, thank you for your attention. if you have any questions, i'll be happy to answer them. thank you very much. >> when we were first soliciting topics for the symposium, chris is like oh, federal navy. for months i know he is just so eager for that topic so he could use the damn the torpedos line. he has been eagerly, like christmas and it happened today. we have time for just a couple questions. >> the first ship that went through mobile bay that was sunk was an ironclad. >> yes. the ironclad uss -- >> and then subsequent three went through and got through. >> the three other ironclads did. in fact they were a decisive factor in taking on the

tennessee. the tecumpcy, and he lot considerable other ships but the only federal ship sunk during the battle was the uss tucumpsa right at the start. >> thank you. >> let me ask you a question myself, then. a lot has been written both sides. i will just ask you to speculate, i suppose. but as the fortunes of the confederate navy began to det r deteriorate and you said that the soldiers knew it, seems like morale would be a pressing concern. you're away like other soldiers aren't. you are plugged into a ship, what is that like for naval that

know all hope is lost. >> the first type, the one you just referenced about being away from home and on the high seas, that's applies to the css shenandoah and others of her ilk. it was the hope that no matter what happens, we will do our part, is the sense i get from the shenandoah and her officers. the true con fed rates. the europeans that sign on are mostly for a pay check and to share in the profits of whatever prizes that they taken a whatever money they can collect from those prizes. but the officers say we will do our best to strike a blow at the yankees. however when they find out the war is over, morale plumets and actually, a neat leadership trick for him to get the shenandoah back from the pacific to the liverpool and keep it from