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Title: The Blockade: Runners and Raiders (Civil War) by Time-Life Editors, Time-Life Books ISBN: 0-8094-4708-8 Publisher: Time Life Pub. Date: May, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95

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Summary: Civil War Blockade Runners, Raiders and Ironclads
Comment: "The Blockade: Runners and Raiders" is the volume in the Time-Life Civil War series devoted to the part of General Winfield Scott's "Anaconda Plan" for strangling the Confederacy by using a coastal blockade while also winning control of the Mississippi River. Two of the chapters in this illustrated volume are devoted to the two more famous naval battles of the Civil War, the duel of ironclads off Hampton Roads between the C.S.S. Virginia (a.k.a. Merrimac) and the U.S.S. Monitor, and the end of the raiding career of the C.S.S. Alabama by another steam sloop, the U.S.S. Kearsarge off the shores of Cherbourg. It is not surprising that both naval battles were the subject of numerous paintings, some of which are reproduced "The Blockade."

The first chapter is devoted to "The Year of Makeshift Navies," detailing how Gideon Welles and Stephen R. Mallory, the Secretaries of the Navy for Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, had to deal with major problems of an out-dated Union Navy and a nonexistent Confederate one. This chapter includes an information chart of the Main Ship Types of the Civil War that gives you a sense of perspective on the difference between a Sailing Frigate like the U.S.S. Congress and a Double-Turret Monitor like the U.S.S. Onondaga. "Encounter at Hampton Roads" covers the birth of the ironclads as well as what happened to the Merrimac and the Monitor after they fought to a draw in the battle that ended the day of the wooden ships. "A Game of Hare and Hounds" focuses on the blockage runners, trying to get through to supply the Confederacy, while "Fighting the Secret War" focuses on the Confederacy's diplomatic dealings with Great Britain, which included the infamous "Trent" affair (I did my senior thesis in college on Charles Francis Adams as Ambassador to the Court of St. James) and the construction of the C.S.S. Alabama at Liverpool's Birkenhead shipyard. Although it talks about other Confederate raiders such as the Florida and the Shenandoah, "The Depredations of Captain Semmes" focuses primarily on the 75,000 mile journey of the Alabama.

In addition to the historic photographs from the Civil War, the most interesting illustrations in this volume are the wartime sketches of Doctor Charles Stedman, a Boston physician who served as a ship's surgeon during the war. My knowledge of naval engagements in the Civil War is pretty sketchy, consisting mostly of the two most famous battles, but I certainly learned a lot more about the sinking of the Alabama (One of my biggest regrets in life is that I never got a model of the U.S.S. Kearsarge. Sigh). One concern: If you leaf through these volumes as often as I do (with lots of help from my son), then you may well find that the pages come out of the binding; so be advised to be careful.

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