Archival images and biographical sketches of common sailors on both
sides of the conflict reveal the human side of the Civil War.
During the American Civil War, more than one hundred thousand men fought
on ships at sea or on one of America's great inland rivers. There were
no large-scale fleet engagements, yet the navies, particularly the Union
Navy, did much to define the character of the war and affect its length.
The first hostile shots roared from rebel artillery at Charleston
Harbor. Along the Mississippi River and other inland waterways across
the South, Union gunboats were often the first to arrive in deadly enemy
territory. In the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic seaboard,
blockaders in blue floated within earshot of gray garrisons that guarded
vital ports. And on the open seas, rebel raiders wreaked havoc on
civilian shipping.
In Faces of the Civil War Navies, renowned researcher and Civil War
photograph collector Ronald S. Coddington focuses his considerable
skills on the Union and Confederate navies. Using identifiable cartes de
visite of common sailors on both sides of the war, many of them never
before published, Coddington uncovers the personal histories of each
individual who looked into the eye of the primitive camera. These unique
narratives are drawn from military and pension records, letters,
diaries, period newspapers, and other primary sources. In addition to
presenting the personal stories of seventy-seven intrepid volunteers,
Coddington also focuses on the momentous naval events that ushered in an
era of ironclad ships and other technical innovations.
The fourth volume in Coddington's series on Civil War soldiers, this
microhistory will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Civil War,
social history, or photography. The narratives and photographs in Faces
of the Civil War Navies shed new light on a lesser-known part of our
American story. Taken collectively, these "snapshots" remind us that the
history of war is not merely a chronicle of campaigns won and lost, it
is the collective personal odysseys of thousands of individual life
stories.
