Naval Role in the American Civil War
Three days after the bombardment of Fort Sumter, on April 15, 1861, Lincoln called for seventy-five thousand volunteers to enlist for three months. Soon after he called for additional forty-two thousand men to sign on for three years, and provided large increases in the army and navy budgets. With an unlimited budget for both army and navy, lack of planning in the North and poor resources in the South meant that the campaign at sea got off to a slow start. Also, valuable time was needed to build up navies from scratch. The Union Navy received an increase of eighteen thousand men, and in July, as it became obvious that this was not going to be a short campaign, Lincoln asked for additional four hundred thousand men for the army and navy. Once started, the South organized more quickly than the North as it established a navy after the first states had seceded. By August 1861 Stephen R. Mallory, the Confederate Secretary of the Navy had already contracted for several powerful vessels in the west. Here again the South was well in advance of the North. A few problems would arise for the south after a good start. Few Southern shipyards were of sufficient size, and plants for th
Transportation caused the South difficulties throughout the war. Such insistence was in 1861, when only a portion of the iron for ironclad Merrimack done by Tredegar Ironworks could be delivered because all of the railroads were in constant use by the army. This poor rail network in the South effected the amount of iron produced at the Tredegar Ironworks. Although this establishment could handle twenty-four thousand tons of iron only eight thousand tons could be delivered in a year. Poor transportation was not the only reason for this; the Union had made a point of occupying the parts of the South that produced most of the iron ore. On March 9, 1862 the first two ironclads would meet at Hampton Bay for the first battle of the Ironclads. On the morning of the ninth the Virginia set out to conquer the grounded Minnesota. As they approached they were surprised, as the huge vessel hide the Monitor. Finally at 8:06 a.m. the Virginia opened fire on the Monitor, which over-passed the vessel slamming into the Minnesota. For the next four hours the two vessels exchanged fire, from yards to a half mile away. None of the shots seemed to be effective for either side. As the tide went out to sea, the Virginia went as well. With a few last shots, the first battle of the ironclads was over. This couldn?t have came at a better time, as both of vessels were low on gunpowder. Many people believed that the Union won this battle, as it did protected the wooden cargo vessel it set out to do. Both ships went to port for repairs, but the Virginia had it worse, as it was at port for two months. Lincoln and the Navy Department were so impressed, Lincoln gave 13 million dollar to have 56 monitors built. The South also impressed gave two million dollars for the building of several ironclads.
Some common words found in the essay are:
City Boston, Charleston North, Navy Department, John Brooke, Tredegar Ironworks, South Norfolk, Monitor Monitor, Cape Hatteras, Monitor Finally, Sumter April, navy department, tredegar ironworks, iron plates, army navy, tons iron, confederates virginia, 1862 union, vessels built, battle ironclads, cargo vessel,
Approximate Word count = 2341
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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