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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.75
EAN: 9780785816775
ISBN: 0785816771
Label: Castle Books
Manufacturer: Castle Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 260
Publication Date: May 25, 2005
Publisher: Castle Books
Sales Rank: 392785
Studio: Castle Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
A new kind of war
In 1861 the Confederacy was protected on its flank by the Mississippi River. And the Mississippi was protected by a devil's gauntlet of Rebel fortresses and shore batteries, preventing the Union from sending troops and supplies up and down the river. With Grant determined to strike a land blow through Vicksburg, the Mississippi had to be won. To achieve its goal, the Union forces unleashed a deadly new breed of fighting ships, and a desperate Confederacy answered back.
For a year and a half the Mississippi and its tributaries and bayous ran with blood, as ironclads and wooden-hulled vessels clashed in a maelstrom shot through with cannon, mortar, and gunfire from the shore. A meeting of raw human courage with advancing naval technology, the battles of the Mississippi, from the Gulf of Mexico to Vicksburg, were some of the fiercest--and least known--in American naval history, yet some of the most crucial of the Civil War. Now Jack D. Coombe tells the thrilling story of the men, the vessels, and the battles that would help decide the fate of a nation.
Amazon.com Review:
The squat river gunboats of the Civil War may have lacked the sleek majesty of oceangoing frigates, but undoubtedly they helped hammer home the North's victory as they successfully blasted their way up and down the Mississippi River. Jack D. Coombe presents the definitive account of these ironclad and wood-hulled warriors in the young country's western waterways, including the campaigns against Fort Donelson, New Orleans, and Vicksburg. The Union essentially built an inland navy, which pounded the Confederacy's heavily fortified towns and tried to dodge its mines. (Interesting piece of trivia: the Star of the West, the merchant ship attacked by Confederate batteries as it tried to reinforce Fort Sumter in January 1861 [the first hostile shots of the war], was later captured by Texans and converted into a rebel river steamboat.) Coombe argues that Federal control of the Mississippi made the South's defeat inevitable. His case is convincing, and his book is attractive--it includes dozens of black-and-white photos, plus several maps. It's one of the best naval histories of the Civil War available. --John J. Miller
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
When I first purchased this book, I thought it was going to be a detailed accurate picture of the ever important naval account of the Mississippi river campaign. I knew a little of the battles, but was looking for something more then individual books. However, this book was a disappointment in many ways.
First; it was very dry. Not a James McPherson intellectual scholarly dry, but an uninspiring dry where I had to fight to keep reading it to the end. I do read slowly and this made ... Read More
Rating: -
As a basic overview of the Mississippi River battles the book achieves its goal in my opinion. I think that this book would be better used if one has a wider knowledge of the war in general because he tends to mention some land battles offhand and without comment while those happening close to the rivers in question will give a little bit of information on them. Some folks have said that there is nothing new being presented that all the other sources have noted but, hey, its cheap and its a general ... Read More
Rating:  -
I have read 60-70 books on the Civil War. This one is awful. One wonders how long it was researched (1-2 weeks?) or why the publisher did not have it proof read. It is a simple attempt to capitalize on the current, renewed interest in the Civil War. Save your money.
Rating: -
Disappointing. Nothing new in it. Draggy reading. The whole thing was done much, much better by Fletcher Pratt in his 1956 "Civil War on Western Waters" (still turns up in used book stores, and well worth the search). There's no indication in Coombe's book that he was aware of Pratt's little masterpiece.
Rating: -
I have read 60-70 books on the Cival War. This one is awful. One wonders how long it was researched(1-2 weeks?)or why the publisher did not have it proof read. It is a simlpe attempt to capitalize on the current, renewed interest in the Cival War. Save your money.
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