CSS Sumter Cruise Comes to an End

After a successful cruise across the Atlantic, the Confederate cruiser CSS Sumter made port in Cadiz, Spain to fix a leaky hull in January...

CSS Sumter Crosses the Atlantic

Once Raphael Semmes and CSS Sumter escaped from the West Indies, they headed east across the Atlantic. Along the way, he captured a few mor...

CSS Sumter Escapes-Again

Commander James Palmer, commanding officer of the steam sloop USS Iroquois , received word in mid-November 1861 that the Confederate cruiser...

CSS Sumter Makes a Break For It

CSS Sumter in New Orleans It was realized early on by Confederate Secretary of the Navy Stephen Mallory that he would have to have actual...

Pictoral Envelopes-Early Confidence in the U.S. Navy

Early in the war, the general public in the Northern and Southern states believed that the war would be quick, easy, and painless.  One such...

Sketches of the USS Brooklyn, 18 May 1861

The images below were sketched by an Engineer Officer onboard the sloop-of-war USS Brooklyn on its way to aid the reinforcement of Fort Pic...