THE NAVY IN THE CIVIL WAR.
The work of the Navy in the Suppression of the Rebellion was certainly not less remarkable then that of the Army. The same forces which developed from our volunteers some of the finest bodies of soldiers in military history, were shown quite as wonderfully in the quick growth—almost creation—of a Navy, which was to cope, for the first time, with the problems of modern warfare. The facts that the Civil War was the first great conflict in which steam was the motive power of ships; that it was marked by the introduction of the ironclad; and that it saw, for the first time, the attempt to blockade such a vast length of hostile coast—will make it an epoch for the technical student everywhere. For Americans, whose traditions of powers at sea are among their strongest, this side of the four years struggle has an interest fully equal to the other—perhaps even with the added element of romance that always belongs to sea fighting.
But while the Army has been fortunate in the number and character of those who have contributed to its written history, the Navy has been comparatively without annalists. During a recent course of publications on the military operations of the war, the publishers were in constant receipt of letters pointing out this fact, and expressing the wish that a complete naval history of the four years might be written by competent hands. This testimony was hardly needed to suggest the want; but it was a strong encouragement to ask the co-operation of naval officers in supplying it. An effort made in this direction resulted in the cordial adoption and carrying out of plans by which Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons are enabled to publish a work of the highest authority and interest, covering this entire field, in the following three volumes, giving the whole narrative of Naval Operations from 1861 to 1865.
I.—The Blockade and the Cruisers.
By Professor J. Russell Soley, U.S. Navy.
II.—The Atlantic Coast.
By Rear-Admiral Daniel Ammen, U.S. Navy.
III.—The Gulf and Inland Waters.
By Commander A.T. Mahan, U.S. Navy.
The Volumes are uniform in size with the Series of "Campaigns of the Civil War," and contain maps and diagrams prepared under the direction of the authors.
Price per volume, $1.00.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers,
743 AND 745 Broadway, New York.