Lincoln accordingly proclaimed a blockade shortly after war began. Several months passed before Federal Squadrons could begin to enforce this blockade. Yet the Federal ring of ships became increasingly stronger as the war progressed. As a result, Federal forces were able to peck away at Southern coastal defenses.
In 1861 Union amphibious forces captured Fort Hatteras, N. C., and Port Royal, S. C. During the next year Roanoke Island, N. C., New Bern, N. C., Fort Pulaski, Ga., Fort Macon, N. C., New Orleans, La., and Pensacola, Fla., fell into Federal hands in that order. The Confederates rallied in 1863 and managed to hold their remaining coastal works, particularly Charleston, S. C.
Northern fleets continued to apply pressure all along the Southern coast. Two engagements marked the effectiveness of coastal attacks. On August 5, 1864, Admiral David Farragut—the greatest naval figure produced by the war—led his Federal squadron into mine-infested Mobile Bay with the battle cry: “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” Farragut so neutralized this last Confederate port on the Gulf of Mexico that its surrender was an anticlimax. Then, five months later, on January 15, 1865, Federal forces stormed and captured Fort Fisher, N. C., the last great Southern defense on the Atlantic coast.
David G. Farragut’s exploits in the Civil War made him the first man in American naval history elevated to the rank of full admiral.
Federal navies also saw much service on the Mississippi River. A wide assortment of Federal vessels campaigned against such Confederate strongholds as Memphis, Tenn., and Vicksburg, Miss. Some were little more than steamboats converted into warships by means of steel plating and deck guns. Others were sailing craft, with high decks and tall masts. One new type of gunboat made its appearance on the Mississippi: the steel ram. Designed by a civilian engineer, Charles Ellet, Jr., this little ship had great speed and maneuverability. Its principal weapon was a heavy prow, which was used to sink a ship by striking it broadside.
Ellet’s steam rams had no guns and little beauty, but by their speed they opened the Mississippi past Memphis for Federal movements.
The Confederacy was born without a navy. Secretary of the Navy Stephen R. Mallory was never able to develop a fleet that could contest the ever-increasing Federal navy. Lack of funds, lack of shipbuilding facilities, and effective Northern diplomacy overseas restricted Confederate efforts to privateers, to blockade-running, and for the most part, to undertakings by individual ships.
Most of the twenty Confederate raiders achieved a measure of fame and success before they were destroyed. For example, the C.S.S. Florida, under Capt. John Newland Maffitt, captured thirty-four ships before she herself was seized in Brazil in 1864. The English-built Alabama, commanded by Capt. Raphael Semmes, compiled a more remarkable record. In two years on the high seas, the Alabama took sixty-two prizes. On June 19, 1864, however, this Confederate vessel went to the bottom off the coast of France after an historic duel with the U.S.S. Kearsage. Captain James I. Waddell’s steam raider, the Shenandoah, roamed the Pacific Ocean in quest of Federal game. Her crew bagged forty ships, including eight seized two months after the war on land had ended. On November 6, 1865, the Shenandoah furled its Confederate colors in Liverpool, England.