Navy Birthday and October Updates

Today marks the 236th birthday of the United States Navy. Revolutionary War hero and first President George Washington said it best when describing the needs of a Navy for the United States, past and present: "Without a decisive naval force, we can do nothing definitive." For more information on the 236th birthday of the United States Navy, please see these resource at the Naval History and Heritage Command website.

Tons of activity about the Civil War Navy on the interwebs. Of course, this week marks the beginning of Mason and Slidell's overseas assignment, ultimately leading to the infamous Trent Affair with Charles Wilkes. You can read a previous post about the Trent Affair HERE, or go to CivilWarHome.


USS Richmond near Baton Rouge, LA

 "My Knees Knocked Together:" Civil War Visions Blog
Around the blogosphere, an interesting tidbit popped up on the Civil War Visions blog about a sailor's first reaction to combat. The text, taken from United States Sanitary Commission Soldiers' Letters From Camp, Battlefield, and Person, describes Walton Grinnell's eyewitness account of an engagement between the USS Richmond and the rebel steamer William H. Webb along the Mississippi River. For the 17 year old sailor aboard the Nyack, there was much cause for excitement. He ends his entry by saying, "Although I have before been under fire of musketry, yet I can fancy nothing comparable with the whizzing and bursting of rifle-shell." A very interesting bit of primary source information to read. It tells much of what sailors experienced in what historian John Keegan called the "Face of Battle." The Richmond would later take part in the capture of New Orleans.

By far, the most interesting article about the Civil War navies put out in the last few days should be credited to the Washington Post Lifestyle section. The article, titled "Battle of Ball's Bluff revealed a truth: The Civil War was a river war," describes how the small engagement turned Union fiasco can explain the complex nature of rivers and warfare during the five year conflict. The author of the article summarized the battle best: "sketchy information, a river too deep to ford, not enough boats, and soldiers who couldn’t swim." The article goes on to explain the "River Fact," justifying the importance of riverine combat in the West "both strategically and tactically." Check it out. A very interesting piece for the collection of our collective understanding of the Civil War navies, as much of the focus in the past few months has remained on land.


LH Marines from the Galena explain how a 3-pounder cannon works to a NMC sailor. (Eng)

HRNM/Civil War Navy 150 at Navy Day 2011 (Portsmouth, VA)
Hampton Roads Naval Museum Education Director Lee Duckworth and CWN 150 Coordinator Matthew T. Eng had a booth at Tuesday's Navy Day 2011 Event at Navy Medical Center (Portsmouth, VA). Various living history groups were in attendance, including the Tidewater Marine Living History Association and Galena Marine Ships Company. You can see the photo stream on the CWN 150 Facebook page HERE.

Events Updated
A few events were uploaded to the Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial calendar. These events were submitted by "Seaman Rob" and the USS Ft. Henry Living History Association. The living history group is scheduled to appear at these Florida events. for more information, please go to http://www.ussforthenry.com/.

• 15 October: Seahorse Key Open House (Cedar Key, FL)
• 22-23 October: The Civil War in Jacksonville at Ft. Caroline National Monument (Jacksonville, FL)

LEGO USS Monitor Model at HRNM

As many of you know, the headquarters for the Civil War Navy Sesquicentennial is at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum.  As an educator at the museum itself, one of the tasks assigned to our staff is to hire summertime interns who work in coordination with the education department.  This summer, we seemed to have struck paydirt.  Our two HRNM interns, Samuel Nelson and Jordan Hock, have done a phenemonal job this summer with the creation and execution of various programs, including the debut of the first CWN 150 program Blockade: The Anaconda Plan (Available Soon).

One of the things they have taken up recently is kick-starting a new program here at HRNM, Brick by Brick: LEGO Shipbuilding.  How does this relate to the CWN 150?  One of the models that will be available to build for this program is the USS Monitor created by intern Samuel Nelson (shown here).

You can read the full blog post on the shipbuilding program on the HRNM Blog HERE.  

Calendar of Events Added

A Calendar of Events for Civil War 150 is now available on the blog for your viewing pleasure. As events increase, they will be included in both the blog posting and the calendar of events. Stay posted!