Dixie's Best Kept Secret

A study of the ocean operations of the Confederate Navy will introduce you to issues and context not considered in land operations. The global reach of the Confederate Navy, and its success in completely reducing the maritime merchant shipping of the United States of America is a story not often told. The daring of Confederate naval commanders easily match the audacity of Generals Stuart, Forrest, and Morgan.

But there are other stories; the exploitation of new technologies, the success of the South's blockade runners, and the complexities of international relations are all interesting aspects of the story. And there is the successful combined arms offensive operations to re-take the South's largest port west of the Mississippi, Galveston, which demonstrates Southern ingenuity. Lastly there are the stories of the ironclads, some operating as squadrons at Charleston, Mobile and Richmond.

The story of the men who developed naval strategy, and built and served in the Confederate States Navy, (C.S.N.) is as inspirational as that of their brothers who brought glory to the Confederacy on thousands of battlefields. Like the land campaigns, there are endless stories of heroism, ingenuity, imagination, leadership and sacrifice connected with the Confederate Navy. In addition, the South made every effort to use technologies in an attempt to even the odds on the world's oceans and America's rivers. The story demonstrates a southern will to meet the challenges of fighting an enemy superior in material resources, with innovation, guile, courage and determination.