Glory in the Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy

Samuel Bowater #1

by James L. Nelson

Then call us Rebels if you will we glory in the name, for bending under unjust laws and swearing faith to an unjust cause, we count as greater shame. -- Richmond Daily Dispatch, May 12, 1862 April 12, 1861. With one jerk of a lanyard, one shell arching into the sky, years of tension explode into civil war. And for those men who do not know in which direction their loyalty calls them, it is a time for decisions. Such a one is Lieutenant Samuel Bowater, an officer of the U.S. Navy and a native of Charleston, South Carolina. Hard-pressed to abandon the oath he swore to the United States, but unable to fight against his home state, Bowater accepts a commission in the nascent Confederate Navy, where captains who once strode the quarterdecks of the world's most powerful ships are now assuming command of paddle wheelers and towboats. Taking charge of the armed tugboat Cape Fear, and then the ironclad Yazoo River, Bowater and his men, against overwhelming odds, engage in the waterborne fight for Southern independence.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Civil War, Nautical, American Civil War, War, Military Fiction

420 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2003

About the author

James L. Nelson (1962-) is an American historical nautical novelist. He was born in Lewiston, Maine. In 1980, Nelson graduated from Lewiston High School. Nelson attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst for two years, and then transferred to UCLA, with the ambition of becoming a film director. Nelson, his wife, Lisa, and their daughter Betsy lived for two years in Steubenville, Ohio, while Lisa attended Franciscan University. They also have two boys, Nate and Jack. They now live in Harpswell, Maine, where Nelson continues to write full time.

Reviews

[Zena Ryder · Rating 4 out of 5]

All war is tragic and horrific. But how much more tragic it is to be on the losing side. And even more tragic to be fighting for a wrongheaded or immoral cause. In such a case, in no sense is a horrific death worth it. It is simply and sadly an agonizing waste of human life.

I think it’s important for us to try to understand the motivations, thought processes and emotions of those who do terrible things, and those who are willing to die for immoral causes. We delude ourselves if we think that they are so much different from ‘us’ — people who we think would do the right thing and never fight for something immoral.

Lincoln understood that being on the moral high ground was at least partly a matter of luck when he said that one’s attitude towards slavery was largely due to the accident of one’s birthplace. (I can’t find the exact source of this; I will update this review if I find it.) Stanley Milgram’s experiments show us that normal, regular people can, in the right circumstances, be persuaded to perform terrible actions. Novels like this help us understand that those on the wrong side of a moral debate are humans just like everyone else. If we dismiss them as monsters, we fail to understand them and we fail to learn from them. And learning is the way to progress.

This novel is very well written. The writing is straightforward and, in Bernard Cornwell’s word, “taut”. The characterization is excellent. And I love how you find yourself liking the people who are fighting for the Confederacy. You even find yourself rooting for them in a battle — because you’ve come to know them and appreciate that they are human beings, who love and are loved. They are not monsters; they are flawed human beings. The author succeeds in generating the uncomfortable mismatch between the affection that the reader feels towards these human beings and how the reader feels about the immoral cause of the Confederacy. He also does an exceptional job of portraying the incredible bravery and skill involved in naval warfare, and also the incredible horror and stupidity of it all.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The history and battle scenes were good but the characters didn't work for me. As a fan of the author's non-fiction 'The Reign of Iron' of the same Civil War period, I was disappointed.

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

James L. Nelson is one of "my" authors. By that I mean I'll read anything and everything he writes as it's sure to be a great read. I've now read 9 of his books and they have all been fantastic experiences; he's never let me down. I even read his web page and get fascinated by his maritime expertise and how he translates that into fiction and nonfiction alike. I have yet to try any of his nonfiction works but have no doubt that I will in due course. As a long-time lover of nautical fiction, I tend to compare everything to the Horatio Hornblower series. While that is certainly good, entertaining nautical fiction, and has transcended to the rank of "classic" literature, I enjoy Mr Nelson's novels more.

Glory in the Name is the first in Mr Nelson's "Bowater" series. This is the story of Lieutenant Samuel Bowater, US Navy, at the outbreak of the US Civil War. He reluctantly resigns his commission in order to fight on the side of the Confederacy. Unfortunately, the Southern cause is long on heart and desire but short on resources, and the Confederate Navy is a perfect example with very few ships and fewer naval officers. Bowater gains his first command of a modified tugboat, which he proceeds to mount guns upon, turning it into a sort of gunboat. This is an exciting time in naval warfare as the switch from sail to steam and to ironclads is happening fast. The resulting sea battles are strange events indeed. Bowater has several adventures, culminating in the Battle of New Orleans.

The story is a good one, with fleshed out characters, interesting personalities, and complicated relationships. The realtionship between Bowater and his chief engineer, for example, is a wonderful mix of two people who dislike, even despise each other, and yet have a profound respect for each other. The build up from a crew of strangers to one of comrades in arms is natural and fun to read. The action/battle sequences are fascinating in their historical accuracy but also really intense. It takes a great writer to write scenes from history where you already know the outcome, and yet as you're reading it, the result does not seem inevitable. I have read a lot about the Civil War, both fiction and nonfiction, and yet the naval parts are mostly reduced to the USS Monitor/CSS Virginia (ne Merrimack) battle and the Battle of New Orleans (from Farragut's point of view). But this novel really brought home the scale of such Civil War naval battles as well as the almost hopeless situation of the CS Navy, such as it was. This novel is a great example of how to place a really good human story against an historically accurate backdrop. We learn from the history without feeling lectured and we live the lives of the characters as they face great hardship and unbearable pain of tragic loss.

This is the first of a series, with Thieves of Mercy being the second, published in 2005. Since then Mr Nelson seems to have concentrated more on his nonfiction work and I wonder how long it might be before he returns to his fiction. Hopefully, not long. Meanwhile I will be looking to purchase more of his stuff.

[Peter Corrigan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was better then I expected. Picked it up recently and thought it might be interesting in view of the other book I'm reading on the history of the two Navies in the Civil War by James McPherson. But this book really brought home in a first-hand way the totally David v. Goliath nature of the contest at sea. If it was ever a real contest, though you have to admire the CSA determination to make it something of a fight, asymmetrical as it was in most respects. Reading this in conjunction with McPherson's excellent history verifies quite well the historical accuracy of the actions covered and the rapid changes in naval technology. The cast of characters are generally interesting and credible as well. I understand there is a sequel which I will definitely read.

[Bowdoin]

Reader in group - This summer, I've been introduced to the works of James Nelson, a maritime novelist and naval historian of the age of sail. I read first George Washington's Great Gamble (2010), his history of naval warfare in the American Revolution, and in particular the decisive Battle of the Capes; now I've finished his Civil War volume, Glory in the Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy. (Yes, Virginia, the Confederacy had a navy, although most of its squadrons are described as 'mosquito fleets,' consisting of captured vessels, converted merchantmen, and tugboats armed as gunboats for coastal and river defense.) Nelson is a son of Lewiston, Maine, and a mid-coast resident who uses local libraries for his obviously extensive research. In his pages of Acknowledgements, he thanks the Bowdoin College Library staff for their courtesy! His brief dust jacket biography makes it plain that Nelson is himself really a seafaring man, and his prose incorporates just enough nautical language to be flavorful and engaging, without being tiresomely obscure: lanyards and halyards, topgallants and sheets and shrouds. One enthralling narrative technique Nelson employs is to alternate chapters between land and sea. In George Washington's Great Gamble, the movements of the British and French fleets across the Atlantic and between the North American and West Indies stations are interspersed with episodes of land campaigns Clinton occupying New York, Cornwallis marching through the Carolinas, and Arnold and Simcoe raiding up the Virginia tidewater peninsulas. In Glory In the Name, we alternate between the nautical protagonist Samuel Bowater, a lieutenant who commands first the CSS Cape Fear, and a trio of Mississippi brothers who fight, with or without their regiment, at Manassas Junction. The parallel story lines make for cliff-hanging chapters, and it was a great temptation either to peek ahead at later pages, or to stay up way past my bedtime reading. Samuel Bowater is an estimable hero: a Charleston patrician with the artistic eye of an amateur painter, and the dour courage under fire of a naval officer long bred in the old traditions of the service more grit than Ashley Wilkes and not so loud as Rhett Butler! I knew I'd found a fictional friend when I read, as Bowater takes his seat in a railway carriage, There was little he hated more than idle talk foisted on him by some cretinous stranger, so he tried to make himself look as inhospitable as he could, to discourage anyone from sitting beside him. Bowater's eloquent lament over the arrival of steam engine mechanics with their loud, very hot, and dirty machinery in the graceful world of sailing ships may be James L. Nelson's own sentiment. The Civil War was a turning point in naval warfare as ironclads propelled by steam screws made winds and currents irrelevant. Before their noisy intrusion, an old admiral of long service might have turned his hand progressively to every task on shipboard since he began as a cabin boy. Complex engines made sailing masters dependent on an essentially alien class of mechanical technicians. Nelson began his publishing career with a couple of series of age-of-sail novels (including pirates!), and only later ventured to write history. I've enjoyed Glory in the Name, but I think his history is better. In Glory, the startling exploits of a female character, Wendy Atkins, strain at our credulity. (Even her name is a minor anachronism; Wendy was first coined by J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.) And a historical novelist faces subtle quandaries: Should an omniscient author in 2004, voicing the thoughts of his 1860s character, write baseball or base ball? Modern idiom, or period? I am eager to turn next to Nelson's other volumes of history: Benedict Arnold's Navy: the Ragtag Fleet that Lost the Battle of Lake Champlain But Won the American Revolution (2006), and George Washington's Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea(2008).

[Charles van Buren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weak ending, February 28, 2017

This review is from: Glory in the Name: A Novel of the Confederate Navy (Kindle Edition)

I like most of Mr. Nelson 's books but I just didn't get this one. After all of the trials and tribulations of the characters, they finally get their new Confederate ironclad in position to intervene in Farragut's attack on New Orleans. What happens? The ship fails and drifts down the Mississippi out of control, making the story pretty pointless. If you are going to invent a Confederate ironclad which never existed, why not invent a Union opponent as well?

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical fiction at its best, this book is set at the start of the historically accurate civil with the core characters and experiences being fiction but the surrounding people and events being true. Hearing stories of masses of people it is easy to become detatched, but by focusing on a small number of people and what happens to them in the major events the reader forms strong emotional attachments, allowing them to be taken on a rollercoaster of emotions and even rooting for the characters to win despite disagreeing with those politics and knowing they don't win the war. Based in part on real people, the character development is complex, believable and creates the perfect amount of tension between the protagonist and his counterparts, particularly the chief engineer. The action scenes are dramatic but believable and aided by detailed descriptions of the fleets. As well as learning about the politics, the battles, the death and destruction, we learn of the military advances and the changed naval warfare that results.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This an excellent historical novel. The emphasis is on naval tactics, strategy, seamanship, leadership, and personal relationship in the detailed environment of 1860s warfare - with a great ability to highlight technical naval warfare innovations which were to demonstrate that the age of sailing ships was past. Certainly not a book to glorify war or it's impact on the people who fight. Well developed characters.

[Ron McGuire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the best civil war novel I've read but not bad. I enjoyed the description of the fights on land as opposed to the fights on the water, meaning I enjoyed the Paine sons as opposed to the Paine father's portion of the story. Overall not bad.

[Jack Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The South Does Again

Very enjoyable read. Good story from start to finish. Would like to know if it was 100% fiction or based on history.
I enjoyed it.
JM

[WC Beaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any fiction book written about American history is good. Any fiction book about the years of American ignominy between the years 1860 and 1865 is particularly good. This book is better.

Author James L Nelson is familiar with the glorious tragedy of the American Civil War, specifically the war of the ironclads. This familiarity makes for a readable book in that most students of the Southern War for Independence have a meager knowledge of naval warfare. The story of the scrap between the Monitor and the Merrimac is about it.

Nelson goes beyond giving a memorable history of refurbished tugboats and frigates into monstrous ships of impenetrable iron which, on both sides, gave their all on the Mississippi. The folks involved are real people.

Master mechanic Hieronymous Taylor, aboard the revamped Yazoo River tugboat, outshines Captain Samuel Bowater, although Bowater wins the girl. Taylor's proficiency with engines, pistons, drive shafts, and boilers takes center stage with his mastery of the violin.

Supporting characters are alive and serve a purpose. Moses is a deck hand, a master coal shoveler possessed with a rich baritone voice. If "Old Man River" had been written, Moses would have opted for a role on a showboat.

Robley Paine, Sr., is memorable in that he takes the battle of the mighty river into his hands after losing his sons at Bull Run. His three sons eagerly pursue the cause of the South as do the motley collection of deck hands under the guidance of the resilient Taylor.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a superb book. The characters were engaging, the plot well paced, surprising at points, and enough of a variety of settings and events to keep your interest. The historical accuracy of the nature of the confederate navy and of the events made it even more interesting.

[Todd Stockslager · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good novel, the first of a series on the Confederate Navy, by Nelson, author of other sea-faring series about pirates and the Revolutionary War navies.

The second in the series (Thieves of Mercy: A Novel of the Civil War at Sea) is currently out, and the series must of necessity be short and painful, as the Confederacy was short-lived and its navy fared even worse. The glorious Lost Cause was nearly lost on the water before it even began.

Nelson, the author and not the God-like British naval hero, is a good writer. The story starts slowly, then rapidly picks up steam as Nelson establishes two separate story lines then weaves them expertly together. He uses a film-like trick of repeating scenes from separate points of view, but does so infrequently (only when it adds to the story) and well enough to make it useful and not distracting. In one instance, he describes an officer's death through the officer's eyes, including his well-rehearsed and sentimental last words. When the scene is repeated from his captain's point of view, the officer expires in the captain's arms after a few indistinct muttered sounds.

I'll definitely finish the series.

[Brady H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though a plethora of Civil War novels have been published, few focus on the naval side and fewer still on the Confederate Navy. I obtained this book shortly after it was published and read it with great interest, in no small part due to my involvement as a Civil War reenactor, specifically a naval reenactor. I found the book to be much more literary than your typical sea tale. The author is certainly a wordsmith of the highest order. The battle scenes were well done and the book appeared to be well researched. Some of the characters veered a bit into cardboard stereotypes, but not to the extreme. I found myself drawn more towards Taylor and less towards Bowater, perhaps because I too have a penchant for mischief! As there are precious few CW novel involving the seagoing pursuits, I heartily recommend this one.

[Liz Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering the book opens with the first shots of the Civil War, the first quarter or so dragged considerably, and I almost put it down several times. In the end however, I was very glad I didn't. Although plodding,the eventual character development had a big pay off, with Captain Samuel Bowater and his Chief Engineer Heironymous Taylor gaining my respect, admiration, and in Taylor's case, my curiosity. The female character, Wendy, was a woman of substance and grit,the settings were evocative and the history compelling. I plan to read the rest of the series in the future.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sections of this book I really enjoyed...others dragged for me. Nelson did paint a vivid picture of what it must have been like to be involved in the early civil war. Brothers going to war because their father expects them to and rushing off to the battle - Mothers terrified by the thought of their sons in danger - Officers in the US Navy who have to decide whether to honor their oaths to the government or the expectations of their families and neighbors.