The Gulf and Inland Waters; The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3.

by Alfred Thayer Mahan

This Book "The Gulf and Inland Waters; The Navy in the Civil War. Volume 3." has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Genres: History, Civil War

180 pages, Paperback

First published October 22, 2001

About the author

Alfred Thayer Mahan was a United States Navy flag officer, geostrategist, and historian, who has been called "the most important American strategist of the nineteenth century." His concept of "sea power" was based on the idea that countries with greater naval power will have greater worldwide impact; it was most famously presented in his 1890 book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783. The concept had an enormous influence in shaping the strategic thought of navies across the world, especially in the United States, Germany, Japan and Britain, ultimately causing the World War I naval arms race. His ideas still permeate the U.S. Navy Doctrine.

Reviews

[Bill V]

This is a tedious read. I believe this was written more for naval historians than everyday readers.

[Miles Garrett]

On the importance of the control of interior waters in the American Civil War.

[Mark Saha]

Vol 16 - The Gulf and Inland Waters
The Scribners History of the Civil War (1883)

This is the first book by Alfred T. Mahan, who went on to become one of the most influential naval strategists in history. His subsequent "The influence of Seapower on History" triggered an international dreadnaught arms race that did not end until Pearl Harbor showed that the battleship was helpless against carrier launched air power.

The present volume offers excellents account of the battle for the Mississippi, the blockade of the Texas Coast, and the Red River Campaign.

* * *

This book is part of the Scribners's series of 16 volumes on the Civil War on land and at sea, published in 1882-3. It took congress twenty years to finally allocate funds to have all official documents and battlefield communications assembled and sorted through. Americans could at last have an inside look at who actually said or did what, and when.

While that massive project was still underway, Scribners persuaded highly qualified people - most of them participants -- to write the individual volumes of this history in light of the new information. There is an immediacy to these brisk and readable accounts, making them a very good starting point for someone who wishes to study the conflict. After reading these, you can pick up any modern volume on any aspect of the war with good contextual grasp of how it fits into the overall picture.

Where these volumes fall short is maps, which are essential but inadequate because the publisher wanted to keep the price of each volume to one dollar – within reach of the ordinary person. The publisher advised readers to keep an atlas handy. Fortunately, today you can google “images” for good maps of almost anything under discussion. For the three naval volumes, you can also google images of the specific ships, or types of ships, under discussion.

[Koit]

Somehow it definitely felt that Mr Mahan's style got stronger as we approached the end of the war. A good book nevertheless!