Divided Waters: The Naval History of the Civil War

by Ivan Musicant

A naval history of the Civil War uses the words of the men who were there--taken from primary sources such as diaries, letters, and memoirs--to the tell the story from an often forgotten point of view.

Genres: History, Civil War, American Civil War, Naval History, Nautical, Military Fiction, Nonfiction

496 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Jerome Otte]

In Divided Waters , Ivan Musicant solidly presents Confederate and Union naval efforts, strategies, and technological developments during the Civil War. Organized by the various theaters of operations instead of chronologically, there are times where the events of one chapter seem odd in the context of the previous chapter, but this is a minor flaw. Probably the most interesting chapter is the all-too-short discussion of Union-Confederate conflicts on the high seas and around the world; it is very interesting to read about the delicate balancing acts that naval officers played in ports as far away as Brazil and France.

Musicant is at his best when describing battles and personalities. His accounts of the Alabama-Kearsarge engagement and the Battle of Mobile Bay are particularly vivid, and his characterizations of naval leaders are quite good. Musicant brings a good sense of how bloody and horrific some of the fighting was, especially between the Cumberland and the Merrimack.

Musicant also kind of belittles the Confederate navy. The Confederates placed in operation at one time or another more than 130 warships. Of this number approximately 25 were ironclads, not all "floating batteries," as he states, but rams as well. Although the ironclads did break down frequently (as did Union blockade vessels), they performed adequately in defense. He also understates some of the Confederates' accomplishments in naval construction. Despite problems in transporting raw materials to manufacturing facilities and a shortage of labor, their success was impressive. I doubt that the Confederacy ever had a real chance of beating the Union navy, but I feel that Musicant does not scrutinize this enough.

Another issue I had was the liberal use of hindsight that Musicant employed. He writes many times throughout the narrative that this disaster or that defeat could easily have been avoided if only this or that would have been done. It’s annoying, but not really that big of an issue.

I was also a little puzzled by the author's assertion that by the end of the war, the U.S. Navy had become "arguably the most powerful sea force in the world with a total of 670 ships." The number is impressive, but most of the ships were conversions from merchant ships, steamboats, ferries, etc. The ironclads were notoriously unseaworthy and often had to be towed.

But in all,a fantastic book.

[Mark Merritt]

This is a superior book in all regards. Great deeds by great men, deeds of derring-do and imbecility, steam punk engineering, high seas escapades, and of course, a wily outgunned and underarmed opponent who wouldn’t just give up. What’s not to like?

Really, get this book and read it. Amazing.

[Nick]

There are numerous one-volume naval histories of the American Civil War, but this one stands out. The author brings a level of Civil War geekery to the gruesomely proto-steampunk war on the water that other authors can't seem to muster. There's a deeper plumbing of sources and more telling anecdote here than elsewhere. Some passages needed stronger editing and a few more maps would have been welcome, but this is a highly worthwhile entry.

[Pete Smith]

Musicant has taken a vast and almost overwhelming subject (both Union and Confederate naval operations in the Civil war) and managed to create a delightful reading experience! With a simple but extremely effective organization (what. A great decision to broadly follow the timeline of the war but not to strictly stick to a chronological timeline) this book keeps giving the reader exciting stories, characters, and battles that keep the pages turning. Such great writing, and doesn’t bog down in minutiae. If anyone has even a passing interest in the naval actions during the Civil War, this book is a must!

[Mark Luongo]

Enjoyed it very much as I did a few of the author's other works.
One doesn't realize the back seat that the Navy took to the Army during the Civil War. But once it got itself in gear in succeeded in accomplishing its role in the "Anaconda Plan." Interesting in the number of officers who went South at the beginning of the war.

[Michael]

I have read so much history that I find myself looking for books that give a different point of view. I have read dozens of books on US Civil War history but have never read on written strictly on the naval side of the war. "Divided Waters" is just that. The author of the book covers every aspect of the naval war, but I was particularly interested in the river war as the rivers were the major routes of advance of the Federal forces in the west where the war was actually won. The author well covers the types of boats involved, the types of sailors who manned them, the weapons used and the campaigns they fought in. "Divided Waters" is an excellent book on an interesting subject and I enjoyed it immensely.

[Sean]

While the land battles of the Civil War have been covered in great detail, this is one of the few books to deal solely with the naval battles of the War. This book goes beyond the blockade that most know about from school to also delve into the battles that took place on the rivers during the war.

[Ari]

It's a good topic, explained well. Prose is energetic and graceful, but falls slightly short of beautiful. , though

[Manny]

Great read, especially for me and my interest in naval history.

[Jeff]

This book provided a lot of interesting details that I never knew - like the Union's decision to maintain unity of effort and use the Navy to maintain the blockade no matter what and the Confederate's naval presence in Europe as part of their effort to get financial, political, and logistical support. This book also did a good job of illustrating the impact new technologies can make in warfare (ironclads which were nearly unstoppable), the innovation in technology and tactics forced upon the combatants due to wartime demands, and the problems created by having the wrong mix of forces for the conflict at hand (e.g. too many "blue water" ships instead of the "brown water" ships needed to patrol close to shore and fight in rivers). Ultimately, I rated this book as a 3 rather than a 4 due to the writing. It wasn't bad. But the prose got a bit dense in places. An editor should have also done another pass for issues like detailing who a person was after he'd already been mentioned several times.