On the evening of February 2; 1864; Confederate Commander John Taylor Wood led 250 sailors in two launches and twelve boats to capture the USS Underwriter; a side-wheel steam gunboat anchored on the Neuse River near New Bern; North Carolina. During the ensuing fifteen-minute battle; nine Union crewmen lost their lives; twenty were wounded; and twenty-six fell into enemy hands. Six Confederates were captured and several wounded as they stripped the vessel; set it ablaze; and blew it up while under fire from Union-held Fort Anderson. The thrilling story of USS Underwriter is one of many involving the numerous shipwrecks that occupy the waters of Civil War history. Many years in the making; W. Craig Gaines's Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks is the definitive account of more than 2;000 of these American Civil War--period sunken ships. From Alabama's USS Althea; a Union steam tug lost while removing a Confederate torpedo in the Blakely River; to Wisconsin's Berlin City; a Union side-wheel steamer stranded in Oshkosh; Gaines provides detailed information about each vessel; including its final location; type; dimensions; tonnage; crew size; armament; origin; registry (Union; Confederate; United States; or other country); casualties; circumstances of loss; salvage operations; and the sources of his findings. Organized alphabetically by geographical location (state; country; or body of water); the book also includes a number of maps providing the approximate locations of many of the wrecks -- ranging from the Americas to Europe; the Arctic Ocean; and the Indian Ocean. Also noted are more than forty shipwrecks whose locations are in question. Since the 1960s; the underwater access afforded by SCUBA gear has allowed divers; historians; treasure hunters; and archaeologists to discover and explore many of the American Civil War-related shipwrecks. In a remarkable feat of historical detective work; Gaines scoured countless sources -- from government and official records to sports diver and treasure-hunting magazines -- and cross-indexes his compilation by each vessel's various names and nicknames throughout its career.An essential reference work for Civil War scholars and buffs; archaeologists; divers; and aficionados of naval history; Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks revives and preserves for posterity the little-known stories of these intriguing historical artifacts.
#94446 in Books Louisiana State University Press 2000-10-01 2000-10-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.31 x .63 x 6.08l; .96 #File Name: 0807126349296 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Not really a matter of petticoats.By Gaillard T. HuntMarszalek has done impressive research and covers the Margaret Eaton episode thoroughly. An excellent work.Marszalek makes clear that the objection to Ms. Eaton was a puzzling combination of moral or social objection to her friendship with Eaton while she was still married to Timberlake and the political and social opposition to Jackson. The history of that opposition would not remember Margaret Eaton even in footnotes if Jackson had not made her a major focus of his time and energy for the first year or so of his administration. But he did; and she is rightly studied as a large factor in the divisions of that era.My one reservation: Marszalek cannot resist an occasional claim that the Margaret Eaton controversy sheds light on gender relations of that time and place. More accurate to say it obscures and confuses any understanding we might hope to have of gender relations. It is hard indeed to try to understand how much a married woman could be seen with a friend of her husband; or how society would react to a speedy remarriage after a husband's death; in that era or any other. The one case that got embroiled in a political and social revolution the size of the Jackson presidency is not likely to shed light on any such difficult questions.6 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Fine treatment of an old scandalBy John D. CofieldThis book is first a description of a political scandal in the 1820s and 1830s in which a President threw his administration into turmoil over a woman. Secondly; there is a fine treatment of the role women were expected to play in the 1800s and the reasons Margaret Eaton and RachelJackson did not fit in. It's a fine well written story; very worthwhile.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Wonderful Piece of Social HistoryBy AbakereinsGreat look into the culture of Andrew Jackson's America via the scandal involving Margaret Eaton and the effect it had on Jackson's political allies.
