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Publication: Naval War College Review
Publication Date: 2001
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The Union navy’s control of the American waters was a decisive element in the outcome of the Civil War. The Federal government’s naval superiority allowed it to project power along thousands of miles of coastline and rivers, subsist large armies in Virginia, and slowly strangle the southern economy by stymieing imports of European and northern manufactures and foodstuffs, as well as of exports of southern staples, primarily raw cotton. The infant Confederate government quickly established a naval organization. Jefferson Davis chose Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Navy. Mr. Mallory confronted an unenviable task. The seceding states possessed no vessels capable of fighting against the best frigates in the Federal navy, nor did those states possess most of the necessary raw materials and industries needed to build modern warships.