From Booklist
Editor Thomsen adds notably to his roster of historical anthologies with this selection of writings by naval participants in the Civil War that perforce delves into what for many readers will be relatively unknown territory, because knowledge of the naval side of the war is hardly general. The relatively famous Confederate raider Alabama is represented, of course, but by a junior officer's testimony rather than the celebrated Captain Semmes' account. A set of documents chronicles the ingenious, ill-fated Confederate submarine Hunley, and officers of both the Monitor and the Merrimac describe the ironclads' storied duel. Admiral David Porter, who did a great deal, claims to have done even more. Admiral David Farragut's letters bespeak a man of superior achievements and character, only enhancing his stature as the war's naval hero and one of the supreme sea fighters in American history. Other selections remind us that Dewey and Schley, in high command for the Spanish American War, were junior officers during the Civil War. A book that informs in its own right and encourages further reading. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Excerpted memoirs included are:
- Incidents and Anecdotes of the Cival War by Admiral Porter, including sections dealing with the political schism of the navy at the war's outbreak, as well as accounts of various naval campaigns around the gulf.
- Recollections of a Rebel Reefer by James Morris Morgan , the memoir of a midshipman's coming of age in the Confederate navy including his part in the retreat further south of CSA President Jefferson Davis and his family.
- Autobiography of George Dewey, Admiral of the Navy by Admiral George Dewey who, while a wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant, served under the legendary naval master and Lincoln's Admiral David Farragut.
- Two years on the Alabama by Arthur Sinclair
- CSS Shenandoah: The Memoirs of LT. Commanding James I. Waddell



About the Author
Brian M. Thomsen is a Tor Consulting editor who dropped out of pursuing a Ph.D. in English in favor of a career in publishing. He was one of the founding editors of Warner/Popular Library's Questar Science Fiction & Fantasy line, and the editor of C.J.Cherryh's Hugo Award winning novel Cyteen. He has also been a Hugo nominee, has served as a World Fantasy Award judge, and is the author of two novels and numerous short stories for such publishers as Tor, Daw, Ace, TSR, and others.

He was born in the borough of Brooklyn where he currently resides with his wife, Donna, and two talented cats named Sparky and Minx.

FROM THE PUBLISHER