In this Book
- The Best Station of Them All: The Savannah Squadron, 1861-1865
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: The University of Alabama Press
The Confederate Navy’s Savannah Squadron, its relationship with the people of Savannah, Georgia, and its role in the city’s economy
In this well-written and extensively researched narrative, Maurice Melton charts the history of the unit, the sailors (both white and black), the officers, their families, and their activities aboard ship and in port.
The Savannah Squadron worked, patrolled, and fought in the rivers and sounds along the Georgia coast. Though they saw little activity at sea, the unit did engage in naval assault, boarding, capture, and ironclad combat. The sailors finished the war as an infantry unit in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, fighting at Sayler’s Creek on the road to Appomattox.
Melton concentrates on navy life and the squadron’s place in wartime Savannah. The book reveals who the Confederate sailors were and what their material, social, and working lives were like.
Table of Contents
- Title Page, Copyright
- pp. 2-7
- List of Illustrations
- pp. ix-x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xiii
- 1. The Georgia Navy
- pp. 1-7
- 3. The Georgia Coast Guard
- pp. 13-20
- 5. “All We Want Is to Be Let Alone”
- pp. 30-46
- 6. Sailors
- pp. 47-58
- 7. The Bermuda Shows the Way
- pp. 59-61
- 8. A Future Navy
- pp. 62-67
- 9. Port Royal
- pp. 68-73
- 10. Enter the Fingal
- pp. 74-78
- 12. Bringing the Fingal Home
- pp. 88-92
- 14. The Enemy Outside
- pp. 104-115
- 15. Lee Goes, and Tattnall Follows
- pp. 116-125
- 16. The Ladies’ Ironclad Gunboat
- pp. 126-128
- 17. Pulaski Goes Up
- pp. 129-135
- 18. The Lull
- pp. 136-145
- 19. Ironclads for Savannah
- pp. 146-154
- 20. The Interim
- pp. 155-158
- 21. “The Poetry of the Profession Is Gone”
- pp. 159-170
- 22. Training and Trials
- pp. 171-175
- 23. Christmas, 1862
- pp. 176-182
- 24. The Promise of Ironclads
- pp. 183-197
- 25. The Revolving Door
- pp. 198-216
- 26. “With a Few Blows Crushed Out All Hope”
- pp. 217-230
- 27. The Aftermath
- pp. 231-250
- 28. Prisoners
- pp. 251-260
- 29. Fall, 1863
- pp. 261-265
- 30. The Great Christmas Riot
- pp. 266-275
- 31. Early 1864
- pp. 276-287
- 32. In the Doldrums
- pp. 288-292
- 33. The Florida Boys
- pp. 293-304
- 34. Blockaded
- pp. 305-309
- 35. The Water Witch
- pp. 310-329
- 36. After the Capture
- pp. 330-333
- 37. Securing the Prize
- pp. 334-342
- 38. The Newlyweds
- pp. 343-348
- 39. Waiting
- pp. 349-362
- 40. John Thomas Scharf, Midshipman
- pp. 363-368
- 41. Savannah Feels the Pressure
- pp. 369-380
- 42. Savannah Goes Up: The Squadron Shattered
- pp. 381-395
- 43. Wilmington
- pp. 396-402
- 44. Augusta
- pp. 403-409
- 46. The End
- pp. 418-423
- Bibliography
- pp. 505-516
Additional Information
Copyright
2012