Editor's Note

BOOK REVIEWS273 citing night action off New Berne, North Carolina. Chapter 9 uses W. A. Alexander's memoir about the ill-fated career of the submarine H. L. Hunley, while the final chapter is built around the reports of Charles E. Read, who in April 1865 attempted to run the CSS William H. Webb from the Red River past New Orleans and to the Gulf of Mexico. Though Campbell concentrates on the activities of key people, he does take time to discuss certain topics, such as the Brooke-Porter controversy over who should receive credit for the design of the Virginia. He also offers a nice summary of the recent discovery of the H. L. Hunley, and Campbell rightly names the Manassas as the war's first ironclad. The book, which relies on published sources, is the first ofthree to be penned by Campbell on the Confederate navy. It does not go into policy or strategy, nor does it fully discuss the Confederate Navy Department. These topics may come in the future books. Instead, Gray Thunder is, as the author states, a tale of "officers and men who knew beforehand the great odds that they were about to encounter" and who "conducted themselves with courage and dignity." Stephen R. Wise University of South Carolina-Beaufort Editor 's Note On page 93 ofthe March 1997 issue ofCivil War History, Thomas Ruffin's last name is misspelled. ...