Warships stationed around southern states bottled up ports and choked trade. Navy, under the direction of the War Department, enacted a total blockade on the Confederacy early in the conflict. No matter how expensive, Confederate ports required protection and sea-lanes for outbound cotton and inbound war supplies were crucial to keep the economy running. As many governments have discovered, the money required to maintain a fleet of ships can be astounding.

The state of Virginia also recognized a need for naval defenses and organized the Virginia State Navy, which ended up as a squadron within the Confederate States Navy.Ĭartoon The Blockade on the “Connecticut Plan” which makes fun of makeshift Union ships trying to blockade a well-built Confederate steamer by Currier & Ives, 1862 (Image courtesy of the Library of Congress).īuilding a navy is no small task for any country. Formerly the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Naval Affairs for the United States, Mallory arrived in Richmond in June of 1861 and began assembling his navy for war (Coski 1996:1-2). The Provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America established a navy on Februand appointed Stephen Mallory as Secretary of the Navy.

Richmond and the Confederates States Navy

Civil war union navy uniform