Rebels and Yankees: Naval Battles of the Civil War [Hardcover]

Chester G. Hearn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Rebels & Yankees (Advantage) | Publication Date: August 2000

Naval Battles of the Civil War, written by acclaimed Civil War historian Chester G. Hearn, focuses on the maritime battles fought between the Confederate Rebels and the Union forces in waters off the eastern seaboard and the great rivers of the United States during the Civil War. Since very few books have been written on this subject, this volume provides a fascinating and vital portrayal of the one of the most important conflicts in United States history. Naval Battles of the Civil War is lavishly illustrated with rare contemporary photographs, detailed artworks, and explanatory maps, and the text is a wonderful blend of technical information, fast-flowing narrative, and informed commentary.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (CA); First edition. edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157145246X
• ISBN-13: 978-1571452467
• Product Dimensions: 13 x 10.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #517,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Reference, October 11, 2005

By 

Kyle P. Dalton - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rebels and Yankees: Naval Battles of the Civil War (Hardcover)

Chester G. Hearn is a pretty good author. Not the greatest, to be sure, but he writes his books knowledgably (see "Tracks in the Sea" for his greatest work, in my opinion). In "Naval Battles of the Civil War" he rounds out the series of "Rebels and Yankees" books by William C. Davis. Davis is a fantastic historian with excellent writing skills. Nonetheless, he is obviously biased when it comes to the naval aspect of the Civil War. In the "Rebels and Yankees" series there are several errors in the artistic representation of sailors as well as factual eroors in the pring itself. Davis considers the Navies of the Civil War to be inconsequential because they did not see as much combat as the Army, and thus does not put much effort into recording them.
Hearn, a naval historian, does a much better and much more thorough job than the usually adept Davis. There are a few small errors (a U.S. Marine button is erroneously declared a Naval officer's button), but "Naval Battles of the Civil War" is an otherwise fine and worthwhile book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost Forgotten, May 31, 2003

By 

A. J. Cherrington (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rebels and Yankees: Naval Battles of the Civil War (Hardcover)

Chester G Hearn's lavish book gives us an insight to the often waylaid naval battles of the American civil war.

The large format gives a good spread of illustrations as well as written history. Some of today's naval technology were first tried out in this conflict albeit in very primitive form.

The Submarine was first used with tragic consequenses as well as the dawn of the ironclad vessel with the now famous Monitor verses Virginia battle.

Tactics are well explained and a good map reference is provided.

So much media attention is given to the land battles of the war and it is good to see a nice big well laid out book that anyone can read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating account of naval warfare in the Civil War, June 10, 2008

By 

Mark Mccandless (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rebels and Yankees: Naval Battles of the Civil War (Hardcover)

The other reviews miss what I found wonderful about this book, he finds the fascinating factors in each battle and tells the story so well, you wonder how so many other Civil War books missed the inherent drama in the naval battles. In particular the battle of Memphis, where two U.S. fleets, one run by the U.S. Navy, one under a civilian who built a set of rams (and made an Army colonel) working for the Department of War, converged literally in a battle of ramming against the Confederate fleet, without co-ordinating with each other. This book inspired me to get the game Ironclads and play out some of the battles. The remarkable collection of pictures was simply an extra.