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Title: The Coastal War: Chesapeake Bay to Rio Grande by Peter M. Chaitin ISBN: 0-8094-4732-0 Publisher: Time-Life Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1984 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $29.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: The story of the naval battles of the Civil War continues
Comment: There are two volumes in the Time-Life series on The Civil War that are devoted to the naval aspects of the conflict. "The Blockade: Runners and Raiders" looks at the most famous naval engagements of the war, the first clash of the ironclads between the Monitor and the Merrimac, and the U.S.S. Kersearge hunting down the infamous raider C.S.S. Alabama. In "The Coastal War: Chesapeake Bay to Rio Grande" Peter M. Chaitin, who wrote the companion volume as well as "Brother Against Brother" in this series, details the Union struggle to dominate the shores of the Confederacy, which is highlighted by the Federal assault on New Orleans.

"The Coastal War" is divided into five chapters: (1) Invading the Inland Sea focuses on the amphibious assault on North Carolina's Roanoke Island; (2) The Fight for New Orleans is about Captain David Glasgow Farragut's assault on the daunting Confederate position at the key Louisiana port, where the Union fleet had to run the gauntlet between Fort St. Philip and Fort Jackson; (3) Stalemate in the Tidewater continues the assault on North Carolina coastal towns and the pivotal city of Goldsboro, which deteriorated into a desultory stalemate; (4) Charleston under the Gun tells of a high Federal priority, the capture of the South Carolina city where the Civil War began (this includes the failed assault of the black 54th Massachusetts on Fort Wagner that was the climax of the film "Glory" and the story of the experimental Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley); and (5) Battle on Two Coasts takes us to the summer of 1864 when the Federal navy had only two principal objectives left in the coastal war, the Confederates' last major ports, Fort Fisher on the entrance to the Cape Fear River and the port of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Mobile Bay on the Gulf Coast.

By the end of Chaitin's volume the coast war is over and from Virginia down to Florida and westward along the Gulf to the Missippii not a single important Confederate port remained open. Chaitin makes his case for how the stranglehold on the Confederate port ultimately impacted the outcome of the war, even if the Civil War was ultimately decided by inland battles between great armies. "The Coastal War" is richly illustrated with historic photographs, paintings, and illustrations, as well as contemporary shots of naval munitions and other objects. Taken together with "The Blockade," Chaitain has put together a concise yet comprehensive two volume look at the naval aspects of the Civil War and gets well beyond the pivotal first clash of the ironclads.

Rating: 3
Summary: Solid, easy-reading history of the coastal war
Comment: Time-Life always does a good job. The illustrations are excellent and the text is quite readable. It lacks somewhat in analysis and detail, but one could do a lot worse in terms of an overview of coastal and littoral operations in the Civil War.

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