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Strangling the Confederacy: Coastal Operations in the American Civil War
A selection of the Military Book Club
While the Civil War is mainly remembered for its epic battles between the Northern and Southern armies, the Union was simultaneously waging another campaign—dubbed “Anaconda”—that was gradually depriving the South of industry and commerce, thus rendering the exploits of its field armies moot. When an independent Dixie finally met the dustbin of history, it was the North’s coastal campaign, as much as the achievements of its main forces, that was primarily responsible.
Strangling the Confederacy examines the various naval actions and land incursions the Union waged from Virginia down the Atlantic Coast and through the Gulf of Mexico to methodically close down every Confederate port that could bring in weapons or supplies. The Rebels responded with fast ships—blockade runners—that tried to evade the Yankee fleets, while at the same time constructing formidable fortifications that could protect the ports themselves. While Union troopships floated offshore, able to strike anywhere, mobile Confederate forces were kept at hand near crucial points, albeit in smaller numbers, to resist Federal irruptions into their homeland.
In the final analysis, the Union’s Navy Board, a unique institution at the time, undertook the correct strategy. Its original decision to focus on ten seaports that had rail or water connections with the Confederate interior—from Norfolk to Charleston to Mobile to New Orleans—shows that the Navy Board understood the concept of decisive points. In a number of battles the Federals were able to leverage their superior technology, including steam power and rifled artillery, in a way that made the Confederate coastal defenses highly vulnerable, if not obsolete. On the other hand, when the Federals encountered Confederate resistance at close-quarters they often experienced difficulties, as in the failures at Fort Fisher, the debacle at Battery Wagner, the Battle of Olustee, and in other clashes.
What makes this book particularly unique is its use of modern military doctrine to assess and analyze the campaigns. Kevin Dougherty, an accomplished historian and former career Army officer, concludes that, without knowing it, the Navy Board did an excellent job at following modern strategic doctrine. While the multitude of small battles that flared along the Rebel coast throughout the Civil War have heretofore not been as well known as the more titanic inland battles, in a cumulative sense, Anaconda—the most prolonged of the Union campaigns—spelled doom for the Confederacy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Key Federals
The Key Confederates
The Blockade and the Navy Board
The Atlantic Campaign
Hatteras The Pattern is Formed
Port Royal The Triumph of the Plan
Fernandina and The Army is Overextended
Fort Rifled Artillery’s First Breach of Masonry
The Burnside Expedition
Roanoke Amphibious Proving Ground
New Expanded Logistical Impact of the Coastal War
Fort Final Victory of the Burnside Expedition
The Peninsula Campaign
The Peninsula A Failure in Cooperation
The Gulf Campaign
Ship Setting the Stage
New The Price of Unpreparedness
The Confederacy is Stretched Too Thin
A Federal Setback
Tougher Challenges
Too Strong from the Sea
Mobile Damn the Torpedoes
Fort The Final Chapter
The Coastal War and the Elements of Operational Design
Notes
Bibliography
Index
While the Civil War is mainly remembered for its epic battles between the Northern and Southern armies, the Union was simultaneously waging another campaign—dubbed “Anaconda”—that was gradually depriving the South of industry and commerce, thus rendering the exploits of its field armies moot. When an independent Dixie finally met the dustbin of history, it was the North’s coastal campaign, as much as the achievements of its main forces, that was primarily responsible.
Strangling the Confederacy examines the various naval actions and land incursions the Union waged from Virginia down the Atlantic Coast and through the Gulf of Mexico to methodically close down every Confederate port that could bring in weapons or supplies. The Rebels responded with fast ships—blockade runners—that tried to evade the Yankee fleets, while at the same time constructing formidable fortifications that could protect the ports themselves. While Union troopships floated offshore, able to strike anywhere, mobile Confederate forces were kept at hand near crucial points, albeit in smaller numbers, to resist Federal irruptions into their homeland.
In the final analysis, the Union’s Navy Board, a unique institution at the time, undertook the correct strategy. Its original decision to focus on ten seaports that had rail or water connections with the Confederate interior—from Norfolk to Charleston to Mobile to New Orleans—shows that the Navy Board understood the concept of decisive points. In a number of battles the Federals were able to leverage their superior technology, including steam power and rifled artillery, in a way that made the Confederate coastal defenses highly vulnerable, if not obsolete. On the other hand, when the Federals encountered Confederate resistance at close-quarters they often experienced difficulties, as in the failures at Fort Fisher, the debacle at Battery Wagner, the Battle of Olustee, and in other clashes.
What makes this book particularly unique is its use of modern military doctrine to assess and analyze the campaigns. Kevin Dougherty, an accomplished historian and former career Army officer, concludes that, without knowing it, the Navy Board did an excellent job at following modern strategic doctrine. While the multitude of small battles that flared along the Rebel coast throughout the Civil War have heretofore not been as well known as the more titanic inland battles, in a cumulative sense, Anaconda—the most prolonged of the Union campaigns—spelled doom for the Confederacy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Key Federals
The Key Confederates
The Blockade and the Navy Board
The Atlantic Campaign
Hatteras The Pattern is Formed
Port Royal The Triumph of the Plan
Fernandina and The Army is Overextended
Fort Rifled Artillery’s First Breach of Masonry
The Burnside Expedition
Roanoke Amphibious Proving Ground
New Expanded Logistical Impact of the Coastal War
Fort Final Victory of the Burnside Expedition
The Peninsula Campaign
The Peninsula A Failure in Cooperation
The Gulf Campaign
Ship Setting the Stage
New The Price of Unpreparedness
The Confederacy is Stretched Too Thin
A Federal Setback
Tougher Challenges
Too Strong from the Sea
Mobile Damn the Torpedoes
Fort The Final Chapter
The Coastal War and the Elements of Operational Design
Notes
Bibliography
Index
240 pages, Hardcover
First published March 31, 2010
6 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Dougherty
28 books2 followersKevin Dougherty is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. Formerly a faculty member in the History Department at the University of Southern Mississippi, he is currently a Tactical Officer at Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 21, 2025
This was a great account of Lincoln's efforts to win the Civil War. Kevin Doughtery did an outstanding job of explaining how the evolution of U.S. joint service operations and planning during the war helped in logistically defeating the Confederacy. These operations took advantage of both the superior Federal Navy and the revolution of naval warfare wrought by steam power. While the Navy blockaded Southern ports, the Army both held terrain and severed railway communications. The result was that as Confederate logistics were weakened, Federal logistics were strengthened. Lincoln's Coastal War campaign was declared in April 1861 to blockade the Confederacy of informational, diplomatic, military, and economic resources needed to drive their war efforts.
Doughtery examined the four campaigns ranging from Galveston, Texas, to Norfolk, Virginia. These campaigns included the Atlantic, the Burnside, the Peninsula, and the Gulf. The logistics, battles, maneuverings, and planning efforts were examined and provided lots of information. The first ever submarine H.L. Hunley and its actions were briefly mentioned during the Charleston campaign. Lastly, Charleston was the lone example in this study of a Confederate fort that did not fall to joint Army-Navy attacks. Its strength was the result of the change of Confederate coastal defense strategy after the Port Royal and showed what may have been possible if the Confederates had been able to focus their efforts on a limited number of strategy points.
Overall this was well-written and did not overload any details to slow down the reading. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the coastal war and blockading efforts during the American Civil War. Thanks!
Doughtery examined the four campaigns ranging from Galveston, Texas, to Norfolk, Virginia. These campaigns included the Atlantic, the Burnside, the Peninsula, and the Gulf. The logistics, battles, maneuverings, and planning efforts were examined and provided lots of information. The first ever submarine H.L. Hunley and its actions were briefly mentioned during the Charleston campaign. Lastly, Charleston was the lone example in this study of a Confederate fort that did not fall to joint Army-Navy attacks. Its strength was the result of the change of Confederate coastal defense strategy after the Port Royal and showed what may have been possible if the Confederates had been able to focus their efforts on a limited number of strategy points.
Overall this was well-written and did not overload any details to slow down the reading. I would recommend this to anyone interested in the coastal war and blockading efforts during the American Civil War. Thanks!
Read
July 29, 2013This is a very good book that details events in a little-known campaign to enforce Linconln's blockade. It is very interesting for military historians, especially those who follow the US Civil War. other military historians might find it interesting, while people who are not into the details of military history might find it a tad boring.
June 1, 2025
Very nice overview of Union military operations on the coast of the Confederacy. Dougherty examines the development of the strategy, key moments in the campaign, its impact and assesses its successes and failures and the causes of those successes and failures. I appreciate that Dougherty provides an analysis to show how operations often lined up with modern military doctrine. It's not a lengthy book (197 pages of text) but provides a nice overview and analysis.
August 1, 2022
A great overview of the blockade and coastal battles of the ACW
October 1, 2023
It was a good read, but not my favorite. It was nice to read about the naval board.
July 13, 2024
Very brief book but still good overview of the subject, explaining why some operations succeeded but others failed.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews