Book Recommendations: Lower Seaboard Theater

[JeffBrooks]

Okay, I want to know everything that there is to know about the Lower Seaboard Theater - the land and sea operations against the coast of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina from the beginning of the war to the end. What books (including biographies) should I read?

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

One right off the top of my head that you should definitely have on your list is Stephen R. Wise's Gateway to Hell, which is hands-down the best treatment I've read of the Union campaigns against Charleston.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

Here's a fuller list of suggestions...

Browning, Robert M., Jr. Success Is All That Was Expected: The South Atlantic Blockading Squadron During the Civil War. Washington: Brassey's Inc., 2002. 359 pp.

Durham, Roger S. Guardian of Savannah: Fort McAllister, Georgia, in the Civil War and Beyond. Columbia SC: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 2008. 282 pp.

Hunter, Alvah F. and Symonds, Craig L. (ed.) Year on a Monitor and the Destruction of Fort Sumter, A. Columbia, S.C.: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1987. 208 pp.

Keeler, William F. and Daly, Robert W. (ed.) Aboard the USS Florida, 1863-65. Annapolis: US Naval Institute, 1968. 252 pp.

Marchand, John B. and Symonds, Craig L. (ed.) Charleston Blockade: The Journals of John B. Marchand, US Navy 1861-1862. Newport, R.I.: Naval War College, 1976. 287 pp.

Melton, Maurice. Best Station of Them All, The: The Savannah Squadron, 1861-1865. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: Univ. of Alabama Press, 2012. 423 pp.​

and the aforementioned

Wise, Stephen R. Gate of Hell: Campaign for Charleston, 1863. Columbia, S.C.: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1994. 312 pp.​

I'd also recommend this one, though it's not confined strictly to your intended area:

Roberts, William H. Now for the Contest: Coastal and Oceanic Naval Operations in the Civil War. Lincoln, Nebraska: Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2004. 223 pp.​

And bios of the principal Union admirals:

Weddle, Kevin J. Lincoln's Tragic Admiral: The Life of Samuel Francis Du Pont. Charlottesville, Va.: Univ. of Virginia Press, 2005. 269 pp.

Schneller, Robert J., Jr. Quest for Glory, A: A Biography of Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1995. 452 pp.​

One that might be a little hard to find, but interesting:

Carse, Robert. Department of the South: Hilton Head Island in the Civil War. Columbia, S.C.: State Printing Company, 1961. 150 pp.​

And one I haven't read yet:

Simmons, Rick. Defending South Carolina's Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River. Charleston, S.C.: History Press, 2009. 192 pp.​

 

[rickvox79]

As someone that lives around the Pensacola area I would recommend:

A lot of interesting information on the beginnings of the war and how both governments handled a Union fort (Pickens) still active deep in the South.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I like that one too, but I think Jeff's more interested in the Atlantic coast.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

I'm sure you'd need items on Secessionville and Olustee as well, but I'm not as familiar with them... I'm sure someone will chime in to remedy my lack there!

 

[DRW]

This is supposed to be good for Florida. Haven't read it yet http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813034191/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

This is supposed to be good for Florida. Haven't read it yet http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0813034191/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

I've heard good things about that one.

 

[JeffBrooks]

Thank you all for your very helpful replies.

 

[Mark F. Jenkins]

One to add... the book I'm currently reading, Bluejackets & Contrabands: African Americans and the Union Navy, by Barbara Brooks Tomblin (Univ. Press of Kentucky, 2009), appears to be principally about the situation along the Eastern Seaboard, particularly towards the southern side of the stretch. I'm not too far into it yet, but it's a good one so far.