"Scientific American" as a source for ACW Naval matters

John Hartwell

Lt. Colonel
Forum Host
Joined
Aug 27, 2011
Location
Central Massachusetts
I don't know if our naval historians are accustomed to searching the pages of Scientific American for Civil War naval information, but the magazine seems to contain a great deal of useful material. Sci. Am. began publication in 1842, and throughout the ACW was issued as a weekly. I have been looking over issues from different years, and just about every one has one or more reports, letters, editorials, experiments, on ships, naval architecture, ship building, naval armament, even naval policy.

Just as an example, vol. 7, #18 (1 Nov, 1862) contains the following 5 articles:

A Confederate Scottish Steamer Sunk (the Iona)
English Methods of Bending Plates for Ships' Armor
Trials of English Iron Clad Ships
A Confederate Ram building in England
The Passaic -- a Formidable Vessel
(NOTE: the 29 November issue reported again on "Ericsson's Passaic," and on 13 Dec. on "Passaic Trials.")

Each issue also has a column of briefs, "Military and Naval Matters."

All issues are available online at Archive.org, just search "Scientific American + the year." I am yet to find a comprehensive "Table of Contents" for all the issues, so must go through each one page by page (16 pp. per issue) and note relevant articles.


A few other scattered articles:

15 Nov. 1862: Iron Ships vs Batteries
6 Dec, 1862: Present Condition of the Roanoke
20 Dec. 1862: Keokuk Battery
17 Jan. 1863: Appalling Naval Disaster: Loss of the Monitor
14 March 1863: Dunderberg Floating Battery
29 March 1863: Onondaga

There are many, many more.

There are also numerous articles on weapons, vehicles, military railroads, ordnance, and other war-related subjects.
 
Last edited:
I use SA a fair amount in my research, mostly because they were often the cutting edge in technological reporting of the day and I study a lot of experimental naval craft that often times was technologically cutting-edge (or appeared so at the time) (e.g., the Winans rotary driven steam cruiser, submarine guns, Confederate and Union torpedo boats- before and after the ACW, etc.). Great source of info. I would caution that SA reporters often relied upon second and third hand information, so it should be scrutinized for accuracy and not blindly parroted as gospel. Also, illustrations seem to have been made at times by second or third party description, or by conjecture, rather than by observation of the illustrator- a necessity of the times for sure, but one to be aware of.
Nice post. Thanks.
 
I don't know if our naval historians are accustomed to searching the pages of Scientific American for Civil War naval information, but the magazine seems to contain a great deal of useful material. Sci. Am. began publication in 1842, and throughout the ACW was issued as a weekly. I have been looking over issues from different years, and just about every one has one or more reports, letters, editorials, experiments, on ships, naval architecture, ship building, naval armament, even naval policy.

Just as an example, vol. 7, #18 (1 Nov, 1862) contains the following 5 articles:

A Confederate Scottish Steamer Sunk (the Iona)
English Methods of Bending Plates for Ships' Armor
Trials of English Iron Clad Ships
A Confederate Ram building in England
The Passaic -- a Formidable Vessel
(NOTE: the 29 November issue reported again on "Ericsson's Passaic," and on 13 Dec. on "Passaic Trials.")

Each issue also has a column of briefs, "Military and Naval Matters."

All issues are available online at Archive.org, just search "Scientific American + the year." I am yet to find a comprehensive "Table of Contents" for all the issues, so must go through each one page by page (16 pp. per issue) and note relevant articles.


A few other scattered articles:

15 Nov. 1862: Iron Ships vs Batteries
6 Dec, 1862: Present Condition of the Roanoke
20 Dec. 1862: Keokuk Battery
17 Jan. 1863: Appalling Naval Disaster: Loss of the Monitor
14 March 1863: Dunderberg Floating Battery
29 March 1863: Onondaga

There are many, many more.

There are also many articles on weapons, vehicles, military railroads, ordnance, and other war-related subjects.
Sounds like a treasure trove of information to me.
 
Back
Top