Civil War Museum
Special Events

The Confederates had limited resources to counter Union ironclads blocking Southern harbors and rivers. Matthew Fontaine Maury and others developed torpedoes (mines) to block federal riverine movements. These weapons dramatically damaged several Union vessels. Captain John Worden’s USS Montauk struck a torpedo; yet his quick actions helped to save his ship enabling it to fight another day. Other US Navy monitors were not so fortunate. USS Tecumseh struck a torpedo during the Battle of Mobile Bay and sank in 90 seconds. 

John V. Quarstein, Director emeritus of the USS Monitor Center, presents Civil War tours and lectures across the country and is the author of 18 books, with three more on the way. He leads the Museum’s Civil War and Hampton Roads Lecture Series and is now writing blogs and presenting online content via YouTube Live.

The Union inland navy that became the Mississippi Squadron is one of the greatest, yet least studied aspects of the Civil War. Without it, however, the war in the West may not have been won, and the war in the East might have lasted much longer and perhaps ended differently.

The vessels they created were highly specialized craft which operated in the narrow confines of the Western rivers in places that could not otherwise receive fire support. Ironclads and gunboats protected army forces and convoyed much needed supplies to far-flung Federal forces. They patrolled thousands of miles of rivers and fought battles that were every bit as harrowing as land engagements yet inside iron monsters that created stifling heat with little ventilation. This talk is about the intrepid men who fought under these conditions and the highly improvised boats in which they fought. 

Gary Joiner grew up in Farmerville, La. As a small boy visiting Civil War battlefields, he was inspired to learn more about history and, while he did not know what a historian was at that time, he considered that to be his ultimate career goal. Following graduation from high school, he attended Louisiana Tech University, earning a bachelor’s degree with a double major in history and geography. He earned a master’s degree from the same institution, focusing on military history. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy Degree from St. Martin’s College, Lancaster, England. 

Joseph Bailey started the Civil War as the Captain of the 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. Bailey was appointed acting Engineer at New Orleans after Major General Benjamin Butler occupied that city. The real break for Joseph Bailey was when he accompanied General Nathaniel Banks on the 1864 Red River Campaign. The Red River Campaign was not successful and General Bank’s army was in serious trouble and needed the 10 river gunboats of Commander David Dixion Porter. However, the gun boats were stranded by low water at Alexandria and it appeared that the boats might be captured and the army surrendered. Bailey suggested a wing dam be built to raise the water level of the river enough to allow the gunboats to pass Alexandria. General Banks was skeptical but Commander Porter convinced him to listen to the plan. Bailey had done this in Wisconsin to get logs down rivers and was sure it would work. General Banks accepted the plan and put soldiers to work to construct the dam. The Bailey Dam worked as predicted and General Banks’ army and the gunboats were saved. 

Michael Goc is the author, editor of more than ninety books on Wisconsin historical  subjects, seven of which have received Awards of Merit (book of the year) from the Wisconsin Historical Society.  His work has appeared in numerous popular and scholarly publications. He has also worked as a Wisconsin history commentator for Wisconsin Public Radio and was Historical Consultant for the first seventeen years of the Hometown Wisconsin historical series for PBS-Wisconsin.

Drawing upon his study of a representative cohort of battle-hardened Union soldiers and sailors who lost right arm function, research into the multifaceted impact of war on survivors, and longtime work with modern-day combat veterans, psychiatrist and author Dr. Stephen A. Goldman will explore superb naval efforts within the Left-Armed Corps. He will then link the veterans’ uniformed service to their commitment to the war’s “unfinished work”, as they battled for equality for all Americans through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Lost Cause.  

Stephen A. Goldman, M.D., a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, has decades of experience in patient care, academia, public health, and medical product safety. The only physician to serve on the Abraham Lincoln Institute Board of Directors, he has also deeply studied the Civil War, Reconstruction, race, and the impact of war itself. His thought-provoking findings having been welcomed on television, radio, podcasts, and in other venues for many years, Dr. Goldman recently published One More War to Fight, a groundbreaking book on Union veterans’ landmark political activism, and their powerful warrior identity.