Free Downloads A Year On A Monitor And The Destruction Of Fort Sumter (Studies In Maritime History)
The riveting story of a cabin boy in the Union navy and his participation in 19 sea battles.
Series: Studies in Maritime History
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press; 1st Paperback Printing edition (June 1, 1991)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0872497615
ISBN-13: 978-0872497610
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.5 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #76 in Books > History > Americas > United States > Civil War > Naval Operations #752 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Transportation > History > Ships #1508 in Books > Engineering & Transportation > Transportation > Ships
Hunter, barely past the age of 16, enlisted in the Federal Navy in November 1862 as a "ship's boy." He was never a regular seaman, but more or less a steward, or waiter in the officers' wardroom. He had great curiosity about everything he encountered in the new world of the Navy, and somehow found astonishing freedom to explore it as he liked. His book is based upon a rather sketchy diary he kept at the time, and greatly expanded with (one hopes) a good memory for details. Hunter later became a schoolteacher, and his writing is entirely readable. His vessel was the monitor "Nahant," one of a class of Federal ironclads similar in design to the original "Monitor," but larger. And every bit as slow, cranky and unseaworthy. Hunter writes often of the bad air and cramped conditions belowdecks, giving a personal closeup view of the Civil War Navy that's available in few if any other books. His monitor saw action in several significant naval assaults by the Union's South Atlantic Squadron. It took part in the failed Federal attack on Sumter in April 1863. The "Nahant" also participated in the capture of the Confederate Ram "Atlanta," and in the famous and deadly Union assault on Fort Wagner, like Sumter a part of the defenses of Charleston. Hunter's story is basically a memoir, written 60 years after the events, a likeable old veteran's gift to his grandchildren. This is a superb book, one that deserves top rating except for the qualification (for historians) that such a large part of the text was necessarily written from an old timer's memory. All the same, both scholars and we enthusiasts are lucky to have it. Great reading.
I'm fascinated with Civil War ironclads, and this book was so interesting to read. The author, as a young man, spent a year on a monitor class ironclad. He kept a journal and years later wrote this book. Well written and absolutely great reading about the daily life aboard this ship.
The author was one of those teenaged boys who had to go to war, and did, and remembered an awful lot about his experience. The only other book I am aware of, matching this, is William Keeler's about the USS Monitor. If you like the US monitors, you want them both.
great reading,well writen,you think you are onboard,you see & feelwhat went on in play,work & war.of all the book's i have read onthe civil war this hit the spot.
This is a must read for any Civil War or navel buff, esp. if one is interested in how monitors worked.
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