Southern Service - Confederate Naval History

Of all of the hundreds of diaries, journals, and memoirs that were published after the War Between the States, none are as distinctive and unique as the one you are about to read. Most writings were from officers, those from enlisted personnel being few in number. Even more rare is a journal written by a sergeant in the Confederate Army who later became a seaman in the Confederate Navy. Robert Watson falls into this latter category, and fortunately for students of the war, he kept an unusually descriptive record of his experiences in both branches of Southern service. Born in the Bahamas on September 9, 1835, Watson and his family moved to Key West in 1847. On December 7, 1857, at the age of twenty-two, Watson took the oath of allegiance and became a citizen of the United States of America. Four years later found him peacefully plying his trade as a carpenter when war came to the state of Florida.

Many men distinguished themselves on either land or sea during the Civil War. Robert Watson's service to the Confederacy included stints in both the army and navy, and his story brings a vital new voice to the chronicles of the conflict. This volume offers a captivating look at two spheres of action as experienced by a single serviceman, a record shared by few of Watson's contemporaries.

Southern Service on Land and Sea,
The Confederate War Journal of Robert Watson, CSA/CSN
Voices of the Civil War Series
R. Thomas Campbell (editor),
ISBN 1-57233-193-3
University of Tennessee Press, Nov., 2002
List Price: $37.00
Discount Price: $26.95

Chapter 1. War Comes to Florida
Chapter 2. The War in Tennessee
Chapter 3. The Confederate Navy

PLACE ORDER

CONFEDERATE NAVAL HISTORY