Booknotes: American Civil War Amphibious Tactics

New Arrival:

• American Civil War Amphibious Tactics (Elite, 262) by Ron Field, illustrated by Steve Noon (Osprey Pub, 2025).

Ron Field's American Civil War Amphibious Tactics is number 262 in Osprey's "Elite" series of illustrated histories. According to one description of the series, each installment "focuses on a single army or elite unit, military tactics or a group of famous commanders." There's a bit of all of that in this one. With Union combined operations as a whole developing into an elite capability that did much to the win the Civil War, its broad inclusion in this particular series is well appropriate.

Field's text, accompanied by Steve Noon's original artwork, examines significant leaders, tactics, military technologies, and specialized units involved in both coastal and inland Union amphibious operations. In the book, Field "explains how the growing effectiveness of the Union Navy, the willingness of the Union Army to countenance combined operations, and the efforts of officers such as Ambrose Burnside, David Farragut, and John Dahlgren, ensured that amphibious warfare played a key part in the defeat of the South."

A number of operations, all representative of Union combined arms capabilities, are covered in the book. From the description: "In May 1862, foreshadowed by the capture of Roanoke Island and New Bern in North Carolina and Island Number Ten on the Mississippi River, the Union forces' use of combined operations to seize New Orleans dealt a major blow to the Confederacy. The potential of amphibious warfare was revealed by the Union efforts to capture Fort Fisher in North Carolina. While the initial attempt failed in December 1864, a renewed effort in January 1865 resulted in a Union victory."

Units featured in the book that were specifically raised and/or detailed for amphibious operations include the First New York Marine Artillery, the Naval Battalion (4 companies, 13th NY Heavy Artillery), the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron's Fleet Brigade, and the Mississippi Marine Brigade. The last, a controversial formation, shifts attention from the coast to the Mississippi River Valley interior.

As is the case with all Osprey titles, there is some kind of illustration on nearly every page. This volume includes numerous period maps, newspaper illustrations, and photographs. Noon's color artwork depicts dramatic action scenes, specialized equipment, and vessels involved in the combined operations described in the text.