Description:
The Union Navy played an essential role in winning the Civil War. Its blockade of more than 3,000 miles of Southern coastline, joint operations with the Union army, and pursuit of Rebel commerce raiders helped secure the 1865 Union victory over the Confederacy. While the majority of Civil War histories focus on the personalities and battles of the Union Army, few explore Union naval operations and their importance. John W. Grattan's journal, Under the Blue Pennant, or Notes of a Naval Officer 1863-1865, helps to fill this historical void. Grattan served for two years as clerk and aide to the squadron commander aboard the flagship of the largest Union naval command, the North Atlantic Blocking Squadron. Editor Robert J. Schneller presents Grattan's narrative essentially in its original form, adding a 50-page introduction and explanatory notes to provide important background information and place the narrative's events in historical context. The journal, written in unembellished Victorian prose, provides rare eyewitness observations of daily life at sea, the hopes and fears of inexperienced soldiers, and the military leaders that commanded them. Grattan's sketches provide glimpses of real war, and Schneller's illustrations and maps further bring to life an important episode in our nation's military history. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack
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