25 JUNE 1859 “BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER” During the first half of the 19th century several Western nations, particularly England and France, opened trade with China. Several, including the United States, maintained naval forces in the region to protect Read More
15 MAY 1812 PRELUDE TO THE WAR OF 1812 At the turn of the 19th century the territory that is now Florida was Spanish. This fact was of no reassurance to the administration of President James Madison in 1811. Spain was Read More
28 FEBRUARY 1803 THE GUNBOAT NAVY “We are sacrificing everything to navigation and a Navy,” was candidate Thomas Jefferson’s slogan in the presidential election campaign of 1799-1800. Jefferson was an agrarian Southerner, distrustful of New England merchants and skeptical of our Read More
17 OCTOBER 1858-FEBRUARY 1859 PARAGUAY PUNITIVE EXPEDITION At 1325 the six guns of Fort Guardia Cerritos erupted! USS WATER WITCH was struck ten times. Three of her Dahlgren howitzers answered only once as the fort’s barrage chased her sailors from their Read More
1 FEBRUARY 1855 WATER WITCH INCIDENT Our Navy launched a series of geographical explorations in the 19th century, focusing in part on South and Central America. Here, the US had both strategic interests, in terms of the Monroe Doctrine prohibiting European Read More
26-29 JANUARY 1862 RECONNAISSANCE-IN-FORCE By January 1862, Union MGEN Thomas W. Sherman was ready to attempt to close the Savannah River, isolating the city of Savannah lying 15 miles upstream. But the mouth of that river was guarded by masonry Fort Read More