CivilWarNews.com
26
October 2022
National Archives Civil War Cartographic Ship Plans
Drawing of the Nashville.
Work continues at the National Archives to digitize additional records from the American Civil War. A peek inside the Cartographic Research Room – https://www.archives.gov/ research/cartographic/civilwar – reveals more than 8,000 records from the war, including maps, fortification files, and plans for various naval vessels. For this month, ships will serve as the focus. Once at the website referenced above, scroll down the page to the ‘Civil War Ship Plans’ link, click on the link: ‘RG 19, Ship Design and Construction Drawings (DASH Plans),’ and then ‘Search within this series.’ On the left side of the resulting screen (see the image shown), select 1860–1869. After refining the search 26
using the 1860–1869 parameter, researchers will see 1,041 records. To streamline the search, select ‘Available Online’ to see 39 plans of various ships. Note: users can search this database using multiple keywords. The USS Passaic, a ship which served in the North & South Atlantic Blockade Squadrons during the war, will offer a visual. One will find more U.S. Navy ships than Confederate vessels in the database, but a few Southern vessels have navigated into the archives. For example, the CSS Nashville, later the Rattlesnake. The Confederates lost the Rattlesnake to Federal naval fire on February 28, 1863, near Fort McAllister. Future installments of this column will explore additional holdings in the National Archives Cartographic Room. Until next month, continued luck in researching the American Civil War! Michael K. Shaffer is a Civil War historian, author, lecturer, and instructor, who remains a member of the Society of Civil War Historians, Historians of the Civil War Western Theater, and the Georgia Association of Historians. Readers may contact him at mkscdr11@gmail.com or request speaking engagements at www.civilwarhistorian. net. Follow Michael on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ michael.k.shaffer, and Twitter @ michaelkshaffer.
Floating battery design.
U.S. monitor Passaic hull section.
CivilWarNews.com
October 2022