One compelling story of the American Civil War is that of the steamer Nashville. One naval historian described the ship as “a ghost that for months ran the sea lanes of the globe with scores of ships on her trail.” Originally a mail ship for the Union, the Nashville would serve as a raider, a blockade runner, and even a privateer- because, don’t all good stories involve pirates?
In August of 1918, as the armies of Europe neared exhaustion, American troops of the 28th “Keystone” division were thrown into a nearly forgotten battle that fully represented the horrors of the War to End All Wars.
Of the vaunted ironclad warships of the US Civil War perhaps the mightiest and most terrifying was the confederate ram Tennessee. On August 5, 1864, she would be put to the test in the largest naval engagement of the war, an engagement that defined the divided loyalties of the War of the Rebellion.