David Marshall “Carbine” Williams' story was made famous in the 1952 film starring James Stewart, but his legend has become somewhat larger than the real story. Still the unlikely story of “Carbine” Williams is history that deserves to be remembered.
The unsung heroes of the naval war in the Western theater weren’t the city class casemate ironclads, but a much larger and more active fleet of more than seventy, much smaller, lightly armored vessels. The “Tinclads” of the US Civil War deserve to be remembered.