Joint Army-Navy Operations
Joint Army-Navy Operations
Enforcing a blockade of the southern coast constituted the Union Navy's principal Civil War mission, but federal gunboats and other vessels frequently supported Union Army operations by providing gunfire support, convoying and landing troops, defending army depots and supply bases, and participating in joint army–navy expeditions or raids into the interior. Union Navy vessels cooperated with the army in attacks on James Island and Fort Fisher, the capture of Fort Pulaski and Plymouth, North Carolina, and dozens of smaller operations. African Americans provided intelligence that prompted or supported these operations, contributed to them by acting as guides, and served as crewmen on navy vessels or as rank-and-file soldiers in U.S. Colored Troop units. These missions included liberating slaves as a means of recruiting able-bodied men for the newly formed black army regiments. As more such black regiments were created, these expeditions increasingly included African American infantry units, accompanied occasionally by cavalry or artillery.
Keywords: blockade, Union Navy, Civil War, Union Army, army–navy expeditions, James Island, Fort Fisher, African Americans, Colored Troop, black regiments
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