Campbell, R. Thomas 1938-

PERSONAL:

Born 1938. Education: Villanova University, B.S.; graduated from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

ADDRESSES:

Home—West Chester, PA, and Cocoa Beach, FL. Office—Confederate Naval History, 1420 Springton La., West Chester, PA 19380. E-mail—info@confederatenavalhistory.com.

CAREER:

Writer and historian. Worked as a health systems consultant.

MEMBER:

Sons of Confederate Veterans.

WRITINGS:

Southern Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1996.

Gray Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1996.

Southern Fire: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1997.

Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1997.

(Editor) James Morris Morgan, Midshipman in Gray: Selections from "Recollections of a Rebel Reefer," Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1997.

Academy on the James: The Confederate Naval School, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1998.

(Editor) John McIntosh Kell, Beneath the Stainless Banner: With Selections from His "Recollections of a Naval Life," Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 1999.

The CSS H.L. Hunley: Confederate Submarine, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2000.

Hunters of the Night: Confederate Torpedo Boats in the War between the States, White Mane Publishing (Shippensburg, PA), 2000.

Sea Hawk of the Confederacy: Lt. Charles W. Read and the Confederate Navy, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2000.

Confederate Phoenix: The CSS Virginia, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2001.

Confederate Navy Quizzes and Facts, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2001.

The Hunley Story: Journey of a Confederate Submarine, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2002.

Iron Courage: Confederate Ironclads in the War between the States, Burd Street Press (Shippensburg, PA), 2002.

(Editor) Southern Service on Land and Sea: The Wartime Journal of Robert Watson, CSA/CSN, University of Tennessee Press (Knoxville, TN), 2002.

Confederate Naval Forces on Western Waters: The Defense of the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2005.

Storm over Carolina: The Confederate Navy's Struggle for Eastern North Carolina, Cumberland House (Nashville, TN), 2005.

(Editor) Engineer in Gray: Memoirs of Chief Engineer James H. Tomb, CSN, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2005.

(Editor) Confederate Naval Cadet: The Diary and Letters of Midshipman Hubbard T. Minor, with a History of the Confederate Naval Academy, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 2007.

Contributor to Confederate Veteran.

SIDELIGHTS:

R. Thomas Campbell is the author and editor of numerous books about the Confederate Navy during the Civil War, including The CSS H.L. Hunley: Confederate Submarine and Southern Service on Land and Sea: The Wartime Journal of Robert Watson, CSA/CSN. A member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, Campbell published his first work, Southern Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, in 1996. Using firsthand accounts and published reports, the author chronicles significant military events from the war, including the Battle of Mobile Bay, and profiles the officers and sailors who manned the naval vessels. A critic in Publishers Weekly called the work "a solid introduction to a short-lived navy that cast a long shadow."

Campbell followed Southern Thunder with a companion volume, Gray Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy. The author again draws from primary and secondary sources as he focuses on the Confederacy's efforts to sustain a naval presence despite having insufficient resources. "The technique of tying primary accounts with a connecting story line has been used successfully before in Civil War books, and Campbell does a fine job in linking the battle accounts to well-prepared overviews," wrote Civil War History contributor Stephen R. Wise. Campbell pays special attention to the Manassas, the war's first ironclad ram, which was used to attack Union blockades. "Readable if somewhat anecdotal, this history of the Confederate navy fills a useful gap," noted Booklist critic Roland Green. Southern Fire: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy and Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy complete the series. In Fire and Thunder, the author compiles a great deal of "new material on topics whose coverage in the past has been scanty," observed Green. The work discusses war privateers and commerce raiders and chronicles the deeds of the North Carolina "Mosquito Fleet," a group of small watercraft converted to military use. According to a reviewer in Publishers Weekly, the book provides "accurate and engaging accounts of the outmanned Southern navy's deeds of daring, victories and defeats during the Civil War."

The first submarine to sink an enemy ship in combat is the subject of The CSS H.L. Hunley, "the complete story of the development of the submarine from its birth in New Orleans through Mobile Bay and finally Charleston Harbor," wrote Michael Cavanaugh on the Civil War News Web site. On February 17, 1864, the Hunley, a hand-cranked sub manned by a crew of eight, attacked and sank the USS Housatonic by ramming it with a barbed spar torpedo off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Mysteriously, the Hunley also sank just moments after signaling to shore of its success. According to William Galvani, writing in the Naval War College Review, Campbell "begins with Confederate attempts preceding the Hunley to construct a workable submersible. He then discusses the rationale for Confederate submarines," which was the ongoing effort to break the Union blockade of southern ports. The CSS H.L. Hunley received mixed reviews. "Campbell's narrative reads at times like a work of history and at other times like a magazine article," Galvani stated, "as the author alters his perspective from that of historian to contemporary commentator." Cavanaugh offered a different opinion, remarking, "Campbell covers all the bases in his well-researched and well-written narrative."

Campbell served as editor for Southern Service on Land and Sea, a personal account of the Civil War. Watson, a carpenter and southern sympathizer living in Key West, Florida, first joined the Florida Coast Guard. He then served as an infantryman in Tennessee where he saw action at Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. In 1864 he was transferred to the Confederate Navy and was taken prisoner by Union forces just one day before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. "No historian of Florida will now be able to ignore this edition of Robert Watson's journal," observed Cecil B. Currey in the Journal of Southern History. "This is the interesting story of an interesting man." In Confederate Naval Forces on Western Waters: The Defense of the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, Campbell looks at the men and ships that waged war on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Joseph Derie, writing on the Civil War News Web site, remarked: "All of Campbell's books are highly readable and Confederate Naval Forces is no exception; his writing is always crisp and clear."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 1, 1996, Roland Green, review of Gray Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, p. 1119; February 1, 1998, Roland Green, review of Fire and Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, p. 895.

Civil War History, September, 1997, Stephen R. Wise, review of Gray Thunder, p. 272.

ForeWord, November-December, 2002, Kristin Putchinksi, review of Southern Service on Land and Sea: The Wartime Journal of Robert Watson, CSA/CSN.

Journal of Southern History, August, 1997, Frank Merli, review of Gray Thunder, p. 678; February, 2004, Cecil B. Currey, review of Southern Service on Land and Sea, p. 167.

Naval War College Review, spring, 2002, William Galvani, review of The CSS H.L. Hunley: Confederate Submarine, p. 112.

Publishers Weekly, March 24, 1997, review of Southern Thunder: Exploits of the Confederate States Navy, p. 71; February 2, 1998, review of Fire and Thunder, p. 76.

Reference & Research Book News, February, 2006, review of Confederate Naval Forces on Western Waters: The Defense of the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries.

ONLINE

Civil War News Web site,http://www.civilwarnews.com/ (February 10, 2007), Michael Cavanaugh, review of The CSS H.L. Hunley, and Joseph Derie, review of Confederate Naval Forces on Western Waters.

H-Net Web site,http://www.h-net.org/reviews/ (January, 2004), Jason M. Frawley, review of Southern Service on Land and Sea.