Timing is central to the comparison. The Union had just absorbed defeat at First Bull Run, George McClellan was still regarded as a promising general, and Confederate forces had won many of the year’s engagements. The Anaconda Plan was only beginning to take effect, so the Confederacy had not yet suffered its later logistical exhaustion. The U.S. Navy was expanding but remained much weaker than it would become. David Dixon Porter’s warning that HMS Jason’s Armstrong gun could outrange American weapons illustrates why British experience, available hulls, and modern artillery mattered more than comparisons based on the Civil War’s later years suggest.
Chapter · 15:08-18:40
Why late 1861 was an awkward moment for the Union
The Union had not yet built the military strength it would later possess, while Britain retained experienced officers and usable screw-propelled ships.