“General Lee moved up the river from this point nearly to Ebenezer Creek…”: Federal joint operations on the Savannah River, January 1865

The roots of the Naval War College and our modern joint warfare training come from an obscure, often overlooked operation on the Savannah River in January 1865. The operation featured the unlikely situation where a Federal steamer named “General Robert E. Lee” linked up with forces under the command of Major-General Jefferson C. Davis.

“Foreigners, chiefly Irish”: Deserters from Savannah

Before dawn on November 9, 1863, a small boat passed down the Savannah River to Fort Pulaski, where it’s crew surrendered to the Federals.  Lieutenant-Commander Andrew W. Johnson of the USS Unadilla reported: This morning, about 3 a.m., the crew of a boat belonging to the rebel ram Savannah, doing picket duty near the obstructions