Stephen R. Bockmiller Books

Washington County's involvement in the Civil War conjures images of the terrible aftermath of the Battle of Antietam. But many other events occurred there during the war. Wedged into a narrow neck between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the area was the setting for many important events in the conflict. From John Brown launching his raid on nearby Harpers Ferry at the Kennedy Farm in 1859 to the dragnet that ensnared local citizens following President Lincoln's assassination in 1865, the military was a constant presence. Antietam changed the course of the war and provided President Lincoln the military events needed to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Harper's Ferry, the C&O Canal, and several rail lines were of vital importance for projecting Union strength into the Shenandoah Valley. They were regularly attacked and defended, and Hagerstown was nearly burned in 1864. Many from across the nation returned home indelibly affected by their experiences in Washington County; some never made it back at all.

From Baltimore natives Lawrence Bopp and Stephen Bockmiller comes Showing the The Civil War Naval Diary of Moses Safford, USS Constellation, a new perspective on the Civil War and life in the navy in the mid-19th century. As the Civil War raged at home, naval yeoman Moses Safford toured the Mediterranean on the USS Constellation, dispatched in 1862 to "show the flag," or defend American merchant shipping. An attorney and accomplished sailor before the war, Moses kept a diary in his seafarer's way, leaving us one of the most detailed accounts of life aboard a Civil War warship known to exist.Published for the first time and including insightful annotations and biographical information, this personal journal documents life aboard a navy ship in a time of national turmoil. Although the diary was intended for his own edification and personal remembrance, Safford's writing brings the reader back in time and place and opens a window on the past, allowing a view of Civil War naval life through the eyes of a literate and master seaman.