Strategy and tactics of Civil War rams on the Mississippi River

The American Civil War was a period of technological innovations. While ironclad vessels and new propulsion systems had been in an experimental phase for several decades, the Civil War presented an opportunity to test these new ideas in the heat of battle. Attaching rams to these new warships was a novel addition to Civil War navies. Both the Union and Confederacy pinned their hopes of controlling the Mississippi River on the success of their ramming ships. Ultimately, rams were no match for new advances in gunpowder weaponry. Examination of the fight for the Mississippi through the prism of ram warfare, however, throws new light on the Confederacy's failure to stave off invasion by the Union navy.