# American Civil War - why did no one attack us? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2005, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374 "2005-06-07T23:32:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/41 "2005-06-08T20:51:01Z")
Yeah, but if we could have lured them onto the Mississippi or Charleston Harbor they’d’ve been in BIG trouble. Monitors may not be seaworthy but they’re wicked hard to hit! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/42 "2005-06-08T21:16:35Z")
/Hijack: one of my proudest moments was finding a very tacky circa 1950s pressed glass ashtray, with a photo of the _U.S.S. Cairo_, the whole thing then being countersunk into a largish 6" by 6" worm-eaten chunk of that ill-fated monitor’s framework. It cost me a whopping $25 at a local junk emporium, and I found it just days before the 30th anniversary of the guy I work with starting here at the Fort–he’s the orginal Civil War buff nonpareil. Our search for an appropriate gift was at an end. Trouble is, he’s still working here–and September will mark his 40th year. Where the hell I am going to find something to top that? (And how did a piece of the “Kay-row” find its way up here?) //Hijack ends ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/43 "2005-06-08T21:32:37Z")
> [@Rocketeer](#): > > None of Britain’s wooden ships would have mattered at all; as Hampton Roads and countless riverine battles showed, the ironclads would have demolished them easily (if the battles were near the coastline). The first Ironclad had been build a dozen years ago by the french navy, and used during the Crimea war. By the time of the american civil war, both France and the UK had seaworthy ironclads. Regarding the OP, the first question to ask would be : Mexico excepted, what reasons could have other countries to attak the USA, exactly? What would have been the point? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/44 "2005-06-08T22:35:21Z")
What was the thickness of the armor on the French and British ironclads? Both North and South had projectiles (some were of british design) that could penetrate four inches of wrought iron. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/45 "2005-06-08T22:51:54Z")
This article, in the **Journal for Maritime Research** gives her iron armour as four and a half inch, back by two layers of teak: [http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conJmrArticle.14/setPaginate/No](http://www.jmr.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conJmrArticle.14/setPaginate/No) ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/46 "2005-06-08T22:58:02Z")
I should add that my link refers to _HMS Warrior._ Of course, she was armed with 10 of the the rather less-than reliable Armstrong 110 pr rifled breech-loaders, which had the alarming propensity to blow up in the crew’s faces at times. Two years after she was first commissioned, the 10 Armstrong RBLs were sold off…to the Confederate States of America. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/47 "2005-06-08T23:34:13Z")
The Monitor had double that- and later monitors had triple that- with much larger guns, placed in two turrents. And, they were very difficult targets to hit, too. If the Warrior was in close to the shore, _one_ of our double-turrented monitors could sink it with impunity- and outmanuever it, also. And we had _squadrons_ of monitors. Their guns would go right through 4" armour, and explod on the inside, causing immense destruction due to the splinters. Sure, like I said- they couldn’t make it overseas unless they were lucky, but a squadron of “modern” Union Monitors could have sank the entire British armada easily, if the Brit’s tried to come over here. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/48 "2005-06-09T00:30:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure, like I said- they couldn’t make it overseas unless they were lucky, but a squadron of “modern” Union Monitors could have sank the entire British armada easily, if the Brit’s tried to come over here. Perhaps, perhaps not. But even that scenario is assuming stasis. Personally I have no doubt that given her vast resources and expertise at the time Britain would have been more than capable of handling a naval arms race with the Union, especially a Union still locked in combat with the Confederacy. A moot point of course. As other posters have noted it would have taken an extremely unlikely course of events for such a conflict to develop. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/49 "2005-06-09T00:49:17Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Perhaps, perhaps not. But even that scenario is assuming stasis. Personally I have no doubt that given her vast resources and expertise at the time Britain would have been more than capable of handling a naval arms race with the Union, especially a Union still locked in combat with the Confederacy. > > - Tamerlane Correct. The Union likely only had World naval superiourity for less than a decade, and GB could likely have cut that in half with a serious naval programme. Having the USA and GB in a naval building race would be a doubtful “alternate universe” , but interesting. There are ways it could have- IF Lincoln hadn’t issued the Emancipation Proclamation, AND the Confederates promised to end slavery. The second is extremely doubtful. One of Harry Turtletaubs “Alternate history” books ends like this which places it firmly into fantasy. :dubious: If the President of the CSA had tried to do so, most of the Confederacy would have seceded again- _from the CSA_. IMHO. of course. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/50 "2005-06-09T01:40:10Z")
Confederates operating out of Canada raided the Union in Vermont and on the not so high seas of Lake Erie. Immediately after the war, Fenians (many of whom were Union vets), made several raids into Canada. [http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/charlie/canada1864.htm](http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/charlie/canada1864.htm) [http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa7/philo\_parsons.htm](http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/cfa7/philo_parsons.htm) [http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dbertuca/g/FenianRaid.html](http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~dbertuca/g/FenianRaid.html) ---
**Author:** ![Daboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c4cdca/32.png) [@Daboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daboman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/51 "2005-06-09T01:45:32Z")
Read “Stars and Stripes Together” it explains this very well ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/52 "2005-06-09T02:27:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Plus, the war was never all that popular in certain sectors of the North - consider the New York Draft Riots. Throughout the was there were Northern Democrats who sympathised with the southern position. The moment British troops would have landed on American shores, the war would have changed in their minds from an avoidable dispute between the states to a foreign invasion. It would be Pearl Harbor X10. 12-7 X10, that’s… 1270. My God! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/53 "2005-06-09T08:17:00Z")
> [@Daboman](#): > > Read “Stars and Stripes Together” it explains this very well Is that a sequel or do you mean “Stars and Stripes _[Forever](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345409345/ref=pd_sxp_f/103-4052506-3048608)_” a good book but as the review says perhaps a little Anglophobic 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374/54 "2005-06-09T09:57:42Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Yeah, but we were damned close to being all that and MORE! All that and a bag of chips, these days. But in the 1860s _we_ were the industrial colossus of the world, though not for very much longer. Like I say, why change a winning strategy? > [@dropzone](#): > > As Rocketeer suggests, due to their non-existant freeboard our monitors had trouble being anywhere besides the bottom in any but the calmest water. This goes a long way towards explaining why, in _History of the World_, the United States is unable to cross the Atlantic. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-civil-war-why-did-no-one-attack-us/307374.md?page=2)