In my ongoing research projects on Confederate Navy personnel, I have come upon some very interesting trends, especially with some of the specialised skills of Naval officers, such as engineers and pilots. One of these trends points to the fact that many of the engineers who served with the Confederate Navy were Northern born, tending to confirm the industrialisation of the North, and the agricultural base of the South. I have found that quite a large number of the engineers were born in New York especially, thus pointing to their having acquired their skills in this particular state. Many of these Northern born engineers had resided in the South for some period of time, marrying into Southern families and generally having been accepted into Southern society, before they were appointed into the Confederate Navy. Another trend I found was that pilots who served in the CSN were almost always employed in the same area where they had operated for years, prior to the war, and continued to operate in, after the war was over. This was obviously because of their familiarity with the rivers and waterways that they had worked on, for years. Another trend that I have found, in all this research, is that there were a very large number of family groups who served in the Confederate Navy, and especially so with the officers (only because they are much easier to research). I found that many brothers, fathers, sons and cousins served together, often in the same localities, or aboard the same vessels.
If there is anyone who is doing major research on the Confederate Navy engineers, pilots, or masters of vessels, and who would like to discuss these, and other trends, please contact me at tfoenander@hotmail.com