Snapshots of Service: The 250th Anniversary of the U.S. Navy

"Resolved, That a swift sailing vessel to carry ten carriage guns and a proportionable number of swivels, with eighty men be fitted with all possible despatch for a cruize of three months and that the commander be instructed to cruize eastward for intercepting such transports as may be laden with warlike stores and other supplies for our enemies and for such other purposes as the Congress shall direct.”

The U.S. Navy’s long history began on October 13, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized ships to intercept British transports as war intensified. While the Navy’s early years are preserved in muster rolls, deck logs, and service records, the Civil War saw photography more candidly capture life in the service.

Photography was still a new technology when the Union Navy fought the smaller Confederate fleet. Field photographers recorded intimate scenes of crews as they set up a blockade of southern seaports. These shots reflect a key period in the Navy’s history as it rapidly grew from just a few dozen ships to over six hundred during the war.

Deck of Gunboat Hunchback on James River, VA, 1864. Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer

View in the National Archives Catalog