Confederate States Department of the Navy Confederate States Department of the Navy The Department of the Navy was the Confederate Civil Service department responsible for the administration of the affairs of the Confederate Navy and Confederate Marine Corps. It was officially established on February 21, 1861. The Department of the Navy was established by an act of the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery, Alabama which passed into law on February 20, 1861. This act also established the position of Secretary of the Navy which was according to the act authorized to handle all affairs related to the navies of the Confederacy. President Jefferson Davis nominated and
Economy of the Confederate States of America Economy of the Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America had an agrarian-based economy that relied heavily on slave-worked plantations for the production of cotton for export to Europe and the northern US states. If ranked as an independent nation, it would have been the fourth richest country of the world in 1860. When the Union blockaded its ports in summer 1861, exports of cotton fell 95 percent and the South had to restructure itself to emphasize food and munitions production. After losing control of its main rivers and ports, it had to depend on a weak railroad