April 12, 1861. With one jerk of a lanyard, one shell arching into the sky, years of tension exploded into civil war. And for those men who did not know in which direction their loyalty called them, it was a time for decisions. Such a one was Lieutenant Samuel Bowater, an officer of the United States Navy, a native of Charleston, South Carolina.

Hard pressed to abandon the oath he swore to the United States, but unable to fight against his home state, Bowater accepts a commission in the nascent Confederate navy, where captains who once strode the quarterdecks of the world's most powerful ships are now assuming command of paddle wheelers and towboats. Taking charge of the armed tugboat Cape Fear, and then the ironclad Yazoo River, Bowater and his men go toe to toe with the powerful Union navy, standing up boldly in the face of the overwhelming force and resources of the North.

From Norfolk to Hampton Roads, from Roanoke Island to the wild nighttime battle on the river below New Orleans, Glory in the Name tells the dramatic story of the Confederate States Navy, and the brave men who carried forward against overwhelming odds the waterborne fight for Southern independence.