This work investigates the operational history of the U.S.S. Cairo during the American Civil War and the subsequent technical challenges involved in its recovery from the Yazoo River a century later. Virgil Carrington Jones, a noted historian of the Civil War era, utilizes primary naval records, contemporary accounts, and documentation from the 1964 salvage operation to construct a comprehensive record of the vessel. The text argues for the significance of the Cairo as a representative example of the ironclad technology that altered the course of riverine warfare in the Mississippi theater.

Historians and naval enthusiasts frequently cite this work as a foundational text for understanding the role of riverine ironclads in the American Civil War. Experts highlight the book's dual value in documenting both the wartime service of the vessel and the logistical complexities of its mid-twentieth-century recovery.