After participating in several naval battles near New Orleans, Louisiana, he was promoted to executive officer and then acting commander of the C.S.S Arkansas. After the sinking of the Arkansas, Read traveled to Mobile, Alabama, and was assigned to the C.S.S. Florida. During his brief time as a commerce raider, Read and his crew captured twenty-two Union ships in twenty-one days and was awarded the Confederate Medal of Honor (An award created by the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) in 1977.) After his capture, Read was imprisoned in Boston’s Fort Warren. He managed to escape after working “for months to enlarge the diameter of a chimney.”5 After comandeering a small fishing boat, Read set sail for Canada, but was quickly recaptured. He was eventually exchanged late in October 1864 and rejoined the C.S. Navy. He was assigned to the steam ram C.S.S. Webb in April 1865, but was unable to escape the Union naval blockade. Read was forced to surrender again and transported to Fort Warren, Massachusetts, where he sat out the final months of the war.
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