Very interesting stuff. This is the most thorough discussion of Civil War warship colors I've seen.
I can't resist putting in a plug here. Anybody who's interested in Civil War warships and is within driving distance of Kinston, North Carolina absolutely must pay a visit to the new C.S.S. Neuse Interpretive Center. The ship (or what's left of her) has been moved from her old, unsatisfactory site on the river bank to a remodeled building in downtown Kinston. The hull remains now rest under a steel-framed "skeleton" that shows visitors the actual shape of the whole ship. She now has modern temperature and humidity controls that should preserve her for another hundred years or so. A group of state-of-the-art exhibits about the ship, the crew, and eastern NC during the war are being built around her. In a year or two this place will be one of the two or three nicest sites in the country for studying the naval phase of the Civil War.
Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/CSS-Neuse-Civil-War-Interpretive-Center/384028371664386
Youth, talent, hard work, and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.