Craig Lee Symonds (born 31 December 1946, in Long Beach, California) is a retired professor and chairman of the history department at the United States Naval Academy. He is a distinguished historian of the American Civil War.

Symonds joined the United States Naval Reserve, serving for three years until 1974 and raising to the grade of Lieutenant. While in the Navy, he served on the staff and faculty of the Naval War College. On his release from active duty, he returned to his graduate studies in history at the University of Florida, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1976 under the tutelage of Professor John K. Mahon with a dissertation on "Navalists and Antinavalists: the Naval Policy Debate in the United States, 1785-1827."

In 1976, the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland appointed Symonds assistant professor of history. He was subsequently promoted to associate professor in 1980 and professor of history in 1985. He served as chairman of the history department in 1988-1992 and appointed professor emeritus on his retirement in 2005. In 1994-1995, he was visiting lecturer at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, England.

Published Works

• Charleston Blockade: The Journals of John B. Marchand, USN, edited by Craig Symonds. (Newport, RI: Naval War
   College Press, 1976.
• Navalists and Antinavalists: The Naval Policy Debate in the United States, 1785-1827. (University of Delaware Press,
  1980).
• New Aspects of Naval History, edited by Craig Symonds. (Annaplis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1981).
• A Battlefield Atlas of the Civil War. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Press, 1983).
• Recollections of a Naval Officer, 1841-1865, by William H. Parker, edited by Craig Symonds. (Annapolis, MD: Naval
  Institute Press, 1985).
• A Battlefield Atlas of the American Revolution. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation Press, 1986).
• A Year on a Monitor, by Alvah F. Hunter, edited by Craig Symonds. (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1987).
• Joseph E. Johnston: A Civil War Biography. (New York: Norton, 1992).
• Gettysburg: A Battlefield Atlas, by Craig Symonds with William J. Clipson. (Annapolis, MD: Nautical and Aviation, 1992).
• The Naval Institute Historical Atlas of the U.S. Navy. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1995).
• Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War. (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1997).
• Confederate Admiral: The Life and Wars of Franklin Buchanan. (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1999).
• American Heritage History of the Battle of Gettysburg. (New York: HarperCollins, 2001).
• New Interpretations in Naval History: Selected Papers from the Fourteenth Naval History Symposium, Held at Annapolis,
  Maryland, 23-25 September 1999, Naval Institute Press (Annapolis, MD), 2001.
• Decision at Sea: Five Naval Battles That Shaped American History. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).
  Lincoln and his Admirals. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

Awards

• John Lyman Book Awards, 1995, for The Naval Institute Historical Atlas of the U.S. Navy, and 1999, for Confederate Admiral: The Life and Wars of Franklin Buchanan.
• S.A. Cunningham Award, 1997, for Stonewall of the West: Patrick Cleburne and the Civil War.
• Theodore and Franklin D. Roosevelt Prize in Naval History, 2006, for Decision at Sea.
• United States Navy Superior Civilian Service Award.