Most of my presentation are inland - Milwaukee, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee - for which I am well paid. You apparently aren't familiar with the importance of the Mississippi Squadron to the US victory if you think only the coasts were important to the Navy.
As stated, it was out of curiosity and a serious question. I honestly don't know much about the naval engagements (or many others, for that matter) of the Civil War or their relative import to the outcome; you'll notice my comments didn't pertain to the facts of the war itself
Congratulations on being well paid.
And I am doing the reaearch for those presentations myself - I go to original sources (such as the Articles of Secession and period internal Navy documents) for my information, not later revisionist writings.
My degree is for natural AND historical interpretation. My job is to take obscure or complicated information and make it undrestandable to the general public, and that includes historical information. The peole who attend my presentations don't seem to care about history degrees - they just know the presentation is entertaining and accurate.
Having this additional detail certainly changes my understanding. Having only your assertion that being paid to make the presentations made you a professional historian, along with your CV and professional profile (which makes details little of the historical aspect of your work), the above was a reasonable conclusion.
I stand corrected and better informed.