The Importance of the Blockade Runners in the Civil War Essay

By the end of the Civil War the Union Navy had captured more than 1,100 blockade runners and had destroyed or run aground another 355 vessels. The ships employed in blockade-running were almost all privately owned, many of them built by the British or French who sought to maintain trade with the southern states. The Confederate government only had about eleven ships of its own that were employed in the blockade-running effort. Among the most famous blockade runners was the CSS Robert E. Lee a Scottish built iron-hulled, steamer which was eventually captured by Union forces in 1863 and the privately owned SS Syren which made a record of 33 successful runs through the Union blockade. The blockade runners had a specific function in the handling of cargoes headed for the Confederacy. Purchases of supplies made in England were first shipped to Nassau in the bottoms of British vessels where the cargoes would be transferred to blockade runners, ships of lighter draft and greater speed. From Nassau they would make their way to Wilmington, Charleston and

1607-1776 also known as the colonial period is a time of new beginnings.When the colonists first moved from England to the new world, they were in search of freedom in every sense of the word. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and being free of the British tirade. They formed cities and towns while establishing their own laws. The issue that occurred is that while the colonists were away from Britain they weren’t away from British laws. In an effort to control and make money from the colonists Britain issued a series of tax acts which include the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act, and the Tea Act. All of which led to the colonists revolt against British reign. This new search for independence is what

Following the psychological assessment of the southern attitudes, the authors transition to the initially reason for the blockade, crippling the southern economy. The blockade aided in the Confederacy’s deterioration, but was not the only source of prevention. The blockade led to the collapse of the already fragile Confederate railroad, leading to a decrease in transporting goods to soldiers (Bonner and McCord 381). The south was also limited in the amount of cotton it could export to Europe, and with it being their largest source of income, greatly reduced clothing supplies, and monetary assets (Bonner and McCord 381). Furthermore, the revenue that came from blockade running paled in comparison to pre blockade profits. This led to the Confederacy only providing immediate needs for the populace (Bonner and McCord 381). To continue with the economic theme, the authors include a cost/benefit assessment completed by David Surdam, who

The Antebellum period is known as the period before the Civil War. However, it is described as the periods between the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The word e “antebellum,” means before the war, and “reform,” means the improvement of what is wrong. The Antebellum period made transportation more efficient for people who traveled. The Transportation Revolution provided several new, reliable, safe and cost-effective ways to travel to different parts of the nation, including new land in the west. The transportation Revolution changed America by new types of transportation, economic growth, expansion, and the culture in the south.

There were several reasons for the defeat of the Confederacy which included no industrial base, (Donald 1996, p. 99) inadequate transportation net (Donald, 1996, p. 99), and bickering among the generals (McPherson & Hogue, 2009, p. 365) etc., but the overriding factor was that the Confederacy never became a nation (Donald, 1996, p. 100). That is, they seceded because the Southern states believed they had the right as independent States to do so (Donald, 1996, p. 7). The South lost because they never stopped believing this. No state could depend on any other for full support of the war. The Governor of Georgia specifically prohibited his troops from fighting outside the state for many months. Many governors set limits on how many

“The crews walked the blocks of their neighborhood, loud and rude, because it was only through their loud rudeness that they might feel any sense of security and power” (Coates 22). Coates stated that these groups of people used their loudness and rudeness as a façade in order to feel powerful, because just like Coates, they feared for their bodies. This did not surprise me because people everywhere use this tactic in order to feel confident and powerful when they are scared; similar to the phrase “fake it until you make it”.

The North was also able to create a blockade towards the South which prevented the South from accessing ships or any way that they had to transport goods. Stated in an article called “Why did the Union Win/ Confederacy Lose?” by Carl Zebrowski states, “But of course the factors that enter into the South’s ultimate defeat are those things that you hear time and time again, and with a great amount of validity: the North’s industrial base; the North’s manpower resources; the fact that foreign recognition was denied the Confederacy” (Zebrowski 3). The bottom line as to why the Union had won was clear and it as because of their ability to cope with the situation in a way that would be realistic and they had more than enough people going to war compared to the South. The North had weapons and men that were able to fight the war with easy access to weapons, the South had weapons but not enough men to fight for them during the war. It was evident that the South lacked people because in article it is mentioned that the manpower between the North and South was conflicting in a large amount.

The United States is at risk of falling apart forever in the 1860s. The southern United States has withdrawn from the north, and the war to follow will be the bloodiest test of our country in history. The north, otherwise known as The Union, devised a three-part plan to end the rebellion. They wanted to enforce a naval blockade to cut off supplies from the South. Next, they were to capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the South. Finally, The Union wanted to take control of the Mississippi River to cut off supplies from the South. The Naval Blockade, taking control of the Mississippi River, and capturing Richmond, Virginia was the three-part plan to end the Confederacy.

The Union blockade struggled to establish itself due to the ships that made up the blockade. When the blockade was first formed it was nothing more than a paper blockade as the Union had only a handful of warships that were available to patrol the some 3,000 miles of Confederate coastline.1 Welles realized that the Navy needed more vessels to sufficiently cover the Confederate coast so he made Union naval officers responsible for purchasing the vessels that would bolster the blockade.2 Most of the vessels that were acquired by the Union naval officers were merchant vessels, and they presented little threat to the Confederacy as they were

Maritime wars took a noteworthy change amid the common war. On March 8 1862 the Confederates revealed a ship that would change maritime fighting everlastingly, making wooden body ship outdated. The Confederates set two layers of steel plate over the structure of the "Merrimack", situated ten firearms along its side and included a smash her bow. This resilient ship in its first fight, in the harbor of Hampton Roads assaulted five Union boats. The "Merrimack" renamed the "Virginia" sank one Union boat, exploded another ship, and made a third run ashore. No shots could infiltrate her shield. The unexpected thing was the Merrimack was left to sink after the Union naval force cut gaps into it.

The Union Navy closed ports and rivers to choke CSA imports and exports. The battle between ship and shore on the coast of Confederate Georgia was a pivotal part of the Union strategy to subdue the state during the Civil War 1861-65. Abraham Lincoln was the 16 American President who served in office from March 4, 1861 to April 15, 1865. Daring adventures, called blockade runners, risked capture to bring in needed goods. These blockade runners, mostly private ships, made money and became heroes in the South, but their efforts were weak. During the Civil War, Georgia and the others Confederate states had to begin manufacturing their own goods. The Union Blockade was part of a military strategy, known as the Anaconda

South ony had to do enough damage to the invading army(North) that its troops lost morale and politicians in Washington lost the popular support and political will to continue fighting. The secessionists had shorter supply lines that often ran along established and know railroads and better knowledge of the territory.with many mountains and rivers running east-west in the South,the rebels often were able to set up defensible positions. The South was defending its home against invaders

The blockade of 1861 was indeed very useful. Estimates suggest that only one in ten ships attempting to trade with the South was captured in the first year of the war. But the south had ships the could run which

cotton belt - a region of the US South where cotton is the historic main crop, especially in parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi.

The American Civil War was one of the deadliest wars in American history, resulting in 620,000 casualties of soldiers and undetermined number of civilian casualties. Southern slave states declared their withdrawal from United States and formed the Confederate States of America; also know as “The Confederacy.” Northern twenty states free of slavery and five slave states in north came to knows as the Union. Many strategy and tactics were used during the American Civil War. In order to understand the military strategy and tactics of Union and the Confederacy, one must understand the manpower each side had, previous war experience of the commanding officers on both side, and using rivers and railroad to their advantages.