What were the five major ports of the Confederacy?

[Calicoboy]

Originally Posted by larry_cockerham

At the end of the peninsula was Fort Fisher, a seemingly much cruder fortification than Fort Pulaski. Fort Fisher was simply an extended series of earthworks, or more accurately sandworks, that hardly looked like a real fort at all. Appearances were deceiving in a way the complete opposite of how they had been at Fort Pulaski: Fort Fisher was well laid-out and ingeniously designed, and could stand almost any bombardment the Federals could throw at it. For the moment the Yankees didn't even try.

In the last days of the war, Wilmington was the only open major port on the Atlantic seaboard. That was because of "Fort" Fisher. The sand and earth works had 47 heavy guns. The use of earth and sand made these works nearly impervious to naval fire. Blockade running ships had evolved into fast, shallow draft steam/sail ships that burned anthracite coal to minimize smoke. The sounds and inlets of the Cape Fear made the Wilmington area very attractive to blockade runners. The first Union attempt was during the Christmas holidays in 1864. Union forces under Butler and naval forces under Porter gave it a try and gave up on the 27th. However, on January 12th, the Union forces returned. After a two and a half day bombardment, 3200 Union troops assailed the fort. After a few hours of desperate fighting, Fisher fell and Wilmington a few weeks later. Gen. Alfred Terry was far more competent that the bumbling Butler. The last Union impediment to Wilmington was Fort Anderson. After a heavy naval bombardment, troops under John Schofield attacked the fort. Confederate troops under Braxton Bragg abandoned the fort on the 19th and left Wilmington to the Federals on the 22nd...after he set much of the town afire. The loss of Wilmington was a huge nail in the Confederate coffin. The war would be over six and a half weeks later.

Calicoboy

[ole]

Just read an interesting tidbit in Trowbridge, "The Desolate South." He labelled Mobile as all but worthless due to really shallow water. Freighters would have to anchor out and transfer cargo to smaller, shallower draft shuttles. He mentions Pensacola as a better port. Any comments on that?
Ole

[ole]

Where were we? Savannah was a better port than Charleston--easier to get into and out of. Wilmington wasn't all that great as a prewar port, but gained ascendency during the war. New Orleans was by far the best but, alas, fell rather early. Richmond wasn't that great prewar, and didn't gain a bunch during.

Maybe we ought to look at the pre-war conditions as opposed to during or post. It's almost unfair to put Wilmington to the top just because it's importance was greatly enhanced by its blockade-runner access.

Interesting topic.
Ole

[larry_cockerham]

Ole, would you agree the facits of a good port are deep water, a good dock and a means of transporting goods in and out? The Confederate states simply didn't have much to utilize. Charleston, Norfolk and New Orleans were the only good potential sites anywhere near the open sea. The North Carolina 'ports' of Morehead and Wilmington suffered for water depth as did much of the east coast. These NC sites were also very remote to the needed transport links.
Losing New Orleans early in the war was a severe blow as was the subsequent Union occupation of the inland rivers. Pensacola offered shallow water and remoteness, not much of a plus. I assume Miami wasn't there? Don't know much about Miami's chronological history. **** long walk from Miami to Richmond as well.

[larry_cockerham]

I'll be ****ed if the censor didn't survive the software update!

[ole]

Larry, deep water and access were indeed good stuff to have. Charleston didn't have it. Wilmington didn't have it, Mobile didn't have it, In the final analysis, only New Orleans and maybe Savannah had the good stuff and they fell to the Union quite early. The anaconda was alive and well and living somewhere in New Jersey.

[larry_cockerham]

I suspect Charleston was deserving of being called a deep water port? The Ashley and Cooper rivers were rather deep. The US Navy thought enough of the Cooper river to built a submarine port there. I've seen some destroyers and and a small aircraft carrier docked there as well. That's also one of the few remaining bases, Ft. McPherson in Atlanta, comes to mind that has a fine parade ground lined with officer's residences, a remnant of times gone by. The other thing the Confederacy was missing was a significant number of ships and men. No way to fight a war on the seas.

[gary]

How about in terms of antebellum shipping? Does anyone know how much shipping in terms of tonnage and number of ships received by each port. That could be the standard by which we determine whether a port was "major" or not.

[larry_cockerham]

Gary, you jumped the stakes beyond my ability to play. We've been only looking at geography and conditions. When you jump to activity and tonnage, the South could hardly get into the game either. I've never seen that type of data. I suspect it was a short sheet for the Confederacy, thanks to Union blockades and the fact the South had few goods to export.

[ole]

Larry:
Haven't read anywhere a ranking of southern ports so I'm doing a lot of guessing. I'd guess that among us posting on this thread, we've come doggone close.

I'd wager that New Orleans was the hands-down #1 -- until it was took. I've read that Charleston was a bit difficult to get into and out of, especially after they got paranoid and sunk hulks in the channel. Savannah had the best river access, but I don't know what kind of facilities it had, compared to Charleston. Richmond had Norfolk.

Guess we'll have to look for someone who has 1860 figures for tonnage in and out.
Ole