How successful was the US blockade?

[kepi]

How successful was the US blockade of Confederate ports? What percentage of goods being smuggled in and out made it and what were the main goods on board the ships?

 

[7th Mississippi Infantry]

@kepi , Great question.

The simple answer is very successful.

A favorite thread of mine on the blockade:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-blockade-waste-or-war-winner.74051/

IMHO, it was not as successful as the Union thought it would be, but at the end it was a numbers game.

 

[ole]

How successful was the US blockade of Confederate ports? What percentage of goods being smuggled in and out made it and what were the main goods on board the ships?

My understanding is that it got tighter and tighter as the war ground on, but it wasn't shut off completely.

And let's look at it's effects. Blockade running was transferred to smaller and smaller ships which were small and fast but had to put in at inlets and river mouths which didn't have facilities such as docks and roads. Then there were those who elected to bring in luxury goods instead of war materiel -- to the point where the CSA had to limit the proportion of luxury goods to needed items.

 

[kepi]

@kepi , Great question.

The simple answer is very successful.

A favorite thread of mine on the blockade:
http://civilwartalk.com/threads/the-blockade-waste-or-war-winner.74051/

IMHO, it was not as successful as the Union thought it would be, but at the end it was a numbers game.

Thanks for thi info! I didn't see that thread before.

 

[leftyhunter]

Thanks for thi info! I didn't see that thread before.

We have a fair amount of threads on this subject at the Naval forum. I have a book called "Strangling the Confederacy) I don't have time to get the full title right now) that states that even by late 1864 69k rifles and a lot of cannon where successfully shipped to Wilmington, Nc. It was a tough struggle but in the long term the Union captured every port so yes ultimately it was 100% successful.
Leftyhunter

 

[Philip Leigh]

How successful was the US blockade of Confederate ports? What percentage of goods being smuggled in and out made it and what were the main goods on board the ships?

According to Wise in *Lifeline of the Confederacy* a total of 1,300 attempts were made (presumably by steamers) and over 1,000 got through. However, Frank Owsley estimates that when sailing vessels are included there were thousands of successful blockade runs.

Most importantly, however, about twice as much cotton was sold to northern states across enemy lines than was shipped to Europe through the maritime blockade. Yankee traders anxiously traded gold and contraband for Confederate cotton although it prolonged the war and lengthened the casualty lists.

 

[dlofting]

According to Wise in *Lifeline of the Confederacy* a total of 1,300 attempts were made (presumably by steamers) and over 1,000 got through. However, Frank Osley estimates that when sailing skips are included there were thousands of successful blockade runs.

Just off the top of my head, 1300 seems like an very small number of attempts. That's less than one attempt per day over the 4 years of the war.

 

[AndyHall]

Wise deals primarily with steam vessels. Blockade running by sailing vessels, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, is a much less-well-documented subject, but it was extensive and, in aggregate, substantial in volume.

Back in the 1950s, Marcus Price did a series of articles in the American Neptune, a now-defunct maritime history journal, titled "Ships that Tested the Blockade of the Gulf Ports." This is his summary of "the trade," which is likely as comprehensive and anyone is likely to compile:

Note that the rate of success of steamships remained (relatively) high all the way to the end of the war, but for sailing vessels it dropped of precipitously.

But, as Craig Symonds suggested in a South Carolina radio interview a year or so ago, simply toting up the percentage of attempts that got through is answering the wrong question:

But here's the statistic that I appeal to most often. And that is, if you take the twelve-month period prior to Fort Sumter, and calculate the total number of ships that came out of southern ports, the ports belonging to the states of the Confederacy, and the tonnage of goods, and compare that with the twelve months after Fort Sumter, and this was when the blockade was in its weakest state, it declined by more than 90%. So a number of ships that tried made it, but lots and lots and lots of ships never tried, because the blockade was there.​

In short, the effectiveness of the blockade isn't measured by the ships that got through, or attempted and failed, but by the ones that never tried.

 

[1950lemans]

Love this topic.

 

[kepi]

I'm fascinated by this topic.
We can move it to the proper forum if y'all want. I didn't realize there was a thread in this already.

 

[rhettbutler1865]

Luxury goods were a premium. Not just Rhett Butler got wealthy doing business with England! And France, and...

 

[kepi]

Luxury goods were a premium. Not just Rhett Butler got wealthy doing business with England! And France, and...

Were the only committees smuggled out cotton and tobacco?

 

[Philip Leigh]

Wise deals primarily with steam vessels. Blockade running by sailing vessels, especially in the Gulf of Mexico, is a much less-well-documented subject, but it was extensive and, in aggregate, substantial in volume

But, as Craig Symonds suggested in a South Carolina radio interview a year or so ago, simply toting up the percentage of attempts that got through is answering the wrong question:

But here's the statistic that I appeal to most often. And that is, if you take the twelve-month period prior to Fort Sumter, and calculate the total number of ships that came out of southern ports, the ports belonging to the states of the Confederacy, and the tonnage of goods, and compare that with the twelve months after Fort Sumter, and this was when the blockade was in its weakest state, it declined by more than 90%. So a number of ships that tried made it, but lots and lots and lots of ships never tried, because the blockade was there.​

In short, the effectiveness of the blockade isn't measured by the ships that got through, or attempted and failed, but by the ones that never tried.

It was not the blockade that caused the decline in shipments during the first year or so of the war, it was the cotton embargo.

The disappearance of English vessels from the South in the fall and winter of 1861 – 1862 is…easily explained. They were not scared away by the federal blockade…Foreign carries abandoned southern ports for the best of commercial reasons – there were no cargoes to be obtained [because of the cotton embargo].*

The Confederates didn't need to get supplies offshore so long as Yankee businessmen sold them what they needed. General William T. Sherman complained that Cincinnati provided the Confederacy with more supplies than Charleston, South Carolina, a chief destination for blockade-runners.**


* Burton Hendrick Statesmen of the Lost Cause (211-212)

** Robert Futrell Federal Trade with the Confederate States 137

 

[rhettbutler1865]

VERY true, Harvey. Again, it was the luxury goods that the South craved.

 

[AndyHall]

It was not the blockade that caused the decline in shipments during the first year or so of the war, it was the cotton embargo.

Yes, the so-called "King Cotton" strategy. The Confederates were convinced that Britain and France would break the blockade to get southern cotton. It was a serious miscalculation.

 

[AndyHall]

Were the only committees smuggled out cotton and tobacco?

There wasn't much else produced in the Confederacy that wasn't being consumed domestically.

 

[kepi]

Yes, the so-called "King Cotton" strategy. The Confederates were convinced that Britain and France would break the blockade to get southern cotton. It was a serious miscalculation.

View attachment 60647

Interesting cartoon

 

[kepi]

There wasn't much else produced in the Confederacy that wasn't being consumed domestically.

So where did Europe get cotton during this time?

 

[Elennsar]

India, Egypt, stockpiles from glut years, and those ignoring the embargo and blockade.

 

[AndyHall]

Interesting cartoon

It's a reference to the Greek story of Prometheus, the Titan who was punished by being chained to a mountain, for having given humans fire.