New Book on the Blockade

[USS ALASKA]

This book was just released this June...

Campaign for the Confederate Coast: Blockading, Blockade Running and Related Endeavors During the American Civil War by Gil Hahn

It has some impressive 'Editorial Reviews' here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734953705/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Has anyone read it and care to comment?

Thanks for your help,
USS ALASKA

 

[Belfoured]

This book was just released this June...

Campaign for the Confederate Coast: Blockading, Blockade Running and Related Endeavors During the American Civil War by Gil Hahn

It has some impressive 'Editorial Reviews' here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734953705/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Has anyone read it and care to comment?

Thanks for your help,
USS ALASKA

FYI, this is Drew Wagenhoffer's recent review of another new book on the blockade. If you're unfamiliar with him, Drew's reviews are thorough and almost always right on the mark.

Civil War Books and Authors

Non-fiction Civil War book reviews, commentary, publishing news, author interviews, and profiles

cwba.blogspot.com

 

[USS ALASKA]

FYI, this is Drew Wagenhoffer's recent review of another new book on the blockade. If you're unfamiliar with him, Drew's reviews are thorough and almost always right on the mark.

Thank you sir - interesting source! After reading his reviews I was hoping for his take on Surdam's book on the topic but he didn't have a review for that.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Belfoured]

Thank you sir - interesting source! After reading his reviews I was hoping for his take on Surdam's book on the topic but he didn't have a review for that.

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

He is really dependent on publishers sending him review copies. That said, he gets most of the worthwhile books. I think Surdam's book (1998) was published before Drew started his blogsite.

 

[Nathan Stuart]

This book was just released this June...

Campaign for the Confederate Coast: Blockading, Blockade Running and Related Endeavors During the American Civil War by Gil Hahn

It has some impressive 'Editorial Reviews' here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734953705/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Has anyone read it and care to comment?

Thanks for your help,
USS ALASKA

A systematic concise study of union coastal operations during the war, administered as part of the 'Anaconda Plan', is found in 'Strangling the Confederacy' (233 pages) by Ken Dougherty.

The suggested title (324 pages) by Gil Hahn looks to be more comprehensive by including coverage of blockade running. It would be useful if the Amazon display included the 'List of Contents' to view the the scope of the work.

 

[USS ALASKA]

The suggested title (324 pages) by Gil Hahn looks to be more comprehensive by including coverage of blockade running. It would be useful if the Amazon display included the 'List of Contents' to view the the scope of the work.

Indeed sir, I guess what I was going for - and of course didn't mention in the OP so how would anyone know - is what new, updated or reinterpreted info does this book bring to the table? Having read Wise and Surdam and shelfs full of other books and a hard drive worth of thesis about the blockade and naval aspects of the ACW, is there anything here that changes perceptions and paradigms i.e., is it worth the money and effort?

Thank you for your response,
USS ALASKA

 

[USS ALASKA]

He is really dependent on publishers sending him review copies.

I need a job like that...and one reviewing classic American muscle cars and Euro sports cars...and small batch bourbons...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[DaveBrt]

He is really dependent on publishers sending him review copies. That said, he gets most of the worthwhile books. I think Surdam's book (1998) was published before Drew started his blogsite.

He reviewed my book and got it right -- the intent of the book and the value of the book to the Civil War reader and researcher.

I've read many of his reviews and they are all top quality.

 

[Belfoured]

I need a job like that...and one reviewing classic American muscle cars and Euro sports cars...and small batch bourbons...

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

I have a feeling the line forms to the right ....

 

[Belfoured]

He reviewed my book and got it right -- the intent of the book and the value of the book to the Civil War reader and researcher.

I've read many of his reviews and they are all top quality.

In my own reviewing activities, I've had books that he also reviewed. I'd do my own and then read his if it was already up. Needless to say, I have used his as a barometer to "second guess" mine. His reviews are consistently on target, fair, and some of the most thorough around. He knows his "stuff" (and other authors I know take pride in getting a good review over there).

 

[wausaubob]

Bonner's and McCord's book is probably more professional and scholarly, and better supported by the publisher. Hahn's book looks more interesting, based on the side by side reviews at the website mentioned.

 

[wausaubob]

Knowing the number of successful attempts doesn't mean much if the tonnage delivered is not mentioned and the port of entry is not known.
Freight delivered to Galveston doesn't do the Confederacy much good.
It seems the Confederacy thought Mobile Bay, Charleston and Wilmington were critically important ports. They spent resources on them very freely.

 

[DaveBrt]

Knowing the number of successful attempts doesn't mean much if the tonnage delivered is not mentioned and the port of entry is not known.
Freight delivered to Galveston doesn't do the Confederacy much good.
It seems the Confederacy thought Mobile Bay, Charleston and Wilmington were critically important ports. They spent resources on them very freely.

Interestingly, both Mobile and Charleston had crucial rail connections, too, which were never mentioned.

 

[wausaubob]

Interestingly, both Mobile and Charleston had crucial rail connections, too, which were never mentioned.

Both the US and the Confederacy considered Fort Fisher, Wilmington and the Weldon RR as critical to Confederate survival. Especially after the Confederates had to abandon Battery Wagner, Wilmington was essential.

 

[wausaubob]

This book was just released this June...

Campaign for the Confederate Coast: Blockading, Blockade Running and Related Endeavors During the American Civil War by Gil Hahn

It has some impressive 'Editorial Reviews' here - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1734953705/?tag=civilwartalkc-20

Has anyone read it and care to comment?

Thanks for your help,
USS ALASKA

Hahn's book seems more interesting, even if it is not a proper scholarly work.

 

[wausaubob]

The Confederates had enough arms and munitions for the battles they fought. But what battles were not fought, especially in the west, because the Confederates lacked the munitions? And when were Confederate forces reduced or not fully equipped, because not enough modern arms were getting through the blockade to replace losses?

 

[DaveBrt]

Weldon was crucial remained, even after the fall of Wilmington, because of its connection to Raleigh and Petersburg (even if it required wagon trains). There was really no way around Mobile and Charleston, without giving up huge sections of the country. Enemy logistics was not meaningfully considered by the Lincoln war planners.

 

[Belfoured]

Interestingly, both Mobile and Charleston had crucial rail connections, too, which were never mentioned.

Although Grant's late summer 1863 proposal for a joint operation by his A of the T and Banks' Dep't of the Gulf against Mobile and then to Montgomery seems to have recognized the issue of what happened once material entered the port. And his proposal would have involved combined ops with the USN - something he now had extensive experience with - to shut down the port.

 

[wausaubob]

On the blockade:
1. Without a blockade and enforcement of it, the British would have lost patience with the US and they would have found a way to get advanced naval vessels to the Confederacy. That would have resulted in at least an armistice.
2. New Orleans was blockaded and then captured by the US. That slowed down slave trading, and it must have changed expectations about the future of slavery. Hard to see how the Confederacy could protect the institution if it couldn't protect New Orleans.
3. States like Tennessee and Arkansas, that went from inside the blockade to back to the US economy must have seen normal conditions restored. It had to make those areas easier to govern.
4. The blockade almost immediately shut down inter coastal sailing traffic. That traffic had to shift to rail. In a short war, that would have no affect. But in a longer war, it would have an affect. RRs in that era were very labor intensive. It was one of the big cost disadvantages compared to canal and steamboat traffic. The labor requirements were going to affect the Confederacy after a few years. Therefore the blockade was an essential step in keeping the Confederacy isolated, and setting up the war of attrition in which the military and the transportation system are competing for labor within the Confederacy. Maybe.

 

[John F Messner]

Looking froward to picking up both of these new books. Wise's work still stands up to the test of time, but I know from personal research experience that more and more information can now be accessed digitally and can give a more in depth picture from both the macro level and down to individual steamers and captains. There is still lots out there to learn about the operation of the blockade as well as the stories of the men who crewed the runners.