Unusual Blockade Runner Port?

[DaveBrt]

Sept.3, 1863

Hd Qrs Dist of E. Fla, Lake City ordered (Special Orders No 675) a light battery to send a 6 pdr by RR to Houston, Fl. on the Pensacola & Georgia RR "to guard the steamer now loading there on Suwanee river."

There were no Union ground forces in the area, so any threat must have been from a raiding party from a blockader. Houston is not on the Suwanee River (about 20 miles from it) and a loading point on the Suwanee River near Houston would have been about 80 miles direct from the coast or about 75 miles up the Suwanee River.

Blockaders did check on Bay Port and Cedar Keyes, so maybe they had reason to fear a possible boat party coming up the river. Anyway, it looks like a blockade runner was loaded out in the Suwanee River in the vicinity of Houston, FL in late 1863.

Edit: Later Special Orders send 2 rifled cannon and 40 infantry additional to protect the Little Celia at New Boston Fl

 

[DaveBrt]

In late October, 2 more guns were sent to a place "for the protection of the steamers on the Suwanee River."

During the month of September, three additional steamers and a schooner are named in the Suwanee/Cedar Keys.

There is also records of a movement of powder up to Savannah -- probably from a runner's cargo.

 

[Carronade]

That seems like quite a distance upriver for the Union navy to be raiding, but apparently the Confederates considered it a credible threat.

 

[DaveBrt]

That seems like quite a distance upriver for the Union navy to be raiding, but apparently the Confederates considered it a credible threat.

There is a Florida in the CW site that shows, among other things, the significant land raids from the sea. There are two in the general area of these posts, both going a significant distance inland (no scale, but I would guess about 75 miles). There are no names or dates identified with theses raids, so I do not know how they relate to the moves above.

 

[USS ALASKA]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Suwanneerivermap.png

From the looks of the map, up-river by boat seems to be the best way as overland from other points means slogging through much swamp land.

How far was the closest rail connection from the navigable parts of the river?
95

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[DaveBrt]

View attachment 207481

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Suwanneerivermap.png

From the looks of the map, up-river by boat seems to be the best way as overland from other points means slogging through much swamp land.

How far was the closest rail connection from the navigable parts of the river?
95

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

The Pensacola & Georgia RR crosses the river just above the place where the first mentioned steamer was being loaded.

 

[USS ALASKA]

So a good place for this sort of activity. I'm guessing these runners came out of Havana? MAYBE the Bahamas? Long way from Bermuda...
95

Cheers,
USS ALASKA

 

[Story]

Recent backgrounder on the river -

Only fast blockade-runners and river-going steamers could use the various inland waterways around the Confederacy, and the Suwannee River was one such location for these activities. Federal supply ships would also deliver goods to the federal base at Cedar Key (captured at the beginning of the war); this created opportunities to enterprising sailors in the area.
https://www.suwanneedemocrat.com/ne...cle_7d8a9c32-c050-5830-9f7c-182a4293445a.html

See https://www.navyandmarine.org/ondeck/1862saltraids.htm
See also
The Extent and Importance of Federal Naval Raids on Salt-Making in Florida, 1862-1865
https://www.jstor.org/stable/30151279?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents