Blockade runners of the American Civil War | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-12-05

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Blockade runners of the American Civil War


00:01:49 1 Background
00:05:43 2 Union blockade
00:08:10 3 Supplying the Confederacy
00:11:37 3.1 Central figures
00:12:11 3.1.1 Josiah C. Gorgas
00:13:12 3.1.2 Caleb Huse
00:15:09 3.1.3 James Dunwoody Bulloch
00:17:11 3.1.4 John Newland Maffitt
00:18:08 4 Blockade runners
00:22:39 4.1 The first blockade-runners
00:24:54 5 Notable blockade runners
00:31:17 6 See also
00:31:25 7 Bibliography



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SUMMARY
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The blockade runners of the American Civil War were seagoing steam ships that were used to get through the Union blockade that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. Blockade runners imported from England most of the guns and other ordnance the Confederacy desperately needed. To get through the blockade, these ships, many of them built in British ship yards and specially designed for speed, had to cruise undetected, usually at night. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operating with a letter of marque issued by the Confederate States of America. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union ships on blockade patrol, very often successfully.
These vessels also carried cargoes to and from neutral ports often located in Nassau and Cuba. Neutral merchant ships in turn carried these cargoes, usually coming from or destined to England or other points abroad. Outbound ships chiefly exported cotton, tobacco and other goods for trade and revenue, while also carrying important mail and correspondence to suppliers and other interested parties in Europe, most often in England. Inbound ships usually brought badly needed supplies and mail to the Confederacy, and most of the guns and other ordnance of the Confederacy were imported from England via blockade runners. Some blockade runners made many successful runs, while many others were either captured or destroyed. Historians estimate that an estimated 2,500–2,800 attempts were made to run the blockade, with at least an 80% success rate. 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.