Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1882-10-14

! was the blockade, it was never close
i enough to entirely stop the business.
With twenty-fOnr Federal vessels off the
bar at Charleston Confederate steamer
made that port without receiving a shot.
I pilot to he depended on. and night
] such as the runners prayed Tor, would
/ take n vessel ont or In. no matter how
alert the blockaders.
Necessity and avarice were the main
Inducements to carry on the trade, but
IN making up the crew of the vessel
many n man volunteered his services
more for the love of adventure than anv
other reason. 1t was n business in
which every man took his life in his
hand, and he so understood. An ordi-
nariy brave man had no business on a
blockade runner. He who made a snc-
cess OF 1t must have the cunning of a
tox, the patience of jon, aud the
bravery OF an Indian warrior Uncle
Sam wanted at first to treat them as
pirates, and was never sati fed to con
slider them contrabandists. The runners
must not be armed and must not resist.
The only privilege accorded them when
discovered was to outrun pursuit if they
could, and scores Of them were remark
ably successful in making the most of
this privittgA. In a stay Of ten days in
Charleston ] had the good fortune to
meet a round dozen ex-captains of
blockade runners, and was Thus put in
possession Of many particulars never
given the public in print. TIE history
OF the business, written alone aud de-
failing the adventures, perils, escapes
and mishars of the 500 vessels engaged
from first TO last, would be the most In
terestlng volume of the war.
When Uncle Sam realized that EDe-
land was willing to sell whatever the
Confederacy would buy, a sharp watch
was kept upon everything landed or
loaded at Nassau. In some cases the
Federal agents were bribed with gold,
and IN others the goods wanted were
passed under their very noses without
beng suspected. Four weeks previous
to the battle of Shiloh The steamer X ,fe
ran the blockade at Charleston and ar
rived safely at Nassau. Twenty thou
sand English muskets, alreadyp aid for,
had arrived, and a part of them unload
ed. The boxes were marked "hard-
ware, ;" and $500 SO blinded the cu,toms
officer that he saw spades and shovels
where he might have seen gun-barrels
and stocks. Scarcely anv effort was
made at secrecy, and the X ate got away
uuqu 9stioned, landed the arms III Flor.
ida, and they were speedily III the
hands of the CDnfederates confronting
Grant. That supply # arms hrou2h lit
about that battle. One cannon ball
from Federal cruiser fired into the
Kate would have had mighty bearing
upon the campaign IN the west.
There never was n time f.om first 70
last. no matter how thick the Federal
spies, that the Confederates couid not
obtain full cargOes at Nassau. II was a
trick of the Federal cruisers to lie in
wait for the runners coming out, so that
the craft prac ically had 10 run two
blockades 10 reach Southern port, and
f,om the moment of leaving Nassau the
dangers thickened
Just before leaving Nassau, one
evening in 1868, the captain Of tie
hlockade-rnnning steamer Southern
Cross received information that Federal
cruisers were lying in wait him abont
twenty miles off the coast. La con
sequence Of this news he ran to the
ngnt of the usual track about ten miles
to avoid them. The Federal commaders
suspected that their presence would be
known in Nassau, and therefore ran TO
the left of the track.
The runner was fifteen miles at sea
when night fell. Every light was put
ont, the speed was slowed down, aud
every man aboard was cautioned to be
absolutely quiet, no matter what oc-
cured. The tiremen opened barrels of
tar to be prepared for II sudden call for
increased speed, and the steamer crept
forward into the darkness. Owing To
her color she could not be seen a quar-
ter of mile away on that night, and
there was enough windand sea to drown
the noise Of her paddles. All OF sud
den, as the runner crept forward, the
iookouts sighted one OF the cruisers
dead ahead and advancing. The
steamer sheered to port, but in five
minutes the other cruiser was sighted
aud she found herself between the two.
Her engines were stopped and the yes
sci foated quietly before the wind.
The chances were that she would not be
discovered, when an Irish deck hand,
who had been without smoke AS long
as he could stand If, filed his pipe and
struck match. The flame, tiny as it
was, betrayed the steamer.
The cruisers signalled each other and
Mt once opened fire. The shooting was
gnesswork under the circumstances, but
it was good guessing. The very first
cannon ball carried away the ornament
on top of the piot-house, aud the sec
Oad smashed ten feet of deck railing.
The blockade runner al once started
ahead ut full speed, all the time under
fire, and as she ran away she passed
within hundred feet of one of the
Federal ships. 4 solid shot. fred from
this distance. passed through the run
ner Just above the main deck, and an
other grazed her bow, and the Federal
commander hailed: "Come to or I'll
SINK you - There was every show that
he had it in his power to do so, but the
runner steamed ahead, ana after an
hours chase, accompanied by a constant
fire from the big guns, she gave the
cruisers the slip.
One of the most valuable cargoes ever
reaching Southern port was that of the
steamer Sumter. She was we'll known
to the Federal blockaders mt Charleston,
and upon receiving this cargo she made
direct for Wilmington. There was a
hlockading fleet of five or SIX vessels
there, and the Sumter came in sight Of
il IN the morning Paving not fine least