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“B” is for blockade-running

“B” is for blockade-running. Throughout the civil war, government and civilian goods were shipped into the Confederate states on vessels known as blockade-runners. The vessels that carried these supplies through the northern blockade were vital components in a trade that sustained the Confederate armies. Large sailing ships were easily captured, so the mainstay of the trade quickly became specialized, steam propelled blockade-runners that could outrun enemy gunboats and carry 500 to 2,000 bales of cotton. Though the Confederate government operated blockade runners, the majority of the vessels were owned and run by private companies that made tremendous profits by importing supplies and exporting cotton. The majority of the war's blockade-running firms were formed at Charleston. Charleston served as the Confederacy’s main port from November 1861 to July 1863 when the main ship channel was closed.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.