A readable, exciting chronicle of the men and ships that ran federal naval blockades during the Civil War

Within four weeks of the fall of Fort Sumter, President Abraham Lincoln had declared a blockade of over four thousand miles of Confederate coastline, from Cape Henry in Virginia to the Mexican border. In response, professional runners, lured by both profits and patriotism, built faster, sleeker, low-profile ships and piloted them through the ever-thickening Northern cordon. The tonnage they imported, including items ranging from straight pins to marine engines, sustained the South throughout the conflict. This exciting chronicle of the men and ships that ran federal naval blockades during the Civil War also provides an overall assessment of the blockades conception, effectiveness, and impact on the Southern populace.

Hamilton Cochran served in the U.S. Coast Guard during World Wars I and II. An advertising executive by day, he authored numerous fiction and nonfiction works, most about ships, piracy, and the Caribbean.

"There are few more colorful aspects to the Civil War than the ships and men who braved the Union blockade to bring munitions and medicine, champagne and silk to the Confederacy. They offer a magnificent opportunity for storytelling, and Hamilton Cochran, whose literary abilities are considerable, has made the most of it."
—Military Affairs

"The author admirably achieves his purpose of telling the exciting stories of the extraordinary characters who gambled lives and fortunes in the most adventurous of Civil War activities. . . . Fascinating reading and good history."
—Chicago Sunday Tribune