In January, 1865, Jefferson Davis, “in a message to Congress on this subject, said that the number of vessels arriving at only two ports—Charleston and Wilmington—from November the first to December the sixth, had been forty-three, and that only a very small portion of those outward bound had been captured; that out of 11,796 bales of cotton shipped since July the first, 1864, but 1,272 bales had been lost. And the special report of the Secretary of the Treasury in relation to the same matter stated that there had been imported at the ports of Wilmington and Charleston since October 26th, 1864, 8,632,000 pounds of meat, 1,507,000 pounds of lead, 1,933,000 pounds of saltpetre, 546,000 pairs of shoes, 316,000 pairs of blankets, 520,000 pounds of coffee, 69,000 rifles, 97 packages of revolvers, 2,639 packages of medicines, 43 cannon, with a very large quantity of other articles. From March 1st, 1864, to January 1st, 1865, the value of the shipments of cotton on Confederate government account was shown by the Secretary’s report to have been $5,296,000 in specie, of which $1,500,000 had been shipped out between July 1st and December 1st, 1864.
“A list of vessels which were running the blockade from Nassau and other ports, in the period intervening between November, 1861, and March, 1864, showed that 84 steamers were engaged; of these, 37 were captured by the enemy, 12 were totally lost, 11 were lost and the cargoes partially saved, and one foundered at sea.
“They made 363 trips to Nassau and 65 to other parts. Among the highest number of runs made were those of the Fanny, which ran 18 times, and the Margaret and Jessie, which performed the same feat and was captured. Out of 425 runs from Nassau alone (including 100 schooners), only 62—about one in seven—were unsuccessful.”
The following estimate of the disbursements and profits of a blockade-runner is taken from Scharf, as is the quotation above. The estimate refers to the last part of the war, when the Confederate government took a half of the cargo space of runners:
| One captain, per month | $5,000 00 | |
| First officer, $600, second do., $250; third do., $170 | 1,020 00 | |
| One boatswain | 160 00 | |
| One carpenter | 160 00 | |
| One purser | 1,000 00 | |
| One steward, $150; three assistants, $80 | 330 00 | |
| One cook, $150; two assistants, $120 | 270 00 | |
| One engineer and three assistants | 3,500 00 | |
| Twelve firemen and coal-heavers | 2,400 00 | |
| 240 tons of coal at $20 | 4,800 00 | |
| Rations for crew | 2,700 00 | |
| Oil, tallow, and packing | 1,000 00 | |
| Stevedores | 5,000 00 | |
| Pilotage, out and in | 3,000 00 | |
| Sea insurance | 3,500 00 | |
| Wear and tear | 4,250 00 | |
| Incidental expenses | 1,000 00 | |
| Interest | 875 00 | |
| Risks, 25 per cent | 37,500 00 | |
| Provisions for passengers | 3,000 00 | |
| $80,265 00 | ||
| Earnings, out and home: | ||
| 800 bales of cotton for government | $40,000 00 | |
| 800 bales of cotton for owners | 40,000 00 | |
| Return freight for owners | 40,000 00 | |
| Return freight for government | 40,000 00 | |
| Passengers, out and home | 12,000 00 | |
| $172,000 00 | ||
| Leaving a monthly profit of | $91,735 00 | |
On the other hand, it should be observed that the Federal ships captured over 1,000 prizes during the war. One of these, the Memphis, paid $510,914.07 in prize money to her captors, two or three paid over $400,000, and whole fleets yielded from $100,000 to $300,000. The Banshee, of which Taylor boasts, paid $104,948.48 to the Yankee crews of the Fulton and Grand Gulf. Blockade-running, like privateering in 1812, paid a few firms handsomely. The Frasers of Charleston are said to have cleared $20,000,000 in gold, but many others lost heavily—the Jews who bought the Will-o’-the-Wisp, for instance. It was a thoroughly disreputable business, but so much of the story must be told, if only to show the character of part of the opposition which the government faced in the Civil War.
CHAPTER III
LOSS OF THE NORFOLK NAVY YARD
EFFECTIVE WORK DONE BY SOUTHERN NAVAL OFFICERS WHO CONTINUED TO WEAR THE NATIONAL UNIFORM THAT THEY MIGHT THE MORE READILY BETRAY THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT—THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY WAS DECEIVED AND THE COMMANDANT AT NORFOLK DEMORALIZED—WILLIAM MAHONE’S TRICKS ADDED TO THE DEMORALIZATION AT THE YARD, AND IT WAS ABANDONED AT LAST IN A SHAMEFUL PANIC—PROPERTY THAT WAS WORTH MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, AND GUNS THAT TOOK THOUSANDS OF LIVES, FELL INTO THE CONFEDERATES’ HANDS—THE FIRST NAVAL BATTLE OF THE WAR—THREE LITTLE WOODEN VESSELS WITH SEVEN SMALL GUNS SENT AGAINST A WELL-BUILT FORT MOUNTING THIRTEEN GUNS—THE HAZARDOUS WORK OF PATROLLING THE POTOMAC.
The first actual battle of the war in which the navy took part occurred on May 20 and 21, 1861, and resulted in the capture of the Confederate forts that had been erected on the Potomac River at Acquia Creek to shut off communication between Washington and the sea. As the reader will remember, there was but one railroad running from the North to Washington in those days. The authorities of Maryland had decided that they would keep their State neutral during the impending strife, acting, of course, on the theory of State sovereignty then held in the South, and had prohibited the transportation of troops across their State. The Confederates actually believed that this prohibition would prevent the Northern troops coming to the defence of the nation’s capital overland, and that resort to ships would be had in strengthening the forces at Washington. To head off the ships, the Confederates swarmed to the bank of the Potomac River, and there were Confederate fortifications with colors flying, in plain view of Washington itself. The Confederates, in the few weeks following the secession of Virginia, were confident of capturing the national capital.
