“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. Though South Carolina had numerous harbors and inlets, only Charleston had the proper railroad connections and port facilities to sustain an overseas trade. The majority of the war’s blockade-running firms were formed at Charleston. George A. Trenholm operated the South’s largest and most successful firm. Charleston served as the Confederacy’s main port until July 1863. After the Union captured Morris Island, blockade running virtually ceased, but smaller vessels slipped through from time to time. The last blockade-runner to clear Charleston was the G.T. Watson that escaped on February 17, 1865.
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.