how effective was the union blockade?

Early in 1862, the Gulf Blockading Squadron was reconfigured into two separate entities, the East Gulf Blockading Squadron (EGBS) commanded by Flag-Officer James L. Lardner and the West Gulf Blockading Squadron (WGBS) led by Flag-Officer David G. No one seriously contends that it alone would have won the war for the North. They did, however, dramatically increase Northern insurance premiums, cause many merchants to ship goods in foreign ships, and pull Union warships away from blockade duty. d. It was the gateway to the Mississippi. Some joined to avoid being drafted into the army, where the chance of being killed or wounded was much higher; only about 4,000 Union sailors died during the war. 628 (1962): 30814. typically were obtained either from the outlying Southern states of Texas and Arkansas or the Midwestern states of Ohio and Illinois. Steam ships being used in war was new enough, but the Union and Confederate governments began building ironclad ships for use in battle. [15] Henceforth, in the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, "The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea.". Just because a plan does not work as intended does not mean it was unsuccessful. Thus, the blockade was immediately transformed from a purely open-water operation to one of at least limited occupation of enemy territory. Insofar as he foresaw direct combat, it was to be more or less confined to the central thrust down the Mississippi River. [13], The campaign for Vicksburg eventually settled into a siege, which terminated on July 4, 1863, with Pemberton's surrender of all the forces under his command. 10. Federal Identification Number (EIN): 54-1426643. Union passengers and crew were generally taken prisoner, and either dropped off in a neutral ship or port. neutral ships in international waters, but were displeased by what they saw as Economic Warfare: The Union Blockadein the Civil War, Dean Dave Hansen Professor of Economics at Linfield University, The Blockading, Raiding Navies of the Civil War, Blockade Busters of the Confederate Navy. Constitution Avenue, NW 4 (December 1981): 867888. 2 (June 2009): 528532. Roger A. Bailey is a historian and PhD candidate at the University of Maryland. Flag Officer S. F. Du Pont misrepresented the motions of his ships. Non-subscribers can read five free Naval History articles per month. While all this was going on, the local defenders were not passive. Second and perhaps more important, the Southern armies were not hamstrung for lack of material, at least owing to the blockade. Mark Guglielmo, The Contribution of Economists to Military Intelligence During World War II, The Journal of Economic History 68, no. To landward, the Navy cooperated with the Army in amphibious and coastal/riverine operations to gain control of riverways and ports. Conceptually, this can be seen using a linkages Input/Output framework as developed by Wassily Leontief to identify targets during World War II. I feel like its a lifeline. Split in two and unable to access cattle in Texas, rice in Arkansas, or salt in Louisiana, the Confederate operating forces in the East began cutting rations following the fall of Vicksburg, and food became incredibly scarce across the Confederacy. 5. Firstly, the Kanawha was not suited for water transport and so the march on Richmond would have to be overland and thus subject to breakdowns of men, horses, and equipment. (2011, May 9). (See Raising the Flag at Fort Sumter.) It was a strategic point from which to attack the North. [28], The blockade of Confederate ports on the Gulf of Mexico was less important than that on the Atlantic. Astute observers of the South's condition began calculating the blockade's. the Confederacy. The blockade of the South during the Civil War, as well as Southern attempts to circumvent it, signaled a new era in naval warfare. Fox, Stephen R. Wolf of the Deep: Raphael Semmes and the Notorious Confederate Raider CSS Alabama. It remained accessible to blockade runners for the rest of the war but, like all of the Trans-Mississippi, was rendered worthless to the Rebellion when the loss of Vicksburg completed Federal control of the Mississippi River. Supply chains faltered not for a lack of abundance, but for a lack of transportation. Blockading Southern ports was a Union wartime objective. The reason was that as a maritime power, Britain often blockaded its enemies. ORN I, v. 12, pp, 195198, 198201, 201206; v. 16, pp. It is that forced inability to react that is relevant to modern-day planners contemplating economic warfare. I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. As the Union Navy took steps to enforce the blockade, controversies arose with However, the Union Navy gradually increased in size throughout the war, and was able to drastically reduce shipments into Confederate ports. From before the War of 1812, the United States had insisted upon a strict definition in Lesson Transcript. Subscribe now and never hit a limit. manufacturing areas in Britain and France that depended on Southern cotton , That is what the Southern economy did. Only a few major ports would be defended. Why. After both of these attempts to take the battery failed, the ships remained active in the ensuing siege that eventually resulted in its capture. The South did everything possible to circumvent the federal blockade. 16. However, it was transformed into an incursion, and led early in the next year to a full invasion, the so-called Burnside Expedition, which included the capture of Roanoke Island and established the Union Army permanently in eastern North Carolina. weapons, and other materiel from Confederate ports to transfer points in Mexico, Lance E. Davis and Stanley L. Engerman, Naval Blockades in Peace and War: An Economic History since 1750 (New York: Cambridge University Press,2006). What is the main purpose of the August 16th proclamation? It did not consider an allocation of resources. Hoarding and shortages in population centers drove up prices in ruinous inflation that crippled the remaining physical linkages within the economy. Aged and infirm, he had to retire before the end of the year. typically determined which ships in Caribbean ports were preparing to run the The second is that monetary impacts can be just as damaging as physical impacts. WebAs the war progressed and more territory came under Union control, the blockade became more effective, but less of an international issue. [39][40] Historians estimated that 2,5002,800 attempts were made to run the blockade, with at least an 80% success rate. But even as they waited, they had to keep their sails trimmed and boilers stoked so they could spring into action to chase anything they saw, day or night. Britain and France remained neutral despite their economic problems, and later First, by opening the Mississippi River the Union cut the Confed-eracy into two pieces making it more important than ever that the sections be able to Some analysis suggests that while highly profitable, blockade running was sufficiently risky that fewer than 10 percent of blockade runners challenged the blockade more than once. [9] The task of taking New Orleans was entrusted to Captain (later Admiral) David Glasgow Farragut, who followed his own plans for the battle; running his fleet past the forts that defended the city from the south on the night of April 24, 1862, he forced the city to surrender. The Anaconda Plan was a strategy outlined by the Union Army for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. Department of State, U.S. The Confederates reasoned that they would be outgunned against the Union Navy, because Northern steel mills and shipyards could produce a larger and better-equipped fleet. tool of war. Much of that was later done by the Blockade Strategy Board, a group meeting at the request of the Navy Department but also with representatives from both the Army and the Treasury Department (Coast Survey). The critical effect is the stress on the economy as a system and breaking its ability to adapt. British officials were also concerned about the You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month. may bias that number downward. The blockade of the South and the Confederacy's attempt to circumvent it is one of the story lines of the Civil War that few people know about, but it was still very important. Conceptually, the prewar Southern economy met the basic requirements for a successful blockade. It did not set out a timeline or even name points of particular concern. The Navy Department, however, remained committed to the idea of opening the Mississippi. Put more simply, within the Confederate economy, states east of the Mississippi produced money while states west of the Mississippi produced food. According to her view, the Anaconda is a later conceptual imposition on events for which order did not exist at the time that they took place. Losing the capacity to buy materiel leads to the exact same outcome as losing the materiel itself: empty supply chains. 1 (London: His Majesty's Stationary Office, 1952). succeed. The battle between the ironclads CSS Virginia and USS Monitor on March 9, 1862, was a dramatic turning point in naval warfare. Web27. However, effective operational security measures (renaming ships, shifting ports of entry, changing ships registries, etc.) Consequently, the Confederate Navy focused on building "cruisers" that were fast enough to avoid Union warships, but still carried enough firepower to easily capture merchant ships, which were usually slower and unarmed. WebThe Anaconda Plan was a strategy outlined by the Union Army for suppressing the Confederacy at the beginning of the American Civil War. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 56,000 acres in 25 states! The Souths major goal was keeping supplies moving by sea, using blockade runners that could speed past Union ships. the Secretary of State, Travels of Essentiallyand not altogether intentionallythe Union blockade balkanized the Confederate economy into two different non-supporting spheres, physically separating the Southern food supply west of the Mississippi from the financial resources east of the Mississippi. Webwho support the blockade's effectiveness generally present either psychological, contributory, or cost/benefit arguments.1. Simply put, money is also a target. Because the coastline was so long, developing an effective blockade took several years. When goods and services ceased to flow through the rebel states, the Confederacys monetary system also failed. He built the first with machinery salvaged from the USS Merrimack, and called it CSS Virginia. c. After giving the plan more thought he submitted his own proposal in a letter to McClellan on May 3, 1861. In the early days of the secession movement, the status of the border states Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and Delaware, all of which allowed slavery, was unclear. Department, Buildings of the The Confederacy attempted to innovate around this problem. However, until the | 9 Operationally, the blockade achieved the most effective end state:The Confederacy could not sustain its forces in the field. Purpose-built blockade runners replaced conventional merchant vessels. Not only were they farther from the centers of blockade-running activity in Bermuda and Nassau,[d] but ships trying to reach them from the Atlantic Ocean would have to run past the Florida Keys, which remained in Federal control throughout the war and served as the base for the Gulf (later, East Gulf) Blockading Squadron. The supply problems they did face were most often caused by the poor condition of Confederate railroads. The existence of multiple and simultaneous linkages within and across economies means that economies can and will substitute around stresses until either the stress dissipates, or the economy runs out of options and breaks. successfully convinced foreign governments to view the blockade as a legitimate b. Britain's refusal to observe the Union's blockade of Southern ports. Essentially, the blockade succeeded not because it achieved its initial objectives, but rather because it forced the Confederate economy to adapt more than it could react. Webcontributory, or cost/benefit arguments.1 Astute observers of the South's condition began calculating the blockade's potency during the war and developed an argument for its psychological effective ness. Seizure of Southern ports not only provided coaling and sustainment facilities that improved station-keeping time for the blockaders; it also simultaneously channelized Confederate blockade running into fewer and fewer ports. History 106: The Civil War and Reconstruction, The Battle of Hampton Roads: Summary, Causes & Consequences, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, President Lincoln's Cabinet: Members & Dynamics, President Davis' Cabinet: Members & Dynamics, Comparing the Union and Confederate Armies: Policies & Members, General McClellan, the Army of Potomac & the Peninsula Campaign, The Blockade and Blockade Runners During the Civil War: Definition & Purpose, The Battle of Shiloh: Conflict, Outcome & Generals Involved, The Fight for the Mississippi River in 1862: Summary & History, The Second Battle of Bull Run: Summary & Facts, The Battle of Antietam: Conflict, Outcome & Significance, The Battle of Fredericksburg: Summary, Timeline & Significance, The Emancipation Proclamation: Creation, Context and Legacy, Primary Source: The Emancipation Proclamation, The Civil War West of the Mississippi River: Summary & Major Events, GED Social Studies: Civics & Government, US History, Economics, Geography & World, The Ottoman Empire: Facts, Government & Rulers, Working Scholars Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. 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