"ACW Blockade Running on the Texas Coast." Topic

"Over the past fifteen years or so, a small but useful body of literature (among these works by Edward Cotham, Stephen Dupree, and Stephen Townsend) exploring Civil War campaigns fought along the Texas coastline has emerged. While the title of Andrew Hall's new book Civil War Blockade Running on the Texas Coast may suggest a scope similar to that found in Rodman Underwood's study of the other side of the equation Waters of Discord: The Union Blockade of Texas During the Civil War (2008), it's fairly narrowly focused on the port of Galveston. With Ed Cotham's fine coverage of Galveston's military role with Battle on the Bay (1998) and Jim Schmidt's home front centered Galveston and the Civil War (2012), Hall's book detailing Confederate efforts to import military and civilian supplies through an ever tightening Union naval cordon tells another part of the story.

Hall begins with a brief discussion of Galveston's importance as a deep water port with a natural harbor and a rail connection to the Texas interior. Given its potential use to the enemy, it didn't take long before the U.S. Navy arrived on station. Any study of blockade running also has to discuss the land defenses supporting them and Hall traces the efforts by a string of Confederate commanders to keep the port open to runners while at the same time finding a solution to defending the vulnerable island town itself. By war's end, Galveston was the only major Confederate sea port still in operation, so it's activities should not be perceived as a sideshow…"

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