One of the most intelligent and successful commanders of the
blockade-running fleet was Capt. John Wilkinson, who entered the United
States Navy as a midshipman in 1837, and, after an honorable and
distinguished career, tendered his services upon the secession of his
native State, Virginia, to the Confederacy.
Having received a commission in the Confederate States Navy, he served
in various responsible positions until ordered upon special service in
command of the Confederate States steamer _R.E. Lee_.
In his interesting book entitled _Narrative of a Blockade Runner_,
speaking of the citizens of Virginia who resigned their commissions in
the old service, he says:
"They were compelled to choose whether they would aid in subjugating
their State or in defending it against invasion; for it was already
evident that coercion would be used by the General Government, and that
war was inevitable. In reply to the accusation of perjury in breaking
their oath of allegiance, since brought against the officers of the
Army and Navy who resigned their commissions to render aid to the
South, it need only be stated that, in their belief, the resignation
of their commissions absolved them from any special obligation. They
then occupied the same position toward the Government as other classes
of citizens. But this charge was never brought against them till the
war was ended. The resignation of their commissions was accepted when
their purpose was well known. As to the charge of ingratitude, they
reply, their respective States had contributed their full share toward
the expenses of the General Government, acting as their disbursing
agent, and when these States withdrew from the Union their citizens
belonging to the two branches of the public service did not, and do
not, consider themselves amenable to this charge for abandoning their
official positions to cast their lot with their kindred and friends.
But yielding as they did to necessity, it was, nevertheless, a painful
act to separate themselves from companions with whom they had been long
and intimately associated, and from the flag under which they had been
proud to serve."
With reference to his experience in blockade running at Wilmington
Captain Wilkinson continues:
"The natural advantages of Wilmington for blockade running were very
great, chiefly owing to the fact that there were two separate and
distinct approaches to Cape Fear River; i.e., either by New Inlet, to
the north of Smith's Island, or by the Western Bar to the south of
it. This island is ten or eleven miles in length; but the Frying Pan
Shoals extend ten or twelve miles farther south, making the distance
by sea between the two bars thirty miles or more, although the direct
distance between them is only six or seven miles. From Smithville (now
Southport), a little village nearly equidistant from either bar, both
blockading fleets could be distinctly seen, and the outward-bound
blockade runners could take their choice through which of them to run
the gauntlet. The inward-bound blockade runners, too, were guided
by circumstances of wind and weather, selecting that bar over which
they could cross after they had passed the Gulf Stream, and shaping
their course accordingly. The approaches to both bars were clear of
danger with the single exception of the 'Lump,' before mentioned; and
so regular are the soundings that the shore can be coasted for miles
within a stone's throw of the breakers.
"These facts explain why the United States fleet was unable wholly to
stop blockade running. It was, indeed, impossible to do so; the result
to the very close of the war proves this assertion, for, in spite of
the vigilance of the fleet, many blockade runners were afloat when Fort
Fisher was captured. In truth the passage through the fleet was little
dreaded; for although the blockade runner might receive a shot or two,
she was rarely disabled; and in proportion to the increase of the fleet
the greater would be the danger, we knew, of their firing into each
other. As the boys before the deluge used to say, they would be very
apt to 'miss the cow and kill the calf.' The chief danger was upon the
open sea, many of the light cruisers having great speed. As soon as
one of them discovered a blockade runner during daylight, she would
attract other cruisers in the vicinity by sending up a dense column
of smoke, visible for many miles in clear weather. A cordon of fast
steamers stationed ten or fifteen miles apart, inside the Gulf Stream,
and in the course from Nassau and Bermuda to Wilmington and Charleston,
would have been more effectual in stopping blockade running than the
whole United States Navy concentrated off those ports; and it was
unaccountable to us why such a plan did not occur to good Mr. Welles;
but it was not our place to suggest it. I have no doubt, however, that
the fraternity to which I then belonged would have unanimously voted
thanks and a service of plate to the Honorable Secretary of the United
States Navy for this oversight. I say _inside the Gulf Stream_, because
every experienced captain of a blockade runner made a point to cross
the stream early enough in the afternoon, if possible, to establish the
ship's position by chronometer, so as to escape the influence of that
current upon his dead reckoning. The lead always gave indication of our
distance from the land, but not, of course, of our position; and the
numerous salt works along the coast, where evaporation was produced by
fire, and which were at work night and day, were visible long before
the low coast could be seen. Occasionally the whole inward voyage would
be made under adverse conditions. Cloudy, thick weather and heavy
gales would prevail so as to prevent any solar or lunar observations,
and reduce the dead reckoning to mere guesswork. In these cases the
nautical knowledge and judgment of the captain would be taxed to the
utmost. The current of the Gulf Stream varies in velocity and (within
certain limits) in direction; and the stream itself, almost as well
defined as a river within its banks under ordinary circumstances, is
impelled by a strong gale toward the direction in which the wind is
blowing, overflowing its banks, as it were. The countercurrent, too,
inside of the Gulf Stream, is much influenced by the prevailing winds.
Upon one occasion while in command of the _R.E. Lee_, formerly the
Clyde-built iron steamer _Giraffe_, we had experienced very heavy and
thick weather, and had crossed the stream and struck soundings about
midday. The weather then clearing, so that we could obtain an altitude
near meridian, we found ourselves at least forty miles north of our
supposed position, and near the shoals which extend in a southerly
direction off Cape Lookout. It would be more perilous to run out to
sea than to continue on our course, for we had passed through the
offshore line of blockaders, and the sky had become perfectly clear. I
determined to personate a transport bound to Beaufort, which was in the
possession of the United States forces and the coaling station of the
fleet blockading Wilmington. The risk of detection was not very great,
for many of the captured blockade runners were used as transports and
dispatch vessels. Shaping our course for Beaufort and slowing down
as if we were in no haste to get there, we passed several vessels,
showing United States colors to them all. Just as we were crossing
through the ripple of shallow water off the 'tail' of the shoals, we
dipped our colors to a sloop of war which passed three or four miles
to the south of us. The courtesy was promptly responded to, but I have
no doubt her captain thought me a lubberly and careless seaman to
shave the shoals so closely. We stopped the engines when no vessel was
in sight, and I was relieved of a heavy burden of anxiety as the sun
sank below the horizon, and the course was shaped at full speed for
Masonboro Inlet.
"The staid old town of Wilmington was turned 'topsy turvey' during
the war. Here resorted the speculators from all parts of the South
to attend the weekly auctions of imported cargoes; and the town was
infested with rogues and desperadoes, who made a livelihood by robbery
and murder. It was unsafe to venture into the suburbs at night, and
even in daylight there were frequent conflicts in the public streets
between the crews of the steamers in port and the soldiers stationed
in the town, in which knives and pistols would be freely used; and not
unfrequently a dead body would rise to the surface of the water in one
of the docks with marks of violence upon it. The civil authorities
were powerless to prevent crime. '_Inter arma silent leges!_' The
agents and employees of different blockade-running companies lived in
magnificent style, paying a king's ransom (in Confederate money) for
their household expenses, and nearly monopolizing the supplies in the
country market. Toward the end of the war, indeed, fresh provisions
were almost beyond the reach of everyone. Our family servant, newly
arrived from the country in Virginia, would sometimes return from
market with an empty basket, having flatly refused to pay what he
called 'such nonsense prices' for a bit of fresh beef, or a handful
of vegetables. A quarter of lamb at the time of which I now write,
sold for $100, a pound of tea for $500. Confederate money which in
September, 1861, was nearly equal to specie in value, had declined in
September, 1862, to 225; in the same month, in 1863, to 400, and before
September, 1864, to 2,000!
"Many of the permanent residents of the town had gone into the country,
letting their houses at enormous prices; those who were compelled to
remain kept themselves much secluded, the ladies rarely being seen upon
the more public streets. Many of the fast young officers belonging to
the Army would get an occasional leave to come to Wilmington, and
would live at free quarters on board the blockade runners or at one of
the numerous bachelor halls ashore.
"The convalescent soldiers from the Virginia hospitals were sent by
the route through Wilmington to their homes in the South. The ladies
of the town were organized by Mrs. DeRosset into a society for the
purpose of ministering to the wants of these poor sufferers, the trains
which carried them stopping an hour or two at the depot, that their
wounds might be dressed and food and medicine supplied to them. These
self-sacrificing, heroic women patiently and faithfully performed the
offices of hospital nurses.
"Liberal contributions were made by companies and individuals to this
society, and the long tables at the depot were spread with delicacies
for the sick to be found nowhere else in the Confederacy. The remains
of the meals were carried by the ladies to a camp of mere boys--home
guards outside of the town. Some of these children were scarcely able
to carry a musket and were altogether unable to endure the exposure
and fatigue of field service; and they suffered fearfully from measles
and typhoid fever. General Grant used a strong figure of speech when
he asserted that 'the cradle and the grave were robbed to recruit the
Confederate armies.' The fact of a fearful drain upon the population
was scarcely exaggerated, but with this difference in the metaphor,
that those who were verging upon both the cradle and the grave shared
the hardships and dangers of war with equal self-devotion to the cause.
It is true that a class of heartless speculators infested the country,
who profited by the scarcity of all sorts of supplies, but it makes the
self-sacrifice of the mass of the Southern people more conspicuous, and
no State made more liberal voluntary contributions to the armies or
furnished better soldiers than North Carolina.
"On the opposite side of the river from Wilmington, on a low marshy
flat, were erected the steam cotton presses, and there the blockade
runners took in their cargoes. Sentries were posted on the wharves
day and night to prevent deserters from getting aboard and stowing
themselves away; and the additional precaution of fumigating
outward-bound steamers at Smithville was adopted, but in spite of this
vigilance, many persons succeeded in getting a free passage aboard.
These deserters, or 'stowaways,' were in most instances sheltered by
one or more of the crew, in which event they kept their places of
concealment until the steamer had arrived at her port of destination,
when they would profit by the first opportunity to leave the vessel
undiscovered. A small bribe would tempt the average blockade-running
sailor to connive at this means of escape. The impecunious deserter
fared more hardly and would usually be forced by hunger or thirst to
emerge from his hiding place while the steamer was on the outward
voyage. A cruel device employed by one of the captains effectually put
a stop, I believe, certainly a check, to the escape of this class of
'stowaways.' He turned three or four of them adrift in the Gulf Stream
in an open boat with a pair of oars and a few days' allowance of bread
and water."
Colonel Scharf, writing of the Confederate States Navy, mentions the
shore lights: "At the beginning of the war," he says, "nearly all the
lights along the Southern coast had been discontinued, the apparatus
being removed to places of safety. In 1864 it was deemed expedient to
re-establish the light on Smith's Island, which had been discontinued
ever since the beginning of hostilities, and to erect a structure for
a light on the 'Mound.' The 'Mound' was an artificial one, erected by
Colonel Lamb, who commanded Fort Fisher." Captain Wilkinson says of
the "Mound" and the range lights: "Two heavy guns were mounted upon
it, and it eventually became a site for a light, and very serviceable
for blockade runners; but even at this period it was an excellent
landmark. Joined by a long, low isthmus of sand with the higher
mainland, its regular conical shape enabled the blockade runners
easily to identify it from the offing; and in clear weather, it showed
plain and distinct against the sky at night. I believe the military
men used to laugh slyly at the colonel for undertaking its erection,
predicting that it would not stand; but the result showed the contrary;
and whatever difference of opinion may have existed with regard to its
value as a military position, there can be but one as to its utility
to the blockade runners, for it was not a landmark alone, along this
monotonous coast, but one of the range lights for crossing New Inlet
Bar was placed on it. Seamen will appreciate at its full value this
advantage; but it may be stated for the benefit of the unprofessional
reader, that while the compass bearing of an object does not enable
a pilot to steer a vessel with sufficient accuracy through a narrow
channel, range lights answer the purpose completely. These lights were
only set after signals had been exchanged between the blockade runner
and the shore station, and were removed immediately after the vessel
had entered the river. The range lights were changed as circumstances
required; for the New Inlet Channel itself was and is constantly
changing, being materially affected both in depth of water and in
its course by a heavy gale of wind or a severe freshet in Cape Fear
River."