From the Civil War Naval Chronology.
Usually this would be in Naval Happenings 150 Years Ago, but since this was rather lengthy and about my big-time area of interest, I'm doing it here.
FEBRUARY 13, 1863
Commander A. Ludlow Case, USS Iroquois, reported the steady strengthening of Confederate positions in the Wilmington area. Noting that they were "working lie beavers," Case wrote: "From their apparent great energy I am induced to believe that in the event of our capture of Charleston this is to be the point for the blockade runners.... They now have four casemated batteries west of Fort Fisher completed and a fifth nearly so, each mounting two or three guns, built of heavy framework, and covered deeply with sand and sodded....
The defenses are much more formidable and much more judiciously arranged, on account of detached batteries, than those at the South Bar, Fort Caswell, etc.... If a vessel now gets inside of the blockaders she can soon run under cover of the batteries and anchor until the tide serves for crossing the bar.
A few months ago this would have been impossible, the defenses at the time being such as to make immediate crossing of the bar absolutely necessary."
Wilmington did become a major port for blockade-runners in the remaining two years of the war.
How Strong They Get If You Give Them Time. --Old B-R'er
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