Blockading Wilmington, NC

FEBRUARY 20TH, 1864: Rear Admiral Lee wrote Asst. Sec. of Navy Fox about the blockade off Wilmington: ""... the number of blockade runners captured or destroyed since July 12 [is] 26, and since the blockade was strengthened last fall the number is 23 steamers lost to the trade.... I don't believe that many prizes will be made hereafter; the runners now take to te beach too readily when they see a blockader by day or night.... I think the additions to the runners are less than the numbers destroyed, etc..... //// The blockade off Wilmington is the blockade of two widely separated entrances, each requiring as much force as Charleston if not more. Experience teaches that a mere inner line will not answer for blockading in this steam era. Now the blockaders are from 1 to 2 miles, and more, apart.... //// Wilmington and its entrances and adjacent inlets require more attention than all the rest of te coast. The depots at Bermuda and Nassau are tributary to it." //// He contuned to urge an joint Army-Navy attack on Wilmington as the best way to close the port. //// Blockade-running getting considerably more difficult at Wilmington. //// --Old B-Runner