The Problems With Blockading Galveston

MARCH 30, 1864: Captain John B. Marchand, commanding the Third Division of the Western Gulf Blockading Squadron, reported on the difficulty maintaining a tight blockade of the passes and inlets around Galveston, Texas: "This place has great advantages for blockade running, as, in addition to the regular channels, the shores, both to the northward and southward, are represented to be bold. //// I have been credibly informed that good large schooners have hugged the shore so close as to be dragged along for miles by lines from the land by soldiers and sailors into Galveston." //// Well, That Is a New Way To get In. --Old B-R'er