JULY 16TH, 1861: The Blockade Strategy Board reported to Secretary of the Navy Welles on the necessity of halting Confederate commerce: "...it is an important object in the present war that this trade, home and foreign, should be interrupted.... The most obvious method of accomplishing this object is by putting down material obstructions, and the most convenient form of obstruction, for transportation and use, is that of old vessels laden with ballast... and sunk in appropriate places."
This was the first suggestion for the "stone fleet." Elimination of water-borne trade by the Union blockade (more effective than the "stone fleet" obstructions at harbor entrances), meant the economic ruination of the Confederacy.
--Old B-R'er
No comments:
Post a Comment