Nassau and Its Importance to the Confederacy, through the Eyes of Blockade-Runner John Wilkinson

             Shortly after the onset of the Civil War, the Union established a naval blockade around the Confederate states in an effort to starve them of arms and supplies. The necessity of such provisions spurred the Confederacy to create new kinds of ships—blockade-runners—that could evade capture and maintain their supply routes. The most precious of these blockade-running routes was the Wilmington-Nassau lifeline, which became increasingly significant as the war progressed.

             In The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner, author John Wilkinson chronicles his many experiences as a prolific Confederate blockade-runner. Wilkinson's journeys began with his instruction from the Secretary of War to travel to England and purchase a steamer capable of evading the Union blockade, with the mission to procure for the Confederacy munitions of war and other supplies. Wilkinson arranged for his passage aboard the blockade-running steamer, “Kate”, and departed from Wilmington, North Carolina en route to Nassau of the Bahamas.[1]

             Upon arriving at Nassau, Wilkinson was forced to remain in quarantine as his transport, the Kate, had introduced to the city an epidemic of yellow fever. Still, from his detached vantage point, Wilkinson was amazed by the amount of activity he saw—crews of blockade-runners and British merchant ships buzzing amid piles of cotton stacked upon cotton despite the threat of yellow fever[1]. Wilkinson's initial impression of Nassau was unsavory, but the air of opportunity (and profitability) was undeniable.

             It was not just Confederate runners and British merchants that found interest in Nassau. Swaths of fortune-seekers were attracted to the exciting enterprise of blockade-running, hoping to benefit from it in some form or another. “Adventurers of a baser sort” were attracted to the high wages available on land or at sea—as much as $300 in gold per month could be earned as a blockade-running sailor. Wilkinson attests that men of nearly every nationality on Earth could be found among the bustle of the city, active by day and reveling drunkenly by night.[2]

             Wilkinson recalls that, before the Civil War, Nassau's chief industries had been comprised of simple wrecking and the collection and exportation of sponges and corals. The war's influence had transformed the city, elevating its purposes and goals as it prospered alongside its newfound occupants. Alongside the mounds of cotton, entire warehouses were devoted to housing Confederate supplies. It is no surprise, given the influx of “opportunistic” characters, that even the traditional wrecking industry of Nassau had transformed to include picking and stealing (as Wilkinson notes).[2] The city had become, as Wilkinson refers to it, “filthy Nassau,” “haven of blockade-runners, El Dorado of adventurers, and paradise of wreckers and darkies.”[3]

             Nassau had come to depend on the allure and industry of Confederate blockade-running. The opportunities created by their mutual benefaction sparked a period of growth and prosperity for the city. Likewise, the Confederacy depended on the location and convenience of Nassau to supply its armies. Just as Nassau needed the Confederacy, the Confederacy needed Nassau. This co-dependency was made evident by the prevalence of the Union in capturing Fort Fisher in Wilmington, which spelled doom for both parties. On the impact of the Confederacy's loss of the Wilmington-Nassau connection, John Wilmington writes, “The facts of history prove that the importance of carrying in a cargo of provisions was not exaggerated, for the army of northern Virginia was shortly afterwards literally starving; and during their retreat from the position around Petersburg the country adjacent to their line of march was swarming with soldiers who had left the ranks in search of food.”[4] Concerning Nassau, he writes, “Even the negro stevedores and laborers bewailed our misfortunes, for they knew that the glory of Nassau had departed forever.”[5]

             Nassau was transformed during the Civil War. Because of its convenience to the blockade-runners of the Confederacy, the city had become something akin to a pirate haven. It attracted all types of characters, some lower than others, and developed a reputation accordingly. Still, despite the nature of what Nassau had become, the city played a vital role in the Civil War, for if the Confederacy had any hope of winning, the Wilmington-Nassau lifeline was it.

[1] Wilkinson, John. The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner. Charleston: BiblioLife, 2008. 39.

[2] Wilkinson, John. The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner. Charleston: BiblioLife, 2008. 50.

[3] Wilkinson, John. The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner. Charleston: BiblioLife, 2008. 49.

[4] Wilkinson, John. The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner. Charleston: BiblioLife, 2008. 81.

[5] Wilkinson, John. The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner. Charleston: BiblioLife, 2008. 84.