The American Civil War: Naval Strategy During the American Civil War

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On 19 April 1861, in response to Confederate President Davis's revival of the use of privateers, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a naval blockade of seceded ports and proclaimed that any vessel interfering with U.S. merchants would be treated under piracy laws. The blockade was not as successful as originally hoped for as the South proved to be more resourceful than originally assumed, and it did not completely deprive the Confederacy of food, arms, and ammunition. Although blockade-runners primarily brought in commercial or "luxury" items, the Confederacy would have been without much needed arms, bullets, and ammunition without the blockade-runners. At least 400,000 rifles (over 6% of their modern arms), 3,000,000 pounds of lead, and two-thirds of the salt peter required for gunpowder were smuggled through the blockade