Blockaders, Refugees, & Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861-1865

Chronicles the role of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron as an important Federal contingent in Florida. This well written work covers an aspect of the American Civil War that is researched, but the story of the successful naval blockade of the Confederacy by the United States Navy is still largely untold. The great land battles in Virginia, and those frightful engagements along the Mississippi are recounted by historians (and novelists) with increasing accuracy to a large and interested audience, but the naval blockade's story is less often told, although books such as this one are filling in this gap. With this fine, very readable work the story of the naval blockade's stunning successes on Florida's Gulf Coast, somewhat erroneously thought of as a "backwater" of the Civil War is given a narrative. The author argues that the presence of Union sailors and their extensive contacts ashore did serious damage to home-front morale and retarded Florida's value as a component of the rebel war machine. Since the state's long coastlines made it a ready target for a naval cordon, its commercial life suffered beginning in 1861 and deteriorated even further as the war progressed despite the efforts of blockade runners. Florida Unionists, antiwar natives, and runaway slaves flocked to these Federal warships to seek protection and quickly became a source of manpower for their crews as well as for land forces.This book also narrates the story of that significant number of people living along the Gulf Coast of Florida who supported the Union cause and actively assisted the U.S. Navy. Some enlisted in the Navy, contributing significantly to the success of the Navy's blockading operations. The edifying stories of some of these people are told in context. Title: Blockaders, Refugees, & Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861-1865 Author Name: Buker, George E Location Published: University of Alabama Press: 1993 Binding: hardcover Book Condition: Excellent Pages: 235 Categories: Ships & Naval, Naval, Home Front, State and Regional Seller ID: 2434