Union Blockade

(noun)

Also know as the "Blockade of the South"; took place between 1861 and 1865, during the American Civil War, when the Union Navy maintained a strenuous effort along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast of the Confederate States of America to prevent the passage of trade goods, supplies, and arms to and from the Confederacy.

Related Terms

Examples of Union Blockade in the following topics:

  • The Atlantic Theater

    • The Union Blockade of Confederate coasts eventually ruined the Southern economy.
    • The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, was an American Civil War effort in which the Union Navy prevented the passage of trade goods, supplies and arms to and from the Confederate States of America.
    • The Union blockade was a powerful weapon that eventually ruined the Southern economy and cost very few lives.
    • Early battles in support of the blockade enabled the Union Navy to extend its blockade gradually southward along the Atlantic seaboard.
    • Describe the effects of the Union Blockade and the greater Anaconda Plan of the Atlantic Theater.

  • Confederate Finances

    • The Southern economy was crippled during the Civil War by a self-imposed cotton embargo, Union blockades, and inflation.
    • The self-inflicted damage resulting from the embargo was exacerbated by the blockade of Southern ports by the Union Navy, beginning in 1861.
    • The Union blockade greatly diminished the revenue from taxes on international trade, and Southern cotton exports fell by 95 percent.
    • At the beginning of the war, the Confederate dollar was valued at 90¢ in Union dollars.
    • The USS Banshee was among the blockade runners that attempted to evade the Union blockade of the Confederate coast.

  • Naval Actions

    • The naval actions of the Civil War revolved around the Union Navy's blockades of Confederate ports.
    • The Union Blockade, or the Blockade of the South, took place between 1861 and 1865.
    • The Union commissioned 500 ships to enforce this blockade, and they destroyed or captured approximately 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war.
    • Confederate "blockade runners" that did manage to get through the blockade carried only a small fraction of the usual cargo.
    • Both enabled the Union Navy to gradually extend its blockade southward along the Atlantic seaboard.

  • Confederate Diplomacy

    • Both the Union and countries in Europe refused to recognize the Confederacy as a sovereign nation.
    • No European states recognized the Confederacy, although Britain did aid the Confederacy's blockade running.
    • Seward had made clear the Union's intention to declare war on nations recognizing the Confederacy.
    • This shift mobilized abolitionist sentiment, which was ascendant in Europe, on behalf of the Union.
    • The Trent Affair involved the illegal boarding of a British ship in an attempt to enforce the Union's blockade of the Confederacy.

  • The Aftermath of the War

    • Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation enabled blacks to join the Union Army, giving the Union an advantage, and helped end the Civil War.
    • Southern leaders needed to get European powers to help break up the blockade the Union had created around the Southern ports and cities.
    • Lincoln's naval blockade was 95% effective at stopping trade goods.
    • Slavery for the Confederacy's 3.5 million blacks effectively ended when Union armies arrived.
    • The full restoration of the Union was the work of a highly contentious postwar era known as Reconstruction.

  • The Cold War Begins

    • The Cold War began with the formation of the Eastern Bloc, as well as the implementation of the Marshall Plan and the Berlin Blockade.
    • Most of Europe became aligned with either the United States or the Soviet Union.
    • On 12 May 1949, the USSR lifted the blockade of West Berlin.
    • The Berlin Blockade served to highlight the competing ideological and economic visions for postwar Europe.
    • The Berlin Blockade and the tensions surrounding it marked the beginning of the Cold War.

  • The British Naval Blockade

  • The Berlin Blockade

  • Siege of Vicksburg

    • During the Vicksburg Campaign, Union victory secured the important Mississippi River for the Union and was a turning point in the war.
    • The Union Army of Tennessee, under Major General Ulysses S.
    • While in their hands, it blocked Union navigation down the Mississippi.
    • "Admiral Porter's Fleet Running the Rebel Blockade of the Mississippi at Vicksburg, April 16th 1863."
    • Lithograph of the Mississippi River Squadron running the Confederate blockade at Vicksburg on April 16, 1863.

  • Conclusion: Reasons for Union Victory

    • 1864 was a watershed year for President Abraham Lincoln and the Union war effort.
    • The reality of the Union’s many long-term military advantages was also significant in creating a Union victory.
    • That, combined with years of a successful naval blockade leveled against the South, took a heavy psychological and economic toll that was not easily reversed, even after the war ended.
    • A federal victory was secured and the Union was made whole again.
    • Summarize the reasons the Union won, and identify crucial turning points in the Civil War