Just kicking an idea around in the back of my mind.
Could a blockade runner make it into Richmond (the Tredegar Iron Works specifically) in 1861? Could one such boat make (say) three such (London-Richmond? Bermuda-Richmond?) runs?
Did Fortress Monroe more or less rule such a thing out? At what point would the Union Navy made such a run impossible?
Fort Monroe and Fort Wool were held throughout the Civil War by the Union Army, and their guns bracketing Hampton Roads made regular blockade running foolhardy. There were also some batteries placed further up the James on the Northern shore. Furthermore, the Union Navy had a small fleet based at Fort Monroe from just before Virginia’s secession until the end of the war. The blockade of Hampton Roads was only seriously threatened once, by the CSS Virginia.
That’s not to say it was impossible. Blockade runners used swift steamships painted dark grey. On a moonless night with no lights, running through the blockade might have been possible. Even then, it would have been very difficult and very occasional.
Richmond was never a frequent destination for blockade-runners. They had no real need to. Wilmington, NC was open until 12/1864 and the rail line from there to Petersburg (and thence to Richmond) was open until the Siege of Petersburg.
Another Hugo-award-winning time-travel novel destroyed by research. When will I ever learn?
Thanks.
Use Rhett Butler as your protagonist.
I refer, ladies and gentlemen, to that will-o’-the-wisp of the bounding main.
