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Chronicling America is a searchable digital collection of historic newspaper pages through 1963 sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress.
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Also, see the Directory of U.S. Newspapers in American Libraries, a searchable index to newspapers published in the United States since 1690, which helps researchers identify what titles exist for a specific place and time, and how to access them.
Stealth, speed, a new moon and luck were all the steamers could hope for as they snuck along the southern coast in the dead of night. Smuggling vital supplies to the Confederacy, blockade runners knew their lives were on the line as soon as they left the port. Read more about it!
The information in this guide focuses on primary source materials found in the digitized historic newspapers from the digital collection Chronicling America.
The timeline below highlights important dates related to this topic and a section of this guide provides some suggested search strategies for further research in the collection.
| January 18, 1862 | A timeline of the early days of the blockade. |
|---|---|
| December 16, 1863 | Angry Northern perspective on punishment of caught blockade runners. |
| January 9, 1864 | U.S. Secretary of the Navy’s official report on blockade effectiveness. |
| July 21, 1864 | The blockade is defied. |
| August 24, 1864 | The business aspect of the blockade. |
| December 21, 1864 | The North Carolinian Rebel Navy. |
| April 20, 1865 | Statistics on Ships and Successes. |
| June 1, 1869 | A veteran recounts his blockade running days. |
| February 4, 1886 | The captures of the Connecticut. |
| December 18, 1895 | Tales of stirring adventure on South Carolina’s coast. |
| February 25, 1903 | Escapades and escapes of one daring steamer. |
| November 22, 1903 | Fictional story on Civil War soldiers. |
| July 29, 1904 | The capture of the Banshee. |
