Charleston was among ports all over the South subject to a Federal military blockade during the Civil War to cut off supplies to the Confederate forces. The South countered with elusive ships built to be difficult to see, hear or catch, that took out supplies of cotton overseas and returned with munitions, medicines and food. Despite dozens of warships guarding Charleston harbor day and night, thousands of blockade-running voyages got through, right up until the last day of the war.
