Help with acquiring sources for undergrad thesis. Topic: Blockade Runners of the Civil War

by hatorask

The topic of my seminar is gender & sexuality in the Civil War, and want to focus on 2 individual blockade runners and how these individuals experienced the Civil War. I've read Stephen Berry's All That Makes A Man, and he argues for the idea of what he calls "eclat" among Southern men and that men during the war were shocked by realisations such as death not being honroable always or their loss of individuality.

Ideally, I'd like to select two memoirs of blockade runners that detail their life before, during, and after the war to position them against the "norms" of this era.

What I'm asking /r/AskHistorians for is suggestions on personal memoirs that encompass this. Right now I am reading John Wilkinson's memoir titled The Narrative of a Blockade Runner and William Watson's The Adventures of a Blockade Runner. I'm not sold on either of these two sources as they mostly detail the war. Suggestions on possible sources to examine would be most certainly appreciated, and I can provide further explanation if possible!

Thanks!!

Borimi

Firstly, interesting topic! I haven't studied blockade running specifically. But when in doubt, find some reference to it in a book and start raiding the bibliography!

I didn't find any specific memoirs of blockade runners, but check out the following books:

  • Richard S. West, Jr., Mr. Lincoln's Navy (New York, 1957)
  • James Merrill, The Rebel Shore
  • Howard Jones, Blue and Gray Diplomacy (it's on Civil War foreign relations but the blockade was important for that. It might contain leads)
  • Robert Carse, Blockade: The Civil War at Sea
  • Stephen Wise, "Lifeline of the Confederacy: Blockade Running During the American Civil War," PhD Dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1983.

Most of these books are old but might reference the kinds of sources you're looking for. If you haven't already, I'd also consider the possibility of examining Union sailors on blockade duty, as the task for them was usually incredibly boring and devoid of much glory (in contrast to blockade runners who at least had the excitement and potential riches of evading the Union navy).