488 Chronicles of the Cape Fear River

and Carter never failed—good sailors, cool, cautious, and reso-
lute, they ran in and out without difficulty many times. The
great danger was from the exterior line of the blockade some
forty or fifty miles out.

But owing to the configuration of the coast it is almost im-
possible to effect a close blockade. The Cape Fear has two
mouths, Old Inlet, at the entrance of which Fort Caswell
stands, and New Inlet, nine miles up the river, where Fort
Fisher guards the entrance. From the station off Old Inlet,
where there were usually from five to six blockaders, around
to the station off New Inlet, a vessel would have to make an are
of some fifty miles, owing to the F rying Pan Shoals interven-
ing, while from Caswell across to Fisher was only nine miles.
The plan of the blockade runners coming in was to strike the
coast thirty or forty miles above or below the inlets, and then
run along (of course at night) till they got under the protec-
tion of the forts. Sometimes they got in or out by boldly run-
ning through the blockading fleet, but that was hazardous, for,
if discovered, the ocean was alive with rockets and lights, and
it was no pleasant thing to have shells and balls whistling over
you and around you. The chances were, then, that if you were
not caught, you had, in spite of your speed, to throw a good
many bales of cotton overboard.

The wreck of these blockade runners not infrequently oc-
curred by being stranded or beached, and highly diverting
skirmishes would occur between the blockaders and the garri-
sons of the forts for the possession. The fleet, however, never
liked the Whitworth guns we had, which shot almost with the
accuracy of a rifle and with a tremendous range. The soldiers

generally managed to wreck the stranded vessels successfully,

though oftentimes with great peril and hardships. It mattered

very little to the owners then who got her, as they did not see

much of what was recovered, the soldiers thinking they were
their lives.

g affair—the whole garrison gen-
erally got drunk and stayed drunk for a week or so afterwards,
Brandies and fine wines flowed like water ; and it was a month

perhaps before matters could be got straight. Many accumu-
lated snug little sums from the misfortunes of the blockade
runners, who generally denounced such pillage as piracy, but
it could not be helped.

Blockade Running 489

cember, 1864. She belonged to the Bee Company, of Charles-
ton, and was a splendid new steamer, on her second trip in,
with a large and valuable cargo almost entirely owned by private
parties and speculators. She was chased ashore by the block-
ading fleet and immediately abandoned by her officers and crew,
Whom nothing would induce to go back in order to save her
cargo. Yankee shells flying over and through and around her
had no charms for these sons of Neptune. Captain Badham,
however, and his company, the Edenton Battery, with Captain
Bahnson, a fighting Quaker, from Salem, N. C., boarded and
wrecked her under the fire of the Federals—six shells passing

through the Ella while they were removing her cargo. The con-
Sequence was that for a month afterwards nearly the whole

garrison were on “a tight,” and groceries and dry-goods were
plentiful in that vicinity. The general demoralization produced
by “London Dock” and “Hollands” seemed even to affect that

holy man, the chaplain, who said some very queer graces at the

headquarters mess-table. .
Seldom, however, was there any loss of life attending these

wrecks. But there was one notable case of the drowning of a
famous woman, celebrated for her beauty and powers of fas-
cination. We allude to the death of Mrs. Greenhow, so well
known for many years in Washington circles. Before she even
crossed the Confederate lines, she had undoubtedly rendered
valuable service to the authorities in Richmond, and was in
consequence imprisoned by the Federal authorities in Washing-
ton. After coming to Richmond and laboring in the hospitals
there for some time, she sailed for Europe from Wilmington,

and it was on her return trip that she was drowned, just as

she reached the shores of the South. She had lived past her
beauty’s prime,
of pleasure,

when those things

time had come.

was coming as a passenger, was beached a short distance above
Fort Fisher, and Mrs. Greenhow, fearing capture and the treat-
ment of a spy, pleaded with the captain to send her ashore. He
refused, saying that he would protect her; but she finally pre-
vailed upon him; and manning a boat, he made an effort to

have her taken to the shore. Unfortunately, the boat capsized.
She alone was drowned. It was supposed the gold she had