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414 North Carorina Troops, 1861-65.

plucky Tom Taylor be forgotten, super-cargo of the Banshee
and the Night Hawk, who, by his coolness and daring, es-
caped with a boat’s crew from the hands of the Federals,
after capture off Fort Fisher, and was endeared to the chil-
dren of the Confederacy as the Santa Claus of the War.’
This tribute to Mr. Thos. E. Taylor, who is happily still
living, and has lately given the world a fascinating little
volume called ‘Running the Blockade,’ is not one whit hand-
somer than he deserves.

“There are four works more or less upon the same subject
as that to which Mr. Thos. E. Taylor devotes his pen, which
should be carefully studied by those—may I inelude the
Board of Admiralty among them ?—who wish to understand
the blockade and its lessons aright. The first is by Prof. J.
R. Soley, of the United States Navy, and is called “The
Blockade and the Cruisers.’ It was published at New York
by Charles Scribners & Sons, in 1883. The second is ‘Never
Caught; or Personal Adventures Connected with Twelve
Successful Trips in Blockade Running During the American
Civil War, 1863-64,’ by Captain Roberts, alias Captain
the Hon. Augustus Hobart, afterwards Hobart Pasha. It
was published by John Camden Hotten (London) in 1867.
The third is ‘The Secret Service of the Confederate States in
Europe; or How the Confederate Cruisers Were Equipped,’
by James D. Bulloch, naval representative of the Confeder-
ate States in Europe during the Civil War; two volumes pub-
lished by Richard Bentley (London) in 1883. The fourth
is ‘Running the Blockade; a Personal Narrative of Adven-
tures, Risks and Escapes During the American Civil War,’
by Thomas E. Taylor, published by John Murray (London),
1896.

“Three out of the four are written by sympathizers with
the Southern cause, the fourth by Prof. Soley, of the United
States Navy. Of the four, perhaps the most valuable contri-
bution to universal history is Captain Bulloch’s ‘Secret Ser-
vice of the Confederate States in Europe;’ as in addition to
revealing much about the blockade, how it was maintained
and how it was violated, there is in it some useful informa-
tion as to how the Confederate agents in Europe managed

BiockaDE RuNNING. 415 —

to get the Alabama, the Florida and other armed cruisers to
sea; how their crews were engaged and their armaments put
on board; how they sueceeded in coaling and taking in pro-
visions, and many other important items with which the
British Admiralty ought to be thoroughly familiar. There
cannot be the smallest doubt that in the event of England
being engaged in a big war, any amount of pirate vessels—
the phrase universally applied by the ambassadors, politi-
cians, and newspapers of the North to the Alabama, Florida,
Sumter and their sisters—would issue from American ports
under the banner of the belligerent opposing us, and seek to
drive English commerce off the seas, as effectually as a few
British-built cruisers carrying the Confederate flag dealt with
the commercial ships of the Northern States between 1861
and 1865. Captain Bulloch’s two volumes are written in a
thoroughly fair and honest spirit, and the reports of trials in
the prize courts of the United Kingdom, of its colonies and
of foreign countries, and other official documents, speeches
and dispatches which they contain give the work a value
which within the same compass cannot elsewhere be found.
Let us take the following quotation as an example:

““The Alabama left Liverpool on 29 July, 1862. She
was commissioned off the island of Terceira on 24 August,
and kept at sea almost incessantly for two years. During
that period she was rarely in harbor and never long enough to
effect a thorough overhauling of rigging, hull or engines.
While cruising she was mostly kept under sail with serew up,
but was purposely taken to the great thoroughfare of Ameri-
can marine traffic where it was reasonable to expect that
United States warships would be sent to keep guard. Hence
she was in constant expectation of having to run or to fight.
Any morning’s light might find her close to an enemy’s ship,
and prudence required a sharp lookout and constant readi-
ness. Her engines got rest, but her boilers none. The fires
were never allowed to go wholly out, but were banked; and
the water was kept in such condition that steam might be
quickly got up. The chief engineer has since told me that
rarely had he an opportunity to cool the boilers and clean
flues and pipes. A great portion of her cruising was in the