The Union Blockade
During the war more than 1,500 vessels were captured or destroyed while trying to run the blockade. At the same time, the Union Navy occupied enclaves all along the confederate coastline in order to provide provisioning stations for blockading vessels and to attack confederate ports and coastal forts. The last confederate port to close was that of Wilmington North Carolina in 1865.
The confederacy used sleek, quick blockade runners in order to try and overcome the northern navy ships. These ships main functions were to break through the union blockade of southern ports that had been established early on in the war, so that the vital goods for survival that the south needed could be imported. These goods included munitions for the confederate army and everyday necessities from medicine to pins.
These blockade runners used many tactics in order to succeed which included sailing many different types of ships and listing fictitious destinations for their vessels. They also painted their hulls in dull colors, used flags of other nations, burned anthracite coal to reduce smoke, and slipped through the blockade during high tide at night.
Above pictures show sleek, quick, Confederate Blockade runners.
(Picture Soucre: The Civil War: Years Asunder)