Voices from the Invaders
The Federal Blockade
| "Something must be done to close the entrance to the Cape Fear River . . . . [T]here seems some defect in the blockade which makes Wilmington appear an almost open port . . . . Could we seize the forts at the entrance of the Cape Fear and close the illicit traffic, it would be almost as important as the capture of Richmond [Virginia] on the fate of the Rebels, and an important step in that direction." | |
| — Gideon Welles, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, September 1864 | |
