The Atlantic Blockading Squadron was a unit of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

created in the early days of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

to enforce the

Union blockade The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederate States of America, Confederacy from trading. The blockade was proclaimed by President Abraham Lincoln in April 1861, and required ...

of the ports of the

Confederate States The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States from 1861 to 1865. It comprised eleven U.S. states th ...

. It was formed in 1861 and split up the same year for the creation of the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.

History

American Civil War

Following

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Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation of a

blockade A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force. A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are ...

of Southern ports on April 19, 1861, the Navy Department found it necessary to subdivide the territory assigned to the

Home Squadron The Home Squadron was part of the United States Navy in the mid-19th century. Organized as early as 1838, ships were assigned to protect coastal commerce, aid ships in distress, suppress piracy and the Atlantic slave trade, make coastal surveys ...

. This resulted in the creation of the Coast Blockading Squadron and the Gulf Blockading Squadron in early May 1861. In orders sent on May 1, 1861

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Gideon Welles Gideon Welles (July 1, 1802 – February 11, 1878) was an American government official who was the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1861 to 1869, a cabinet post he was awarded after supporting Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Althou ...

appointed

Flag Officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which that officer exercises command. Different countries use the term "flag officer" in different ways: * ...

Silas H. Stringham to command the Coast Blockading Squadron. Stringham received this order and took command on May 4, 1861. His new command was to be headquartered at

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, and was given responsibility for the blockading of the coast from the capes of the Chesapeake to the southern extremity of

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and

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

. On May 17, 1861, the Coast Blockading Squadron was re-designated the Atlantic Blockading Squadron. On September 16, 1861, Stringham tendered his resignation as commander of the squadron following his receipt of a letter from Acting Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V. Fox that he felt indicated disapproval of his measures to enforce the blockade. Stringham’s resignation was accepted on September 18, 1861, and the same day Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough was appointed as his replacement. The transfer of command took place on September 23, 1861, when Goldsborough arrived at Hampton Roads. In communicating to Goldsborough about his appointment Gideon Welles stated that “more vigorous and energetic action must be taken” to enforce the blockade. Uss Roanoke 1855 Frigate

During the summer of 1861 a four-person

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, chaired by Captain Samuel F. Du Pont, was formed to study the implementation of the blockade and make recommendations to improve its efficiency. In the board’s report of July 16, 1861, it was recommended that the Atlantic region be divided into northern and southern sectors. On September 18, 1861, the Navy Department reached the decision to implement this division with the dividing line being the border between

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. The implementation of this was delayed for a time and on October 12, 1861, the Navy Department informed Flag Officer Goldsborough that the division of his command would be effective as of the date Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont, who was appointed commander of the southern squadron, departed from Hampton Roads with the expedition to

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. Du Pont departed on October 29, 1861, upon which date the squadron was divided to form the North Atlantic Blockading Squadron and the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron. The only major operation conducted by the Atlantic Blockading Squadron was the expedition that led to the

of Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina August 26–29, 1861. This goal of the operation was to deny use of the inlet to Confederate shipping and this was accomplished with few casualties. The operation was also significant for giving the Union a badly needed victory following the Battle of Bull Run, being the first amphibious landing and the first large scale combined Army-Navy operation of the war.

Ships of the Squadron

On May 17, 1861, there were only fourteen ships assigned to the squadron, along with the Flying Flotilla (later the

Potomac Flotilla The Potomac Flotilla, also called the Potomac Squadron, was a unit of the United States Navy created in the early days of the American Civil War to secure Union communications in the Chesapeake Bay, the Potomac River and their tributaries, and to ...

) which was being formed by

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

James H. Ward who had departed for the Chesapeake from the New York Navy Yard on May 16, 1861. In effect Ward's flotilla acted independently under the direct orders of the Navy Department, though there was some transfer of vessels between the commands. With the acquisition and arming of civilian vessels the Atlantic Blockading Squadron grew to about three times its original allocated strength.''ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 5'' (1897), pp. xv-xvi, 753-4, 635. ''ORN, Ser. I, Vol. 6'' (1897), pp. xvii-xviii, 5, 192, 282, 367.

Commanders

References

* In these notes the abbreviation ''ORN'' is used for the work ''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion.'' ;Notes ;Bibliography
''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 5.''
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897).
''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 6.''
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1897).
''Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume 12.''
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1901). * Anderson, Bern. ''By Sea and by River: The Naval History of the Civil War.'' (New York: Da Capo Press, 1989). * Silverstone, Paul H. ''Warships of the Civil War Navies.'' (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1989). {{Authority control Union Navy Ship squadrons of the United States Navy 1861 establishments in the United States