"The ships carried cotton to Havana and manufactured goods to the
Confederacy. The problem was the Union heavily blockaded the area, and
even the fast steamship Denhigh, now part of an underwater archeological
site, was in peril of losses in trade the south could ill afford.
Independent scholar Block turns from the Atlantic seaboard, where most
accounts of the Union Navy's blockade are set, to the area west of the
Mississippi River on the Gulf of Mexico. The result is a close
description the blockade and blockade-running from Galveston to western
Louisiana, the coast of Texas, and ports in Alabama and Florida. He pays
close attention to the accounts of officers and sailors on both sides
and provides excellent maps, illustrations and photographs. This was
originally published in 1997 under another title and has been updated
with new appendices, figures and introduction."