North American Blockade Mail 1775 to 1865: The Philatelic Exhibit

This stamp exhibit, North American Blockade Run Mail, 1775-1865, presents the postal history of four episodes of blockades in North America and the letters carried by blockade runners who evaded the blockading fleets. The British blockaded the rebel colonies (The American Colonies) during the Revolutionary War. The British occupied US ports, and American ships maintained a blockade of these British-held enclaves. The British blockaded the US again during the War of 1812. And finally, the Federal Government imposed a blockade on the Confederacy during the Civil War. This exhibit shows blockade-run mail from all four blockades.During the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the British navy maintained an undeclared commercial blockade of the rebel colonies along the Atlantic coast. This blockade closed American ports to all commerce, including cargos carried in neutral ships.British forces occupied the ports of Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston and Savannah at various times during the Revolutionary War. American privateers maintained an effective blockade of those British-held enclaves from 1775 to 1783.Great Britain was again the antagonist during the War of 1812, and maintained a formal commercial blockade (1813-15) that rolled out in stages along the Atlantic coast.Finally, the secession of southern states at the outset of the American Civil War precipitated a Federal commercial blockade of the southern coasts from 1861 to 1865.This exhibit shows blockade-run mail from all four blockades of this period and is a marvelous example of postal history at its finest.Steven C. Walske is an American Philatelist who signed the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 2017, and who has won four Grand Prix titles.Another great exhibit from Exhibitors Press. Read more