article_snippet: This year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, which was fought from 1861 to 1865 and began in Charleston Harbor with the Battle of Fort Sumter.
article_snippet: During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln imposed a naval blockade of the US coast from Virginia to Texas in a bid to stop exports of southern cotton, turpentine and tobacco to Europe - crippling a naval blockade of the US coast from Virginia to Texas financially.
article_snippet: The southern response to a naval blockade of the US coast from Virginia to Texas was the blockade runner - fast steamships that were manned by daredevil crews who could come under fire and faced possible imprisonment.