"We have had a very quiet time of it since I joined the Bellevite, and the action with the Tallahatchie was really the only event of any great importance in which I have been engaged." "The enemy and their British allies have been so unfortunate in the Gulf that they have chosen a safer approach to the shores of the South.
Nearly all the blockade-runners at the present time go in at the Cape Fear River, where the shoal water favors them.

A class of steamers of light draft and great speed are constructed expressly to go into Wilmington.

Over $65,000,000 have been invested in blockade-running; and in spite of the capture of at least one a week by our ships, the business appears to pay immense profits.

The port of Charleston is closed to them now, as well as many others." "I have studied this locality of the coast at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and the blockade-runners certainly have their best chance there," said Christy.
"The whole attention of the government, so far as blockade-running is concerned, has been directed to the approaches of Wilmington.

Forts Fisher, Caswell, and Smith afford abundant protection to the light draft steamers as soon as they get into the shoal water where our gunboats as a rule cannot follow them.