It is a fact not generally known, or usually lost sight of, that during the first six months of the Civil War, that is to say from April to September, 1861, inclusive, the South raised and embodied a larger number of troops than the North did, and the scale in that respect did not turn until the government had begun to realize the results of its call for five hundred thousand men. But the problem that confronted our authorities was not military alone. It soon became clear to sagacious minds that a great sea power must be created as well as an overpowering force by land. It was a foregone conclusion that notwithstanding the great numerical disparity between the white population of the South and that of the North,—the proportion being about six millions in the South to twenty-five millions in the North,—it would be impossible to overcome them so long as their ports remained open. If the Southern people could continue without serious hindrance to exchange their cotton for European, principally English, arms, ammunition, military supplies, and munitions of war of all kinds, together with provisions and clothing of the kind which they had habitually imported, their armies could keep the field; their railroad system could be kept in fair running order, and the numerical superiority of the North must thereby to a great extent be neutralized. Therefore an effective blockade became an immediate and absolute necessity. The total coast-line of the Confederacy, Atlantic Ocean and Gulf together, was three thousand six hundred miles long, measured in straight lines. The shore-line, or sinuosities, was considerably more than twice that length. It is a coast indented with numerous inland bays and estuaries, affording easy access to the immediate interior and safe refuge for their ships or the ships of those with whom they traded. Of course, a mere blockade by proclamation would not be respected by any foreign maritime power. Paper blockade so-called had been ruled out of consideration years before in solemn congress or conference of the Great Powers. At that moment our navy was at its lowest ebb, and, of the few ships available for immediate service, many were on foreign stations and could not easily or quickly be recalled, as the cable system of communication was then unknown. The task therefore became that of immediately improvising a navy capable of enforcing a real blockade. To accomplish this, before the end of 1861 every steamer of every description that could keep the sea or carry a gun was pressed into the service, and our commercial fleet, so far as steam navigation was concerned, ceased to exist. These converted vessels served a fairly good purpose _ad interim_, or until the government could bring its resources to build a more effective fleet of regular men-of-war.