I have people in my ancestry who were blockade runners during the Civil War. They worked out of Wilmington and nearby Southport, along the Cape Fear River, which was a premier port for ships entering the States from Europe and the Caribbean. What were some of the other preferred points of entry?
Interesting topic. From what I understand about naval warfare at the time, if merchant ships simply avoided heavily trafficked areas it was just a crap shoot whether they'd be detected or not, and even when they were detected they stood a good chance of outrunning the US Navy anyway. So, with a small, fast ship, they could get in and out of smaller port towns fairly reliably.
The overall survival / success rate for the blockade runners were around 80% per voyage. As far as I know, the highest survival rates were achieved in Mobile, Alabama. Ports like Charleston, Savannah, Galveston and New Orleans were also heavily used by the blockade runners. Also, I have read that the port of Wilmington served as the central depot for blockade runners during the Union blockade.
