THE FOLLOWING UNPUBLISHED LETTER IS FROM THE PERSONAL ARCHIVE OF
SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR BONHAM.  IT EXPLAINS THE BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN BLOCKADE RUNNING COMPANIES - IN THIS CASE, THE BEE COMPANY OF
 SOUTH CAROLINA AND THE STATE AND NATIONAL (CONFEDERATE) GOVERNMENTS.  
IT SHOULD BE PURCHASED BY AN INSTITUTION OR AUTHOR WHO WILL
PUBLISH A DEFINITIVE WORK ON BLOCKADE RUNNING. 

This 6 page letter by Col. A. P. Aldrich is written on blue legal size paper and is in fine condition.  There are a few slight holes made by the ink… all nice and dark and excellent for display.  Blockade running in the Confederacy is one of the most fascinating subjects of the Civil War… how private shipping companies provided the “lifeline” bringing materials and goods to the Confederacy from England.  This letter provides firsthand, never before published factual information about this topic. 

 


                                                                                                                                                        Columbia 28 Feb. 1864

                        To His Excellency

                             Governor Bonham

                                    Sir

                                         In obedience to instructions, I left here on the morning of the 21 &
proceeded to Richmond, to effect some arrangement with the Confederate Government, by
which the interest of the State, in the ships of the Bee Line, would not be interfered with by
the different Departments.  I went by the way of Wilmington, expecting that Mr. Jervey, its
 Agent of the Company, would accompany me.  He did not meet me, not having received my
 telegram in time & afterwards learning from Mr. Miles, that his presence would not be
 needed.

            On my arrival in Richmond, I called upon the honorable Mr. W. Porcher Miles, who
 immediately gave me his zealous and active aid in the object of my mission.

            We first called on Maj. Bayne, of the Ordnance Bureau, who had charge of the
business of Exporting & Importing, on the part of the War Department.  I learned from him,
 that arrangements had been early made, by which the Departments of the War & Navy,
were to have an equal interest in its shipments & in the return cargoes of vessels engaged
in running the blockade.

            Each Depart. has an agent in Wilmington who is charged with the business of his own
 Department, & with arranging & equalizing the trips of their separate Departments, arming
the vessels engaged in the trade.  This apportionment is left entirely to these Agents, & neither
 Maj. Bayne, or either of the Secretaries know to what trips or what ships, either Department
 is entitled.  Maj. Bayne informed us, as you had been previously informed, that the Secry. of
 War was very desirous, that the States should engage in this Trade, as it would greatly aid
the Governmt. & he had endeavored to facilitate it, by at once yielding to the States whenever
 a ship was put in the Trade, owned in whole, or in part by the State.  I then told him, that
disappointment & feeling had been excited, from the remarkable fact, that after the consent
 of the Government had been obtained, that the State should ship in its Steamers of the Bee
 Line & had actually procured the cargo of the Alice that she was prevented from sailing by
 a claim of the Navy Depart. which claim was enforced by an order from the War Depart. to
 detain the ship.  I also added that this disappointment & feeling had been increased, when
the same course was repeated in the case of the Fannie.  His reply was, that the Secy. of War
could only release the interest of the Department of War & be supported.  I would find upon
 examination, that much was the case & if the Secy. of the Navy, insisted upon detaining the
 ship & was interested in the Trip, the War Department, while regretting the interference,
 would not prevent it.

            We then called upon the Secy. of the Navy & made the same representations.  In
addition I stated to the Secy., that you felt much surprise, that it appeared to you, that an
unjust discrimination had been made against So. Ca. in favor of Va. and No. Ca. as you had
been informed, that the ships owned by these States & in which they were interested, were
not interfered with by the Govmt.  The Secy. informed us, that the several steamers & lines of
steamers, engaged in the trade, had made an arrangement with the Govmt. by which they
had offered to take & bring in on Govmt. account, one third of their cargoes at a specified
rate of freight.

            That yielding to the more pressing necessities of the War Department, the Navy Dept.
had permitted that Depart. to use more than its proportion of shipments, but that the
necessities of the Navy Depart. were such, that for the present, he was compelled to insist on
 his proportion of shipments, at the same time begging me to assure you he would yield the
 claims of the Depart. at the very earliest moment he would do so, consistently with the
pressing demands of the Depart.  I found also, that the Secy. did not know what vessels, or
trips his Depart. was interested in, but that this arrangement had been left entirely to the
Agents of the Departments in Wilmington.  He entirely denied, that any discrimination had
been made in favor of No. Ca. and Va. & against So. Ca.  I brought to his notice the cases of The
 Advance on the part of No. Ca. & “Of the Petersburg” of the part of Va.  His reply was, that
these ships were owned entirely by the States & that if So. Ca. had any vessels or vessels owned
entirely by the State, no interference would be attempted by the Govmt.  I then brought to his
 attention the Telegrams from the Secy. of War, by which the claim of the Govmt. to the
shipments in the steamers of the Bee Line had been released.  To this he replied, that the Secy.
 of War could only release the claim of the Govmt.  So far as his own Dept. was concerned, but
 that he could not interfere, with the claims of the Govmt. as far as the Navy Depart. was
concerned.  He also informed me, that under late Acts of Congress, the heads of Depts. were
engaged in furnishing to the President their views & that it was the design of the Govmt. to
erect a Bureau having in charge the whole subject of Exporting & Importing & that any State
owning a ship or a line of ships couldn’t be interfered with – in parts under its care, they would
not be interfered with.  We then called on the Secry. of War who did not vary its attempts either
 of the Secry. of the Navy or Major Bayne.  He asked me to appraise you, that from the
beginning he had encouraged the states to engage in the business in and of its Govmt., that he
 had done all in his power to promote the interests of the states & I would continue to do so. 
When I expressed to him your surprise that after his yielding its claims of the Govmt. in the
ships of the Bee Line, both to yourself & to Msts. Truman & Porter, he had then sent orders to
Gen. Whiting to detain the ships for the right of the Depart.  He said that he greatly regretted
 that he had been misunderstood that he had no right to yield its claims of the Navy Depart.
that he had only intended his own Depart., & that upon examination he was certain it would
be found he had only cleared the ships from the service in his own Depart.  I then told him, that
 the result might be, you would be compelled to have the registry of  the ships transferred to
the State, so as to protect its interest of the state, he replied that would relieve all difficulty.  
He added, however, to show his desire to promote the interest of State, that he would issue
instructions to the Agent of the Depart. in Wilmington to allow the State to ship on any vessel
to which the War Department may be interested under the arrangements of the Agents of
the Departments in Wilmington.  He said also, that he would promptly inform you of the
Regulations which would be adopted by the Government in relation to the whole subject under
 the late acts of Congress.  That he & the Secy. of the Navy had submitted their views, but that
the President was so much engaged, at present, with Military affairs, that it was probable that
it would be several days before he would turn his attention to the matter, in the meantime, he
hoped the order which he would issue, as to the interest of the Depart. in the ships engaged in
 the trade, would be useful & satisfactory.

            The assistance of Mr. Miles was invaluable, without his aid, I would have been greatly
delayed.

                                                                                                    Respectfully your

                                                                                                                    Obt. Servt.

                                        A.P. Aldrich

                        To His Excellency

                                    Governor Bonham

#CG152 - Price $1,200

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