USS South America was used to block ports and waterways on states commonly referred to as what?
USS South America (1861) USS "South America" (1861) was a whaler purchased by the Union Navy on 9 November 1861 at New London, Connecticut. She was acquired to be sunk as an obstruction in the channel leading to a Confederate port as part of the Union blockade on ports and waterways of the Confederate States of America.
Charleston in the American Civil War Charleston, South Carolina, was a hotbed of secession at the start of the American Civil War and an important Atlantic Ocean port city for the fledgling Confederate States of America. The first shots against the Federal government were those fired there by cadets of the Citadel to stop a ship from resupplying the Federally held Ft. Sumter. Three months later, the bombardment of Fort Sumter triggered a massive call for Federal troops to put down the rebellion. Although the city and its surrounding fortifications were repeatedly targeted by the Union Army and Navy, Charleston did not fall to Federal forces until the last months of the war.