author
J. (John) Wilkinson
1821–1891
A firsthand Civil War memoir brings readers aboard the dangerous, fast-moving world of blockade running. Its author was a former U.S. Navy officer who later served the Confederate Navy and turned those experiences into a vivid sea narrative.
1 Audiobook
The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner
by J. (John) Wilkinson
About the author
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1821, John Wilkinson entered the U.S. Navy as a midshipman and later resigned in 1861 as the Civil War began. He then joined the Confederate Navy, where he became known for blockade-running service and for commanding the raider CSS Chickamauga.
Wilkinson is best remembered as the author of The Narrative of a Blockade-Runner, published in 1877. The book draws on his own wartime experience and is valued as a fast-paced personal account of naval operations, risk, and survival at sea.
He died in 1891. For modern readers, his writing offers a direct window into one participant's view of the war on the water, combining memoir, adventure, and naval history.