Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
RHETT BUTLER SLEPT HERE: THE BAHAMAS IN THE US CIVIL WAR
The US Civil War (1861-65) gave the Bahamas another economic boost, with the Bahamas
becoming the major trading center for the blockaded South. Ships such as the
Ballymena
became infamous blockade-runners, running supplies to the South and returning with holds
full of cotton. Author Margaret Mitchell, in
Gone with the Wind,
presents Rhett Butler as a
well-known figure in Nassau, where he loaded his schooner with luxuries for the Confeder-
acy.
But the end of hostilities burst Nassau's bubble again, and the ensuing decades witnessed
an exodus of migrant labor to the US.
