'Dispatches from Bermuda – The Civil War Letters of Maxwell Allen, United States Consul at Bermuda, 1861-1888'. Edited by Glenn N. Wiche. Published by Kent State University, Kent, Ohio.

Reviled by many Bermudians, faced by Confederate seaman in the lawless streets of St. George's, seeking in vain the assistance of British authorities, the life of US Consul Charles Maxwell Allen during the American Civil War was often miserable.

His best friend was the artist Edward James (when he was sober), and his family were far away in the town of Amity, in upper New York state.

Allen faced the further misery of a struggle with asthma, but it turned out that Bermuda's climate was good for his health.

Allen fought against the establishment of St. George's as a blockade running port, where cargoes could be off-loaded from slow freighters and sailing vessels and reloaded on the swift, fragile blockade runners which attempted to pass through the cordons of Union warships which ringed the principal ports of the Confederacy – but his diplomatic efforts failed.

He struggled against Confederate cruisers, trying to ensure that these belligerent warships could not obtain coal for their hungry steam engines as Northern warships had been blocked by the British authorities. The rule was only enough coal could be loaded to take them to the nearest port. The Confederates started importing coal on their own account, and kept ships with coal aboard anchored in St. George's Harbour.

Apparently there was nothing in the rules about transferring coal from ship to ship.

He had a particular disappointment when a Confederate named John Clibbon Braine arrived aboard the US Mail steamer Roanoke which he had hijacked outside Havana Harbour, using "passengers" who had embarked for the purposes.

Unable to transfer coal from a sailing vessel Braine ran the Roanoke on a reef, set her on fire, and came to shore with his crew.

He was immediately jailed, but to Allen's disappointment was released when he showed a privateering commission from Confederate authorities.

Allen kept up the Northern side in Bermuda, even when his office was raided and his flagpole cut down, and his steadfastness slowly became appreciated.

The loss of the port of Wilmington to Federal arms in early 1865 closed down blockade running in Bermuda, and with it the work of the American Consul became more humdrum, with the principal excitement the occasional landing of a shipwrecked crew.

Allen's family were able to come and join him, and the Allens developed a circle of friends.

He served as Consul until his death in 1888. By then the Consular office had moved to Hamilton and the family were settled in Wistowe in Flatts village.

His wife remained in Bermuda for the rest of her life, and several of her children took up residence here.

Although the Confederates were upholding slavery, that dreadful system of human bondage, many persons find romance in tales of the blockade runners – for instance, Margaret Mitchell made her hero Rhett Butler a blockade runner in 'Gone with the Wind'.

Consul Allen's despatches give another, more sober, viewpoint and depict a St. George's sometimes unruly and wild, and a town sometimes filled with ruffianly characters.

Many episodes of the war, such as the strange sinking of the Mary Celestia (which had run the blockade many times) and the scheme of Dr. Luke Blackburn to infect New York with yellow fever by distributing the clothing and bedclothes of yellow fever victims, are depicted from the Consul's point of view.

The editor, Glenn N. Wiche, became interested in Mr. Allen when, on a visit to Bermuda, he discovered his tomb in St. Mark's Churchyard.

He has followed up Mr. Allen diligently, and his book, published under the auspices of a series on the Civil War from the Northern side, is well worth owning for anyone interested in learning more about this period of Bermuda history. I hope it will become available in local bookstores. An interesting piece of Bermudiana.