Between King Cotton and Queen Victoria: How Pirates, Smugglers, and Scoundrels Almost Saved the Confederacy

UnCivil Wars

by Beau Cleland

Between King Cotton and Queen Victoria recenters our understanding of the Civil War by framing it as a hemispheric affair, deeply influenced by the actions of a network of private parties and minor officials in both Confederate and British territory in and around North America. John Wilkes Booth likely would not have been in a position to assassinate Abraham Lincoln without the logistical support and assistance of the pro-Confederate network in Canada. That network, to which he was personally introduced in Montreal in the fall of 1864, was hosted and facilitated by willing colonials across the hemisphere. Many of its Confederate members arrived in British North America via a long-established transportation and communications network built around British colonies, especially Bermuda and the Bahamas, whose primary purpose was running the blockade. It is difficult to overstate how essential blockade running was for the rebellion’s survival, and it would have been impossible without the aid of sympathetic colonials. The operations of this informal, semiprivate network were of enormous consequence for the course of the war and its aftermath, and our understanding of the Civil War is incomplete without a deeper reckoning with the power and potential for chaos of these private networks imbued with the power of a state.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2025

Reviews

[Rachel Key · Rating 3 out of 5]

In my opinion the title (though catchy) is a bit of a misnomer - this book has little to nothing to do with the relationship between the British and Confederate governments. Instead it’s about the aid British colonies in North America provided to the confederacy. Still a worthwhile topic I think, just not what I expected when I saw it pop up.

Overall this was neither the worst nor best history nonfiction I’ve read, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it either. The writing felt slow despite not being bogged down by statistics, and it felt like every chapter made the same few points over and over again microanalyzed through an ever so slightly shifted lens. This book would probably be more exciting to someone who already had an interest in the topic, but it was hard for me to get through despite learning a decent amount.