The village of Bayport, located at the mouth of the Weeki Wachee River, sprang up in the early 1850s as a supply and cotton port. During the Civil War, Union naval squadrons blockaded Florida's coasts to prevent goods and supplies from passing into and out of the state. By 1863 the East Gulf Blockade Squadron had effectively closed the larger ports along the Gulf Coast. Small rivers, such as the Weeki Wachee, became important trade routes. Shipping at Bayport attracted the attention of the Union Blockade Squadron which intercepted eleven blockade runners near there between 1862 and 1865. Various skirmishes took place at Bayport between Union troops and the Confederate Home Guard during the course of the war. The Confederate cannon battery site can still be seen on the wooded point just north of the Bayport fishing pier at the mouth of the Weeki Wachee River.