The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974 Page: 232
568 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
to and from New York went under several names during the course of the
war. In the summer of 1861 he instructed Donahue to send shipments under
the name of Santiago Yturria, a Mexican business associate. Somewhat
later, Stillman used the names of Joseph, or Jos6, Morell of Monterrey and
Jeremiah Galvan of Matamoros. From time to time, as seemed necessary,
he also used the name of John Crawford of Nassau.15
Initially, the Confederates considered imposing an embargo on cotton in
the hope of creating a worldwide scarcity that would provoke European in-
tervention on the side of the South. The possibility of such a policy plus the
Federal blockade made obvious the potential of the border cotton trade, and
Stillman began drawing cotton to the Rio Grande from Texas for shipment
to world markets. His Santa Rosa Ranch above Brownsville became a way
station for cotton coming by both water and land routes for export by way
of Mexico. In late 1861 and early 1862 the water route was particularly
active. A long string of sandy islands lay off the coast of Texas from Mata-
gorda almost to Mexico, and between the islands and the mainland was a
shallow waterway, navigable to small boats but not to the large vessels of
the Federal blockade fleet. By early 1862 a steady stream of boats plied this
inner waterway, taking cotton and sugar south and bringing back salt, mu-
nitions, and supplies. Under the best of conditions the mouth of the Rio
Grande was made hazardous by sandbars and currents, so even before the
Federal blockade became effective, these boats customarily deposited their
cargoes at points near Corpus Christi or Baffin's Bay, to be hauled overland
for the last lap of the journey to the Rio Grande.16
Among those shipping cotton to Stillman by this route in 1861-1862 was
George W. Brackenridge of the firm of Brackenridge & Bates of Texana,
Texas. Brackenridge and his brother Tom, a Confederate cavalry officer,
had met Stillman in the fall of 186I when they went to Mexico to obtain
supplies for Tom's troops. Inspired by the prospects of the cotton trade,
they returned home to buy the crops of local planters for movement south-
ward. Their early shipments were consigned to forwarding merchants Cot-
15Stillman to Donahue, August I9, I862, Stillman Papers; Donahue to Stillman, June
23, September 6, x86i, ibid.; Donahue to Yturria, July 3r, September 3, 1862, ibid.;
Statement of Account, J. Galvan to J. V. Crawford, January 23, 1863, ibid.; Stillman,
Charles Stillman, 29; Graf, "Economic History of the Lower Rio Grande Valley," 534-
536, 556-560.
sC. G. Forshey to W. W. Hunter, February 2, 1862; Dan D. Shea to Hunter, Febru-
ary 3, 1862, O.R.N., Series I, XVII, z65-z67; Graf, "Economic History of the Lower
Rio Grande Valley," 524-525; Brackenridge & Bates to Stillman, February Ig, May 24,
June 27, 1862; J. Ingalls & J. I. Caruthers to Stillman, July 23, 24, 30, 1862, Stillman
Papers. For Confederate policy, see Frank Lawrence Owsley, King Cotton Diplomacy:
Foreign Relations of the Confederate States of America (Chicago, 1931).232
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 77, July 1973 - April, 1974, periodical, 1973/1974; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117148/m1/266/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.