1865 - A worried, but resolute, woman informs her husband that she and their children have been twice thwarted in attempts to sail from Galveston to Havana as their blockade runner could not make it through the Union fleet by Isabella - 1865

Galveston, Texas, 1865. Unbound. Very good. This four-page letter was written by Isabella and her three children (Jumain, Miriam, and Rosa) at Galveston on March 7, 1865. There is no mailing envelope and no decipherable surname. In nice shape.

In this letter, Isabella informs her husband, presumably in Havana that the blockade runner in which they have booked passage has been twice thwarted in its attempt to pass through the Union ships blockading Galveston, Texas, which at the time was the only Confederate port not to have been captured by the North. Isabella writes:

"After several attempts (since last Saturday Night) to run out to pass the fleet in safety, we are still here, since last friday we have been staying at the Steamer, we have been sea sick, were twice near the Yankees, have been aground in the channel, and as yet nothing at all accomplished, except loss of Sleep and great fatigue.

"We were obliged to bring our trunks etc on the Steamer and Saturday Night before we left, the passengers were obliged to pay their Passage as the Captain left the Money here with his friends to buy Drafts, as he don't want to carry Money with him. I feel now we are bound to go with him otherwise I believe I would change and go by the way of Matamoros,

"Last friday Night was the first time we tried to go out and as we were not far from the fleet the Engine got out of order and we were obliged to anchor, not very pleasant in the neighborhood of our Enemy, they tried to repair the Engine but without Success. We had to go back and anchor in the Stream.

"Sunday night went again but the weather being . . . clear the Yankees must have seen us as they threw up their Signals of course we turned back and by turning in the neighborhood of the bar run a ground, it was a similar thumping as at the time when we arrived here 21 years ago although not so hard, fortunately they got off and ashore somewhere near the Channel and waited for daybreak, when we perceived a Shooner the (Charles Russel) trying to get in the Yankees firing at her in great rate, our Captain had the Steamer turned and we went to her help, the Yankees still trying to fire at her and us but fortunately none struck the boat or Shooner. You may imagine how excited we all were but still we were all on Deck even Rosa to look at the Scene. So you see we have had some adventures . . .."

. Once Wilmington, North Carolina fell to the Union Army, Galveston, Texas was the only port open to blockade runners, and it became busier than at any previous time during the war; 16 steamers, 20 schooners, and one sloop snuck through the blockade a total of 52 times. This letter would have been carried by one of those ships, and it is likely Isabella and her children passed through on another.

As suggested by Isabella, most Galveston blockade runners headed to either Havana, Cuba or Matamoros, Mexico where their cargo, usually cotton destined for Europe, was transferred to vessels capable of transiting the Atlantic. The blockade runners also carried passengers (usually diplomatic representatives, shipping or cargo agents, or citizens of neutral countries) and fares were expensive; one captain reported he charged $180/person (over $3,500 in today's money). Most steamers had adequate berthing arrangements; cabins were usually wood paneled with built-in sideboard and mirror, an upholstered bench or chairs, and two beds.

(For more information, see Glover's The West Gulf Blockade, 1861-1865: An Evaluation, Campbell's "Last of the Gray Phantoms: The Confederate Blockade Runners" at warfarehistorynetwork.com, "The Capture of the S.S. Salvor" at tampapix.com, Block's "Sabine Pass ad Galveston were Successful Blockade-Running Ports" in the 5 Feb 1984 edition of the Beaumont Enterprise, and "Interior plan of the blockade runners" at civilwartalk.com.)

Rare and possibly the only item of its kind.. At the time of listing no original first-hand accounts of attempted blockade running (much less of blockade running by a mother and her children from Galveston in the waning days of the war) are for sale in the trade. Neither have any appeared at auction per the Rare Book Hub. OCLC shows nothing similar held by institutions although it identifies a blockage runner ship's log at the Library of Congress.