page_title: Charles Morgan (businessman)
section_title: American Civil War
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Morgan (businessman) / American Civil War
caption_attribution_description: English: Advertisement placed in the Galveston Daily News 11 May 1878. Morgan Line (steamboats).
context_page_description: Charles Morgan was an American railroad and shipping magnate. He played a leading role in the development of transportation and commerce in the Southern United States through the mid- to late-19th century.
  Morgan started working in New York City at the age of fourteen. He managed both wholesale and retail businesses before specializing in marine shipping. He invested in sailing vessels as early as 1819, while managing all aspects of the business from his office at the wharf in New York City. He started his first partnership for a packet company in 1831. During the 1830s, he held stakes in companies shipping to Kingston, Jamaica, and Charleston, South Carolina, from New York; and a stake in a company shipping between New Orleans and Galveston, Texas. During this time, he invested more in steamships than sailing ships. The Louisiana–Texas packets became so successful that he gradually withdrew from the Atlantic trade in the late-1830s.
  In the 1840s and 1850s, Morgan expanded his shipping business in the Gulf of Mexico, expanding service to Mexico, Florida, and adding stops in Texas.
context_section_description: Morgan was a lifetime resident of the northeast. He grew up in Connecticut and maintained a primary residence in New York City his entire adult life. However, he was "a more-than-casual slaveholder," acquiring no fewer than thirty-three enslaved persons through the start of the American Civil War. In a very early action of the Civil War, one of Morgan's steamships, the General Rusk, transported Texas troops. The State of Texas adopted its ordinance of secession on February 4, 1861, and appointed E.B. Nichols as its Commissioner and Financial Representative on February 7. Nichols had already been serving Morgan as his shipping agent in Galveston. He booked Morgan's General Rusk to transport troops for $500 per day. Shortly after, this Texas force captured the United States Army Base at Brazos St. Iago. Yet, Morgan used the same steamer to transport the fleeing Union troops from Brazos St. Iago to Key West, Florida.
  Morgan kept his fleet in the Gulf ports, even after the attack on Fort Sumter. Louisiana Governor Thomas O. Moore mandated a seizure of three ships from the Southern Steamship Company, viewing Charles Morgan as a northerner and a threat to the Confederacy. While Morgan never sided with the Confederacy, Israel Harris did. The ships were allowed to travel on a limited basis, but with many inspections at the ports of New Orleans and Galveston. At Galveston, the ranking officer, Sidney Sherman, seized two of Morgan's vessels. Nichols interceded on Morgan's behalf, and Sherman agreed to allow the Morgan steamers passage off Texas waters. However, he did keep the General Rusk for the Confederate fleet. With the United States mail service discontinued and the effective Union blockade of southern ports, Morgan's steamship empire was idled. The Southern Steamship Company, which had entered the Civil War with twelve steamships, sold two of them, and lost the other ten when General Mansfield Lovell expropriated them on behalf of the Confederacy on January 16, 1862. The company was left without a fleet and without compensation for its seized assets, thus it folded in 1863.
  Despite the losses borne by the Southern Steamship Company, Morgan continued to operate other ventures by doing business with both the Union and the Confederacy. Morgan placed orders with Harlan and Hollingsworth for five large steamers between 1862 and 1864. These ships were frequently booked on charters for the Union during the war. Morgan also profited from his ownership of the Morgan Iron Works, which was producing engines from its shops in New York City for commercial enterprises in the United States and abroad. Beyond civilian production, the Morgan Iron Works built engines and other marine equipment for thirteen ships in the Union Naval fleet. In one case, they built a warship from scratch: USS Onondaga. These naval contracts accrued over $2 million in revenue to the Morgan Iron Works. For the Confederates, Morgan ran the Frances to evade Union blockades between Havana and the southern ports.
caption: Advertisement for Morgan Line, May 11, 1878
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