📜 A Merchant Letter from 1851: New York to the Texas Frontier
New York, Jan. 11, 1851
Mr. Chas. Stillman Esq.
Gentlemen,
We herewith have the pleasure of handing you invoice & B. Lading of sundries shipped to you addressed for Feby. All drawn agreeable to your last order.
Amount of invoice to your debit $1,245.34 gold as cash
Apl. 11, 1851.
The invoice matures some owing to the English goods being due in Oct. last as well as [illegible] the invoices.
Consigns some other articles being purchased for cash to get them at the lowest prices. We have filled all your order excepting the sport cotton & alpacas which are not to be had here at present.
The sport cotton is only imported by one house & if you want more for the next trip of the Alderman you had better advise us by return mail that we may secure it as soon as it has advanced as the other parties will probably cost 2 or 3% more.
For more particular information respecting the articles we beg leave to refer you to our remarks accompanying this.
The goods are insured to Brownsville via Brasos Santiago from this to take place per steamer Frankfurt only, excepting the Debenture goods which are insured to [illegible] liable.
We pay 3% to Point Isabel in one of our city offices & 3% to Brownsville in some good out of town offices. There is no city office that will take risks to Brownsville for less than 2½% & some ask more.
They ask the same to Point Isabel as to Brasos Santiago. These are some goods on board the [illegible].
[Letter incomplete]
In January 1851, a New York merchant sat down to write a routine business letter to a rising trader on the Rio Grande frontier — Charles Stillman. At the time, Stillman was building what would become one of the most important commercial networks in South Texas. The letter itself is incomplete, but what survives offers a vivid window into how trade worked between the eastern United States and the Gulf borderlands.
Dated New York, January 11, 1851, the correspondence concerns a shipment of goods headed to the lower Rio Grande via the Gulf Coast port of Brazos Santiago Pass, destined for Brownsville, Texas and nearby Point Isabel, Texas. The writer encloses invoices and bills of lading and confirms that the shipment follows Stillman’s prior order.
The total value of the shipment is listed as $1,245.34 in gold — a striking figure for the time. In modern terms, that equals roughly $45,000–$50,000 today, giving us a sense of the scale of frontier commerce. This was not a small local delivery; it was a serious mercantile transaction.
📦 What Was Being Shipped?
The goods included assorted textiles and “sundries,” typical of what a frontier merchant would need to supply a growing town. Two items — cotton and alpaca cloth — could not be filled due to limited availability. The writer notes that one variety of cotton was controlled by a single importer, meaning prices could rise quickly. He urges Stillman to reply by return mail if more is desired.
This highlights an early version of global supply-chain dynamics: even in 1851, remote Texas markets were affected by importer monopolies and overseas textile flows.
🚢 Shipping and Risk on the Gulf
All goods traveled by steamer to Brazos Santiago and then inland to Brownsville. The letter discusses marine insurance in unusual detail. Rates of about 3% were charged to insure shipments to Point Isabel and Brownsville. New York insurers were reluctant to cover Brownsville-bound cargo for less.
Why?
Because Brownsville was still considered a risky frontier port. Hazards included:
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Gulf storms and shipwrecks
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Shallow coastal bars
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Long transit routes
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Regional instability in the borderlands
Insurance costs were a built-in part of doing business.
💰 Gold as Payment
The phrase “gold as cash” is historically important. This was a pre–Civil War economy that relied on specie-backed currency. Merchants preferred payments backed by precious metal rather than paper promises, especially in long-distance trade.
🌎 The Bigger Picture
This letter captures a moment when South Texas was integrating into national and international trade networks. Brownsville had only recently been founded (1848), and merchants like Stillman were turning it into a commercial gateway between the United States and Mexico.
Routine letters like this one helped build the economic foundations of the region. They record the realities of pricing, shipping delays, supply shortages, and insurance headaches — the nuts and bolts of frontier capitalism.
What may look like a simple invoice note is actually evidence of how a border town became a trade hub.
✍️ Final Thought
Historical archives often preserve the dramatic moments — wars, treaties, political speeches. But documents like this remind us that history is also built quietly, through ledgers, cargo manifests, and business letters. They show how everyday commerce shaped the growth of communities and connected distant places long before modern logistics existed.
And in this case, a single 1851 letter lets us watch the early commercial life of Brownsville unfold in real time.
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