1852 0108 Tobacco for the Rio Grande - Price, Walsh & Co

Transcription

(Price, Walsh & Co. to Charles Stillman — January 8, 1852)

Gulf Port

In due receipt of yours of the 22nd ult., and agreeably with instructions to furnish you with 150 bales and 30 half bales leaf, we ship them this day by Alderman.

We are much gratified at the confidence you place in us, and you may rest assured your orders shall at all times have our best attention as to the quality of the article we will ship you and at the very lowest figure that it can be purchased in our market.

Within the past few weeks several of the dealers in tobacco for the Rio Grande have been in this market, one of whom a Mr. Graham has taken some 200 bales and 60 hhds.

We do not hesitate to state that no parcels of tobacco shipped to Texas will come up to your lot.

We called on Mr. Hugh Witherell to say he has orders for dispatch of your hides.

We are gentlemen,

Your very truly,

Price Walsh & Co.

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The Brief Tobacco Invoice Note

The small notation sheet reads:

1852

Price Walsh & Co.
Jan. 8 Invoice
ans. Jan. 24

Invoice of Tobacco

This appears to be Stillman's filing notation, indicating:

• date received
• date answered
• contents of the letter

Merchants frequently wrote these summaries on the back or cover sheet before filing the correspondence.

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What This Letter Reveals

Although brief, it tells us several important things about the Stillman trade network.

1. Tobacco Was a Major Rio Grande Import

Leaf tobacco was shipped in:

• bales

• half-bales

• hogsheads (hhds.)

It was then resold across the border into northern Mexico.

Demand for tobacco was extremely strong in Mexican markets.

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2. Competing Merchants Were Buying in the Same Market

The mention of a Mr. Graham purchasing 200 bales and 60 hogsheads tells us that several merchants were buying tobacco specifically for the Rio Grande trade.

This confirms that by 1852 there was already a recognized export market supplying Brownsville and the Mexican interior.

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3. Tobacco Traveled the Same Route as Hides

Note the line about orders for dispatch of your hides.

This shows the two-way trade system:

Northbound to the U.S.

• hides

• wool

• silver

Southbound into Mexico

• tobacco

• manufactured goods

• textiles

• hardware

Exactly the trade system you’ve been documenting.

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Tobacco for the Rio Grande

Price, Walsh & Co. to Charles Stillman — January 8, 1852

Among the many letters preserved in the Stillman Papers are routine business communications that, though brief, reveal the mechanics of frontier commerce.

On January 8, 1852, the firm of Price, Walsh & Company wrote to Charles Stillman confirming shipment of 150 bales and 30 half bales of leaf tobacco destined for the Rio Grande market.

The tobacco was sent by a vessel named Alderman, part of the steady coastal traffic that supplied Brownsville merchants with goods for resale across the border into Mexico.

The letter also shows that Stillman was competing with other traders supplying the same market. One dealer mentioned in the letter had recently purchased 200 bales and 60 hogsheads of tobacco for the Rio Grande trade.

Tobacco was one of the staple commodities flowing south into Mexico, where it was in constant demand. In return, frontier merchants like Stillman shipped hides and other raw materials north to American markets, forming a commercial circuit that tied the Rio Grande frontier to ports across the Gulf of Mexico.

Even a short invoice letter like this one illustrates the scale and organization of the trade network that Stillman helped build along the border.

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