Transcription
(Price, Walsh & Co. to Charles Stillman — January 13, 1852)
New Orleans
13th January 1852
Messrs. Stillman & Partners
Gentlemen,
Enclosed you will find bill of lading for 150 bales and 30 half bales of leaf Kentucky tobacco.
We also forwarded duplicate by this day’s mail.
Mr. Hugh Witherell & Co. have paid the balance $1014.48 on your account.
Do you do anything in cigars, or would they be worth your attention?
We are left by cigar dealers from time to time large parcels to dispose of.
If you direct us we will forward you a small parcel of the different sorts at prices that we think will pay you.
Havana Regalias from $20 to $30 per thousand
Small size do. $20
and imitation Havanas, a very good looking cigar for sale — Regalias @ $15 per thousand
Yours truly,
Price Walsh & Co.
Tobacco and Cigars for the Rio Grande
Price, Walsh & Co., New Orleans — January 13, 1852
Only five days after confirming a shipment of tobacco to Brownsville, the New Orleans firm of Price, Walsh & Company wrote again to Charles Stillman.
This time they enclosed the bill of lading for 150 bales and 30 half-bales of Kentucky leaf tobacco, which had already been dispatched toward the Rio Grande.
The letter also reveals that the firm was attempting to expand the trade. Price & Walsh asked Stillman whether he dealt in cigars, offering to send a trial shipment of several varieties.
Prices ranged from $20 to $30 per thousand for Havana cigars, while “imitation Havanas”—likely American-made cigars styled after Cuban brands—could be supplied for $15 per thousand.
Such correspondence illustrates how merchants along the Gulf Coast constantly tested new products in frontier markets. Tobacco remained a staple commodity in northern Mexico, and traders along the Rio Grande watched carefully for any opportunity to expand the trade.
What This Letter Reveals
This short letter gives us several insights into the Rio Grande trade network.
1. Kentucky Tobacco for the Rio Grande
The shipment confirms that the tobacco supplied earlier was:
Kentucky leaf tobacco
Kentucky tobacco was a major export commodity shipped through New Orleans, then redistributed to Gulf markets like Brownsville.
This tells us the supply chain likely looked like:
Kentucky farms
→ Mississippi River
→ New Orleans wholesalers
→ coastal shipping
→ Brownsville
→ Mexican interior markets
2. Early Cigar Import Market
Price & Walsh are clearly testing the waters:
“Do you do anything in cigars?”
They offer Stillman:
Havana cigars
$20–$30 per thousand
Imitation Havanas
$15 per thousand
This suggests they believed the Rio Grande market might support cigar sales, but they were unsure whether Stillman already dealt in them.
3. Merchant Credit Clearing
The line:
“Hugh Witherell & Co. have paid the balance $1014.48 on your account”
shows how accounts were constantly being settled through intermediaries.
This reinforces the point that frontier trade was a credit-based network, not simple cash transactions.
One Small Detail of Interest
Stillman carefully wrote on the folded letter:
“Rec’d 28 — Ans’d Feb 11”
That simple notation shows the rhythm of frontier commerce:
Letters could take two weeks or more to reach Brownsville from New Orleans, and replies moved just as slowly back through the same routes.
Yet through this steady exchange of letters, invoices, and accounts, merchants like Stillman built the commercial networks that sustained the Rio Grande frontier.
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