of his investments to seizures by the North and the South. Most of the steamers seized were corporately owned by the Southern Steamship Company, which led to its liquidation in 1863. Morgan, however, prospered during the war despite these losses. He ran blockade runners for the Confederacy, but his most profitable venture during this period was the Morgan Iron Works. This shop built engines for thirteen ships sold to the Union Navy. At the end of the war, he repurchased some of these steamships at favorable prices. During Reconstruction, Morgan sold his interest in the Morgan Iron Works. He also took advantage of the buyer's market for steamships and expanded his fleet. He resumed his Gulf packet service between New Orleans and Texas, and between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. In 1869, he acquired his first railroad. Two more railroad acquisitions followed in the 1870s. He died on May 8, 1878, at his home in New York City. Just prior to his death, he incorporated Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company and distributed his shares to several family members. Family life Charles Morgan was born April 21, 1795, to George and Betsy Morgan. His native town was then known as Killingworth, Connecticut, but is now known as Clinton. Charles had a younger sister named Wealthy Ann (b. September 6, 1798) and older brothers, Elias (b. September 26, 1790) and John (b. December 3, 1791). George Morgan was a successful farmer, and Charles had a comfortable upbringing in a rural area. However, a changing economy induced Charles to follow his brothers who had moved to New York City in 1809. He married Emily Reeves in 1817, several years after establishing himself as a merchant, and they had five children together: Emily Ann (1818), Frances Eliza (1823), Charles W. (1825), Henry R. (1827), and Maria Louise (1832). They remained married until Emily's death in 1850. Morgan's daughter Frances Eliza married George W. Quintard in either 1843 or early in 1844. Like her father, Quintard grew up in Connecticut and left his hometown as a teenager seeking opportunity in New York City. Concurrent with his marriage, Quintard opened a shop, combining a grocery and ship chandlery. In 1847, he joined the marine engineering firm of T. F. Secor & Co., in which Charles Morgan was a partner, and in 1850, Quintard and Morgan purchased the firm outright and renamed it the