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