Smith and J. B. Magruder met with Union Brigadier General E. J. Davis aboard Fort Jackson on 2 June 1865 and signed the formal surrender of Confederate forces in Texas, ending the Civil War in that portion of the country. Fort Jackson returned to New York via Pensacola on 29 July 1865 with Captain Sands still in command. She was decommissioned there on 7 August 1865 and sold at auction on 27 September 1865. She was bought by William H. Starbuck for $108,000. United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company (18651879) Steamship entrepreneur William R. Garrison obtained a contract to carry the U.S. mail, and opened a new steamship line between New York and Brazil. Under the terms of the mail contract, the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship Company was obligated to provide monthly sailings from New York to St. Thomas, Para, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro. The company received an annual subsidy of $150,000 from the U.S. Post Office and a smaller subsidy from Brazil. Fort Jackson was renamed North America by her new owners and became a mainstay of the new line. The new North America sailed from New York bound for Brazil for the first time on 30 October 1865. She returned to New York from Rio de Janeiro on 27 December 1865. She sailed south again on 29 January 1866. This became the cycle of her regular employment; four round-trips per year between New York and Brazil. She carried passengers, freight, and the mails. Among the freight she carried north were hundreds of bags of coffee beans. North America was overhauled in June 1869. The ship was hauled out on the great balance dock. Damaged hull planking was replaced, her hull was recaulked, and a new layer of copper sheeting was applied to her bottom to protect it from boring worms, and marine growth. While most of her trips were completed safely, several noteworthy events occurred. On 22 January 1867 North America collided with the Danish bark Christina off Sandy Hook. While the steamer was uninjured, the bark sank in ten minutes. Four of Christina's crew were rescued by North America, and they were left at St. Thomas, the ship's next port of call. During her return to New York from the tropics in December 1867, two passengers on board died of yellow fever. On her arrival, the remaining passengers were quarantined, and the