Galveston Blockade Runner Payroll — Galveston Harbor

Galveston was recaptured by Confederates on January 1, 1863 — the same month the Hatteras was sunk offshore — and remained a vital cotton-export port through 1865. Blockade runners carried cotton out and returned with arms, medicine, and gold. Texas treasure tradition holds that merchants and army paymasters buried strongboxes when Union blockaders closed in, especially along the inner harbor, Pelican Island, and the Strand District warehouses. The 1900 hurricane later destroyed much of the waterfront, layering storm debris over any hypothetical caches. Coordinates mark Galveston Harbor / inner basin near the Strand.