Old Velasco, C. S. A.
Surfside, Brazoria County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Historic and key Texas port of entry located near here. During the Civil War was fortified by troops and 8 gun batteries at the mouth of the Brazos River, to provide shelter and landing facilities for blockade runners; to protect rich farmlands; and to prevent Federal invasion. The South exchanged cotton for European guns, ammunition, milled goods and medicines for army and home use. Velasco was one of the busiest ports. Federal vessels attempted to stop vital trade, and constantly fired upon runners as well as the shore defenses and patrols. The runners would approach the port on dark nights when the waters were smooth, and by the use of sounding lines could determine nearness to shore and avoid blockaders. Boilers would be kept well fired with hard coal that burned with a minimum of smoke, in case it became necessary to outrun Federal patrol ships. Union ships had to go to New Orleans for drinking water, food and fuel, because Texas marines on rafts or dredgeboats or Texas cavalry and infantry units kept them off the shores. The raw courage of the Texas coastal defenders made this a most dramatic story in the history of the Confederacy. (1964)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
During the Civil War, the port of Velasco at the mouth of the Brazos River was fortified with troops and eight gun batteries to shelter the blockade runners vital to the Confederacy. Slipping in on dark, smooth nights and burning smokeless hard coal to outrun Federal patrols, these runners traded Texas cotton for European guns, ammunition, and medicine. Texas coastal defenders kept Union vessels—forced to sail to New Orleans for fresh water and supplies—away from the shore, making Velasco one of the South's busiest and most dramatic ports.
Why it matters
Velasco illustrates how the Confederacy's western coast sustained the war effort by evading the Union blockade, a lifeline of trade that the U.S. Navy fought hard to sever.
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Related events
- · Union blockade of the Confederacy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Sinking Site of the Blockade Runner "Acadia"
Surfside, TX
The Canadian-owned sidewheel steamer Acadia set out on her maiden voyage in December 1864, running the Federal blockade to carry food, hardware, and clothing to hard-pressed Texans. In heavy fog on February 6, 1865, she grounded in sticky clay just offshore here; her crew and cargo reached the beach safely. When the fog cleared, Union guns shelled the stranded ship, but Confederate cavalry on shore kept the enemy from boarding and burning her, and the wreck became a coastal landmark.
Old Quintana
Quintana, TX
Perched at the mouth of the Brazos River, Quintana passed through nearly every chapter of Texas history—an early village site, a port of entry under the Republic of Texas, and a strategic harbor during the Civil War. In the late 19th century it shipped cattle and cotton and blossomed into a fashionable summer colony, only to be largely swept away by the catastrophic 1900 hurricane. Today it endures as a quiet resort and fishing community.
Major Guy M. Bryan, C.S.A.
Jones Creek, TX
Guy M. Bryan rode a mule to Texas in 1831 to join his uncle, Stephen F. Austin, and grew up to serve as a private in the war for independence, then as a legislator, congressman, and delegate to the Secession Convention. Enlisting again as a private when the Civil War came, his political skill quickly made him an indispensable troubleshooter — arranging conferences of Trans-Mississippi governors, pressing Jefferson Davis for a strong military department west of the river, and untangling disputes over the cotton trade that was the Confederacy's lifeblood. He served as confidential adjutant to Davis and the region's commanding general before dying in 1901.
Titlum-Tatlum
Freeport vicinity, TX
During the Civil War, the tangled willow-lined waterways around this coastal island gave Confederate blockade-runners a place to hide. Captains like the shipbuilder H. C. Wedemeyer slipped cotton-laden vessels out on dark or stormy nights, sometimes towed to open water by men working from shore, evading the Federal ships watching from offshore. The cotton they carried overseas bought guns, powder, medicine, and cloth for a Confederacy short on manufacturing of its own.