From "Battle on the Bay: The Civil War Struggle for Galveston" by Edward T. Cotham, Jr.
As Texas prepared to secede, a Galveston Commission of Public Safety was formed. This group received word that the Revenue Cutter Henry Dodge in Galveston, commanded by Lt. William F. Rogers had a crew of 12 who professed loyalty to the South.
During an interview with the commission, Lt. Rogers expressed his willingness to disobey his current orders to take his ship to New York and instead turn it over to Texas authorities.
The commission believed this was too good of a deal to pass up and agreed to accept Rogers' offer.
However, the crew was supposed to be paid $900 for two months' service on March 1. Not having the money, the commission decided that the ship wasn't to be seized until March 2, hoping that the U.S. government would have paid off the crew by then.
However, the federal government didn't pay the crew. Rogers was placed ion command and immediately sent a request to the commission for a much-needed $1,000 to $1,200 repair job.
So, the commission definitely got more than they were prepared to get.
--Old B-Runne
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