This book examines all major blockade-related land and sea engagements in and near Texas, and also includes many minor ones.

The work also examines the challenges and obstacles Mallory faced in creating a navy for the South. Special attention is given to Mallory's family relationships. Primary sources include autobiographical documents and archival records.

A study of the Nueces River Massacre, a Civil War action in which a group of German immigrants, who decided to leave Central Texas out of loyalty to the Union and head for neutral Mexico, were hunted down and killed in 1862.

Samuel Underwood was born in 1650 in New Castle County, Delaware. He had six children. He died between 1722 and 1730 in Wilmington, Delaware. Descendants and relatives lived mainly in Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio.