You are correct; I was including such contracts with commercial agents within the scope of "gulf importations," because by and large that is exactly where they had to go to get their goods. From San Antonio, QM Joseph Minter made many contracts with a large number of commercial firms in the summer and fall of 1862 for a wide variety of supplies. The firms included Weber & Leeca; Albert Urbahn; "Major McCurty;" the San Antonio Supply Association; LaCoste & Atrill; Justin McCarthy; John Twohig; the San Antonio Mutual Aid Association; M.T. Johnson; Henry Rhine; Thomas M. Shirley; Phillip D. Key; and a host of others. Concurrently, you had commercial firms bringing in goods on speculation, not only via Matamoros but also at the Brazos ports, Galveston, and through the waterways of sw Louisiana. These goods included not only cloth, shoes, blankets, etc. but also arms, powder, etc. One of my favorite cargoes was brought into Louisiana in November of 1861 by Puig Bros., a New Orleans firm: it consisted of pineapples, bannanas, eight cases of swords, 53 cases of muskets, and 408 kegs of gunpowder. Imports into the Trans-MS presents a pretty convoluted picture.