also, the lack of an undershirt, very sensual for an early 19th century proper portrait. also notice the way he's holding the dagger. that would be a draw out, from which the dagger would be facing down. this is a very foreboding man. he's going to stab you in the back or when you're not looking. some folks have speculated that it might just be a fanciful victorian interpretation of lafete or it might be the brother of booth, who came to galveston a few times. this next object ties in with the revolutionary period in galveston and texas history. so these are a pair of dueling pistols that belong to general

sam houston. very ornate. they were never used for any duels. but still, wonderful pieces. they were given to sam houston by his friends in cincinnati. at the time of the revolution, many in ohio and especially cincinnati supported the cause of texas independence. so those who chose to came down to fight. and the remaining people raised funds to sent cannons here. two of them, called the twin sisters, came and were involved in the decisive battle, which saw the texans win their independence from mexico. this inscription says general sam houston from your cinci friends. it's an abbreviation for cincinnati. then the date of texas independence 1836.

>> what i would like for people to take away when they visit here is a little piece of history. so many people come here with the connection to galveston, looking for a piece of family history or a connection. we play a very important role for galveston. we're the keeper of the history here. >> the tall ship elissa is a merchant sailing vessel built in 1877. when sailing ships were beginning to be replaced by steam ships. but the elissa is still a fully functioning vessel. today it's owned by the galveston historical foundation. ♪[music]♪

>> with the explosion in the growing price of cotton and some of these other commodities galveston became an extremely wealthy city. the only way that wealth could leave here was on the decks of sailing ships. so elissa has a key role and a vital role in telling the economic story of galveston. [seagulls crying] >> take it down! >> elissa was built in 1877 in

scotland. she is classified as a bark. she has three masts. a square rig and on her mast, she carries a sail. she was a merchant ship, part of that vast british conglomerate of sailing vessels that sailed around the world. she was more of a tramp sailer. in other words, there were ships that were a lot bigger than she was. i like to tell people she was the equivalent about a u.p.s. truck or a fedex truck. she wasn't a big 18-wheeler. there was a lot of ships larger. but her niche was to go into undeveloped ports, ports that didn't have a lot of water depth, so she could go on into that port, offload her cargo load new cargo and that's how she made her living. with the opening of the suez canal in 1869, sailing ships

really were almost dealt a deathblow. with that opening of the canal coal-fired ships had a shorter route to the far east, to india, all of those markets. so sailing ships really needed to find a way to make their own living. so instead of high-value cargo, they started carrying lower-valued cargoes, coal oil cotton et cetera. so elissa really found her niche in carrying any kind of cargo that did not require getting to market at a very fast pace. elissa's connection to galveston is really unique in that she sailed and arrived here in galveston probably about 100 yards from where we're standing right now. back in 1883, with a cargo full of bananas. and she came again a second time later on in the 1880's, in 1886,

and it was real important for galveston historical foundation to find a vessel that had a connection. and the fact that she was a sailing vessel was all the more important. >> that's a terrible habit! >> in the 1970's, elissa fell upon hard times. she had been at sea for about 100 years. and from what we can ascertain she has one of the longest careers as a merchant vessel. galveston historical foundation were made aware of elissa's plight. and the connection to galveston. and the gears were put into motion to purchase the ship. she was purchased and then brought to galveston in 1979, and the complete restoration of the ship began. she is involved with