As the American Civil War erupted, British colonial leaders saw an opportunity to profit from the sale of arms and weapons to the Confederate States.
Soon a profitable trade in arms to Americans boosted the colonial economy and British Honduras became sympathetic to the Confederate cause.
General Robert E. Lee and former Mississippi Governor John J. McRae advised Southerners not to flee to Central America but many ignored their advice and attempted to establish a new plantation economy in the English speaking colony.
Many Southerners who took the governor's offers of land at a reduced price were fugitives from the American government, and many had simply lost everything during the war.
In many cases the Confederates attempted to cultivate cotton, but the inhospitable climate and ravenous insects stifled the effort.