 Besides the unconfirmed oral tradition of local blockade runners, Saxis is mentioned in Union reports and correspondence as the site of capture of blockade running vessels based in other ports of the Eastern Shore.Fishing and oyster dredging prospered as commercial enterprises on the island beginning in the 1860s.In 1866, the extension of the Pennsylvania Railroad to nearby Crisfield, Maryland, helped to spur local growth of commercial oystering.