Archive for the ‘Civil War Steamers’ Category

Civil War Pension of Samuel Clemens Lyon

Friday, October 15th, 2021

Accidentally found an interesting bit of Georgetown history this evening.  The Georgetown Lyon men were listed as steamboat engineers on many of the Poe family steamers.  According to an ancestry.com hint, Samuel C Lyon’s wife, Louisa Long (b1842-d1914), was awarded a survivors pension for his Civil War service.  The pension was awarded by the Senate and House of Representatives of the USA for his service as assistant engineer on the ram TD Horner which is listed in the Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels, Union Army, 1861-1868 compiled by Charles Dana Gibson and E Kay Gibson reproduced in 1995.  The pension, approved by Congress on 8 Mar 1904, paid Louisa a pension at the rate of $12 per month.

To the best of my knowledge, none of the Georgetown captains received pensions for their service as captains, pilots,  and owners of civilian transports.  They received zero compensation for the loss of their boats – str Clara Poe and Str Horizon.  So, I was surprised to see this official notice of a pension.

In the Gibsons dictionary, the sternwheeler TD Horner was purchased by Charles Ellet on 18 May 1862 at Pittsburg(h) for inclusion in the Ellet Ram Fleet.  That ram fleet became part of the Mississippi Marine Brigade which served in the Red River Expedition in the spring of 1864.  The TD Horner was last located at Louisville on 30 Jun 1865.  No other details on the actions of the TD Horner were listed.

Before today I had assumed that Samuel C Lyon was an engineer during the Civil War on one of the Georgetown steamers commanded by Jacob Poe or Thomas W Poe or George W Ebert.  These Georgetown men were Union men.  Their beliefs were deeply felt.

 

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River Report 25 Feb 1862

Monday, June 1st, 2020

Pittsburgh Daily Post · 25 Feb 1862, Tue · Page 3

On 25 Feb 1862, six steamboats arrived at the Port of Pittsburgh and five departed.  The str Citizen commanded by Capt Richard Calhoon arrived from Mt Vernon, IN.  Capt Jackman T Stockdale aboard the str Horizon departed for Cairo, IL.

In a special bullet in the report, the str Clara Poe was also leaving for Cairo, IL  with intermediate stops at Cincinnati, and Louisville.  Jonathan Parr was te first clerk on the trip.

The fall of Nashville was taking place as these Georgetown packets were transporting supplies and passengers.  It is unknown whether any were under government contract.

 

The str Clara Poe would end in flames on the Cumberland River at the end of the Civil War.  The str Horizon would be sunk after colliding with the str Moderator while running the Vicksburg batteries at night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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All Rights ReservedNo part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.

 

Pilot Jacob Poe

Saturday, April 11th, 2020

Jacob Poe with Str Belmont Card (Anna L and John F Nash Collection)

Few steamboatmen traveled farther or as wide-ranging or on as many rivers as Capt Jacob Poe.  In 1837, Capt Jacob steamed to Olean, NY on the Allegheny River; in 1848 Chillicothe, OH on the Scioto River; in 1849 Ft Des Moines on the Des Moines River; in 1851 Warsaw MO on the Osage River; in 1854 Ft Riley on the Kansas River.  During the Civil War, Capt Jacob Poe was transporting troops and supplies on the Red River, White River, Yazoo River, and of course the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. After the Civil War he was on the furious upper Missouri River making several trips to Ft Benton in the Montana Territory.  He spent his life steaming on the sharp edge of a constantly moving American frontier.  Few steamboatmen are gifted to read the waters of one river, fewer exceed the scope of Jacob Poe’s travels.

From the details available, Capt Jacob Poe was often described as the pilot.  He seemed to favor work in the pilot house more than the packet  management position of the master or captain.   He preferred to read the waters rather than count the money.  He not only drove the boats and shared their ownership with his brothers, he often watched over the construction of new family boats.  No doubt his ideas were the foundation of the Poe favored mid-sized sternwheel design.

In 1837, Jacob Poe was hired for his first command – the captain and first pilot of the str Beaver No 2.  That same year he was the pilot of the str New Castle which was one of two boats ever that went up the Allegheny River to Olean, NY.

Jacob Poe’s last US Inspection Certificate was dated 1 Dec 1890.  It was his fifteenth masters license and thirty-second pilots license for the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers.  In total, fifty-three years working on the Ohio River as a steamboat pilot.  (The Steamboat Act of 1852 established in law for the first time, the license certification process for pilots, engineers, and vessels.)

The following table summarizes a few newsclips by date indicating that Jacob Poe was often employed as a pilot.  His son, George WE Poe, quit business school in Pittsburgh to serve the Union during the Civil War as a cub pilot.  After the Civil War, together the father and son team worked as pilots on some Poe family owned boats and other boats of business partners centered around Pittsburgh.  Without certain proof, Jacob Poe was assisting the development of his son’s career on the river.

 

Steamboat officer: Pilot Jacob Poe

Date Officer Steamer Name Destination Note
13 Nov 1855 Master Clifton Nashville

1

31 Oct 1864 Master Yorktown Cincinnati

2

25 Jan 1869 Pilot Sallie Louisville

3

01 May 1869 Pilot with son Argosy Cincinnati

3

20 Jan 1871 Pilot with son Glencoe New Orleans

3

23 Feb 1871 Pilot with son Silver Lake No4 Cincinnati

3

02 Mar 1871 Pilot with son Brill Cincinnati

3

09 Apr 1873 Pilot EH Dufee Ft Benton

3

18 May 1874 Pilot AJ Baker St Louis

2

15 Apr 1877 Pilot Carrie Brooks Zanesville

4

26 Nov 1878 Master John D Sully New Orleans

4

 
 

 

 

Notes:

1. The Pittsburgh Daily Post, p3

2. The Pittsburgh Daily Commercial, p4.

3. The Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, p3.

4. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette, p3.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2020 Francis W Nash
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Capt John S McMillin

Monday, December 30th, 2019

For his service during the  Civil War, Capt John S McMillin should be publicly recognized and saluted.  He and his steamer, the str Silver Wave, were involved in many firsts of the Civil War.

(1)  On Christmas Eve in 1860,Pittsburgh citizens prevented the str Silver Wave from transporting artillery from the arsenal in Pittsburgh to New Orleans.  Arguably the first act of war months before the Ft Sumpter shelling.

(2)  Transported the first volunteer troops from Pittsburgh to Louisville on 18 Oct 1861 .

(3)  First packet (non-ironclad) to successfully  pass the Vicksburg batteries on 16 Apr 1863.

Capt .John S McMillin served te Union, summer and winter, beginning to end.

 

805 Grandview Ave Pittsburgh (Fran Nash 26 Dec 2019)

Capt John S McMillin was born in Georgetown on 23 Jul 1817.  His sister Sarah married George Nash, my great-great grandfather.  So Capt JS McMillin is my 2nd great grand uncle.  His parents are buried in the Georgetown Cemetery.

Capt  JS McMillin moved from Georgetown to Pittsburgh in 1853 to the corner of Bigham St and Grandview Ave.  No postal address was given for the home of Capt McMillin.  The image of the home attached is at the corner of Bigham and Grandview Ave today.  There is no residence opposite nor space for one.

If this home is truly the McMillin residence, its current postal address is 805 Grandview Ave according to Google Maps.  It sits between the LeMont restaurant (famous for its NFL highlights view of Pittsburgh) and St Mary of the Mount Church.  Not sure if that home is the original McMillin residence because it does not fit my image of a home built in 1850.  Zillow valued the property at $271K and provided no date of build or history.  More serious research required.

Post-Christmas family dinner was booked at the Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Grandview Ave.  Walked to dinner from the Duquesne Incline. No city has a grander location.  Sadly, no window table.  The walk-by the McMillin property added to the almost-perfect evening.

Pittsburgh from Grandview Ave 26 Dec 2019 (Fran Nash Collection)

 

 

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Captain John Smith McMillin

Thursday, November 7th, 2019

Long overdue biography of Capt John Smith McMillin added.

 

 

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Westsylvania

Friday, April 12th, 2019

Westsylvania[1]  could have become the 14th member of the colonies rather than the 35th state of the Union.  The  pioneer settlers of the area now known as the northern panhandle of West VA  were caught up in border disputes as far back as the Revolutionary War.  At times the land was considered a part of PA, OH, IN, KY, and IL.  The boundary had been a subject of great controversy, both bloody and political.

 

Both VA and PA sold the land  at different rates.  VA’s price was $25 per 100 acres cheaper.

 

In 1776, a petition was presented to the US Congress by Jaspers Yeats proposing that the new state be named Westsylvania.  On verge of war with England, it was almost one-hundred years later before action toward statehood was taken.

 

The northern panhandle, comprised of Brooke and Hancock Counties, entered the period of the Civil War as a Confederate state and emerged as a new star in the US flag.  Other names considered in pioneer days were Vandalia and Kanawah.

 

Reference.  


[1]  James F Mullooly, “Steamboat ‘Round the Bend”, Fort Vance Historical Society, 1994, p301-302.

 

 

 

 

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Str Clara Poe Impressed

Tuesday, March 5th, 2019

The str Clara Poe served the entire duration of the Civil War.  From 18 Oct 1861 to 17 Apr 1865.  Four years.  Summer and winter.  Transporting troops and supplies on all the watery highways of the western theater.

Capt Thomas W Poe was the master and Jonathon Kinsey was one of his pilots. 

 

Pittsburgh Daily Commercial 5 Mar 1864.

One sentence in the article from the Pittsburgh Daily Commercial dated 5 Mar 1864 indicated that the str Clara Poe was “taken by the government”.  The packet was forced into public service by the US Army.  That was not unusual.  During the war, whether the str Clara Poe was temporarily impressed into service or chartered is unclear at times. 

There is no controversy concerning the destruction of the str Clara Poe.  The packet was intentionally set afire by men supporting the confederacy.  The dispute is whether the steamer was under government orders whether impressed or chartered.  

The owners of the str Clara Poe petitioned the US government for compensation to no avail.  They contacted their US representative, CC Townsend.  The Deputy Quartermaster General determined that the vessel “had been engaged as a common carrier transporting public property”.  That decision failed to address the fact that the str Clara Poe was transporting hay and military supplies in an active war zone. 

The last of the signature owners of the str Clara Poe, Capt Jacob Poe, died on 13 Mar 1891.  The struggle for compensation ended. 

Then, in the Pittsburgh Daily Post dated 8 Dec 1903 p9, the claim for compensation, $100K, had been carried on by Capt Thomas W Poe’s heirs.  What a shout-out for persistence in spite of the difficulty.  Thirty-eight years of struggle.    

 

Pittsburgh Daily Post 8Dec 1903 1.

 

 

 

 

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The Columbian Exposition in 1893

Wednesday, February 6th, 2019

 

Georgetown has another connection to The White City, the Columbian Exposition of 1893.  In addition to the entry pass for 9 Oct 1893 (designated Chicago Day), the Columbian Liberty Bell manufactured by Clinton H Meneely Bell Co, Troy, NY in 1893 has a Georgetown connection.  The bell was on view at Union Station in Pittsburgh on 31 Aug 1893.

The inscriptions on the bell are detailed in the attached images.  One of the relics used to construct the bell was a shell fired into the str Silver Wave, the first civilian packet to successfully pass the Vicksburg batteries during the Civil War.  The str Silver Wave was owned and operated by Capt John Smith McMillin of Georgetown.

Columbian Exposition Liberty Bell ( The Pittsburgh Daily Post, p6)

 

 

 

Columbian Exposition Liberty Bell (The Pittsburgh Daily post, 6cont)

 

Other relics used in the composition of the bell were the keys of the residence of Jefferson Davis, 250K pennies donated by public school children, and souvenirs from battlefields where struggles for freedom took place.      

The Columbian Exhibition was a fitting and glamorous way to enter into the coming Twentieth Century.

 

 

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Packets, Keelboats, Tugs, and Barges.

Sunday, August 5th, 2018

The steamer list has been updated and upgraded.  Each research trip to The National Archives uncovers more information.  The steamer list is in alphabetical order by packet name.  It can also be searched and sorted by Build Date and Build Location, Primary Owner and Build Date, etc., leading to interesting analysis.  The link is GtownSBList 180806.

 

Like most family boats, there were several owners and masters during the lifetime of most vessels. The primary ownership, displayed in the following table, represents the primary owner according to the first Certificate of Enrollment of the Custom House in Pittsburgh, PA.  Where the original owner is not a Georgetown family name, I have listed the Georgetown connection by providing the position, such as Master, Pilot, Clerk, etc.  A link to the Certificate of Enrollment, if available, is provided via the packet name.  It should also be noted that starting around the time of the Civil War, companies were established with shares distributed to the partners to limit the risk.  It should also be noted that the Poe wives and sisters were owners of Poe family boats.  For example, Martha Jane Poe, Thomas Washington Poe’s second wife, owned 2/16 of the str Clara Poe according to the Certificate of Enrollment in 1862.  That was eight years before her husband whacked her in the head with an axe when the str Nick Wall was snagged on the Mississippi in Dec 1870.  

 

The names on many of the hand-written Certificates of Enrollment  are misspelled.  Of course, the Georgetown Calhoon family is a prime example often listed with the more common spelling Calhoun.  Suurprisinglyt, the name George Washington Ebert has been the most abused.  The listings observed so far include: Geo Ebert, GW Ebert, Washington Ebert, and even George W Ebbert. 

 

All Georgetown steamers, keelboats, tugs, and barges with a capacity of more than twenty tons had to registered with the Custom House at the Port of Pittsburgh after 1835.  Before 1835, Pittsburgh was a region of the Custom House of New Orleans.  The usual Cause of Surrender of the Certificates of Enrollment was:

 

                (1)   license expired,

               (2)  change in owners,

               (3)  change in property, such as adding a new deck

 

The counts for Georgetown currently stands at:

               Steamers              105

               Keelboats             36

               Tugs                        3

               Barges                    8

 

 

 

 

 

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Timeline: Civil War

Friday, June 1st, 2018

GtownSB CivWarTimeline 171230 is an XCEL spreadsheet with major events associated with each steamboat and captain.  The data can be sorted by date, steamer, and captain.

 

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