Posts Tagged ‘str clara poe’
Wednesday, February 13th, 2019
The Philadelphia Inquirer published articles about the steamboat traffic on the Ohio River in 1860. Interest in the Ohio River Transportation was a national business concern.
Arrivals and Departures Port of Pittsburgh (The Public Ledger 20Sep1860, p1)
The attached newspaper clip dated 20 Sep 1860 identifies the arrivals and departures at the Port of Pittsburg(h). Business men in Philadelphia were probably transporting their goods via steamboats to the multiple ports identified. Similar information was published in Philadelphia on the regular basis. This particular clip lists a packet of interest, the str Clara Poe.
Mayor Ltr of Commendation (The Pittsburgh Gazette 20Feb1862, p3).
Another article published in the Inquirer dated 20Feb1862 reprinted the complimentary letter from the Mayor of Pittsburgh to the steamboat captains who volunteered their boats and crews to steam to the Cumberland River and return with wounded soldiers. Capt Way reprinted the same letter in the S&D Reflector, Dec 1969. Two of the six captains credited with distinction were Capt Thomas W Poe master of the str Clara Poe and Capt Jackman T Stockdale master of the str Horizon. Both masters and packets were from Georgetown.
Copyright©2019 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
No part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.
Tags: capt thomas w poe, str clara poe
Posted in History of Georgetown PA, River history | No Comments »
Monday, March 3rd, 2014
The Capt Thomas Washington Poe biography was updated yet it still is incomplete. Information from the Certificates of Enrollment for his later steamboats will not be added until I have made time to review the appropriate volumes at The National Archives.
Copyright © 2014 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: capt thomas w poe, civil war transports, missouri river steamboat, ohio river steamboats, str clara poe, str sallie, The Lytle-Holdcamper List
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, Missouri River Commerce, River history, River Tales, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Sunday, August 25th, 2013
Georgetown steamboat captains and owners littered the inland waterways with their steamboat wrecks. The boats lost on various inland rivers when owned by a Georgetown captain follow:
Missouri:
Georgetown (1855 snagged)
Amelia Poe (1868 snagged)
Ida Stockdale (1871 crushed by ice)
Feerless (1882 sunk)
Mississippi:
Glaucus (1852 fire)
Horizon (1862 CivWar collision)
Nick Wall (1870 snagged)
Glencoe (1877 snagged)
Ohio/Monongahela:
Belmont (1859 fire)
Mollie Ebert (1875 fire)
Cumberland:
Clara Poe (1865 CivWar arson)
Arkansas:
John B Gordon (1851 snagged)
Other boats once owned and operated by Georgetown men were lost, snagged or burned after they had been sold have not been added to the list.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: amelia poe, capt thomas w poe, civil war transports, ida stockdale, missouri river steamboat, ohio river steamboats, str clara poe, str horizon
Posted in Civil War Steamers, River history | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 13th, 2013
Mr Matthew S Schulte, Executive director of the Steamship Historical Society of America (SSHSA), has graciously granted permission to scan and post the pages of two articles published in PowerShips, the voice of the SSHSA.
The first article, “No Place For a Lady“, was the description of the Missouri River journey written by Nancy Ann (Poe) Ebert in 1869.
The second article, “The History of a Civil War Transport, the Clara Poe ” was the story of the str Clara Poe during the Civil War and the unsuccessful request for indemnity which spanned six presidencies.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: capt thomas w poe, jacob poe, str clara poe
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, Missouri River Commerce, River history, River Tales, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
The story of a Civil War transport, the str Clara Poe, was published in the Steamships Historical Society of America (SSHSA) magazine PowerShips Summer 2013 No 286.
The synopsis follows:
The history of the steamer Clara Poe has been essentially silent despite her lengthy Civil War service to the Union. Fran Nash’s account of the steamer is a bit of American history too important to be left untold.
Like my first article No Place for a Lady!: Journal of the Wife of a Steamboat Captain, this story was edited by Jim Pennypacker who is the editor of PowerShips. He made me look professional. If you can find the periodical, the story is a fun read.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: capt thomas w poe, civil war transports, jacob poe, powerships, sshsa, str clara poe
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River history, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Sunday, September 16th, 2012
Last Thursday (6 Sep 2012), I spent another afternoon and early evening at the National Archives in DC. I reviewed the Certificates of Enrollment records (Record Group 41) from 3 Jan 1859 through 23 Dec 1862 (Volumes 6641-6644). Sadly, volumes 6643 and 6644 were water damaged. Their condition was disastrous. For many entries the ink was completely washed out and incomprehensible. I know not whether a conservator could recover the data. In addition to the ruined volumes, there was no volume for the year 1862. This catastrophe is a dreadful loss because the time frame extends through the period of the Civil War when approximately fifty percent of the civilian steamboats impressed or chartered for service on the western rivers by the US Army Quartermaster were built in the Pittsburgh region.
Enrollment Record in Volume 6643 (F Nash 6 Sep 2012)
Enrollment Record from Volume 6644 (Fnash 6 Sep 2012)
On a more positive note, I found two (2) new keel boats built by Georgetown rivermen. The last of these unexpected discoveries was built by HW Laughlin in Industry, PA and registered on 1 May 1861. This discovery should dispel some illusions that keel boats were quickly displaced by the technological superior steamboats. Low water was the spur of necessity that favored the keel boat to this late date.
Only twenty-eight volumes of the Certificates of Enrollment for Pittsburgh to review before my National Archives research will be complete. That said, since I last viewed the Vessel File (Record Group 92), I have discovered that I have doubled the number of steamboats from Georgetown. In addition to the Vessel File, I was pointed to the Index of Claims for the Army Quartermaster. There was an index entry for Thomas S Calhoon (str Horizon), but none for Thomas Poe or Jacob Poe (str Clara Poe). If time permits, I will also review the Preliminary Inventory of the Textual Records of the office of the Quartermaster general – Part 1 Vessel records.
The National Archives is a fascinating place to explore rare and monumental artifacts.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: capt thomas s calhoon, capt thomas w poe, jacob poe, national archives, ohio river steamboat, str clara poe, str horizon
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River history, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Sunday, March 11th, 2012
A page, Civil War Transports, has been added to tell the story of the civilian steamboat men from Georgetown who served their country during the Civil War. None achieved much renown during their lifetimes.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: capt george w ebert, capt thomas s calhoon, capt thomas w poe, civil war transports, george we poe, georgetown, jacob poe, richard calhoon, str clara poe
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River history, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Friday, December 16th, 2011
I happened upon a Ghost Box video on YouTube entitled A Midnight Visit to the Georgetown Cemetery. The video was uploaded on uploaded on 30 May 2010. The link follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_wf3PMHmdk
The narrator of the video told a story about a witch that I had never heard. She also filmed Capt Thomas Poe’s marker. Whether filming that stone was planned or accidental or guided by forces outside the usual, it added the salt and pepper required to balance the fantasy and history of the hallowed place.
Capt Thomas Washington Poe was arguably the most ill-fated steamboat captain from Georgetown. If there is a “night shade” hovering over any stone, it would be the spirit of Capt Thomas Poe. Owned by Thomas W Poe and other partners from Georgetown, PA ,the str Georgetown was snagged on the Missouri on 12 Oct 1853, raised, and returned to service. On 11 May 1855 the str Georgetown was fatally snagged at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri in route to a military post. He was the principal owner of the str Clara Poe which was burned during the Civil War by rebel forces on 17 Apr 1865 at Eddyville on the Cumberland River; he also owned the str Amelia Poe which was a complete loss when snagged on the upper Missouri river on 24 May 1868 and salvaged by 1,500 riotous Indians; and he was the owner of the str Nick Wall which met a tragic end on the Mississippi River near Napoleon, AK on 18 Dec 1870. Here a grisly incident occurred that Mark Twain retold in “Life on the Mississippi”. Though injured himself by the falling roof, Capt Thomas W Poe attemped to save his wife trapped in a stateroom. He chopped a hole in the roof with an ax striking the unfortunate Martha Jane (Troxell) Poe in the head. Martha Jane Poe, fatally wounded, was returned to Georgetown for burial.
What could make a better Ghost Box story?
Copyright © 2011 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Tags: amelia poe, capt thomas w poe, ghost, nick wall, ohio river steamboats, str clara poe
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River Tales, Steamer Captains, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
Yesterday, I was introduced to a website documenting the 79th PA Vol Inf. The website is based on letters written by soldiers in the regiment.
http://www.lancasteratwar.com/
Monongahela Wharf Postcard 1908 (FNash Collection)
Coincidentally, this part of Negley’s brigade left Pittsburgh on one of the six steamboats destined for Louisville. The steamboat, the str Clara Poe, commanded by Capt Thomas W Poe from Georgetown, PA, was one of those transports.
A fun site. Make the time to have a look.
Tags: 79th pa vol inf, capt thomas w poe, civil war 150, civil war transports, georgetown, negley's brigade, str clara poe
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River history, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
I have been thinking about Capt Jacob Poe. Uncle Jake as he was known to all in Georgetown, PA had a fascinating life which deserves more homage than I have offered. Events involving Jacob Poe and the str Clara Poe interest me on two levels:
(1) What was the pilot certification test in 1890? Could a steamboat man aged 77 years know every bar, chute, shoal on the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers between Pittsburgh and Nashville?
(2) Who was Chas C Townsend? As the US Army Deputy Quartermaster General in 1890, Chas C Townsend signed the letter denying Jacob Poe compensation for the loss of the str Clara Poe which was burned by rebels on 17 Apr 1865. It was Chas C Townsend who wrote a note in the margin of an earlier letter requesting an investigation of the event by the Dept of War. That undated letter I assume was written much earlier than the final correspondence. The battle for compensation was waged over 25 years through six presidencies ― with the same man ― Chas C Townsend.
I hope to find some reasonable explanations to both questions.
Tags: civil war transports, georgetown, jacob poe, steamboat, str clara poe, us army quartermaster
Posted in Civil War Steamers, History of Georgetown PA, River history, Steamer Captains | No Comments »
