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
One hundred fifty years ago today, the str Horizon collided with the streamer str Moderator. Both boats were running after dark on a moonless night without lights, making evasive moves, and badly riddled by rebel cannons. Never had steamboats faced a more firey ordeal. The str Moderator had been damaged to the degree that it was unmanageable. The Horizon was not in trouble until the collision with the Moderator. Both vessels sunk. The str Horizon sunk on Island No 10 near Grand Gulf, MS.
Many soldiers, including Swedish members of Stolbrand’s Battery, were lost when the str Horizon sank. [1] In an eyewitness report one day later Gen Isaac H Elliot wrote, “I was down to the str Horizon and succeeded in getting out three gun carriages, but the stench arising from the 60 dead horses and men made my officers and men sick.” [2]
According to The Lytle-Holdcamper List ― Lives lost “Unknown”.[3]
According to the Gibsons, the US government paid $18,500 for the loss of the packet.[4] It is true that the owners applied for compensation, but two applications for indemnity were rejected by the US Army Quartermaster. I have no knowledge of any compensation received. At the time of the collision, the owners of the str Horizon were John N McCurdy, Thomas S Calhoon, Richard Calhoon, and William White (Jackman T Stockdale had sold his share in late 1862).[5]
References.
[1] Frederick Way, Jr.,Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994, (Ohio University Press, Athens 1994), p. 217.
[2] Gen Issac H Elliot,. Thirty-Third Regiment Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry In the Civil War.
[3] William M Lytle and Forrest R Holdcamper, Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1790-1868, (The Steamship Historical Society of America, Inc, 1975), p272.
[4] Charles Dana Gibson and E Kay Gibson, Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Uniion Army 1861 – 1868, (Ensign Press, Cambridge, MA 1995), p 152.
[5] John H Ewing, Biography of Thomas S Calhoon, Heinz History Center, The Ewing Papers Box 5, p 17.
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
Thursday afternoon and Friday were fun days at The National Archives. I reviewed eight volumes of the Certificates of Enrollment from the Customhouse Records for the Port of Pittsburgh. The records covered the time from 1 Jan 1863 to11 Jan 1867. Due to a gap in the records, data for the str JT Stockdale, and perhaps other boats, was not reviewed. Although the index of volume 6645 indicated that there were certificates registered between 17 Oct 1863 and 26 Jan 1864, there is no book containing the information. Sad. Those records are gone forever.
I did find eight new steamboats and one ferry which connections to Georgetown steamboat men. These newly indentified vessels are not listed in Capt Way’s directory. Most of the steamers are listed in The little-Holdcamper List. Of course, all of the boats , except str JS Cosgrave, are listed by Benjamin Mackall Laughlin in his hand written list of all steamboats built in Pittsburgh between 1811-1904. The following table lists the boats and whether they are listed by Capt Way and Little and Holdcamper.
| SteamerOwner/Master | Build Year | Built Location | Way’s Directory | Little-Holdcamper |
| Hawk Eye
George D Laughlin |
1854 | Pittsburgh | No | No |
| Grey Eagle
BM Laughlin |
1857 | West Newton | No | Yes |
| JS Cosgrave
George Calhoon |
1858 | Elizabeth | No | Yes |
| Webster
HW Laughlin |
1860 | Pittsburgh | No | No |
| Coal Bluff
GD Laughlin |
1862 | Bellevernon | No | Yes |
| Gypsey
HW Laughlin |
1864 | Cincinnati | No | No |
| JS Neil
BM Laughlin |
1865 | Pittsburgh | No | Yes |
| Wild Duck
George D Laughlin |
1865 | Brownsville | No | Yes |
| Driver (steam ferry)
Jesse Smith |
1865 | Pittsburgh | No | No |
The current count of steamboats owned and operated by Georgetown men stands at 102. I have 24 more volumes of Certificates of Enrollment to complete my review from 5 Jan 1831 to 28 Jun 1901. Seventy years of Georgetown steamboating.
Note: Bellevernon is the spelling of the clerk who registered the Cert of Enrollment for the str Coal Bluff. Not mine!
Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
I intend to refocus my attention on the core purpose of this website. It exists to make public the journal of Nancy Ann (Poe) Ebert. Her personal journal of the trip with her husband, Capt George W Ebert, on the upper Missouri River in 1869 was a bit of American History that I believe should be shared with river scholars. I also want to share the stories of the steamboat men from Georgetown, PA. The most remarkable and unique source information that I have been able to share has been the hand written book by Capt Benjamin Mackall Laughlin. That book identified 42 steamboats built between 1832-1838 in the Pittsburgh region that were not listed by Lytle and Holdcamper.
To begin my renewed concentration on steamboats, a page named Str Yorktown b1853 has been loaded. It was the second boat named Yorktown owned and operated by the Poe family. To differentiate the two vessels, I added the build date specified on the initial Certificate of Enrollment in the title of the page. Capt Way’s Packet Directory number was considered, as another distinguishing feature, but I preferred the build date because the Poes ran boats with duplicate names before 1848, the year Way’s Packet Directory began its list.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
A biography of the str Washington City has been loaded which underscores the risks taken by these Georgetown steamboat men on the Missouri River in the early 1850′s.
Copyright © 2012 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved
While proof reading the Benjamin Mackall Laughlin book, I learned that I had missed a steamboat owned by Adam Poe. The missing steamboat was the str Pioneer built in 1846 in the Pittsburgh region for Capt Adam Poe. The str Pioneer is listed in The Lytle-Holdcamper Lists, but I did not know it was owned by Adam Poe. A note alongside the steamer name in the BM Laughlin book provided the information.
BM Laughlin also provided personal information which I find fascinating. Another example follows:
Magnolia stern wheel. I was on her quit & went home. (Sept 28th, 1853 got married to Miss Annie Blackmore) Went on the steamer James Park Oct 31 1853 went to St Louis from there to New Orleans got back about Christmas. Wife died June 4th 1854 (SB James Park burnt on Mississippi 1856) BML
BM Laughlin was married three times: Anne R Blackmore, Mary Johnstown, and Sarah M Bain.
A preliminary report comparing the BM Laughlin book with The Lytle-Holdcamper List for the years between 1811-1834 has been loaded as an Excel 2003 spreadsheet. The report will be updated as additional build years are processed.
Through 1834, BM Laughlin identified 25 boats built at Pittsburgh not listed by Lytle and Holdcamper.
The link to the spreadsheet is located on the page: Laughlin v Lytle-Holdcamper . Since I will be updated the spreadsheet periodically, I want only one link to the data.
I am slogging through “The Book” written by BM Laughlin in 1904. Of the first 200 steamboats listed in the BM Laughlin book, 22 are not included in The Lytle- Holdcamper List. Boat number 200, the str Sea Gull, had an enrollment date of 16 Mar 1833. The str Sea Gull, rated at 21 tons, was built in Warren, OH per The Lytle-Holdcamper List and its three supplements. Per BM Laughlin it was built in Pittsburgh?!?
From 1831, BM Laughlin included both the month and day of the vessel enrollment. The Lytle- Holdcamper List provided only the year. BM Laughlin provided “remarks” on each year’s enrollments such as on the page for 1834 “The Kittanning was not built at Pittsburgh as she was not registered in the Custom House records”. The only Kittanning listed in the Lytle-Holdcamper List was originally the str Elizabeth built in 1839 and renamed the Kittanning on 3 Nov 1842.
BM Laughlin commented numerous times that his information came from US Custom House records in Pittsburgh 1811-1904. The National Archives maintain the records from the US Custom House in Pittsburgh from 1831 -1904. Before that Pittsburgh was a port under the jurisdiction of New Orleans from 1807-1874 where all the records for the Ohio River and its tributaries were maintained. Lots of overlap and gaps! Much to understand.
My analysis will list the boats identified by BM Laughlin between 1811 and 1848 in an MS Excel spreadsheet. Data from The Lytle-Holdcamper List will also be entered to enable other researchers to perform their own sorts and analysis.