steam boats 1863

Vicki, as Alan said to your earlier post, "small" is a rather vague adjective. I am going out on a limb here to guess that you are writing a book or a story and need historical facts. If so, let's say this boat was in the sugar or lumber trade from the Parishes west of N.O. and "hiding out in the bayous", as you say. Such a boat might have been about 100 feet long and would have been a sternwheeler. A good example of a run would be from New Iberia to New Orleans. Such a boat would not venture very far upo the Mississippi, though a trip to Natchez would not be out of the realm of possibility. Sugar or lumber would have been likely cargoes for such a boat, and it would NOT have been a "floating palace" such as people sometimes assume most steamboats were. The crew may have been as small as 10 or as large as 20, depending if they ran double crew (24 hours) or not. Hope this helps.

Bob, you are right. I am writing a novel that takes place just before the seige of Vicksburg. I confess I don't know much about boating. Can you tell me what the duties of the crew would involve? How many in the boiler room etc?

Thanks so much for the information. a large part of my book takes place on the steamer.

Vicki

This is too complex a question to cover in a few message board posts. I would suggest several things. All come under the heading of basic research. First, if it is at all possible, visit and ride on the Natchez at New Orleans and/or the Julia Belle Swain at La Crosse, Wisc. Ask questions. There are a number of other boats, but those two are closest the the old time boats. Visit all you can get to. Second, get copies of Alan Bates' two Cylcopedia for an overview of the layout, constrution, types, etc. of steamers. There are a number of other books writen by river men that would benefit you. I'm sure that others here will recommend some.

You are certainly right about the research Hank. You forgot the Belle of Louisville in Louisville, Ky. where public cruises are available. I would also suggest visiting one of the museums about riverboats. I am a docent at the Howard Museum in Jeffersonville, In. and we have research materials, books and other things available for interested people. Another possibility would be to attend one of the many events available in the summer months featuring steamboats where you might find someone who just likes to talk about steamboats. We are having an event this Saturday July 1st with a cruise at noon and then later a gathering at the museum featuring historic information on the Belle which was origionally the Avalon.

Our museum website http://www.steamboatmuseum.org/ has some limited information and we do have Alan Bates books available for sale as well as many others on the subject.

Vicki, I may be of help to you in finding where to look for the answers to your questions if you wish to email me direct at [email protected]

Hank
Thank you for the good suggestions.
Vicki

Vicki,

I suggest three books that will give you some good information. Louis Hunter has written the classic book on steamboats on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Its title is Steamboats on the Western Rivers. Thomas Buchanan has written Black Life on the Mississippi which describes the labor of slaves on steamboats. Many steamboat workers in the South were slaves. Some boats had a majority of slaves for their crews. And Brasseaux and Fontentot have written Steamboats on Louisiana's Bayous. They echo the statement of an earlier post that steamboats were mainly working boats, not floating palaces.

I am writing a book on antebellum steamboats and if you have particular questions, you can contact me directly.

Robert Gudmestad

Slaves working on steamboats?????? I've always heard that, for the most part, slaves were too valuable to waste on the menial and dangerous labor of a streamboat deckhand. Irish and Italian immigrants were cheaper and more expendable; afterall you didn't lay out cash to buy an Irishman. I could be wrong on this but that is what I've always heard. The black deckgang did not come in to common usuage on boats until after the civil war when freed slaves became cheap and the Irish immigrants declined in number, thereby becoming more expensive to work.
Does anyone know the true story?

Jim: I have always heard the same thing. The Irish were here due to the potato famine in their homeland and their passage was often paid for by otheres to "get rid of them". When working on the river, a dead Irishman was just a statistic, whereas a dead slave was a severe economic loss to the owner. Too, if a slave could get ashore in Cincinnati or any other northern port he, or she was, in theory, free of bondage.

Tom, I was thinking the same thing. Recently here in New Albany, In there has been much research etc. about the underground railroad and it seems that the fact that there was a ferry and port here was convenient for slaves. Also, there is a week-end thing soon at Madison, In about the underground railway working from the river and steamboats. For one thing the Mason/Dixon line was the Ohio River. So, it would seem it would be risky for a slave owner to use his slaves to work the steamboats.

Slaves worked in SIGNIFICANT numbers on steamboats. The historical evidence is indisputable. They worked in rivers that touched southern states mainly, especially below Memphis. Almost all firemen were slaves/free blacks, many roustabouts and stewards were slaves/free blacks. Large numbers of travelers commented on slave labor on steamers and many of them noted the songs of the boatmen.

Yes, slaves used steamboats to run away. William Wells Brown is one example. And the work was dangerous but slaves could be insured. If killed in an accident, the insurance company paid the assessed price.

Irishmen also worked on steamboats, mainly as deckhands. They rarely mixed with the black workers and ate their mess before blacks on the boats.

Much more detailed information is in Tom Buchanan's new book, Black Life on the Mississippi.

Robert Gudmestad

Slave owners "rented" their slaves to steamboat owners from time to time, but the risks of death, injury or escape restricted the practice. Hunter briefly discusses this. Germany and Ireland were both sources of immigrant men willing to do the excruciating work as a start in a new land. Both nations were in turmoil.

The Ohio River was a dividing line between North and South, but technically the Mason-Dixon line was the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland.

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 established the boundry between free and slave states, this line became known as the Mason-Dixon line because it began in the east along the Mason-Dixon line and headed westward to the Ohio River and along the Ohio to its mouth at the Mississippi River and then west along 36 degrees 30 minutes North, according to my old Rabbit Hash High School History reader.

I respectfully disagree with the contention that slaves worked from time to time on steamboats. The best and most careful study estimates that up to 20,000 African Americans worked on steamboats during the 1850s. The travel accounts, diaries, court cases, newspaper stories and the like are peppered with references to slaves and free blacks working on steamboats.

I suspect that older accounts like Hunter (which is still the best steamboat book available) overlooked slave labor because the study of slavery did not emerge as important until the 1960s.

Robert Gudmestad