|
“The
Kentucky was constructed as a side-wheeled steamboat
in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1856 and was first enrolled there on
July 28 of that year. The vessel was recorded officially as
having a length of 222 ft with a capacity of 375 tons.
The
Kentucky was built as a large, elegant packet for use
on the Ohio and Mississippi Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and
was similar in layout to hundreds of other steamboats that
worked on those waters. The main deck, where the boilers and
engines were mounted, was fitted with guards that extended
the deck out from the hull to protect the paddle wheels. The
main deck served as the principal cargo deck. Above the main
deck was the boiler deck, where the passenger accommodations
were located. A long, narrow cabin was centrally located
with staterooms opening onto it from the sides. The Kentucky
had 52 staterooms. The sexes were typically segregated
aboard packet boats, with the gentlemen’s salon located
forward and the ladies aft. Above the boiler deck was the
hurricane deck and the crew quarters. The officers were
quartered in the texas deck on the next level. The
pilothouse was atop the texas, aft of the chimneys.
The
War Between the States
The
Kentucky was in her homeport of Memphis at the
outbreak of the Civil War. Shortly thereafter, the vessel
was purchased by Preston Lodwick. With tensions increasing,
Lodwick, wanting to return north, boarded the Kentucky
and tried to slip past the authorities in Memphis. Lodwich
miscalculated the vigilance of the Confederates at Memphis
who turned him back. Finally abandoning the boat just above
Island No. 10, he escaped on foot to Illinois. Confederate
authorities ordered the boat to be burned, but the chief,
engineer, James Keniston, assumed the duties of captain and
ran it “under duress” as directed by the Confederates.
Both
sides commandeered a large number of civilian vessels for
use as transports. The Kentucky was instrumental in
ferrying Major General Leonidas Polk’s troops between
Columbus, Kentucky and Belmont, Missouri. The timely arrival
of reinforcements allowed the Confederates to surround Union
forces under Ulysses Grant. The Kentucky again served
the Confederacy well by rushing reinforcements to Brigadier
General J.P. McCown as he sought to hold Island No. 10 in
March 1862.
However
in June 1862, Memphis fell to Federal forces. The Kentucky
had been taken as a prize of War and was used by the united
States Army as an express mail boat, carrying freight,
passengers, and produce from Memphis to Cairo, Il. The boat
was returned to its owner, preston Lodwick, on February 5,
1863. The U.S. Quartermaster Corp then chartered the vessel
from him and operated it in the Red River and lower
Mississippi River until the end of the War in 1865.
Kentucky’s
Last
Voyage
At
6: 30 p.m. on the evening of June 9, 1865, the Kentucky left
Shreveport bound for New Orleans and eventually St. Louis,
overloaded with 900 passengers, 250 horses, baggage and
provisions. For the most part, the passengers were paroled
Confederate prisoners, weary veterans of the Missouri
regiments that had defended the city of Shreveport – the
last Confederate capital to surrender.
The
Red River was a treacherous, meandering river. It was not a
river to be navigated at night. However, the captain, being
paid by how many people he could transport, did not want to
wait until the next morning when there would be another ship
available for the passengers. Some two or three hours into
the voyage, the vessel struck a snag, one of the partially
submerged logs that made the Red River notorious. The vessel
ran about four miles after she began to leak, and by the
time the captain finally turned for shore, the Kentucky
had settled so much that he could not get near enough to the
bank to put out his landing stage. A stern line was run to
shore, but it snapped immediately and the boat swung out
into the swifter, deeper part of the river. The Kentucky
sank instantly, the water washing over the hurricane deck
forward while the stern remained above water. As the boat
heeled over, pandemonium broke out in the over-crowded decks
below as passengers rushed for the stern. Adding to the
confusion, the texas deck caught fire as coal oil lamps
spilled their contents. A large number of passengers were
trapped in the forward cabin and drowned.
Word
of the disaster quickly spread to another steamer, the Col.
Chapin that had tied up for the night some 5 to 7 miles
upstream. Captain Stephen Webber was aboard the Col. Chapin
when the news was received. He immediately ordered steam to
be raised and set out to render assistance to the survivors.
The vessel arrived on the site about 11:30 p. and found some
400 to 500 people crowded onto the elevated portion of the Kentucky.
Webber succeeded in getting two lines from the shipwreck to
shore and began ferrying the survivors ashore in two small
boats.
Captain
Webber was furious with the officers of the Kentucky,
charging that their reckless decision to run the boat at
night brought about a needless disaster. He later wrote to
the New Orleans Times (June 16, 1865) that: “If I had the
power, I would hang the captain and pilots to the first tree
that I could find.” A subsequent investigation by Union
Major General Frances J. Herron, commander of the Northern
Division of Louisiana, found the officers innocent of any
wrong doing, but resulted in an order prohibiting transports
on the Red River (from) running at night.
Reports
of the losses range from 75 to 200 drowned. The official
U.S. military report listed 75 drowned.
Account
of the Disaster from the Captain of the Chapin
“To
Capt F.W. Perkins, A.Q.M. of transportation:
Captain
– I left Shreveport in obedience to orders from Major
General Herron, thirty minutes past seven o’clock, June 9th.
Finding it impracticable to travel after night, I landed the
boat. The steamer Kentucky left previous to me about
one hour. I presumed that all the boats would lay up
together for the night. On proceeding down the river, I
found the Kentucky against the bank, turning the
point, and of course thought she was landing for the night.
I therefore proceeded a short distance from her and laid the
boat up.
After
being there a short time the Kentucky passed under a
head of steam, at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, (to the
best of my judgment) and had passed us somewhere between
five and seven miles when she sank. I had the fire banked
with the intention of remaining until daylight. After
remaining about one hour and a half hours I was notified
from shore that the Kentucky had sunk, and that the
assistance of the boat was required to prevent further loss
of life (a great many having already been drowned) and
destruction of property. I immediately raised steam and got
under way, arriving at the wreck about half-past eleven p.m.
I
found everything in confusion, and endeavored with all
available means on board to secure men and women. I
immediately lowered the boat and went in person to the boat;
found no boats yet at work. I at once stretched a trail line
to the shore, to run boats by, the current being too strong
to use sweeps or oars. My first mate directly afterward
stretched another from the starboard after cabin guard, when
we set two boats to work, having procured one from the
neighboring plantations. We eventually got everyone off who
wished to come, some remaining on onboard – for what
purpose I know not.
The
whole affair is very disastrous, involving a great loss of
life, and in the opinion of all high minded and honorable
men, as well as some who were on board with these officers
of the boat, and also in my opinion too, the disaster could
have been avoided, and that it only resulted from
inattention and ignorance, as an investigation of the same
will prove. During the rescue of the people on onboard, and
while running my small boat in person, I made use of the
following language: “if I had the power, I would hang the
captain and pilots to the first tree that I could find,”
an assertion that I am prepared to maintain.
Having
ascertained indirectly that the officers of this boat intend
reporting me for the use of the above language is the cause
of my making this statement, as I know that they are wholly
incompetent to command or have charge of anything regarding
transportation, where human life is concerned.”
Stephen J. Webber
Captain Commanding Transport
June 10, 1865
Recent
Controversy with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers
The
Red River is today, as it always has been, major
thoroughfare for transportation. However, its changing
meandering nature is a major concern for river traffic as
well as a cause for riverbank erosion. It is this changing
nature that had not only buried the Kentucky
underground, but has now exposed the stern to the river once
again. A treasure hunter discovered her during a low period
of the river.
In
an attempt to stabilize the riverbank and keep the Red River
from changing and shifting, the Corp decide that they would
have to do revetment work. It was at this time that the Kentucky
controversy started. The stone revetment would have to be
placed at the site of the shipwreck destroying up to 50% of
the Kentucky.
The
Sterling Price Camp was notified about the situation at the
1996 National Convention in Richmond. Our immediate reaction
was to contact the Corp to a) find out what exactly they
were attempting to do, b) find out as much information about
the ship, the passengers, and the night of the disaster, c)
express our completed opposition to their plan. The Corp’s
reasoning was that it could not place the dike anywhere else
and while they would have to destroy a significant portion
of the wreckage, they would be preserving the rest of the
wreckage forever. This did not seem reasonable. Why did it
have to go there? Why couldn’t a ring dike of some sort be
placed at the site to protect it all? Their answers were
complicated and seemingly vague.
Their
work was to proceed. By law they had to investigate the ship
for human remains. Teams of archeological divers went down
on the stern of the ship and entered it as far as they
could. This was not too far due to the majority of the ship
being underground and the stern portion being encased in
root mat. The likelihood of finding human remains was not
great for that reason. The drowning victims were all
sleeping in the bow of the ship. However, many horse bones
were found as well as pots, personal items, the bilge pump,
and the ship’s anchor.
Once
this investigation was done, the revetment work was to
begin. During this period of investigation, the Sterling
Price Camp and others engaged in letter writing campaign to
politicians, historians, descendents of passengers, and
fellow SCV members. Many phone calls were made to plea for
the Corp’s work to be altered. There was no difference
between this shipwreck and that of the U.S.S. Arizona. Both
are and should be treated as military gravesites.
Upon
a personal visit to the wrecksite last September, the Corp
showed us exactly where the stone revetment was to be
placed. It was at a place in the river where there will be
absolutely no impact to the Kentucky! The Corp had
decided to move their work away from the ship.
Current
Status and Future Plans
The
Kentucky is now 100% buried under 25 feet of southern
soil. It cannot ever be easily disturbed. It is completely
safe from treasure hunters and looters. The Corp has now
moved on to another project. By land, she lies in a remote
area. However, by river, she is at a bend that is highly
traveled by both commercial and recreational boats.
It
would be well-deserved tribute to these Missourians to place
a monument of some sort at this site. If you can place
yourself in their shoes – after four long years of war and
all, the hardships that go along with it, they finally are
on their way home to the State that they love, only to have
their lives taken away from them when the least expected it.
We, as their descendants and fellow Missourians, must see to
it that we honor them as the heroes they are.
There
will be opposition as usual. The State of Louisiana owns the
ship and land. They can say what the monument can or cannot
be. The logistics of placing a monument in an area that is a
10 hour drive from St. Louis will be difficult. Also,
getting to the wreck by land is not that easy. These are
just some of the concerns and difficulties that we will
face. However, this is what the SCV is all about.”
Source:
From the files of Neil Block, Commander, William T. Anderson
Camp #1743, SCV; transcribed by Lisa Perry. |
