1862 – Aug 21 – Steamer Acacia snags/sinks, Mississippi River, Grand Cut Off, AR — ~40

— ~40 Blanchard estimated fatality toll.*

–100-140 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. LSU Press, 2008, p. 91.
— <100 The Press, Philadelphia. “Letter From Memphis….Loss of the Acacia.” 9-3-1862, 1. -- 75-80 Cincinnati Daily Commercial. “Particulars…Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p1. -- 75-80 Davenport Daily Gazette, IA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 8-26-1862, p. 2, col. 2. -- 70-75 Daily Whig Republican, Quincy, IL. “Items from Memphis.” 8-25-1862, p. 3, col. 4. -- 75 Goshen Times, IN. “The News.” 8-28-1862, p. 2, col. 3 and 4. -- >40 Berkshire County Eagle, Pittsfield, MA. 8-28-1862, p. 4, col. 4.
— 40 The Press, Philadelphia. “From Cairo. The Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p2.
— ~40 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, 496.
— <30 Sullivan Democrat, IN. 8-28-1862, p. 2, col. 5. * Blanchard estimated fatality toll. Though there are many sources citing from 75 to 140 deaths, these, for the most part, are based on early newspaper reports. We have seen, however, no reporting on specific deaths which support such large death-tolls. We cite later newspaper reports (such as the Philadelphia Press) which report a downgrading of the death toll to forty. In that Frederick Way Jr., an expert on Mississippi River steamboats, also reports forty deaths, we choose to follow Way. Narrative Information Gaines: “Acacia Cottage (Acacia) (W. H. Langley). Union. Sternwheel steamer, 109 or 100 tons…Built in 1857 at California, Pa….Snagged and sank on August 21, 1862, about 25 miles above Helena, Ark., with the loss of about 100-140 lives. (ORN, 23:379; WCWN, 245; MSV, 2, 239; WPD, 4, 496. )” (Gaines. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. LSU Press, 2008, p. 91.) Way: Acacia. Sternwheel wood-hull packet, built at Fraziers Landing, OH, in 1856 as the W. H. Langley. “…Taken over by the Confederates in 1861 and renamed. Captured by Union forces at Memphis 1862, then valued at $2,750. Following repair, operated in the Memphis-Helena trade. Downbound about 25 miles above Helena on August 21, 1862 she was snagged with a reported loss of about 40 lives. Survivors were rescued from the wreckage by the Conway…and the towboat William H. Brown…It was suspected that the Acacia was involved in moving contraband cotton for the benefit of a few Union officers at the time of her loss.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…[Revised]. 1999, p. 496.) Newspapers Aug 22: “Memphis, Aug. 22….The steamer Acacia, from Memphis to Helena, half past one yesterday morning, struck a snag sixty miles below Memphis, ripping off plank twenty feet in length. Her hull sunk immediately. A portion of her cabin floated off. Nearly a hundred persons were on board, but not more than twenty-five or thirty were saved. No list of the lost or saved have been received.” (Daily Whig Republican, Quincy, IL. “Items from Memphis.” 8-25-1862, p3, c4.) Aug 23: “Memphis, August 23. – No list of passengers of the Acacia has been received. Mrs. Robert Dale Owen and Mrs. Richardson, wife of Capt. Richardson of the 53rd Ohio, are lost. It is ascertained that not more than thirty persons perished.” (Sullivan Democrat, IN. 8-28-1862, p. 2.) Aug 24: “Ciro, Aug. 24. The Graham, from Memphis, brings important news. About 1 o’clock Thursday morning the steamer Accacia [sic] ran on a snag 60 miles below Memphis, and sank in a few minutes. She had about 150 passengers aboard, 6 of whom were ladies, officers’ wives, and 75 tons of freight, principally sutlers’ goods. In five minutes after the striking she keeled over and completely capsized. Her upper deck floated off, and many of the affrighted passengers clung to it and were saved, but fully one-half, or seventy-five persons, asleep as they were in their births, but barely opened their eyes as the rushing waters closed over them forever. “The details of sights and sounds as they come to us are frightful in the extreme. One white woman and the chambermaid is saved, as were also the captain and clerk. Most of the passengers were soldiers returning to their regiments at Helena. The dispatch boat to N. B. went down and picked up a number of the survivors and took them to Helena. The Conway on her way up rescued a number. She took a person from the floated wreck, 25 miles below the scene of the disaster. Between 75 and 80 persons are no doubt lost. Capt. John Belzer, aid to Gov. Yates and agent of the associated press, was on board, and his fate is not known. The Acacia was an old White river boat not worth more than a thousand dollars.” (Davenport Daily Gazette, IA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 8-26-1862, p. 2, col. 2.) Aug 25: “Cairo, August 25….No further particulars have been received of the sinking of the steamer Acacia, below Memphis. The number now stated to be lost is forty, of whom seven were ladies.” (The Press, Philadelphia. “From Cairo. The Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p. 2.) Aug 26: “On Wednesday the steamboat Acacia, commanded by Capt. Malvern, left this port [Memphis] for Helena [AR]. Her cabin was crowded with passengers, estimated at about a hundred and fifty persons. They were most of them soldiers on their return to their regiments at Helena. There were six ladies stated to be all the wives of the officers, among them. There was about seventy five tons of freight aboard, most of it consisting of sutlers’ goods. At twelve o’clock the pilot on duty, Lieutenant Hampton, left the wheel, which was then taken by V. Macauley, the other pilot. The night was not clear, what the pilots call ‘grey;’ there was some star light, but not bright. At half past one o’clock – on Thursday morning, of course – as the boat was passing Grand Cut Off, which is sixty miles below this city, she struck a snag, so that the end of the snag caught a plank in the hull, twenty feet from the bow, ripping it off from end to end. “The water, of course, rushed into the hold with extreme rapidity, and in five minutes from the time of striking, the boat keeled over and completely capsized. The ‘sky-light,’ as the raised portion of the hurricane deck is called parted from the rest, and with the ‘texas’ or pilot house, and the staterooms, connected with it, floated. The hull completely capsized, and in doing so glided from the shoal where the accident took place, and sunk in deep water. So rapidly did all this take place, the shock – the rush of water into the hull below – the rolling overboard of the chimneys above – the riving of parting timbers, as the hurricane deck separated from the cabin, and this at a time when nearly every tenant of the ill-fated boat was in deep sleep, that there was no opportunity for one to help another. Those who were on the hurricane deck heard agonizing cries, heart-rending exclamations and vain calls for help from those below. Then they and the rest were all struggling in the waves that surged wildly round the spot where the capsized boat was swallowed up. “Of the passengers, it is estimated that at least one half, seventy-five persons, perished. One white woman and a colored chambermaid were saved; five ladies were carried down when the boil4r deck broke from the hull, and the hurricane deck from that. Such of the survivors as we have seen saw nothing of the ladies. They probably, in their wild fright, made some attempt at dress from the suggestions of instinctive modesty, and those few moment were fatal. The captain, clerk and crew, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the deck hands and the negro cook, got safely to land. The survivors speak with admiration of the conduct of the engineer, who stood faithfully at his post until the water had covered the working parts of the engine. “The pilot Hampton was asleep at the moment of striking. He rushed from his room, shouted out some hasty instructions to the other pilot at the wheel, when he found the boat keeling ov4r and the chimneys falling. He slid along the deck until he was caught by the sleeve by the guy of one of the chimneys. So held, he was carried down into the water, and far down, as it appears to him, he was carried beneath the surface with the sinking iron, when his struggles tore the sleeve from the guy, and he reached the surface and contrived to get upon the hurricane deck. On this deck others managed to crawl, or were dragged on by those already there; others seized floating boxes, bales and broken pieces of wreck, and were thus supported above the water. The pilot and some others got ashore at Mrs. Dr. Kent’s Landing. The lady showed them hospitable kindness. “Some time after the accident the ‘W. H. B.’ dispatch boat came down and picked up a number of the survivors and took them to Helena. Of course we know not who they were. The Conway, on her way up, rescued a number; she met the ‘skylight’ hurricane deck, floating twenty-five miles below the spot of the wreck, and five persons clinging to it, whom she took off; others were rescued from the water. From 75 to 80, it is not doubted, sunk beneath the waters. “The Acacia was the old W. H. Langley, which used to run to White river and other side streams, and for some time run with the Kate Frisbee, in Capt. Shirley’s Memphis and Vicksburg packet line. The boat was old and unfit for service. She was owned by Capt. Price, and is valued at $1,000. Among those aboard the Acacia was Capt. John Belzer, Aid-de-Camp to Gov. Yates of Illinois. We could learn nothing of his fate. “The only names we have been able to obtain are the following, which were signed to a series of resolutions which they passed, eulogizing the humanity of the officers of the Conway, and expressing gratitude for their generous efforts to save their lives, and kindness after they were taken on board….I certify that the above is correct. [signed] E. Ringler, Assist. Surgt. 58th Regt. Ohio Vols.” (Cincinnati Daily Commercial, OH. “Particulars of the Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p. 1, col. 2.) Aug 26: “This heart-rending accident, which occurred on the 19th ultimo [sic], is the first of any importance that has occurred in this neighborhood. The Acacia was a poor old little thing, and had once been thrown aside by her owners. Some reckless wretch bought her and changed her name, and is really responsible for the loss of nearly a hundred lives. There had been no boat for Helena for two days, and consequently the Acacia was loaded as full as she could hold. Among the passengers were six ladies, the wives of officers in Curtis’ army, all of whom were lost [sic]. In running over a bar, the boat ran on to a snag. Her bottom was so old and rotten that several planks were immediately torn off, and a hole made probably about three feet by twenty. Immediately after striking the snag, she glided over into deep water and capsized in a moment. The three parts of the boat all separated from each other and floated off separately. The pilot-house saved the pilots, the ‘texas,’ or upper cabin, saved about twenty, and perhaps fifty more were saved on the main cabin and the other parts of the wreck. There was one newspaper man on board – Captain John Bilger, aid-de-camp to Gov. Yates, of Illinois, and recently agent of the Associated Press at Cairo and Memphis. He leaves a wife and child, and many warm friends, sincere mourners. Everybody was profoundly affected by this accident. When we are living in a time of wholesale desolation and death, these casualties, out of the common course, seem more unnecessary and deplorable than ever before. [signed] Casco.” (The Press, Philadelphia. “Letter From Memphis….Loss of the Acacia.” 9-3-1862, p. 1.) Sources Berkshire County Eagle, Pittsfield, MA. 8-28-1862, p. 4, col. 4. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/pittsfield-berkshire-county-eagle-aug-28-1862-p-4/ Cincinnati Daily Commercial, OH. “Particulars of the Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p. 1, col. 2. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cincinnati-daily-commercial-aug-26-1862-p-1/ CivilWarData.com. Regiment History. Sixtieth U.S. Colored Troops. August 11-13, 1864. – Expedition from Helena to Kent’s Landing, Ark. “Report of Capt. Eli Ramsey, Sixtieth U.S. Colored Troops.” Accessed 11-8-2020 at: http://www.civilwardata.com/active/hdsquery.dll?RegimentHistory?2949&U Daily Whig Republican, Quincy, IL. “Items from Memphis.” 8-25-1862, p. 3, col. 4. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/quincy-daily-whig-and-republican-aug-25-1862-p-3/ Davenport Daily Gazette, IA. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster.” 8-26-1862, p. 2, col. 2. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/davenport-daily-gazette-aug-26-1862-p-2/ Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008. Goshen Times, IN. “The News.” 8-28-1862, p. 2, col. 3 and 4. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/goshen-times-aug-28-1862-p-2/ Stewart, Charles W. (Superintendent Library and Naval War Records). Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion (Series I, Vol. 23, Naval Forces on Western Waters from April 12 to December 31, 1862). Washington: GPO, 1910. Accessed 11-9-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924051351017&view=1up&seq=7 Sullivan Democrat, IN. 8-28-1862, p. 2, col. 5. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/sullivan-democrat-aug-28-1862-p-2/ The Press, Philadelphia. “From Cairo. The Sinking of the Steamer Acacia.” 8-26-1862, p. 2. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-press-aug-26-1862-p-2/ The Press, Philadelphia. “Letter From Memphis….Loss of the Acacia.” 9-3-1862, p. 1. Accessed 11-8-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-press-sep-03-1862-p-1/ Way, Frederick Jr. (Author and Compiler), Joseph W. Rutter (contributor). Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System Since the Advent of Photography in Mid-Continent America (Revised). Athens OH: Ohio University Press, 1999.