1864 — Oct 30, Union packet Universe snags/sinks, Mississippi River, ~Plum Point, TN– 17

— 17 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 292.
— 17 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. LSU Press, 2008, p. 104.
— 17 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the[U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 254.
— 17 Riverboatdaves.com. “Riverboat Dave’s Riverboats Starting with U.”)
— 17 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, 465.

Narrative Information

Berman 1972, p. 292: “Universe. St.p. [Steam sidewheel]. 399 [tons]. 1857 [built]. Oct 30, 1864. Snagged. Plum Point, Tenn. 17 lives lost.”

Bragg. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. “Island No. 35,” 1977, p. 67”
“During the Civil War, a transport called the Universe was taking a group of rebel prisoners from Vicksburg to Cairo, to be sent to a prison camp in the North, when the boat hit a snag between Islands No. 35 and No 36 [Mile 764.5 Above Head of Passes] and went down. The Confederates took advantage of the general confusion and panic on board the Union boat, and about a dozen succeeded in escaping. Six or seven of the others were drowned, along with some of the boat’s crew.”

Riverboatdaves.com. “Riverboat Dave’s Riverboats Starting with U.”:
“Name: Universe
Type: Sidewheel, wooden hull packet. Size 180’ X 35’ X 7.
Power: Engines, 22’s 7 ft. 3 boilers.
Launched: 1857, Cincinnati, Oh.
Destroyed: 1864, Oct. 30, Plum Point on Miss. R., snagged and lost. 17 lives lost.”

Way: Universe. Sidewheel wood-hull packet built in Cincinnati in 1857 at 399 tons and measuring 180 x 35 x 7. “She was serving as a transport for the U.S. in the war on the Tennessee, and was with Porter on Red River. Snagged and lost at Plum Point on the Mississippi, Oct 30, 1864, with loss of seventeen lives.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 465.)

Sources

Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. Boston: Mariners Press Inc., 1972.

Bragg, Marion. Historic Names and Places on the Lower Mississippi River. Vicksburg, MS: Mississippi River Commission, 1977. Accessed 9-15-2020 at: ftp://ftp.library.noaa.gov/noaa_documents.lib/NOAA_related_docs/US_Army/Mississippi_River_names_1977.pdf

Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008.

Lytle, William M., compiler, from Official Merchant Marine Documents of the United States and Other Sources; Holdcamper, Forrest H. (Editor, and Introduction by). Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. “The Lytle List.” Mystic, CT: Steamship Historical Society of America (Publication No. 6), 1952. Accessed 8-16-2020 at:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015018039084&view=1up&seq=8&size=125

Riverboat Dave’s Riverboats Starting with U.” Accessed 7/23/2010 at: http://www.riverboatdaves.com/riverboats/u.html#UNIVE

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.