19th Century

–22-25 Blanchard estimated death toll.* –30-40 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. LSU Press, 2008, p. 137. –30-40 Scott. War of the Rebellion, Series I, Vol. XXXI, Part 3, p. 180, 1890. — ~30 Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, VT. 11-17-1863, p. 5, col. 4. — ~30 Philadelphia Inquirer. “Burning of the Steamer ‘Sunnyside.’” 11-16-1863, p. 4, col. 4. — 9 women — 6 children — 5 crewmen specifically mentioned. — 2 male passengers specifically mentioned. — 25 Defiance Democrat, OH. “Burning of the Steamer Sunny Side.” 11-28-1863, p. 1, col. 4. –20-25 Defiance Democrat, OH. “Burning of the Steamer Sunny Side.” 11-28-1863, p. 1, col. 5. — 22 Blanchard tally of victims noted in sources cited herein (list follows Newspaper section). * Blanchard estimated death toll. *Given the wide range of reported deaths, we see no consensus on an exact death toll. We have attempted our own compilation of fatalities from sources noted herein, which shows twenty-two deaths. This is in-line with reporting that Mr. McKinney, the Sunnyside Clerk, estimated twenty to twenty-five deaths. In that from our attempt to put a list together we are of the opinion that at least twenty-two people died, we use this number as the low-end of our estimated death-toll. Because all the sources we cite other than Mr. McKinney, note 25, 30, about 30, or 30-40 deaths, we choose to include Mr. McKinney’s upper-end of his estimated death toll – twenty-five. We view all the reports noting higher death tolls as speculative estimates, not based on detailed knowledge. We have attempted a Sunnyside word search in newspapers for more than a month following the loss, as well as other Internet based sources and can find no detail which inclines us to believe that more than twenty-five lives were lost. We could, of course, have missed something. Narrative Information Gaines: “Sunnyside (Sunny Side). Union. Side-wheel steamer, 330 tons. Cargo of 1,130 bales of cotton. Built in 1860 at Brownsville, Pa. Burned on November 13, 1863, at Pomeroy, Ohio [incorrect], near Island No. 16 with 30-40 killed. (OR, 31:3:180; New York Times, November 29, 1863; MSV, 205, 299 ; WPS, 437. ).” (Gaines. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. 2008, p. 137.) Scott, War of the Rebellion: “Cairo, November 17, 1863. “Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman: “Steamer Sunnyside burned at Island No. 16 yesterday morning with 1,200 bales of cotton. Fire accidental. Thirty to 40 lives lost. General Tuttle’s division arrived at Memphis on the 12th instant from Vicksburg. All quite below. [signed] H. T. Reid, Brigadier-General.” (Scott, Lt. Col. Robert N. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. XXXI, Part 3 (Union and Confederate Correspondence, etc.), 1890, p. 180.) Way: Sunny Side. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built at West Brownsville, PA, in 1860 at 330 tons. “….She burned at Island 16, Mississippi River, Nov. 13, 1863, with 1,130 bales of cotton. Did not get landed and the life loss was ‘considerable.” Capt. Shunk and first clerk McKinney had to swim for it….” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System… 1999, p. 437.) Newspapers Nov 14: “Cairo, No. 14. The steamer Glasgow, from Memphis the 12th, brings the painful intelligence of the burning of the steamer Sunnyside, about 5 o’clock yesterday morning [13th] opposite Island No. 15 [sic], twenty -six miles below New Madrid…. “The exit from the boat being insufficient, many of the passengers were obliged to jump overboard, several of whom were drowned….About 30 passengers in all were drowned….” (Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, VT. 11-17-1863, p. 5, col. 4.) Nov 14: “Cairo, Nov. 14. – The steamer Glasgow, from Memphis 12th, has arrived, bringing the startling intelligence of the burning of the steamer Sunny Side, from Memphis for St. Louis. She took fire opposite Island No. 16, about twenty-eight miles below New Madrid, at five o’clock on the morning of the 13th, — She was burned to the water’s edge. Twenty-five lives were lost. “I am indebted to Dr. Tausig, late of the 48th Indiana, who was a passenger on the steamer for particulars of the catastrophe. “The Sunny Side had a large trip of passengers and freight. Among the cargo was 1,380 bales of cotton, much of which was on the forecastle, and in front of the boilers. The boat was burning dry wood, and a strong wind blowing aft, drove the sparks among the bales of cotton. “She took fire twice before on the way up, but it was readily extinguished. The third time the fire was communicated to the lower tier of bales, and was under headway before it was discovered. “All efforts to quell the flames proving ineffectual, the passengers were called and the boat run ashore, the water being very shallow at the bow, but some twelve feet deep at the stern. “The gangway forward was very narrow, admitting of the passage of but one or two persons at a time, and was soon partially broken down by trunks which passengers had attempted to save. The crew and deck passengers crowded forward along the guards and were saved. The cabin passengers who could not get through the companion way were obliged to leap from the boiler deck into the water – In the confusion, a few sprang from the wrong side of the boat and were drowned. “The engines were kept in motion to keep the boat to the bank. The rapid revolutions of the wheels caused a strong current, and drew many underneath the boat, who were either crushed by the wheels or drowned. An old gentleman who was drawn under the wheel and passed under the boat, was rescued by one of the crew. “There were ninety cabin passengers aboard, thirteen ladies, eight children and a number of army officers, among them Major Boswell, who was wounded in the shoulder at Vicksburg. His sister, who, as soon as she learned her brother’s situation, went to the camp and nursed him through a long and dangerous sickness, was taking him home. “The brother and sister sprang overboard, and had nearly reached the shore, when the major’s strength became exhausted, and he was obliged to lose his hold upon his sister, who was carried off by the current and drowned. The boatman rescued the major, but he was entirely insensible. There is little hope of his recovery. He was brought up on the Glasgow, and on her taken to St. Louis. “Mr. Boyd, an iron founder of Memphis was with his wife and child on their way to St. Louis. He lashed his wife and child together, hand in hand, and they leaped into the water, but were instantly drawn into the wheel, and all met watery graves. “Mr. Brady and wife, an aged couple of New Albany, Ind., were returning home. Mr. Brady was urging his wife to try to escape by taking to the water but her terror was so great she could not stir. A great mass of burning cotton finally caused the steam chest to explode. This so frightened the old lady that in an instant she was overboard. Her husband followed and both were saved. “A poor, unfortunate follow, who had lost a leg by accident, was lucky enough to make his way to shore. Of thirteen female passengers, only four escaped; of eight children, six were lost; an assistant surgeon from Memphis lost his wife; a chamber maid (colored) the only female servant on the boat, was saved; two of the ladies who escaped were saved by the boatmen; more of them could have been saved, but were afraid to throw themselves into the river until blinded by the flames and smoke, and could not see what they were doing, and leaped almost into the wheel. Mrs. Van Buren and daughter, Mattie C. Van Buren, of Detroit, are among the lost. “….Men rushed frantically to and fro, noiseless and speechless. – Ladies gathered on the guards with glaring eyes and blanched cheeks. For a time, silence the most terrible and oppressive reigned, when suddenly the flames swept with irresistible force aft, and, catching the light dresses of the ladies, in a moment all were on fire. The screams which then rent the air were terrible beyond description. Almost within reach of shore, some sank upon the burning deck, while others, in their frenzy, threw themselves into the water. After the steam-chest exploded, the engines stopped working. “The boat had now burned to the main deck, and gradually swinging out into the current, was carried down the river about half a mile, when she struck on a bar and broke in two. – “The wreck was visited by a party of survivors, who found among the debris the charred remains of some of their ill-fated friends. The clerk had a large amount of money in the safe belonging to the passengers. The safe was not fire proof, and the clerk opened it and gave the money to its owners, but he was not able to save any of the boat’s money or books. “The gunboat No. 7 came down, and seeing the crowd on the bank, stopped, and was about taking them aboard, when the Glasgow came along about 4 o’clock, and took them on board. A family living on the island fed the passengers, and did all they could for them. The deck hands were mostly saved. Two are known to have been lost. “To the above, I have been furnished with the additional list of names of the lost: Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Geo. Cox and child, Mr. Crewell and two children, Mrs. Rose, Mrs. Strong, Jno. Powers, fireman on the boat; four deck hands, names unknown; a negro woman belonging to Major Elliot. Mr. Blake’s child, ten years old, was saved and sent back to Memphis….” (Defiance Democrat, OH. “Burning of the Steamer Sunny Side.” 11-28-1863, p. 1, col. 4. Nov 16: “The steamer Glasgow, from Memphis on the 12th, brings painful intelligence of the burning of the steamer Sunnyside, which took place about 5 o’clock yesterday morning, opposite Island No. 16, twenty-six miles below New Madrid [MO, on MS River]. “She had a large passenger list and a heavy freight on board. Among the latter were thirteen hundred and eighty bales of cotton, which, with the boat, was totally destroyed. “The boat caught fire from the sparks from her chimney, which ignited the cotton. “She was run ashore and her engines kept working, to hold her to the bank. “Means of exit from the boat not being sufficient, many of her passengers were obliged to jump overboard, several of whom were drowned. “The scene is described as being most terrible. “Of thirteen female passengers only four escaped, and of eight children six were lost. “About thirty passengers in all were drowned or burned. “Among the latter was Mr. Boyd, his wife and child, of Memphis; and the sister and wife of Major Boswell; army surgeon, name unknown; Mrs. Van Buren and her daughter Mattie, of Detroit; Mrs. Blake; Mr. George Cox and child; Mrs. Creswell and two children; Mrs. Rose; Mrs. Strong; John Powers, fireman; and four deck hands, names unknown; and a negro woman belonging to Major Elliott. “The boats’ books and money on board were all lost. “The Glasgow brought the survivors her, most of whom have lost everything that they possessed.” (Philadelphia Inquirer. “Burning of the Steamer ‘Sunnyside.’” 11-16-1863, p. 4, col. 4.) Listing of Fatalities Identified by Sources Cited Herein 1. Blake, Mrs. 2. Boswell, wife of Major Boswell; from Paducah. 3. Boswell? sister of Major Boswell. 4. Boyd, Mr.; of Memphis. [Foundryman in St. Louis and Memphis.] 5. Boyd, Mrs. 6. Boyd, child of Mr. and Mrs. 7. Cox, Mr. George [Another account has the loss as Mrs. George Cox and child.] 8. Cox, child of Mr. George Cox. 9. Creswell, Mrs. [Another account has the loss as Mr. Crewell and two children.] 10. Creswell, child one of two. 11. Creswell, child two of two. 12. Elliott; woman, slave of Major Elliott. 13. Powers, John; fireman on the Sunny Side. 14. Rose (or Ross ), Mrs. 15. Strong, Mrs. 16. Van Buren, Mrs., of Detroit 17. Van Buren, Mattie C.; daughter of Mrs. Van Buren. 18. Unnamed U.S. Army surgeon. 19. Unnamed deck hand 1 of 4. 20. Unnamed deck hand 2 or 4. 21. Unnamed deck hand 3 of 4. 22. Unnamed deck hand 4 of 4. Sources 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 Defiance Democrat, OH. “Burning of the Steamer Sunny Side.” 11-28-1863, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed 10-31-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/defiance-democrat-nov-28-1863-p-1/ Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2008. Green Mountain Freeman, Montpelier, VT. 11-17-1863, p. 5, col. 4. Accessed 10-31-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/montpelier-green-mountain-freeman-nov-17-1863-p-5/ 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 Philadelphia Inquirer. “Burning of the Steamer ‘Sunnyside.’” 11-16-1863, p. 4, col. 4. Accessed 10-31-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-inquirer-nov-16-1863-p-4/ Scott,, Lt. Col. Robert N. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. XXXI, Part 3 (Correspondence, etc.). Washington: Government Printing Office, 1890. Accessed 10-31-2020 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924077699845&view=1up&seq=182&q1=sunny%20side 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.

— 28 Mansfield. (Ed. and Compiler). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). 1899, p. 898.
— 28 Swayze. Shipwreck!…Directory…Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p.242.
— 20 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 263.
— 20 McNeil. “Water Witch (Propeller) sunk, 1 Oct 1863,” Maritime Hist. of the Great Lakes.
— 20 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 685.

Narrative Information

Lewis: “The Water Witch continued with a relatively uneventful season, until it was winding down in the fall. On November 8, she touched at Milwaukee where she picked up 400 barrels of flour. On board were Captain [George H.] Ryder and a crew of 22 men. The B. F. Wade, following two days later, reported her touching at Mackinaw before proceeding Southward on Lake Huron. She was last seen on the 10th, in the midst of a gale. At that point her smoke stack was gone. When the Wade passed the entrance to Saginaw Bay, she passed the upper works of a propeller floating in the lake. On the 12th a metallic life-boat was picked up near Point au Sable by the schooner Hyphen. In an era before painting the name of the vessel on life preservers and lifeboats became mandatory, no one could be positive that it belonged to the Water Witch, but it was considered ‘probable.’ The Meteor, with Captain Redmond S. Ryder (George’s brother) in command, made a final trip up to Bruce Mines on the north shore of Lake Huron where she took on a cargo of 186 tons of copper ore. She returned to the Canadian shore looking for signs of the Water Witch or possible survivors. The keeper of the Cove Island light off the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, had just returned from a trip along the Canadian shoreline but had seen or heard nothing. Of the 23 men on board, only the name of her captain was reported.

“So why had the Water Witch been lost? According to the Detroit Free Press (which had the Ward advertising account to bear in mind), she ‘was considered a staunch craft. Whether it was swamped, blown up or sunk by collision is not known, but the fact of her being a new vessel would lead to the belief that it was neither of the two first.’ The Goderich Signal, which was under no such constraints, said:

‘She was probably the swiftest propeller on the lakes, and was of remarkably staunch build, but her machinery was an experiment, consisting of a cog-wheel engine and walking-beam working athwartships. It is possible that she became unmanageable by the disarrangement of some part of her machinery, but the disaster may have been caused by her being too heavily laden to weather the gale.’

“In the two seasons Water Witch served on the Lakes she had suffered damage to her engines twice, so this is not unreasonable speculation. Certainly, there is relatively little evidence, beyond the B. F. Wade and the further deployment of the unique geared beam engines in the region, and of course the fact that the Wade’s engine was replaced six years later.

“Somewhere under the waters of Lake Huron, probably near the entrance to Saginaw Bay where various elements were seen or recovered, lies the hull of the Water Witch together with her very unusual engine. Perhaps its discovery will help us answer some of the questions that her contemporaries could not.” (Lewis, Walter. “The Water Witch (1862).” Stories. Maritime History of the Great Lakes.)

Lytle and Holdcamper:: “Water Witch…369 [tons]…1862 [built]…foundered…10 1863… Saginaw Bay, Mich. …20 [Lives lost].” (Merchant Steam Vessels of the United States 1807-1868. 1952, p. 263.)

Mansfield: “Water Witch, prop., 458 t., b. [built] Newport [MI], ’62, L. Hur., ’63, 28 lives lost.” (Mansfield, John Brandts. History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). 1899, p. 898.)

Nash: “1863…Oct…Water Witch…20 [lives lost]. The 369-ton steam screw, built in 1862, foundered on Saginaw Bay, Mich.” (Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 685.)

Swayze: “Water Witch. Steam propeller of 458 t. [tons], launched in 1863. Lake Huron: Another case of a vessel that sailed out of port and disappeared is the steamer Water Witch. Still in her first season of service, the steamboat went missing in a storm in November [?] of 1863, with 28 [?] passengers and crew on board. She is thought to have foundered northeast of Au Sable Point, off Oscoda, Michigan, and was carrying a load of copper at the time.” (Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! …Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. 1992, p. 242.)

Zaniewski: “Water Witch. The Water Witch’s unique, experimental propulsion system may have been its doom. The ship’s engine was positioned sideways so it could power a propeller rather than a sidewheel paddle mechanism, said Great Lakes historian and artist Robert McGreevy. The Water Witch was the fastest propeller ship on the Great Lakes — but it had a vibration problem, McGreevy said. He said the vessel was on Lake Huron in 1863 when it ‘shook itself apart on the middle of the lake.’

“ ‘The vibrations caused the stern timbers to open up, and it allowed the ice-cold lake water to hit the red-hot boilers, and it exploded,’ McGreevy said. ‘There was a ship that was following it, and it saw it disappear. But they didn’t know it exploded until (they) retrieved some of the timbers in the lake. They could tell from the doors that it blew out from the inside.’” (Zaniewski, Ann (Detroit Free Press). “Shipwreck hunting: 8 undiscovered shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.” WUSA9 (Washington, DC), 6-22-2018.)

Newspapers

Nov 18: “Marine Disasters.”
Reported Loss of Several Vessels.”

“The propeller Water Witch, Captain Ryder, was sunk in Saginaw Bay, on Wednesday last [Nov 18], and all hands are supposed to be lost. She was seen to go down by the Captain of the schooner Norris, but he could render no assistance. The Water Witch was a new vessel, having come out in the spring of 1862. She was bound from Sarnia to Chicago. (Chicago Daily Tribune. “Marine Disasters.” 11-18-1863, p. 4, col. 1.)

Nov 18: “From Milwaukee.”
“Lake Disasters – Loss of the Propeller Water Witch with all on board.”

“(Special Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune). Milwaukee, Nov. 17, 1863.

“Private dispatches received from Detroit yesterday bring news of the sinking of the propeller Water Witch on Lake Huron, during the gale of the 11th. All on board supposed to be lost. She was bound from this point to Sarnia.” (Chicago Daily Tribune. “From Milwaukee.” 11-18-1863, p.1.)

Nov 19: “This propeller has been on the Chicago and Goderich route during the season. She belongs to E. Ward, of Detroit. The engineer of the steamer Fashion was put into her when she first came out. The Captain of the B.F. Wade reports that she was lost on Lake Huron. A metallic life-boat, picked up in Saginaw Bay by Capt. J. Osborn, of the schooner Hyphen, near Point au Sable, on the 12th, probably belongs to the Water Witch. It is feared the crew as well as the propeller are lost.” (Buffalo Daily Courier, NY. “The Propeller Water Witch Lost.” Nov 19, 1863; cited by William R. McNeil in “Water Witch (Propeller) sunk, 1 Oct 1863,” Maritime History of the Great Lakes.)

Nov 24: “The Water Witch, a propeller owned by E.B. Ward, of Detroit, and running from Chicago to Sarnia in connection with the Grand Trunk, has been wrecked in Saginaw Bay, and all hands are supposed to be lost. The Detroit Advertiser says that the Water Witch was built at Newport and came out in 1861, and ran last year in the Cleveland, Detroit and Lake Superior Line. She was probably the swiftest propeller on the lakes, and was of remarkably staunch build, but her machinery was an experiment, consisting of a cog-wheel engine and walking-beam working athwartships. It is possible that she became unmanageable by the disarrangement of some part of her machinery, but the disaster may have been caused by her being too heavily laden to weather the gale.” (Goderich Signal, Ontario. 11-24-1863; transcribed by McNeil in Maritime History of the Great Lakes {website}.)

Sources

Buffalo Daily Courier, NY “The Propeller Water Witch Lost.” Nov 19, 1863; transcribed by William McNeil in Maritime History of the Great Lakes.

Chicago Daily Tribune. “From Milwaukee.” 11-18-1863, p. 1, col. 4. Accessed 2-6-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-daily-tribune-nov-18-1863-p-1/

Chicago Daily Tribune. “Marine Disasters.” 11-18-1863, p. 4, col. 1. Accessed 2-6-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-daily-tribune-nov-18-1863-p-4/

Goderich Signal, Ontario. 11-24-1863; transcribed by William McNeil in Maritime History of the Great Lakes.

Lewis, Walter. “The Water Witch (1862).” Stories. Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Webpage accessed 2-6-2021 at: http://stories.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/water-witch/

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=7

Mansfield, John Brandts (Ed. and Compiler). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899. Google digitized. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=iHXhAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

McNeil, William R. “Water Witch (Propeller) sunk, 1 Oct 1863,” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Accessed 2-6-2021 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/38181/data?n=3

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.

Zaniewski, Ann (Detroit Free Press). “Shipwreck hunting: 8 undiscovered shipwrecks of the Great Lakes.” WUSA9 (Washington, DC), 6-22-2018. Accessed 2-6-2021 at: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/nation-now/shipwreck-hunting-8-undiscovered-shipwrecks-of-the-great-lakes/465-8f17307b-8450-4eb5-be67-be1de2b7e162

–40 New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. “Arrival of Sick at Cairo…Burning of the Campbell.” 10-4-1863, 3.
–22 Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling WV. “Burning of a Steamer on the Mississippi.” 10-5-1863, 6.
–22 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. LSU Press, 2008, p. 102.
–22 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]…1999, p.395.
— 0 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 259.

Narrative Information

Gaines: “Robert Campbell Jr. Union. Side-wheel steamer, 421 tons. Length 226 feet, beam 41 feet, depth 6 feet. Built in 1860 at Jeffersonville, Ind. Burned on September 28, 1863, near Milliken’s Bend, La. Was set afire by Confederate guerrilla Isaac Elshire, who posed as a passenger. A total of twenty-two died, including a number of Union soldiers….” (Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Louisiana State University Press, 2008, p. 102.)

Way: Robert Campbell, Jr. Sidewheel wood-hull packet built in 1860 in Jeffersonville, IN, at 421 tons, measuring 226 x 41 s 6. “Ran St. Louis-New Orleans, Capt. John S. Shaw….sold to a Capt. McCloy and others and was loaded out for Vicksburg. Caught fire in Milliken’s Bend [LA] on Sept. 28, 1863. Many jumped overboard with life loss set at 22 persons.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats of the Mississippi River System…(Revised). 1999, p. 395.)

Newspapers

Oct 3: “Cairo, October 3. – The steamer Robert Campbell from St. Louis to Vicksburg, was fired by incendiaries on Tuesday morning last, near Milliken’s Bend. The flames spread so rapidly that passengers were forced to jump overboard before the boat could be got to shore. Twenty-two lives are known to have been lost, including Lt. Perrill, 8th Missouri, N.T. Curtiss, 13th Iowa, Bf. W. Thompson, 50th Ill., Roberts, 33rd Ohio, C. Lynch, 2nd Clerk of the boat and Mrs. Sarah Hampton….” (Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV. “Burning of a Steamer on the Mississippi.” 10-5-1863, p. 6.)

Oct 4: “Cairo, Oct. 4….Part of the crew of the Robert Campbell have arrived, who represent the loss of life by the burning of that steamer to be 40.” (New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. “Arrival of Sick at Cairo – Loss of Life by the Burning of the Campbell.” 10-4-1863, p. 3.)

Sources

Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, WV. “Burning of a Steamer on the Mississippi.” 10-5-1863, p. 6. Accessed10-23-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/wheeling-daily-intelligencer-oct-05-1863-p-6/

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

New Albany Daily Ledger, IN. “Arrival of Sick at Cairo – Loss of Life by the Burning of the Campbell.” 10-4-1863, p. 3. Accessed 10-23-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/new-albany-daily-ledger-oct-04-1863-p-3/

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.

–2,050  US Army Surgeon General. Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion                      

(Part III, Vol. I, Medical History), page 46.[1] (deaths out of 20,050 cases)

 

Source

 

United States Army Surgeon General. The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (Part III, Vol. I, Medical History). Chapter 1 “On the Medical Statistics of the War, Section IV. Prevalence of Disease, and Mortality  Therefrom, Among the Confederate Troops in United States Prisons,” pp. 33-45. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888. Accessed 5-24-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-14121350R-mvset

 

 

[1] Table XVIII. Showing the number of Cases of certain Specified Diseases and Classes of Disease, and of Deaths attributed to them, among the Confederate Prisoners of War at the principal Prison Depots, for the period covered by the records of each prison.

–167  US Army Surgeon General. Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion                      

(Part III, Vol. I, Medical History), page 46.[1] (deaths out of 3,312 cases)

 

Source

 

United States Army Surgeon General. The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (Part III, Vol. I, Medical History). Chapter 1 “On the Medical Statistics of the War, Section IV. Prevalence of Disease, and Mortality  Therefrom, Among the Confederate Troops in United States Prisons,” pp. 33-45. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888. Accessed 5-24-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-14121350R-mvset

 

[1] Table XVIII. Showing the number of Cases of certain Specified Diseases and Classes of Disease, and of Deaths attributed to them, among the Confederate Prisoners of War at the principal Prison Depots, for the period covered by the records of each prison.

–26-35 Blanchard estimated death-roll range.*

— 47 Supervising Inspector of Steamboats (A. Guthrie, 8th US District). 1863, p. 184.
–21 crew
–26 passengers
— 35 Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Disaster on Lake Superior…Thirty-five…Lost.” 9-7-1863, 1.
–25-35 Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks. 1990, p. 10.
— 34 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 263.
— 34 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 260.
— 34 McNeil. “Sunbeam (Steamboat), sunk, 28 Aug 1863.” Maritime History…Great Lakes.
— 34 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 684.
— 34 Winona Daily Republican, MN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster!” 9-7-1863, p. 2, col. 3.
— ~29 Cass County Republican, Dowagiac, MI. “Awful Disaster on Lake Superior.” 9-10-1863, 3.
— ~20 crew
— 10 passengers
— 29 Simpson. US Cong. House Merchant Marine Cmte. The Seamen’s Bill Hearings, 1914, 302.
— 28 Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter S.
— 26 Mansfield. Great Lakes Maritime History, Vol. 1, Chapter 38, 1862-1870. 1899, p. 695.
— 21 crew
–6-8 passengers
— 26 Swayze, David D. Shipwreck!…Directory…Shipwrecks on…Great Lakes. 1992, p. 226.
— 25 Daily Milwaukee News, WI. “Loss of the Sunbeam.” Sep 9, 1863, p. 1.
— 10 Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Sep 8, 1863, p. 2.

* Blanchard estimated death-roll range. There not being a definitive list of fatalities, we choose to resort to an estimated death-toll range. For the low end of this range we choose to rely on Mansfield and Swayze (26). For the high-end (35) we choose to rely on Wolff and the Wisconsin State journal report of 9-7-1863, which also matches with the number we derive in our attempt to compile a listing of fatalities at the end of the document, before the listing of sources.

We choose not to use the Supervising Inspector of Steamboats report of 47 fatalities in that we can find no support for such a death toll elsewhere (and we have attempted a newspaper archive search through the end of the year). While there are many newspaper reports on this loss, the numbers reported as the death toll mirror what we already note above, so we choose not to be duplicative.

Narrative Information

Lytle and Holdcamper: “Sunbeam…398 [tons] foundered…3 28 1863 [sic, 8 28 1863]…Near Eagle Harbor, Mich. …34.” (Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 260.)

Mansfield: “1863. Sunbeam Lost on Lake Superior. – The steamer Sunbeam was lost in a hurricane on Lake Superior August 28, 1863, with all on board, except John Frazer, the wheelsman. She was a passenger steamer, plying between Superior and Portage lake. She left Superior August 26. The story of the sole survivor is substantially as follows: When the Sunbeam came out from Ontonagon, the wind was blowing fresh from the north. A gale struck them several hours later, the wind shifting to north-northeast. She rode the storm till next morning, when the captain attempted to put her about to face the gale, as she had become unmanageable and all hopes of reaching Copper Harbor, 24 miles east, had failed him, and as there was no harbor west that could be entered in such a storm nearer than Bayfield. The sea was so rough that it was only occasionally they could see the steamer Michigan, less than two miles distant. Before attempting to turn around, the boat headed two points north of east, the wind, a little east of north, striking her quarter. When they put her about she fell into the trough of the sea and rolled terribly. Unable to move her by machinery, they ran up her jib, but she failed to come up or pay away and the jib was hauled down. Her engine was in motion but doing no good. The jib was hauled up a second time to try for the shore but she could not be made to right up into the wind. About this time she careened, her pilot house lying flat with the water. She was held in that position by the gale; the successive waves beating against her with such force as to break her to pieces, and she soon filled with water, and sank. It was conjectured that the water had got between her side and her false side, waterlogging her and rendering her unmanageable.

“The captain had told Frazer to stick to the wheel and do what he could to turn her if she righted again, but when Frazer saw no hopes of her coming up again, and the mad waves running over her he broke the window on the upper side of the pilot house and made his way to the small boats. Of these there were three, two lifeboats and a yawl, but one of the lifeboats had disappeared. The two remaining boats were filled with passengers and crew. Frazer got into the yawl where he had only standing room, but just then a woman, he thinks the chambermaid, begged to be taken aboard. Frazer jumped out upon a piece of the hurricane deck, and the woman was taken aboard. The self-sacrificing wheelman lashed himself to the fragment of deck with the signal halyards of the flagstaff, floating near, and soon after picked up a demijohn, which he secured with the ends of the rope.

“When Frazer left the wreck the upper cabin had been swept off, and she soon after gradually settled and sank, bow downward. He thinks that there were still some passengers below. Frazer saw the yawl go down, and also saw the lifeboat upside down, and two men lying crosswise upon it, swept out of sight. He was on the raft from 8 o’clock Friday evening until 2 o’clock Saturday afternoon. He neared the shore where the red sandstone rocks rose in an almost perpendicular cliff. The waves dashed his raft to pieces against the rocks, cutting his forehead and bruising his knees and shoulder. He fell back into the water, but the next wave dashed him against the rocks, where he caught upon a shelving projection and crawled into a small cavern. Here he remained about eight hours waiting for the wind to subside and the sea to go down. Then, weak and benumbed from cold, he crawled up on shore. He was about 35 miles above Eagle river and 12 or 15 miles from Portage, across the country. He remained on the shore till Monday afternoon, when he signaled to a party coasting along the shore in a small boat from Ontonagon, and was rescued. The crew numbered 21 persons, and there were six or eight passengers aboard. Frazer was the only survivor.

“The Sunbeam was a stanch boat of 400 tons burden, built in 1861 at Manitowoc. She had five water-tight compartments, was elegantly furnished, and was a favorite with the lake-traveling public.” (Mansfield 1899)

McNeil: “Notes
Reason: sunk
Lives: 34
Hull damage: $30,000
Remarks: Total loss
Date of original: 1863
….
Geographic Coverage: Eagle Harbor, Michigan, United States
….
Donor: William R. McNeil
(McNeil, William R.. “Sunbeam (Steamboat), sunk, 28 Aug 1863.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes.)

Simpson: “In the year 1863 the steamer Sunbeam was lost on the south shore of Lake Superior, with a loss of 29 persons. These left the sinking steamer in the lifeboats, which, however, soon swamped. Charles Frazier, a wheelsman, who lived at Superior City, Wis., lashed himself to the top of the pilot house, which was washed ashore 30 hours afterwards near Portage, 20 miles from the scene of the disaster.” (Simpson. US Cong. House Merchant Marine Committee. The Seamen’s Bill Hearings, 1914, p. 302.)

Supervising Inspector of Steamboats (A. Guthrie, 8th US District): “There have been a few accidents, such as probably will ever occur…but there has been nothing requiring a more extended notice, with the single exception of the foundering of the steamer Sunbeam, on Lake Superior, on the 28th of August, during a gale of almost unprecedented violence, involving the loss of twenty-six (26) passengers, and twenty-one (21) officers and crew, a wheelsman only being saved. Painful as this case is, it can hardly be classed as an accident which human prudence could have prevented. The vessel was quite new, and supposed to be very strongly and substantially built, with a powerful, good engine, which continued to work until almost the last moment.

“The Captain, William Dougall, was an old and experienced officer, with a high reputation for sobriety, prudence, and foresight; the other officers, together with the engineers (Messrs. Healey and Murray), were considered equally qualified for their respective positions; but such was the fury of the storm, that no skill, it seems, could save the vessel, and all but one perished.

“It is hardly possible that this disaster can convey an instructive lesson by which others may be guided hereafter, but it is one of those cases that seen now and then to arise hardly to be provided against.” (Guthrie, A., Eighth Supervising District. Annual report of the board of supervising inspectors of steamboats. Washington, November 2, 1863, p. 184.)

Swayze:
Other names : built as steamer VICTOR, renamed in 1862
Official no. : none
Type at loss : sidewheel steamer, wood, passenger & package freight
Build info : 1861, Bates & Son, Manitowoc, WI
Specs : 169x24x10, 398 gt
Date of loss : 1863, Aug 28
Place of loss : off Keweenaw Pt
Lake : Superior
Type of loss : storm
Loss of life : 28 of 29
Carrying : passengers
Detail : Caught in a gale above Eagle Harbor while in company of the steamer MICHIGAN, she broke up and foundered offshore between Ontonagon and Portage Lake. Her crew took to her small lifeboats and were all lost except the wheelsman who had forsaken a boat for a piece of floating wreckage. He sustained himself for over 30 hours on the contents of a large bottle of port wine that had drifted near. Built with an unusual and unsuccessful Wittaker side propeller propulsion system, which was removed after its first year of service in favor of a standard sidewheel powerplant. Owned by the Goodrich Line of Chicago. Master: Capt. Ratteray(d).
(Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks Beginning with the letter S.)

Newspaper

Sep 7: “Chicago, Sept. 7. The steamer Planet brings news that the steamer Sunbeam foundered on Lake Superior the 28th of August. All on board except the wheelsman lost. The wheelsman lashed himself to a piece of the wreck, and after floating thirty hours washed ashore at Portage, twenty miles from the scene of the disaster. He reports that the Sunbeam left Superior City on Thursday. Early the next morning during a gale the steamer was struck by a heavy sea, which rolled her over on her side. The small boats were immediately got out and the passengers and crew were being put into them when the vessel was struck by another heavy sea, and commenced breaking up.

“The rescued man saw the boats filled with passengers and the crew swamp soon after leaving the wreck, and is certain all were lost but himself. The Planet picked up portions of the wreck which were floating about for two miles around where the vessel went down.

“The passengers and crew numbered 35 persons. The names of those lost so far as ascertained are as follows; — Passengers – A. Sherman and son, A. Cohen, of Ontonagon. Cres – Dougal, captain; W. A. Gardner, clerk; Thos. F. Healy, first engineer; Patrick and J. O. Donnel, 1st and 2d mates of Detroit; O. McHall cabin boy, of Chicago; Jas Gutters, foreman. The scene of the disaster was a little North West of Eagle river ten miles out.” (Winona Daily Republican, MN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster!” 9-7-1863, p. 2, col. 3.)

Sep 8: “The following is addition in regard to the Steamer Sunbeam: The Sunbeam left Superior City Thursday. Early next morning, during the gale, the steamer, was struck by a heavy sea, which rolled her over on her side. The small boats immediately got out. The passengers and crew being put into them, when the vessel was struck by another heavy sea, and commenced breaking up. The crew and passengers numbered 35 names. The lost us far as ascertained is as follows: [10]

A. [Abner ] Sherman and son;
A. [Augustus ] Cohen [or Coburn ], Ontonagon.
Crew
Captain Dougal,
W.A. Gardner, clerk;
Thomas F. Kealy, first engineer;
Patrick and O’Donnell, first and second Mates, of Detroit.
W.D. Collins, saloon keeper;
O. McKale, cabin boy, of Chicago;
Jas. Butler, fireman.

“The scene of the disaster was located a little northeast of Eagle River, ten miles out.” (Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Sep 8, 1863, p. 2.)

Sep 9: “From Chicago Times, yesterday. The steamer Planet, just arrived in Chicago, brought with her the only survivor of the wreck of the Sunbeam, which vessel went down off the mouth of Eagle river, in Lake Superior, with about 25 souls, as already reported in The Times. The man rescued from a watery grave was a wheelsman who had been shipped at Superior City the day before the loss of the vessel. His name is Charles Frasier. He was examined before Inspector Outhrie [unclear], yesterday. The following narrative is principally deducted from his testimony:

“The Sunbeam was a side-wheel steamer, owned by A. E. Goodrich, commanded by Capt. William Dougal, and was running to Lake Superior, in conjunction with the Sea Bird, Planet, and Comet. She was built in 1860 at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and was 398 tons burden, being accounted a very superior boat. She left Superior City on Wednesday, and called at Ontonagon on Thursday evening, taking on wood there. She left thence for Portage, and arrived off the mouth of Eagle River, being about fifteen miles from shore, early on Friday morning. Here the gale, which had commenced the night before, suddenly increased in violence, and the vessel became unmanageable. From 12 o’clock at night till near 6 in the morning they labored to keep her on her course, but she made no headway, as she careened so much that although the engines were kept at work they lost their propelling power, and having no forward motion she did not answer the helm. About 6 o’clock the Captain decided upon returning to some port, and tried to turn the vessel round, heading her into the lake and putting the jib up for that purpose. This was found to be ineffectual, and they hauled the jib down again, and the vessel keeled over to leeward worse than ever, the seas making clean breaches over her. The engineer came up and spoke to the captain, who told him to put all the steam on he possibly could. The jib was run up a second time, but nothing was gained, and for a while longer the vessel beat about at the mercy of the waves, everything on board being in the wildest confusion, and no one expecting other than almost instant death. It is not known whether she made much water or not, but about six o’clock the weather bulwarks were smashed by the waves and the captain then ordered all hands below to try and right her by moving the freight and luggage. Finding this to be impossible, he ordered them all on deck. Now ensued an indescribable scene. They were climbing about in all directions – dashed here and there by the waves, some cursing, others praying, but all in a state of wild despair. Frasier remained in the wheelhouse, being told to do so by the captain, although it did not seem that any good would be accomplished by so doing. A push was now made for the boats, and the yawl and one of the life-boats was got out and packed full of men. There was but one female on board – the cabin maid. Seeing the yawl full, Frazer thought it about time to look out for himself, but the door of the wheelhouse was under water, and resisted all his efforts to open it. He smashed a window on the opposite side and crowded through. He then jumped into the yawl, and got a place on the stern, but, seeing the cabin-maid in the water, crying to be taken on board, he jumped into the lake and assisted her to a place in the boat. He then began to think that the boat heavily laden as it was presented but a poor chance of escape, and concluded to trust himself to the vessel. He returned to the hurricane deck, and the flag staff falling across near him, he cut the lanyards from it and lashed himself to the deck. The vessel was now lying on her beam ends, and the waves breaking over her at every motion carried away necessarily the different parts of the cabins, breaking everything to pieces, and finally washing him and his hurricane life preserver into the water. For two or three minutes more the hull of the vessel lay like a scow in the water being pushed about fearfully, then went down head foremost. Frazier floated off securely, but was terribly bruised by the pieces of the wreck which were dashed against him.

“Once or twice a body floated past him, and one of them came so near that he could almost touch it. Another minute and he saw the yawl with its cargo of humanity go down from the crest of a wave with a plunge, then a wild shriek, and all was over; the yawl had gone under and not one of the party who trusted their lives in her were saved. As he was thrown about he soon afterwards came near one of the life boats which was upset and two of the deck hands were on her keel. They hung on there for half an hour, then one was washed off and his companion soon followed. Frazier was now left alone on the wild waste of waters. Of all that company no one else remained above the surface. Around him were the angry waves…

“It was about 8 o’clock on Friday morning that the vessel went down, and from that time till 2 o’clock on Saturday, a space of thirty hours, he was lashed to that raft with nothing to sustain him but a demijohn of port wine, which, floating past him, he eagerly seized and used at those intervals when a slight cessation of the rocking motion permitted him to apply it to his lips. He was washed ashore twelve or fifteen miles above Portage, and thirty to thirty-five miles above Eagle River. The shore here, and for many miles each way, is a high bluff of sandstone rock. Frazer struck his head against the rock, receiving an ugly would on the forehead, which nearly made him senseless. He managed to crawl on the cliff, and then sank exhausted, lying on the ground unable to move till Sunday, when he crawled a distance of eight miles towards Portage. Here he was picked up by two men who took him to Hancock, where he was taken on board the Planet….

“The Sunbeam was on her return trip, and in the absence of news from Superior City it is not possible to say how many lives were lost. Frazer was only shipped at Superior City, and spent most of the intervening time in the wheel-house. He believes that there were five passengers on board, and it is probable that the crew numbered about twenty besides the cabin maid, who, he asserts, was the only female on board….” (Daily Milwaukee News, WI. “Loss of the Sunbeam.” Sep 9, 1863, p. 1.)

Sunbeam Fatalities
(>19 crew and 7 passengers, for total of 26)

Crew
(Reporting is of 20-21 crew onboard.)

1. Butler, Jas. Fireman
2. Collins, W. D. (or M.H. ) Saloon keeper Chicago IL
3. Donnel, J. O. (or O’Donell ) Second mate Detroit MI
4. Donnel, Patrick (or O’Donell ) First mate Detroit MI
5. Dougal, William Captain
6. Gardner [Gardiner? ), Willis A. Clerk
7. Healey, Thomas F. First engineer Detroit, MI
8. McHale, Jas (or O. McKale) Cabin boy Chicago IL
9. Murray, Mr. 2nd engineer
10. Unnamed female Chambermaid
11. Unnamed “Indian” Deckhand
12. Unnamed “Indian” Deckhand
13. Unnamed Crewmember
14. Unnamed Crewmember
15. Unnamed Crewmember
16. Unnamed Crewmember
17. Unnamed Crewmember
18. Unnamed Crewmember
19. Unnamed Crewmember

Passengers
1. Bird, Rev. Passenger Houghton MI
2. Coburn, Augustus Passenger Ontonagon MI
3. Isham, W. J. Passenger? Chicago IL
4. Shepherd, Mrs. Hancock
5. Sheppard, Mr. Passenger
6. Sherman, Abner T. Passenger Ontonagon MI
7. Sherman, son of Abner, 15 Passenger Ontonagon MI

Sources

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

Cass County Republican, Dowagiac, MI. “Awful Disaster on Lake Superior.” 9-10-1863, p. 3. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-cass-county-republican-sep-10-1863-p-3/

Chicago Tribune. “An Editor Drowned.” 9-15-1863, p. 4, col. 1. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-daily-tribune-sep-15-1863-p-4/

Chicago Tribune, IL. “The Late Disaster on Lake Superior.” 9-11-1863, p. 4. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-daily-tribune-sep-11-1863-p-4/

Daily Milwaukee News, WI. “Loss of the Sunbeam.” Sep 9, 1863, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=119990101

Eau Claire Free Press, WI. “Fearful Casualty on Lake Superior.” 9-17-1863, p. 1. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/eau-claire-daily-free-press-sep-17-1863-p-1/

Evergreen City Times, Sheboygan, WI. “Terrible Disaster. Loss of the Steamer Sunbeam.” 9-12-1863, p. 4. Accessed 1-16-2021: https://newspaperarchive.com/evergreen-city-times-sep-12-1863-p-4/

Hillsdale Standard, MI. “The Loss of the Steamer Sunbeam.” 9-15-1863, p. 1. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hillsdale-standard-sep-15-1863-p-1/

Lansing State Republican, MI. “Loss of the Steamer Sunbeam.” 9-16-1863, p. 3, col. 7. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/the-lansing-state-republican-sep-16-1863-p-3/

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

Mansfield, John Brandts (Ed. and Compiler). History of the Great Lakes (Vol. 1). Chicago: J.H. Beers & Co., 1899. Google digitized. Accessed 1-15-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=iHXhAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

McNeil, William R.. “Sunbeam (Steamboat), sunk, 28 Aug 1863.” Maritime History of the Great Lakes. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://images.maritimehistoryofthegreatlakes.ca/37992/data?n=1

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Ratigan, William. Great Lakes Shipwrecks & Survivals (New Revised and Enlarged Edition). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1969.

Semi-Weekly Wisconsin, Milwaukee. [Steamer Sunbeam loss.] 9-8-1863, p. 2. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=120021078

Simpson, Capt. Fred J., representing the Shipmasters’ Association, p. 302, in U.S. Congress, House Merchant Marine Committee. The Seamen’s Bill Hearings. Washington, DC: 1914. Accessed 1-15-2021 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=fDkuAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=true

Board of Supervising Inspectors of Steamboats. Annual report of the board of supervising inspectors of steamboats. Washington, November 2, 1863; in House of Representatives, 38th Congress, 1st Session (Executive Document No. 3). Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, on the State of the Finances, for the Year Ending June 30, 1863. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1863. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=6YPPAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=sunbeam&f=false

Swayze, David D. Great Lakes Shipwrecks S. Accessed 9-5-2009 and 1-15-2021 at:
http://www.boatnerd.com/swayze/shipwreck/s.htm

Swayze, David D. Shipwreck! A Comprehensive Directory of Over 3,700 Shipwrecks on the Great Lakes. Boyne City, MI: Harbor House Publications, Inc., 1992.

Winona Daily Republican, MN. “Terrible Steamboat Disaster!” 9-7-1863, p. 2, col. 3. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/winona-daily-republican-sep-07-1863-p-2/

Wisconsin State Journal, Madison. “Disaster on Lake Superior…Thirty-five Persons Lost.” 9-7-1863, p. 1. Accessed 1-16-2021 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/madison-wisconsin-state-journal-sep-07-1863-p-1/

Wolff, Julius F., Jr. Lake Superior Shipwrecks: Complete Reference to Maritime Accidents and Disasters. Duluth, MN: Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., 1990.

— 156 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 162.
–63-156 Gaines. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. 2008, p. 92.
— 156 Lytle and Holdcamper. Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1952, p. 258.
— 156 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 685.
–63-156 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994…Steamboats…MS River System. 1994, p. 93.
— >100 Christie in: Madison-Jefferson Co. Pub. Library and Jefferson Co. Hist. Soc. River to Rail.
— ~50 New England Historical and Genealogical Register 1863, Vol. 17, p. 374.

Narrative Information

Berman: “City of Madison… St. p. [Steel propeller]; 419 [tons]; Sep 1863 [date of loss]; Exploded [cause]; Vicksburg, Miss. 156 lives lost. Cargo of ammunition.” (Berman 1972, 162)

Gaines: “City of Madison. Union Side-wheel steamer, 419 tons…Built in 1860 at Madison, Ind… Cargo of ammunition…exploded in September 1863 in a fire caused by Confederate agents near Vicksburg, Miss., with 156 killed, although another report claimed 63 died.” (Gaines 2008, 92)

Lytle and Holdcamper: “City of Madison…419 [tons]…exploded (Ammunition cargo)…9 [Sep] 1863…Vicksburg, Miss. …156 [lives lost].” (Lytle and Holdcamper. Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1952, p. 258.)

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library and Jefferson County Historical Society: “Built for the United States Mail Line, the City of Madison was put to work hauling war supplies after the Civil War broke out. It followed the front through Tennessee and on August 19, 1863, just after taking part in Ulysses S. Grant’s expedition against Vicksburg, the City of Madison was peacefully moored at the docks of that town, preparing to steam downriver. Rounding off her full load of gunpowder with a shipment of percussion shells, the crew of the City of Madison stoked her engines and directed the workers securing the last of the cargo. What happened next is described by an eyewitness who, with some others of his unit, were detailed to pick up a load of hay near the docks that morning….

“The Christie Account
“[A]bout noon, as we were leaving the levee, I saw a great cloud of smoke, flame, and steam, and a loud, prolonged roar as if a great gun had burst. But we soon learned that it was the City of Madison, a government transport, that had nearly completed her load of ammunition. I left the wagons and hastened in the direction of the scene of disaster, having about sixty rods to run. What a sight when I got to the boat, or where she had been, there she lay or what was left of her. A small portion of [the] upper deck and the stern besides the right hand wheelhouse, she was at the time of the horrible accident getting up steam so that she might proceed to Natchez. But as her load was not complete there was a large detail of as many as eighty men at work getting aboard the boxes of fixed ammunition, when unfortunately some careless or thoughtless person let a box of percussion shell fall, and it fell points down and then men and boat went up in one great cloud of smoke and flame. Men mangled, were thrown as much as one hundred yards from the boat, and ceased to breathe, boxes of ammunition were thrown up to a great height and fell among piles of the same that were on the levee. Tis said the captain’s family were on board, besides the deck hands, one hundred negroes were in the hold, stowing away the loading, and in fact I suppose there are over a hundred lives lost […] The Edward Walsh, very large boat lying outside the City of Madison, is a total wreck as far as her upper works are concerned, there were a number of people hurt on her also.” ….

Wiley Account: “Another account of the explosion is given by a soldier who was loading her at the time of the accident. “On Aug. 19th, a lot of us were detailed to load a boat (the City of Madison) with ammunition at the Vicksburg wharf and while loading it we were placing boxes of percussion shells on hand barrows and carrying them onto the boat and some careless one dropped a box of shells and exploded them which ignited the powder and blowed the boat to atoms. A great many were killed and a great many others badly hurt and a good many other boats that lay near it was badly injured. I was on shore at the time and escaped unhurt.”

“The Conspiracy Theory

“As an accident, the explosion of the City of Madison is a tragic event, but information contained in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies in the War of the Rebellion may point to a far more sinister cause for the disaster. According to a letter dated April 25, 1865 from the Provost-Marshal-General of Missouri, J.H. Baker, to C.A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War, the City of Madison, along with at least a dozen other cases of burnt vessels, were the work of covert Confederate arsonists. The letter cites a confession of one of the saboteurs who states that Confederate Secretary of State J. P. Benjamin agreed to pay him and his conspirators $50,000 for their actions ‘provided those claims of the Louisville matter (burning of Government medical stores last year) were all right.’ The report goes on to list nineteen of the arsonists by name and residence with additional remarks for some such as ‘Supposed to be in rebel lines’, ‘In Gratiot Prison’, ‘Can arrest him any time’, and ‘Came voluntarily and exposed the others; afterward left suddenly; am looking for him.’

“Though the destruction of the City of Madison is often claimed to have been an accident and local papers even cite conversations with eyewitnesses, many of the sources seem to have inferred the ultimate cause of the disaster from reports they heard later. Few of the eyewitnesses were in a position to view the fateful slip that all believe doomed the vessel. A more interesting and certainly more controversial theory is that Confederate saboteurs planted on the vessel several pieces of ‘loaded’ coal, large chunks of coal that had been sawed in half, hollowed out, and packed with explosives. These deadly bombs would have been indistinguishable from the rest of ship’s fuel supply and as the City of Madison was ‘getting up steam’ at the time of the explosion, her loaders would have been shoveling coal into the engines at a furious rate….” (Madison-Jefferson Co. Pub. Library and Jefferson Co. Hist. Soc. River to Rail…Rise…Fall of River…Rail Transportation in Madison, IN.)

New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol. 17: “August…19. Steamer City of Madison blown up at Vicksburg. About 50 persons killed.” (p. 374)

Sources

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

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=9&size=125&q1=ceres

Madison-Jefferson County Public Library and Jefferson County Historical Society. River to Rail: The Rise and Fall of River and Rail Transportation in Madison, Indiana. Copyright 2006-2007. Accessed 9/13/2010: http://mjcpl.org/rivertorail/ageofsteam/the-city-of-madison-disaster

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

New England Historical and Genealogical Society. New England Historical and Genealogical Register 1863, Vol. 17. Partially digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=FePd3ZPcld4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

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.

— 30 Berman, Bruce D. Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks. 1972, p. 289.
–~30 Dawson’s Daily Times and Union, Fort Wayne, IN. Aug 7, 1863, p. 2.
— 30 Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: LSU, 2008, p102.
— 30 Lytle and Holdcamper. Merchant Steam Vessels of the [U.S.] 1807-1868. 1952, p. 262.
— 30 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours. 1977, p. 685.
— 30 New York Times. “Burning of the Steamer Ruth.” Aug 10, 1863, p. 6.
— 30 Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, p. 405.

Narrative Information

Gaines: “Ruth, Union. Side-wheel steamer, 702 tons….Carried a $2.6 million Union army payroll in United States notes and eight paymasters and their clerks bound for the Union army at Vicksburg, Miss. Also carried stores along with thirty-one guards of Company I, 9th Wis. Infantry Regiment…Was burned by Confederate agents on the night of August 5, 1863, between Cairo, Ill., and Columbus, Ky., at Lucas Bend, 4 miles below Norfolk, Mo. One of the agents was said to have been Robert Louden. The vessel was engulfed within five minutes and continued to burn for five hours, sinking in 18 feet of water. Thirty lives were lost, including five Union guards and three clerks. Union salvage divers recovered only pieces of the bank notes. The Ruth was blown up with gunpowder on October 19, 1863, to prevent others from trying to recover any remaining payroll.”
(Gaines, W. Craig. Encyclopedia of Civil War Shipwrecks. Baton Rouge: LSU, 2008, p. 102.)

Way: Ruth. Sidewheel wood-hull packet, built in 1862 in Jeffersonville, IN, at 702 tons, measuring 270 x 46 x 8. “….Came out new on Jan. 1, 1863. She went in service almost at once as a U.S. transport and burned while downbound on the Mississippi, six miles below Cairo, Ill., Aug. 4, 1863. She was loaded with military stores, had in her safe $2.6 million in greenbacks, and was loaded deep. Thirty lives were lost. The blame for the fire was placed on a Confederate arsonist, confirmed later by Absalom Grimes, a mail runner who wrote a book. Grimes lay the blame on Robert Louden, also a Confederate mail runner.” (Way’s Packet Directory, 1848-1994: Passenger Steamboats…[MS Riv. Sys.]… 1999, p. 405.)

Newspapers

Aug 5: “Correspondence of the Missouri Democrat. Cairo, Wednesday, Aug. 5.

“Taking the steamer Nevada, several paymasters and their clerks, Capt. …[unclear] and Mr. [unclear] clerk of the Ruth, went down this morning to where the destruction of the steamer Ruth took place inst. night. Nothing was discovered of any importance. Pieces of the wreck were lying near the Missouri shore, two or three miles below the point where the Ruth was first run aground, surrounded by dead mules and cattle yet fastened to the machinery, but no human bodies were discovered in the vicinity and no news of any could be obtained from residents along the shore. On the return trip they were hailed just above Island No. 1, and told that three or four soldiers had gone up to Cairo upon the Kentucky shore, having been saved from the wreck, but thus far none have reported here. Since my first dispatch I have been able to gather the following particulars of the dreadful affair:

The fire was first seen near the carpenter’s ship, left [unclear] of the wheelhouse, under the ladies’ cabin, when the boat was just below Norfolk Landing [MO, below Cairo], below Island No. 9. The fire came from aft forward almost like a flash, and before anything could be done the steamer was enveloped in flames.

“The steamer’s pump, furnished with excellent hose, was at once applied by the mate, but to no effect. Nothing could subdue such a sheet of flame. The boat was, as before stated, headed immediately to the shore, and with a full head of steam, ran upon the beach with such force that some thirty feet of her…[unclear] was left impressed in the solid clay of the shore. Both wheels were moving when she struck, and had they both continued to revolve, all on board might have got off, but the bank was very steep, and nothing to tie to, and one wheel suddenly ceased to revolve, remaining stationary hardly one minute. All who escaped did so during these few seconds. The other wheel continued in motion, and turned the remaining part of the vessel into the river.

“Maj. Benton [unclear], Paymaster in charge of moneys to pay Grant’s army, was standing upon the upper deck, leaning over the bulwarks, when a shock came behind him and sent him headlong overboard, and, after striking upon the lower guards and hitting one man and knocking him over, the Major fell into the water near the wheelhouse, and was severely hurt and somewhat bruised about the head, but he finally made his escape. Had he not been thus knocked overboard by the shock, he would not have had time to get off, as he had to idea but that the boat would stick upon the shore. His clerk, H.S. Goddard, was also fortunate enough to escape. In the rush of getting ashore some persons fell into the river, but it is believed none were drowned then. A corporal, having in charge five privates, jumped ashore with his men, but stepping down the steep bank he unfortunately went under the heavy staging which had been pushed out to facilitate the escape to shore, and as the boat swung out the stage fell off, and crushed three to death. The remainder who were so unfortunate as to fail in getting ashore seemed to be terror-stricken, and lost all presence of mind. Captain…[unclear] shouted to them to launch another stage, by which they could all have been saved, for if the stage had not reached shore they could have clung to it in the water until assistance could have reached them, but although they were standing on the stage and around it no effort was made to shove it overboard. An old river man who was still on board, tried by every means to induce them to do so, but all his efforts failed. He then jumped overboard and saved himself by swimming ashore. It is thought all who remained on board were lost, with one or two exceptions. This number has been variously estimated at from 26 to 60, but the most reliable authority seems to be that which places it at 30….” (New York Times. “Burning of the Steamer Ruth.” Aug 10, 1863, p. 6.)

Aug 7: “The steamer Ruth was burned on the Mississippi, above Cairo, on Tuesday night. Some thirty lives were lost, including a Paymaster and three Paymaster’s clerks, who were on their way to pay off Gen. Grant’s army. The money with them — $2,600,000 in ‘greenbacks’ – was all destroyed.” (Dawson’s Daily Times and Union, Fort Wayne, IN. Aug 7, 1863, p. 2.)

Sources

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

Dawson’s Daily Times and Union, Fort Wayne, IN. [Steamboat Ruth burns.] 8-7-1863, p. 2. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=41020297

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

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

New York Times. “Burning of the Steamer Ruth.” Aug 10, 1863, p. 6. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=7644724

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.

— 150-300  Blanchard estimated range.[1]

 

Estimated number of Sioux killed by U.S. Army arranged alphabetically by source:

Allard. “Why the Founder of Standing Rock Sioux Camp Can’t Forget the Whitestone Massacre.”

–300-400 Sioux.

North Dakota Studies (school curriculum, grades 4 & 8 authorized by ND Legislative Assembly)

—     >300  Yanktonai. North Dakota Studies.[2] “Whitestone Hill.”

—         20  U.S. Soldiers “…many caught in army crossfire.” North Dakota Studies.

Grand Forks Herald, ND. Whitestone Hill: Was N.D.’s deadliest conflict…” 9-3-2013.

–100-300  Natives (men, women, children).

—         20  U.S. Soldiers.

State Historical Society of North Dakota. North Dakota Studies. “Massacre at Whitestone Hill.”

— 150  Natives (men, women and children). Note this is the estimate given by General Sully.

—   19  U.S. Soldiers (2 officers and 17 enlisted).

White. “A Massacre in North Dakota: Remembering Whitestone Hill.” Midwestern Scout, 2016.

–300-400 Natives (men, women, children and infants).

—         20  U.S. soldiers.

Wikipedia:

–~200 Natives killed and wounded. (Wikipedia. “Battle of Whitestone Hill.” 12-16-2016 mod.)

—    22 U.S. Soldiers killed (38 wounded).

Narrative Information

Allard: “On this day, 153 years ago, my great-great-grandmother Nape Hote Win (Mary Big Moccasin) survived the bloodiest conflict between the Sioux Nations and the U.S. Army ever on North Dakota soil. An estimated 300 to 400 of our people were killed in the Inyan Ska (Whitestone) Massacre, far more than at Wounded Knee….

“Just 50 miles east of here, in 1863, nearly 4,000 Yanktonais,[3] Isanti (Santee),[4] and Hunkpapa[5] gathered alongside a lake in southeastern North Dakota, near present-day Ellendale, for an intertribal buffalo hunt to prepare for winter. It was a time of celebration and ceremony—a time to pray for the coming year, meet relatives, arrange marriages, and make plans for winter camps. Many refugees from the 1862 uprising in Minnesota, mostly women and children, had been taken in as family. Mary’s father, Oyate Tawa, was one of the 38 Dah’kotah hung in Mankato, Minnesota, less than a year earlier, in the largest mass execution in the country’s history. Brigadier General Alfred Sully[6] and soldiers came to Dakota Territory looking for the Santee who had fled the uprising. This was part of a broader U.S. military expedition to promote white settlement in the eastern Dakotas and protect access to the Montana gold fields via the Missouri River.

“As my great-great-grandmother Mary Big Moccasin told the story, the attack came the day after the big hunt, when spirits were high. The sun was setting and everyone was sharing an evening meal when Sully’s soldiers surrounded the camp on Whitestone Hill. In the chaos that ensued, people tied their children to their horses and dogs and fled. Mary was 9 years old. As she ran, she was shot in the hip and went down. She laid there until morning, when a soldier found her. As he loaded her into a wagon, she heard her relatives moaning and crying on the battlefield.  She was taken to a prisoner of war camp in Crow Creek where she stayed until her release in 1870….” (Allard, LaDonna Bravebull. “Why the Founder of Standing Rock Sioux Camp Can’t Forget the Whitestone Massacre.” Indian County Media Network, 9-4-2016.)

Grand Forks Herald, ND: “Whitestone Hill, N.D. – It stands as the deadliest conflict ever recorded on North Dakota soil. Between 100 and 300 Dakota and Lakota[7] Sioux men, women and children were killed, and 20 soldiers died from their wounds.

“After the fighting stopped, soldiers lingered for two days, burning teepees, shooting dogs as well as wounded horses and burning the Indians’ food and belongings….The acts of destruction ensured that even the survivors were condemned to hunger and hardship as they scattered after the attack on a sprawling Sioux encampment in Dakota Territory.

“The acts of destruction ensured that even the survivors were condemned to hunger and hardship as they scattered after the attack on a sprawling Sioux encampment in Dakota Territory. For the Dakota and Lakota, the incident was so painful that it remained submerged for many years. For whites, Whitestone Hill was overshadowed by the cataclysmic Civil War. Preparations are now being made for a 150th anniversary observance here on Aug. 24 that aims to change that, to help heal historical wounds among descendants of the victims.

“Efforts to nominate Whitestone Hill to the National Register of Historic Places have prompted a deeper examination in recent years about the enormous human suffering that came from the clash and a reappraisal of what happened and why.

“The U.S. Army, which was carrying out reprisal raids following the deadly 1862 Minnesota Uprising, called it the Battle of Whitestone Hill. Today, in fact, the National Park Service recognizes the site – which is in Dickey County, a 90-minute drive south from Jamestown – as a Civil War battlefield.

“Descendants of the Dakota and Lakota Sioux, many of them from Yanktonai bands, use a different word to describe what happened here. They call it a massacre, with human consequences still felt today….

“…4,000 Sioux, mostly Yanktonais and Hunkpatina…had gathered for a late summer ritual, a trade rendezvous and buffalo hunt.

“Late one afternoon, as the annual event was winding down, men in blue uniforms came swooping into her teepee village on horseback, shooting indiscriminately and surrounding the camp.

“…[A] 9-year-old girl, who became separated from her family, was unable to escape unscathed. She was shot in the leg, but was able to crawl to safety in a ravine, where she hid for several days. She watched as the soldiers shot dogs and wounded horses and heard the cries of women and children. She was taken prisoner and held for seven years….

“Soldiers captured 156 women, children and old men and marched them to Fort Thompson on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota, where they were held as prisoners of war. Some of their descendants still live there….

“For some, the discussion has moved beyond whether the clash was a battle or massacre. Aaron Barth, who is writing his doctoral dissertation in history at NDSU about events including Whitestone Hill, prefers the term, borrowed from another historian, “site of memorial, site of mourning.” Still, he believes what happened was a massacre, and notes the general who led the Army troops, Gen. Alfred Sully, himself termed it a “slaughter.”….” (Grand Forks Herald, ND. “Whitestone Hill: Was ND’s deadliest conflict, 150 years ago, a battle or a massacre?” 9-3-2013.)

ND Studies: “Two military expeditions entered Dakota Territory during the summer of 1863. One column of soldiers was led by General Henry H. Sibley and originated from Minnesota. The other expedition, commanded by General Alfred Sully, followed the Missouri River north from Iowa. Sully’s campaign culminated in the Battle of Whitestone Hill.

“In early September 1863, General Sully discovered a large hunting camp of Yanktonai at Whitestone Hill. These people had nothing to do with the Minnesota problems and they were not posing a threat to homesteaders in Dakota Territory. The Yanktonai people at Whitestone Hill were preparing food for the winter months ahead. Sully’s troops never determined who these people were and on September 3, 1863, 650 soldiers attacked the Yanktonai, killing at least 300, including many women and children. Twenty soldiers were killed, many caught in army crossfire. The Yanktonai who were able fled the area, abandoning all their household goods and stores of food. The scene of the battlefield and Indian camp the next day was recorded by F.E. Caldwell, a soldier with the Second Nebraska Cavalry:

Tepees, some standing, some torn down, some squaws that were dead, some that were wounded and still alive, young children of all ages from young infants to eight or ten years old, who had lost their parents, dead soldiers, dead Indians, dead horses, hundreds of dogs howling for their masters. Some of the dogs were packed with small poles fastened to a collar and dragging behind them. On the poles was a platform (travois) on which all kinds of articles were fastened on—in one instance a young baby. (Jacobson, p. 99)

“The next two days Sully rounded up Yanktonai survivors who were in the vicinity of the battle because they had no horses. They were taken and held as prisoners. Sully also ordered the destruction of all food and equipment left behind by the Yanktonai. Caldwell described that process:

Sully ordered all the property destroyed, tepees, buffalo skins, and all their things, including tons and tons of dried buffalo meat and tallow. It was gathered in wagons, piled in a hollow and burned, and the melted tallow ran down the valley into a stream. Hatchets, camp kettles, and all things that would sink were thrown into a small lake. (Jacobson, p. 101)

“Sully’s men were congratulated by the U.S. for their distinguished conduct, and the Indian story never came out though it was told among their own people. In November 1863, Sam Brown, a 19-year-old interpreter at Crow Creek, presented the Indian side of Sully’s battle at Whitestone Hill in a letter to his father:

I hope you will not believe all that is said of “Sully’s Successful Expedition” against the Sioux. I don’t think he aught to brag of it at all, because it was, what no decent man would have done, he pitched into their camp and just slaughtered them, worse a great deal than what the Indians did in 1862, he killed very few men and no hostile ones prisoners…and now he returns saying that we need fear no more, for he has “wiped out all hostile Indians from Dakota.” If he had killed men instead of women & children, then
it would have been a success, and the worse of it, they had no hostile intention whatever, the Nebraska Second pitched into them without orders, while the Iowa Sixth were shaking hands with them on the other side, they even shot their own men. (Jacobson, p. 105) ….

(North Dakota Studies. The History and Culture of the Standing Rock Oyate. “Whitestone Hill.”)

State Historical Society of North Dakota: “Whitestone Hill State Historic Site, located 23 miles southeast of Kulm, Dickey County, marks the scene of the fiercest clash between Indians and white soldiers in North Dakota. On September 3, 1863, General Alfred Sully’s troops attacked a tipi camp of Yanktonai, some Dakota, Hunkpapa Lakota, and Blackfeet (Sihasapa Lakota), as part of a military mission to punish participants of the Dakota Conflict of 1862. In the ensuing battle, many Indian men, women, and children died or were captured. Military casualties were comparatively light. The Indians also suffered the destruction of virtually all of their property, leaving them nearly destitute for the coming winter….” (State Historical Society of North Dakota. “Whitestone Hill State Historic Site.” ©2016.)

Sources

 Allard, LaDonna Bravebull. “Why the Founder of Standing Rock Sioux Camp Can’t Forget the Whitestone Massacre.” Indian County Media Network, 9-4-2016. Accessed 12-18-2016 at: https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/history/events/why-the-founder-of-standing-rock-sioux-camp-cant-forget-the-whitestone-massacre/

 Grand Forks Herald, ND. “Whitestone Hill: Was ND’s deadliest conflict, 150 years ago, a battle or a massacre?” 9-3-2013. Accessed 12-19-2016 at: http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/whitestone-hill-was-nds-deadliest-conflict-150-years-ago-battle-or-massacre

 North Dakota Studies (Official Portal for North Dakota State Government). The History and Culture of the Standing Rock Oyate. “Whitestone Hill.” Accessed 12-18-2016 at: http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/standingrock/whitestone.html

State Historical Society of North Dakota. North Dakota Studies. “Massacre at Whitestone Hill.” Accessed 12-18-2016 at: http://ndstudies.gov/content/massacre-whitestone-hill

State Historical Society of North Dakota. “Whitestone Hill State Historic Site.” ©2016. Accessed 12-18-2016 at: http://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/whitestone/index.html

White, Justin (Editor). “A Massacre in North Dakota: Remembering Whitestone Hill.” Midwestern Scout, 9-4-2016. Accessed 12-18-2016 at: http://www.midwesternscout.com/a-massacre-in-north-dakota-remembering-whitestone-hill/

Wikipedia. “Alfred Sully,” 10-10-2016 modification. Accessed 12-19-2016 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Sully

Wikipedia. “Battle of Whitestone Hill.” 12-16-2016 modification. Accessed 12-18-2016 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Whitestone_Hill

Wikipedia. “Dakota people.” 12-4-2016 modification. Accessed 12-19-2016 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_people

Wikipedia. “Lakota people.” 11-28-2016 modification. Accessed 12-19-2016 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people

 

 

[1] The low-end of the estimate is based on General Sully’s estimate (and we would not be surprised if this downplayed the deaths of children). Several sources note approximately 300 Sioux deaths, and we note two that indicate a range of 300-400. No one will ever know just how many were killed. More than 300 deaths is possible. However, two North Dakota government web pages note either 150 or 300 deaths, thus we use this as a way to place an estimated range around the number of Sioux killed in the attack by General Sully of the U.S. Army.

[2] Official Portal for North Dakota State Government.

[3] Western Dakota Sioux. (Wikipedia. “Dakota people.” 12-4-2016 modification.)

[4] Eastern Dakota Sioux. (Wikipedia. “Dakota people.” 12-4-2016 modification.)

[5] The Wikipedia article noted above has it that the Húŋkpathina (or Lower Yanktonia) are a subdivision of the Western Dakota Yanton-Yanktonai division.

[6] Commissioned a colonel of the 1^st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry in February of 1862, and promoted to Brigadier General in September. He commanded cavalry troops, and in the words of a Wikipedia biographical note, “played a repugnant role in the Indian Wars…” (Wikipedia. “Alfred Sully,” 10-10-2016 modification.)

[7] The Lakota (or Lakȟóta) people, also known as Teton (Thítȟuŋwaŋ) “prairie dwellers,” are one of a confederation of seven related Sioux tribes. (Wikipedia. “Lakota people.” 11-28-2016 modification.)

–644  US Army Surgeon General. Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion                      

(Part III, Vol. I, Medical History), page 46.[1] (deaths out of 9,659 cases)

 

Source

 

United States Army Surgeon General. The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (Part III, Vol. I, Medical History). Chapter 1 “On the Medical Statistics of the War, Section IV. Prevalence of Disease, and Mortality  Therefrom, Among the Confederate Troops in United States Prisons,” pp. 33-45. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888. Accessed 5-24-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-14121350R-mvset

 

 

 

[1] Table XVIII. Showing the number of Cases of certain Specified Diseases and Classes of Disease, and of Deaths attributed to them, among the Confederate Prisoners of War at the principal Prison Depots, for the period covered by the records of each prison.