COVID-19 Update
Zoom Presentations Now Available
All in-person events have been cancelled. But we have a Zoom account which allows us to give virtual presentations about steamboat disasters or other topics you can find elsewhere on this site. We can make presentations for 3-100 persons for nearly any length you want. It is easy to use and can be viewed from your computer, mobile phone or tablet. All you need is access to the Internet. If you are interested, please contact me through this site or at jerwin011@outlook.com.
Vicki and I are working on our next book, which is nearly complete. It is a sort of bicentennial true crime book about 200 years of notorious crimes in the Show-Me State. We cover famous crimes from the Benton-Lucas duel on Bloody Island across from St. Louis to the Missouri Miracle of Shawn Hornbeck’s kidnapping and recovery. You will find that the classic Western gunfight you saw in the movies and television for years originated on the square in Springfield, Missouri. We cover the trials (there were three) of the alleged murderer of Colonel Thomas Swope, the founder of Kansas City’s Swope Park. And there are the fascinating true stories behind the well-known songs “Stagger Lee” and “Frankie and Johnny,” both of which grew out of killings within a few blocks and a few years of each other. Look for this book from History Press in 2021.
Below is a brief description of the contents of Steamboat Disasters of the Lower Missouri River :
During the nineteenth century, more than 300 boats met their end in the steamboat graveyard that was the Lower Missouri River – from Omaha to its mouth. Although derided as little more than an “orderly pile of kindling,” steamboats were in fact technological marvels superbly adapted to the river’s conditions. Their light superstructure and long, wide, flat hulls powered by high-pressure engines drew so little water that they could cruise on “a heavy dew” even when fully loaded. But these same characteristics made them susceptible to fires, explosions, and snags (tree trunks ripped from the banks, hiding under the water’s surface). And the river held other dangers – disease, crime and (in time of war) guerrillas.
This is the story of the perils steamboats, their passengers and crews faced on every voyage.
Available now from www.arcadiapublishing.com and fine bookstores everywhere.
Site Content
GUERRILLAS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
- During the Civil War, Missouri was in constant turmoil from raids by heavily armed bands of marauders loosely affiliated with the Confederate army. Federal troops fought more than 1,000 battles in Missouri – mostly with guerrillas. But these numbers mask the level of violence because they do not include attacks on civilians. Ordinary persons felt the dread of uncertainty when riders approached their homes. Were they Union soldiers or guerrillas in blue coats taken off soldiers they had ambushed? Sometimes it did not matter. Either side might kill the men, and burn their buildings if dissatisfied with the response to their demands for information, food or horses. Entire counties were reduced to ruins. Guerrilla war is perhaps the most brutal of wars. This was Missouri’s war: a war of revenge, retaliation, scalping and mutilation of the dead, and few prisoners.
GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
GUERRILLA HUNTERS IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
- The guerrillas who terrorized Missouri during the Civil War were colorful men whose daring and vicious deeds brought them a celebrity never enjoyed by the Federal soldiers who hunted them. Many books have been written about William Quantrill, Bloody Bill Anderson, George Todd, Tom Livingston, and other “noted guerrillas.”
- You have not heard of George Wolz, Aaron Caton, John Durnell, Thomas Holston, or Ludwick St. John, They served in Union cavalry regiments in Missouri. It was a hard life, and over three years of the war these boys, for most were in their teens and early twenties, became hard men. Combat, when it came, was often short, sharp, brutal, and unforgiving. In Missouri neither side showed mercy for defeated foes.
- They are just five of the anonymous thousands who, in the end, defeated the guerrillas, and who have been forgotten with the passage of time. This is their story.
THE HOMEFRONT IN CIVIL WAR MISSOURI
ST CHARLES, MISSOURI: A BRIEF HISTORY
ST CHARLES, MISSOURI: A BRIEF HISTORY
- Missouri was a battleground – over 1,000 engagements were fought in the state (third most during the Civil War) – but it was also a home front where people lived. No one could feel safe there. In the countryside, women who had been left behind when their husbands and sons went to war had to cope with marauders from both sides. Children saw their fathers and brothers beaten, hanged or shot. In the cities a cheer for Jeff Davis could land a young boy in jail, and a letter to a sweetheart in the Confederate army could get a girl banished from the state. Women volunteered to care for the flood of wounded and sick soldiers. Slavery crumbled and created new opportunities for black men to serve in the Union army, but left their families vulnerable to retaliation at home. The turbulence and bitterness of guerrilla war was everywhere.
ST CHARLES, MISSOURI: A BRIEF HISTORY
ST CHARLES, MISSOURI: A BRIEF HISTORY
ST CHARLES, MISSOURI: A BRIEF HISTORY
- Louis Blanchette came to Les Petites Côtes – the Little Hills – in 1769. The little village, later dubbed San Carlos del Misury by the Spanish and St. Charles by the Americans, played a major role in the early history of Missouri. It was jumping off point for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark’s exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, as well for settlers moving west beyond the Missouri River. St. Charles was the home of important politicians, judges, soldiers, businesspersons, educators and even a saint. It was the first capital of the new state. From a sleepy French village, St. Charles grew into a dynamic city in one of the fastest growing areas of the nation. But it never forgot its history. The heart of the city is its Historic District where one can still experience its heritage.
- This is the story of St. Charles from Les Petite Côtes to today.