Celery vase from the John O. Simonds
Steamboat circa 1864.
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From its founding in 1832, the town of Freedom,
Pennsylvania, was known throughout the country as one of the top
riverboat building centers in the Ohio River Valley, and not surprisingly,
boats built in its yards helped to play a vital role on both sides
of the American Civil War. The first of these was the John D.
Simonds, built in 1852. The largest riverboat built above the
Ohio Falls, the Simonds was a sidewheel packet boat with a wooden
hull, measuring 295 feet long by 40 1/2 feet wide with six boilers
and a weight of 1,024 tons.(1)
Fate nearly destroyed the Simonds during the initial launch. The
Reverend H.D. Fisher, who was on deck at the time, recalls the
boat sliding down the launch ramp and into the river where she
parted the cables holding her and drifted as far as Beaver before
the crew could land her safely on shore there. Fortunately, this
near disaster didn't mar the beauty and majesty of the John D.
Simonds. According to a description in Transportation in the Ohio
Valley: "She had two upper cabins extending her entire length,
seventy state-rooms, and a steerage cabin below for the accommodation
of deck passengers. Cincinnatians, then as good judges of steamboats
as their neighbors in Kentucky were of horse flesh, pronounced
her the largest and the finest boat that had ever stopped at their
levee.(2)
In the years prior to the Civil War, the Simonds
ran a Mississippi River route carrying passengers between New
Orleans, Louisiana, and Memphis, Tennessee. In 1853, the cost
of transporting a group of Mormon immigrants between New Orleans
and St. Louis was two dollars and twenty five cents for an adult,
half price for children between three and fourteen, and free for
children under the age of three. (3) Over the intervening years,
her beauty did not diminish. According to the memoir of Mrs. D.
Giraud Wright, then a young lady traveling from New Orleans up
the Mississippi River aboard the John Simonds in 1859: "Then
the week on that old river palace, the old John Simonds, one of
the famous boats of the day. Such luxury of living, even in these
times, could not be excelled. And the delicious leisure of it,
the lack of huffy and bustle. It takes a week to go from New Orleans
to Memphis. (4) In 1859, she was under the command of Captain
J. F. Smith. Other captains following him were Captain Newman
Robbirds and Captain J. F. Hicks.
During the war, steamboats played a major role in carrying troops
and supplies, while others were armed and served as naval gunboats.
In 1862, the Northern strategy involved capturing the vital Mississippi
River and thereby cutting the South in half. Control of this waterway
would deny the South direct communication between its eastern
and western states, while giving the North the ability to quickly
and easily move troops and supplies along its waters. To foil
the Northern plan, the South gathered its own -, small riverboat
navy, built forts and placed cannon in naturally defensible locations
along the river. One such place was at Island #10 - so named because
it was the tenth island in a chain of islands stretching the length
of the Mississippi. Island #10, located near the Kentucky/Tennessee
border, was a strong defensive position situated at a point where
the Mississippi River formed a series of horseshoe bends. Navigating
this series of bends was a very "tricky" affair since
it required any boat trying to pass the island to slow down and
expose itself to the heavy Confederate batteries.
The John Simonds began its career in the Confederate service in
the days before the battle for Island #10. It ferried guns and
ammunition in preparation for the defense of the island, and was
later used as a troop transport and hospital boat. (5) The Simonds
was mentioned in a dispatch written by Confederate General Leonidas
Polk to Colonel Kennedy at Island Number 10 (6):
Hdqrs. First Division, Western Department, Columbus, Ky., February 26, 1862
Colonel Kennedy:
Your note by the Admiral received I have caused the Simonds to be dispatched by telegraph from this place to come forward as rapidly as possible to you with the guns. I will send you some guns also from this place, together with an ample supply of ammunition ... ... ... ....
Respectfully, your obedient servant,
L. POLK
Major General, Commanding.
In March of 1862, the Northern commander, General
John Pope, launched a combined army and navy operation to capture
the island and open the river to Union shipping. Marching south
with 12,000 Union soldiers, Pope captured New Madrid on the Missouri
side of the river, forcing the confederates to evacuate to the
Tennessee side. The island and its defenses remained unaffected
as long as the small Confederate gunboats prevented the Federal
infantry from crossing the Mississippi below the island. Although
they were no match for the Union ironclads anchored north of the
island, the rebel gunboats were adequate to frustrate any infantry
crossing without the protection of their armored gunboats.
The balance of power on the river changed dramatically on the
stormy night of April 4 , when one of the Union ironclads, the
Carondelet, slipped past Island #10 batteries and, in doing so
allowed their infantry to cross. Early on the seventh, with Union
troops in their rear, the Confederate defenders abandoned their
defenses and began a hasty retreat, during which they tried to
block the Northern advance by sinking their steamboats in the
river channel. The John Simonds, along with another Freedom boat,
the Winchester, and five others were sent to the bottom.(7) It
was during this action that we believe the Simonds was commanded
by William Champe Page. Page, a native of Memphis, Tennessee,
was in the Confederate transport service, dating back to at least
August of 1861. Shortly after the fall of Island Number 10, William
received the following letter from his brother, John Page, then
a Confederate soldier at Corinth, Mississippi: (8)
Corinth Miss April 18, 1862
Dear Brother I was quite uneasy about you after the evacuation of Island 10 - but hope you are safe. If you possibly can I wish you would come over here and see me as I am anxious to see you, do come if possible and bring me some draws undershirts & socks if you come as we had lost all of our clothing & everything else in the battle and it is impossible to get anything from home on account of the distance. Come over anyhow as I am anxious to talk to you about our prospects & write me immediately what you think of affairs & about yourself
Your Brother Jno L. Page
Through the kindness of his granddaughters
we have received the above letter as well as the accompanying
pictures of some of the artifacts that were on the Simonds, which
were believed to have been removed by him prior to sinking the
boat at Island Number 10. (9) Page went on to be licensed as a
pilot by the Union army and worked for them through the end of
the war.
Fortunately, the career of the John Simonds did not end with her
sinking at Island Number 10, as the Union raised the sunken boats
and put them back into service. During the coming siege of Vicksburg
in 1863, she saw action carrying supplies and troops for General
Grant, and later resumed her role as a hospital boat. This time,
she was carrying sick and wounded Northern troops to hospitals
in St. Louis while under the command of the Rev. H.D. Fisher of
Freedom. (10) Ironically, it was the same Fisher who participated
in the near disastrous launch of the Simonds from the Freedom
boatyard in 1852.
Unfortunately, we can find no record as to what finally happened
to the John D. Simonds, and even Captain Page stayed quiet on
the subject. The Simonds and the era of steamboats have long since
passed before us never to be seen again. But then again..... maybe
on a warm star filled night while standing in the soft mud on
the river bank and listening quietly as the water gently laps
against the shore, if you close your eyes very tightly, you may
be able to imagine that majestic old Freedom riverboat silently
steaming the timeless waters of the mighty Mississippi.
Bibliography
1 Way, Frederick, Ways Packet Directory
1848 - 1994, Ohio University Press, Rev. 1995.
2 Ambler, Charles Henry, A History of Transportation in the Ohio
Valley, (California: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1932), pg. 178.
3 Larson, Gustave 0., Prelude to the Kingdom, (New Hampshire:
Marshall Jones Co., 1947), pages 128-143.
4 Wright, Mrs. D. Giraud, A Southern Girl in '61 - The War-Time
Memories of a Confederate Senator's Daughter, (New York: Doubleday,
Page & Co., 1905), page 21.
5 War of the Rebellion, P. 758.
6 Ibid. p. 758.
7 Ibid. P. 153.
8 Letter John Page to William C. Page, April 18, 1862. Copy received
by the BCHR&LF from Mrs. Virginia Woods, granddaughter of
William C. Page.
9 Information and pictures courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Woods, granddaughter
of William Champe Page. Information in the possession of the Beaver
County Historical Research & Landmarks Foundation.
10 Old Boys' and Girls' Reunion Pg. 51-55.