Eliza G. [Steamboat]

The Eliza G., originally the Dr. Buffington, was a small steamboat that worked along the White and Black rivers in Arkansas before being scuttled to block a Union naval fleet at St. Charles (Arkansas County) in mid-1862.

The Dr. Buffington was a sidewheel paddleboat built at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1857 for A. J. Buffington of New Orleans, Louisiana. The vessel was 180 feet long, thirty-three feet wide, “and in complete running on 25 inches [of] water.” The “beautiful, new and splendid fast passenger steamer,” which was “built expressly for the Ouachita [River] trade,” arrived in New Orleans in January 1858.

A March 1858 advertisement stated that the Dr. Buffington would stop at all the landings on the Ouachita and Black rivers in Louisiana “and for speed, comfortable accommodation cannot be surpassed by any boat in the trade.” An addendum below the advertisement addressed rumors spreading along the rivers “that the captain and owners of the Dr. Buffington were Pittsburgh Yankees and abolitionists. This is a foul slander, for interested motives. The captain and owners are all Virginians, by birth and education, and are large Slave holders.”

By September 1858, the vessel, “commanded by the well-known and popular Capt. Len Moore,” was docked at New Orleans for “a thorough overhauling.” The steamer was back in service and “in complete business trim” by early November, with a New Orleans newspaper gushing that the “Buffington is one of the finest and most complete passenger steamers afloat….Passengers who go aboard will be treated to first-class hotel accommodations and fare, and we promise all a quick and pleasant trip.”

By October 1861, the name of the “elegant, swift running passenger packet steamer” was changed to Eliza G. under the command of J. H. Quisenbury (or Quisenberry), and advertisements said it “will take freight for all landings on [the] White and Black Rivers” and, by February 1862, added the Little Red River to its route, with service to “Pocahontas, Jacksonport, Des Arc and all landings” on the three rivers.

The last known newspaper reference to the Eliza G. said it was leaving Memphis, Tennessee, at 5:00 p.m. on May 31, 1862. It apparently soon went into service as a Confederate transport and was at St. Charles in June as a Union fleet approached with supplies for Major General Samuel R. Curtis’s Army of the Southwest. Confederate engineer Captain A. M. Williams reported that “to prevent the enemy’s gunboats passing our position, under orders from Major-General [Thomas C.] Hindman, [they] scuttled the steamboats Eliza G. and Mary Patterson.” The sinking was “entrusted to Captain Leary” while the crew of the CSS Maurepas scuttled their gunboat to fully block the river.

On June 17, 1862, the Engagement at St. Charles was fought, with the USS Mound City suffering catastrophic casualties before U.S. troops overran the Confederate position. Low water on the White River prevented the flotilla from reaching Curtis, who instead marched cross country to Helena (Phillips County) on the Mississippi River, arriving there on July 12, 1862, and ending the Pea Ridge Campaign that had started in March in northwestern Arkansas.

For additional information:
“Another New Boat on the Ouachita.” [Harrisonburg, Louisiana] Independent, January 20, 1858, p. 2.

“Leaves Friday, 5th inst., at 5 P.M.” [Advertisement], [New Orleans, Louisiana] Times-Picayune, March 5, 1858, p. 4.

“Leaves on Thursday, 13th Inst., at 5 P.M.” [Advertisement], Times-Picayune, February 12, 1862, p. 4.

“Memphis and White River.” [Advertisement], Times-Picayune, October 25, 1861, p. 4.

“Ouachita River Packet Steamer Dr. Buffington.” New Orleans [Louisiana] Crescent, November 4, 1858, p. 4.

“River Intelligence.” Memphis [Tennessee] Daily Argus, May 31, 1862, p. 2.

“River Intelligence.” New Orleans Crescent, September 23, 1858, p. 4.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Vol. 13. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1885, pp. 929–931.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1894–1922; vol. 23 (1910), p. 200.

Way, Frederick, Jr. Way’s Packet Directory. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 1983, p. 130.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System