Mary Patterson [Steamboat]

The Mary Patterson was one of three vessels scuttled during the Civil War at St. Charles (Arkansas County) in June 1862 to block the White River as a Federal convoy sought to bring supplies to Union troops upriver.

The Mary Patterson was a 105-ton sternwheel paddleboat constructed in 1859; it was 125 feet long and twenty-three feet and eight inches wide. The Des Arc Weekly Citizen of Des Arc (Prairie County) reported on March 11, 1859, that the Mary Patterson under Captain Morgan Bateman was leaving Napoleon (Desha County) to ply the waters of the upper White River, writing, “This boat has been built on White River, and is emphatically a ‘home institution.’ Success to you, Capt. Morg. May you ‘make many a dollar’ with your new boat.”

The vessel was making regular runs on the White as far as Buffalo City (Baxter County) by May 1859 but, during the summer, was taken to Cincinnati, Ohio, “at which point she will receive her cabin and cabin furniture.” This work was completed by the end of July, and the vessel, “having received her cabin at Cincinnati, was soliciting consignments there…for the Arkansas and White rivers.” When the Mary Patterson left Cincinnati on August 16, 1859, it “was laden so deep that her guards amidship were underwater.” The Des Arc newspaper noted, “She looks neat as a ‘new pin,’ and we congratulate Capt. Morg. in having a craft well adapted to the navigation of the Upper White river.”

On December 23, 1859, the Mary Patterson collided with the steamboat Admiral near Big Island four miles below St. Charles, and “both boats were injured in their bows. Several passengers on the Patterson were pretty severely bruised.” Both vessels went to Memphis, Tennessee, for repairs. Investigators later faulted the Patterson’s pilot for causing the accident and found that “the owners can be held liable,” but there is no evidence of any legal activity arising from the collision.

The Mary Patterson was back on the White River by mid-January of 1860, but on January 27, a newspaper reported that the vessel “took a sheer on her pilot, and r[a]n into the bank, by which accident she lost her chimneys.” It would be early March before a Louisville, Kentucky, paper wrote that the boat, “which we have missed from our wharf for a long time past, is…running from Jacksonport up Little Red River.”

As the United States grew closer to the Civil War, militia companies organized throughout the state. On May 5, 1861, the day before Arkansas formally seceded, the Mary Patterson was at Jacksonport (Jackson County) to transport the Jackson Guards, which would become Company G, First Arkansas Volunteer Infantry (CS), to enter Confederate service in Memphis. A few weeks later, the vessel steamed to Pocahontas (Randolph County) on the Black River to pick up seventy-five tons of lead and twelve tons of gunpowder for the use of secessionist forces.

The Mary Patterson continued working along Arkansas’s rivers and the Mississippi River, frequently in Confederate service and often cited in newspaper accounts for bringing news of military activities to Arkansas.

The last known newspaper reference to the Mary Patterson, on March 23, 1862, noted that it “has not been destroyed, but is safe in port at Aberdeen on White River,” apparently addressing rumors spreading as Major General Samuel Curtis’s Army of the Southwest invaded north-central Arkansas.

The vessel was at St. Charles in June as a Union fleet approached with supplies for Curtis’s army. Confederate engineer Captain A. M. Williams reported that “to prevent the enemy 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:
“Buffalo City.” Des Arc Weekly Citizen, May 18, 1859, p. 3.

“Collision.” Des Arc Weekly Citizen, January 4, 1860, p. 3.

“A Collision Case.” Louisville Daily Courier, May 22, 1860, p. 4.

Huddleston, Duane. “Morgan Magness Bateman Was a Steamboatman.” Stream of History 16 (January 1978): 3–32.

Huddleston, Duane, Sammie Cantrell Rose, and Pat Taylor Wood. Steamboats and Ferries on the White River: A Heritage Revisited. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998.

“Port of Memphis.” Memphis Daily Appeal, July 3, 1859, p. 3.

“Port of Memphis.” Memphis Daily Appeal, July 31, 1859, p. 3.

“River and Steamboat Matters.” [Louisville, Kentucky] Courier-Journal, August 16, 1859, p. 3.

“River and Steamboat Matters.” Courier-Journal, March 9, 1860, p. 3.

“River Intelligence.” Louisville Daily Courier, August 18, 1859, p. 4.

“River Intelligence.” Louisville Daily Courier, January 9, 1860, p. 4.

“River Intelligence.” Louisville Daily Courier, January 27, 1860, p. 4.

“River News &c.” Des Arc Weekly Citizen, August 31, 1859, p. 3.

“River News &c.” Des Arc Weekly Citizen, January 11, 1860, p. 3.

“River News &c.” Des Arc Weekly Citizen, March 11, 1859, p. 3.

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, p. 929.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies. Vol. 23. Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1910, p. 205.

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

“White River.” Memphis Daily Avalanche, May 23, 1862, p. 2.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System