The Wreck of the America in Southern Illinois cover art

The Wreck of the America in Southern Illinois

A Flatboat on the Ohio River

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The Wreck of the America in Southern Illinois

By: Mark J. Wagner
Narrated by: Robert Diepenbrock
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About this listen

Flatboats were the most prolific type of vessel on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during the early 1800s. Thousands of these boats descended the two rivers each year, carrying not only valuable cargo to New Orleans but also western-bound emigrants to newly opened territories. By the late 1800s, flatboats had completely disappeared, and no intact examples were known to exist.

That changed in 2000, when local residents found a wreck on the Ohio River shoreline in Illinois. Archaeologist Mark J. Wagner and his colleagues from Southern Illinois University Carbondale investigated extensively and established that the wreck was a pre-Civil War flatboat, which they named America after a nearby town.

In The Wreck of the America in Southern Illinois: A Flatboat on the Ohio River, Wagner provides a brief description and general history of flatboats and the various reasons they wrecked - such as poor workmanship and encounters with pirates, storms, rocks, and floating trees. Wagner describes the remains of the America, how it was constructed, the artifacts found nearby and inside - including pewter spoons, utensils with bone handles, metal buttons, and an iron felling axe - and the probable cause of its sinking. Wagner concludes with a history of the America since its discovery in 2000.

The book is published by Southern Illinois University Press.

©2015 Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University (P)2016 Redwood Audiobooks
Archaeology Illinois State & Local United States Ohio War

Critic Reviews

"This book will become the source for helping to record other flatboat wrecks that will certainly appear." (Leslie C. Stewart-Abernathy, Station Archeologist, Arkansas Archeological Survey)
"Provides an informative history of flatboats, assessing their construction, purpose, and the many hazards faced by their crews." ( Missouri History Review)

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