Overview

Flatboats were the most prolific type of vessel on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during the early 1800s. By the late 1800s, however, flatboats had completely dis­appeared, and no intact examples were known to exist. Our knowledge of these historic vessels had been limited to illustra­tions, memoirs, and traveler accounts. That changed in 2000 after local residents found a wreck on the Ohio River shoreline in Il­linois. Archaeologist Mark J. Wagner and colleagues 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. He also de­scribes the remains of the America, how it was constructed, the artifacts found nearby and inside, and the probable cause of its sinking. The book concludes with a history of the America since its discovery in 2000 and a plea that the boat be removed from the riverbank and preserved before the Ohio washes it away.

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9780809334360

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Reviews

Of the thousands of flatboats used to carry families and goods downstream in the 1800s, not a single one survives today. Many were disassembled at their destination, and many others were tragically lost. Mark Wagner, having led a team to thoroughly document the remains of the first flatboat wreck ever recorded, has written the book that finally gives the flatboat its due. But it s not just the story of the America, because Dr. Wagner has incorporated memoirs of actual flatboat builders and accounts of their numerous contemporaries on the rivers, and he disproves the myth that pirates or Native Americans were responsible for significant numbers of losses. 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 Archaeologist Mark J. Wagner, provides an informative history of flatboats, assessing their construction, purpose, and the many hazards faced by their crews. Wagner also offers a detailed account of theAmericaexcavation, a discussion of the recovered artifacts, and a description of the efforts to preserve the wreck. -Missouri History Review

Of the thousands of flatboats used to carry families and goods downstream in the 1800s, not a single one survives today. Many were disassembled at their destination, and many others were tragically lost. Mark Wagner, having led a team to thoroughly document the remains of the first flatboat wreck ever recorded, has written the book that finally gives the flatboat its due. But it s not just the story of the America, because Dr. Wagner has incorporated memoirs of actual flatboat builders and accounts of their numerous contemporaries on the rivers, and he disproves the myth that pirates or Native Americans were responsible for significant numbers of losses. 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 Archaeologist Mark J. Wagner, provides an informative history of flatboats, assessing their construction, purpose, and the many hazards faced by their crews. Wagner also offers a detailed account of the America excavation, a discussion of the recovered artifacts, and a description of the efforts to preserve the wreck. -Book Notes

Of the thousands of flatboats used to carry families and goods downstream in the 1800s, not a single one survives today. Many were disassembled at their destination, and many others were tragically lost. Mark Wagner, having led a team to thoroughly document the remains of the first flatboat wreck ever recorded, has written the book that finally gives the flatboat its due. But it s not just the story of the America, because Dr. Wagner has incorporated memoirs of actual flatboat builders and accounts of their numerous contemporaries on the rivers, and he disproves the myth that pirates or Native Americans were responsible for significant numbers of losses. 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

"""Of the thousands of flatboats used to carry families and goods downstream in the 1800s, not a single one survives today. Many were disassembled at their destination, and many others were tragically lost. Mark Wagner, having led a team to thoroughly document the remains of the first flatboat wreck ever recorded, has written the book that finally gives the flatboat its due. But it's not just the story of the America, because Dr. Wagner has incorporated memoirs of actual flatboat builders and accounts of their numerous contemporaries on the rivers, and he disproves the myth that pirates or Native Americans were responsible for significant numbers of losses. 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 ""Archaeologist Mark J. Wagner, provides an informative history of flatboats, assessing their construction, purpose, and the many hazards faced by their crews. Wagner also offers a detailed account of the America excavation, a discussion of the recovered artifacts, and a description of the efforts to preserve the wreck."" -Missouri History Review"

Author Information

Mark J. Wagner is the interim director and a staff archaeologist at the Cen­ter for Archaeological Investigations, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA. He is a former president of the Illinois Archaeological Survey and the author of The Rhoads Site: A Historic Kickapoo Village on the Illinois Prairie, as well as numer­ous essays, technical reports, and books.

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