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.
