Alice Dean

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0155 ALICE DEAN

SW p wh b. Cincinnati, Oh., 1863. 411 tons. Ran Cincinnati-Memphis, Capt. James H. Pepper. When Gen. John Hunt Morgan and his cavalry, often referred to as Morgan's Raiders, crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky into Indiana on July 8, 1863, they appropriated a small packet named JOHN T. McCOMBS and used her as a decoy to hail down and capture the ALICE DEAN. They used the DEAN as a ferry, and afterwards burned her. The machinery was salvaged in the fall of 1863 and auctioned off to the C.T. Dumont Co. for $4,500. The Morgan crossing was at Brandenburg, Ky., and the DEAN was burned along the Indiana shore between Morvin's Landing and Mauckport. Associated with this affair was "Sherman's Ride," in which a self-appointed Paul Revere, Jacob Sherman, mounted a horse and galloped upriver to head off the down-bound GREY EAGLE to prevent her from falling into the hands of Morgan. He succeeded. The grateful owners of the GREY EAGLE presented a bell to the citizens of Mauckport in appreciation, and it still is there. This story is detailed in the June 1976 issue of S&D Reflector, page 13, with photographs of the bell.

0156 ALICE DEAN

SW p wh b. Cincinnati, Oh., 1864. 395 tons. Replaced the first of the name. Ran Cincinnati-Memphis, and made her maiden trip from Cincinnati on Feb. 25, 1864, Capt. James H. Pepper. "Commodore" Thompson Dean was aboard for the occasion, as well as other noteworthy gentlemen. On Mar. 25, 1864, she hit bank ten miles below Cincinnati on a down-bound trip and sank with her stern in 12 feet of water. She was on her third trip. The JENNIE HUBBS and LADY PIKE took off her freight, and the KATE CASSEL her passengers. Was successfully raised. In March 1865 Capt. Charles A Dravo went master. In late December 1865 she hit the suspension bridge at Cincinnati and tore down both stacks. In December 1869 about 40 miles above Memphis she hit a log and would have sunk save for a cargo of cotton which buoyed her up until the THOMPSON DEAN came along to assist. In 1866 Capt. C. Dan Conway, master, with William Dunlop, clerk. Rounding out from Cincinnati on Apr. 26, 1870, there was a mistake in signals between pilot and engineer. She hit the Covington pier of the suspension bridge and again knocked down both stacks. The ROBERT BURNS took her passengers to Memphis. She was retired in 1872. Machinery went to the THOMPSON SHERLOCK and the hull was used as a wharfboat at Lake Providence, La., with the upper work still intact until a gale blew off the cabin during August 1875.