Hello Bruce, enjoyed your web page. The Two Years Before the Paddlewheel: Charles F. Gunther, Mississippi River Confederate (2012) book looks very interesting. I have purchased several books on river boating (early period and later). I have ancestors (Great grandfather Capt WH ECKELS) that were pilots and builders. (Baton Rouge and New Orleans). I have learned a lot from the books. The times and ports surrounding these paddle boats seemed dangerous and wild and exciting.

Professor Allardice's latest book, traces the curious career of Chicagoan Charles F. Gunther, a German-born Yankee trapped in the South by the onset of the Civil War.