River Queen (steamboat)
The River Queen was a sidewheel steamer that carried some of the most consequential conversations of the American Civil War. Built at Keyport, New Jersey in 1864, it was a working vessel that somehow found itself at the center of history. Two presidents, two generals, and a failed peace conference all came aboard. Then, once the war ended, the ship quietly returned to ordinary life, ferrying passengers between island towns for decades. How did a steamboat become the meeting place for the most powerful men in America? And what happened after the guns fell silent and the River Queen sailed on without them?
On the 3rd of February 1865, with the Civil War entering its final months, the Hampton Roads Conference took place in the saloon of the River Queen. The U.S. Department of War had chartered the vessel, and General Ulysses S. Grant was using it as his private dispatch boat on the Potomac River. The conference was an attempt to negotiate an end to the conflict, but it failed. While the talks were underway, the River Queen was lashed alongside another ship, the Mary Martin, in an arrangement that left the steamer anchored in place for the duration of those fragile and ultimately fruitless discussions.
In March 1865, Abraham Lincoln used the River Queen for a meeting with General William T. Sherman, Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter, and General Grant to talk through strategy for the war's end. Both Lincoln and Grant had developed a particular affection for the vessel. Lincoln rode aboard the River Queen two days before his assassination in April 1865. The captain during the ship's Civil War service was Nathan B. Saunders, of the Fall River steamer line, who was at the helm through these remarkable crossings of the Potomac.
After the war, the River Queen moved to a very different kind of service. The Newport Steamboat Company operated her on the route between Providence and Newport, Rhode Island. The American Lloyd's Register recorded her during those years as a 500-ton vessel with Providence as her homeport, owned by someone listed as R. Buffon and captained by a Capt. Williams. By 1871 she had shifted again, sailing routes that would eventually be formalized when the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. organized in March 1886, with the River Queen as one of four steamers in the fleet alongside Island Home, Martha's Vineyard, and Monohansett.
The New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. sold the River Queen in 1893 to the Mount Vernon and Marshall Hall Steamboat Co. of Washington, D.C. Records from 1897-1900 describe her as a 181-foot-long, 426-ton sidewheeler hailing out of New Bedford, under the command of a Capt. Wood. By 1910 she was still running on the Potomac River, by then counted among the oldest side-wheelers still in active service anywhere. In July 1911, newspapers reported that an exploding signal lantern had burned the River Queen to the water's edge, ending nearly half a century of river crossings and island runs. The ship that had once hosted Lincoln's final meetings had spent its last years as an excursion boat on the same river where the war's most delicate negotiations once took place.
In the 2012 film Lincoln, the Hampton Roads Conference appears as a depicted scene, with multiple sequences set aboard the River Queen. Those scenes were not shot on the actual vessel, since it had burned more than a century earlier. They were filmed on an indoor set built to recreate the steamer's interior, returning the ship's saloon to a version of visibility nearly a hundred years after the explosion of a signal lantern erased the original.
Common questions
What was the River Queen steamboat used for during the Civil War?
The River Queen was chartered by the U.S. Department of War and served as General Ulysses S. Grant's private dispatch boat on the Potomac River in 1865. It hosted the Hampton Roads Conference on the 3rd of February 1865, an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate an end to the American Civil War. Abraham Lincoln also used the vessel to meet with Sherman, Porter, and Grant in March 1865 to discuss war strategy.
Where did the Hampton Roads Conference take place on the River Queen?
The Hampton Roads Conference took place in the saloon of the River Queen on the 3rd of February 1865. During the conference, the River Queen was lashed alongside another ship, the Mary Martin.
When was the River Queen steamboat built and where?
The River Queen was built at Keyport, New Jersey in 1864. It was initially owned by Alfred Van Santvoord.
How did the River Queen steamboat end up destroyed?
In July 1911, newspapers reported that the River Queen burned to the water's edge following the explosion of a signal lantern on board. By that time the vessel was among the oldest side-wheelers still in service and was being used as an excursion boat on the Potomac River.
What ferry routes did the River Queen operate after the Civil War?
After the war, the River Queen operated between Providence and Newport, Rhode Island under the Newport Steamboat Company. By 1871 it was sailing routes serving Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, and by March 1886 it was one of four steamers in the New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket Steamboat Co. fleet.
Is the River Queen steamboat depicted in any films?
The River Queen appears in the 2012 film Lincoln, where the Hampton Roads Conference is depicted and several scenes take place aboard the vessel. Those scenes were shot on an indoor set rather than an actual steamboat.
All sources
6 references cited across the entry
- 1citationSteamboat DaysFred Erving Dayton — Frederick A. Stokes company — 1925
- 5newsSteamer History Is Vineyard History21 June 1957