According to the book, 'The Wreck of America in Southern Illinois: A Flatboat on the Ohio River,' "Flatboats were the most prolific type of vessel on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during the early 1800s. Thousands of these boats descended the two rivers each year, carrying not only valuable cargo, but also western-bound emigrants to newly opened territories. By the late 1800s, flatboats had completely disappeared, and no intact examples were known to exist. 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. Archaeologists from Southern Illinois University Carbondale investigated extensively and established that the wreck was a pre-Civil War flatboat, which they named America, after a nearby town.
The America wreck represents the remains of an early nineteenth-century flatboat dating to about 1801-1830. The relatively small size of the boat - an estimated 40 feet by 12 feet - also is characteristic of flatboats built before the Civil War.
The artifacts recovered from the wreck site - red earthenware milk pans, spoons, ax, caulking iron, and so on - represent the personal belongings and tools of the crew. The presence of these types of everyday items within the hull suggests that the America was partially or completely submerged after the wreck and that these articles either could not be found under the water or simply were not worth recovering.
The flatboat produced 20 red earthenware sherds representing the remains of at least three separate vessels. The most intact vessel recovered from the America consisted of a milk pan. The vessel interior, with the exception of the lip, was covered with a manganese-flecked clear lead glaze, while the exterior was left unglazed. The vessel interior was also covered with a single line of olive yellow slip that formed a series of 18 concentric rings that spiraled in toward the center of the vessel base."
Note: Unfortunately, I do not have an image available of this milk pan to use on this website, but it certainly sounds like it could have been made in the Mid-Atlantic region in the early nineteenth-century. This artifact also really shows how domestic utilitarian pottery traveled in the eighteenth and nineteenth-centuries.
19th Century Pottery Produced in Illinois
I have previously written an article about red earthenware that was produced by Christopher Weber in New Harmony, Indiana, circa 1815-1824 that appears to have been recovered at Williams Fort in White County, Illinois within a circa 1811-1838 archaeological context. The wares produced by Midwestern potters certainly traveled in the nineteenth-century, which is no different than what happened with red earthenware and stoneware potters elsewhere in America during the period.
But Illinois is also known to have supported its own prolific pottery industry in the 1800's, where there were many successful businesses. For example, the stoneware made by Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick in Anna, Illinois can be considered some of the most creative and visionary pottery that was produced in America in the nineteenth-century. The wares from this business often truly represent what is viewed today, as pottery, which has transcended into the field of American-made folk art.
There was also a prosperous red earthenware industry in Illinois that is probably best known today for the wares that were produced in Galena, Illinois; although, I also feel that Galena pottery is occasionally misrepresented today since red earthenware that is generically decorated with a spotted glaze is often attributed to Galena. A similar scenario can be found with attributions that are solely based on red earthenware glazes that are said to have been made in Gonic, New Hampshire - however, in both instances, the attribution should be about the form instead of the glaze. There were many potter's businesses that produced this type of glaze in America and Canada in the nineteenth-century. In fact, some of the glazes produced in Galena are similar to some of the more desired glazes that can be found on red earthenware from Nova Scotia, where there was also the use of slip-decoration (see below) in both industries.
Nevertheless, I have posted two links to documents that I thought I would share today that help define some of the types of pottery made in Illinois. The report, 'Redware Production in the Lead Mine District of Northwestern Illinois' also does an excellent job of breaking down the different forms that were produced in the Galena-area in the late-1800's.
Note: Interestingly, the form of the red earthenware jar that I wrote about earlier this week, which was discovered in a mid-to-late nineteenth-century privy in St. Louis, Missouri is very similar in form to jars that are discussed in 'Redware Production in the Lead Mine District of Northwestern Illinois,' which are attributed to the Galena, Illinois-area, circa 1880.
Reports on Pottery Made in Illinois in the 19th Century
1) Redware Production in the Lead Mine District of Northwestern Illinois
2) Nineteenth Century Pottery Production in Illinois
Jugs Attributed to the Galena, IL Area
Graduated Set of 19th Century Red Earthenware Jugs Attributed to Galena, IL
Circa 2nd Half of the 19th Century
Photo Courtesy: Keno Auctions - New York City
19th Century Red Earthenware Jug Likely Made in the Galena, IL Area
Circa 2nd Half of the 19th Century
Stands 8" Tall
Photo Courtesy: Skinner, Inc - Boston
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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