History Matters: Steamboat days are gone, but their memory lives on

Red River Radio | By Gary Joiner, Ph.D.

Published April 7, 2015 at 7:45 AM CDT

Before luxury cruise ships, yachts and passenger ferries, the steamboat was how many people made their way across America. Commentator Gary Joiner delves into this yesteryear mode of transportation that is now mostly for tourism and spectacle.

History Matters is made possible in part by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and Louisiana Cultural Vistas Magazine.

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Commentary Steamboats

Gary Joiner, Ph.D.

Gary Joiner is a cartographer and an associate professor of history at LSU in Shreveport. He is the author or editor of 12 books including “Shiloh and the Western Campaign of 1862,” “One Damn Blunder From Beginning to End: The Red River Campaign in 1864,” “Through the Howling Wilderness: The Red River Campaign and Union Failure in 1864,” “Red River Steamboats,” and “Mr. Lincoln's Brown Water Navy: Mississippi Squadron.”

See stories by Gary Joiner, Ph.D.