Tom Sugg - Page 1

Treasure ? old ship ? found in bayou

A sunken ship that wrecked nearly 140 years ago was unearthed last year during a site excavation by New Iberia architect Paul Allain.

The vessel was buried below 4 feet of mud under the bed of Bayou Teche.

Maria Tio with the Louisiana Division of Archaeology said that since the ship?s discovery in late 2005, only a preliminary report had been completed by the private archaeology company hired to research the findings. ?Coastal Environments Inc., the company that conducted the archaeological investigation, believes that the ship was a sidewheel steamboat named the Teche,? Tio said.

The draft report provided to the archaeology division by Coastal Environments Inc. concluded that the vessel measures approximately 95 feet long and 20 feet wide and was originally named the Tom Sugg. It is said to have been used by the confederates during the Civil War, captured by Union forces in 1863 and then used by the U.S. Navy under the name USS Tensas.

In 1865 records show that the USS Tensas was sold to Captain Trinidad of New Iberia by auction who later renamed the boat the Teche. Other owners of the Teche include Alfred Duperior of St. Martin Parish in 1866 followed by the Attakapas Mail Transportation Company in 1867.

?Since the remains of the ship lie across both state property and private land, Mr. Allain owns that portion of the wreck on his property,? Tio said. The state owns the rest.

If any artifacts recovered from the land owned by the state, Tio said, will be curated at the Division of Archaeology Curation Facility located in downtown Baton Rouge.

?We will be happy to loan those items to the New Iberia museum, and may be able to create additional museum exhibits from recovered artifacts,? she said.

David Kelley, director of the archaeology department at Coastal Environments Inc. said that they are awaiting comments that will be sent back on the draft report submitted to the division of archaeology. Kelley said that the bulk of the report is final with the exception of minor revisions that will need to be made.

?Our research suggests that enough of the wreck is intact which makes it eligible for the National Registry of Historic Places,? said Kelley. ?With the exception of a few pieces that were pulled up before they knew what it was, it will remain intact beneath the water.?

Department of Wildlife and Fisheries? Clean Vessel Grant Program Administrator David Lavergne said the discovery began when Allain contacted his department for help in constructing a pumpout station behind his bayou side business. A pumpout station is used for recreational boaters to properly dispose of sewage aboard their vessels.

Lavergne said that Allain applied for a grant funded by the Clean Vessel Act of 1992 through Wildlife and Fisheries that would pay 75 percent of the estimated $160,000 project. The Clean Vessel Grant Program was formed to prevent water contamination and the spread of waterborne diseases such as cholera and hepatitis.

?There are several types of pumpout stations and they are usually built as permanent structures,? said Lavergne. ?The type that we were going to build for Mr. Allain will now have to be different because of what has been uncovered.?

Bo Boehringer, also of Wildlife and Fisheries, said that the department contributed money to help find out exactly what the mystery item was that had been discovered beneath the bayou. Boehringer said that the department hired Coastal Environments to perform a study before they continued with the project and the result of that study would determine if they should continue.

?We were assisting Paul and through Paul the community by contributing to the research,? said Boehringer. ?No one wants to disturb a historically significant find.?

Tom Sugg
(SwGbt: t. 41; 1. 91'; b. 22'5"; dph. 3'7"; dr. 4'; a.
2 24-par. how.)

Tom SUGG?a wooden-hulled side-wheel steamer built in 1860 at Cincinnati, Ohio?was outfitted as a sidewheel gunboat and served under the name Tom Sugg. She operated as a merchant river boat in Arkansas on the White River carrying cotton and general cargo. After the outbreak of the Civil War, she transported arms and horses for Confederate troops near the White River.

On 14 August 1863, USS Cricket ascended the Little Red River and captured Tom Sugg and Kaskaskia at Searcy's Landing. This blow destroyed Confederate river transportation in northern Arkansas and ultimately diminished the flow of supplies to Southern troops east of the Mississippi.

The United States Navy Department purchased the side-wheel gunboat from the Illinois Prize Court on 29 September 1863, and she was commissioned as Tensas on 1 January 1864 at Mound City, Ill., Acting Master E. C. Van Pelt in command. She served with the Mississippi River Squadron and was decommissioned on 7 August 1865. She was sold at public auction on 17 August 1865 at Mound City, Ill., to E. B. Trinidad.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
Volume XIII
OFFICIAL RECORDS: Series 1, vol 13, Part 1 (Missouri - Arkansas Campaign)
Page 37 Chapter XXV. GENERAL REPORTS, ETC.

The order for this battery was given on May 31. It also directed General Pike to send me Dawson's regiment of Arkansas infantry, which might now have been extremely useful. He sent the men, but took away from them their arms. Upon learning this fact I halted them on the march until arms could be procured by purchase or impressment. Three regiments of infantry were being raised east of White River, mounted, to admit of their withdrawal upon any sudden emergency. They were concentrated at Cotton Plant, 15 miles east of Des Arc, and added to General Rust's command. His force amounted to about 5,000 effectives. His instructions were to resist the enemy to the last extremity, blockading roads, burning bridges, destroying all supplies, growing crops included, and polluting the water by killing cattle, ripping the carcasses, and throwing them in. In that country at this season the streams are few and sluggish. No army could march through it so opposed. The only remaining route would be immediately along the bank of White River, crossing Cache at Clarendon. To meet that contingency a gunboat was improvised by Captain Dunnington, by lining the steamer Tom Sugg with cotton bales and mounting an 8-inch columbiad at her bow.

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