Burning of the City of Eufaula at Neal's Landing, FL

Floating palace destroyed by fire.

by Dale Cox

The paddlewheel steamer City of Eufaula burned at
Neals Landing on February 11, 1921.
The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County.

Somewhere beneath the mud and water at Neals Landing rest the charred remains of one of the most elegant paddlewheel steamers ever to navigate the Chattahoochee River.

The City of Eufaula was a beautiful boat owned by the Planters and Merchants' Steamboat Company of Columbus, Georgia. The famed boatbuilder Sam J. Johnson built her hull at Apalachicola, signing the construction contract in August 1912. Launched and christened with champagne, the hull was towed to Columbus where construction of the decks, staterooms and other amenities was completed.

Powered by a sternwheel, the steamboat could carry more than 50 passengers and crew in addition to nearly 250 tons of cargo:

The City of Eufaula, built-in Columbus, had been in the river trade on the Chattahoochee between Columbus and lower river points for several years and the shrieking of its whistle had become a sound familiar to the ears of the people living along the course of the stream. - Columbus Ledger, February 13, 1921.

The City of Eufaula at a landing on the Chattahoochee River.
Dale Cox Collection

The boat operated successfully a little over eight years before disaster struck at Neals Landing on February 11, 1921. She was edged up to the steep riverbank taking on additional cargo when the crew noticed a smell of smoke:

No injuries were reported as a result of the disastrous blaze, but the fire had gained such headway and developed so rapidly until efforts to save the boat were fruitless, according to information brought to Columbus. A high river and a strong wind apparently encouraged the flames and soon after the discovery was made the vessel was almost enveloped, it was said. The City of Eufaula was bound for Columbus, but was laden with a comparatively light cargo, additional cargo was being taken at Neal’s Landing when the fire broke out. It was stated that the crew made a strong but vain effort to extinguish the fire, despite the headway of the flames and the disadvantage caused by the brisk wind. - Columbus Ledger, February 13, 1921.

The City of Eufaula is seen here taking on cargo. She was
doing the same at Neals Landing when the fire erupted.

The massive blaze was not the first for Neals Landing. The steamboat Eagle burned there in a fatal fire on January 29, 1854, and General Harrison suffered a boiler explosion near the landing that killed three men in 1842. Please click here to read more about the deadly sinking of the Eagle.

Perhaps the stretch of water was cursed by the Native Americans of Ekanachatte ("Red Ground")? The Muscogee (Creek) town stood on the site of Neal's Landing from circa 1763 to 1818. The extensive village was burned to the ground during the First Seminole War, and white settlers rushed in to claim the fertile fields and townsite.

The river landing is now part of Neals Landing Park, a recreation area off State Road 2 at the west end of the Chattahoochee River bridge. An interpretive panel near the boat ramp provides more information on the history of the site.

This map will help you find it:

The Very Jaws of Death: The Wreck of the Steamboat Eagle

A Nineteenth Century Tragedy at Neal's Landing

by Dale Cox

Site of the wreck of the steamboat Eagle.

Neal's Landing - One of the greatest tragedies in the history of Jackson County was the sinking of the steamboat Eagle in less than fifteen minutes on January 29, 1854.

The massive 150-foot boat was a true "floating palace" that rivaled the finest Mississippi riverboats of her day. Propelled by a big paddlewheel at her stern, she carried 200 tons of cargo plus her cargo and crew and was less than two years old when she left Columbus on January 28, 1854, in route down the Chattahoochee and Apalachicola Rivers to Apalachicola, Florida.

The Eagle carried 1,303 bales of cotton on that ill-fated trip and her cabins were filled with passengers, many of them children. She had just reduced speed as she approached Neal's Landing (spelled Neals Landing today) in the northeast corner of Jackson County, Florida, when the smell of smoke suddenly filled her decks.

The cause was never determined, but fire broke out on the boat that day. The flames were first discovered in an area behind the engine room and directly below the "Ladies' Cabin." The gleaming decks burst into flame and fire engulfed the Eagle so fast that crew and passengers alike were surrounded by walls of flame.

The pilot stayed at his post even as fire consumed his vessel. The engines were still running and he steered the bow of the Eagle for the Florida shore to help the crew and passengers get ashore. 

"The children and ladies had either to come down with ropes or be let fall from a height of 13 tiers of cotton bales into the arms of those below on the main deck," wrote one survivor, "then jump to shore."

The same eyewitness continued with a remarkable story of heroism:

...All speak in the highest praise of the conduct of my daughter, not 10 years old. She neither cried nor screamed, but stood upon a pile of cotton, holding one of her little cousins (boys) by each hand, exhorting them not to cry or jump, nor would she leave the burning wreck until she saw them safely landed; she then, in the most self-possessed manner, asked if there was any person that would save her?

One member of the crew yelled out "I will" and, at the risk of his own life, climbed the burning decks and "snatched her from the very jaws of death."

The mighty steamboat Eagle disappeared into the waters of the Chattahoochee within fifteen minutes. Nothing remained to be seen, according to eyewitnesses, but "a few blackened particles of cotton."

All of the people who could be saved were rescued within the first five minutes after the discovery of the fire. Four people - three men and one woman - died. All were members of the crew who remained aboard helping passengers escape until it was too late for them to save themselves.

The loss of the Eagle in financial terms was estimated at $100,000, a remarkable sum for the time. In fact, $100,000 in 1854 was the equivalent of $3,048,714.29 in 2019 dollars.

The estimate did not include a huge shipment of gold and silver being sent to Apalachicola by the banks of Columbus on behalf of the cotton merchants in that city. The season had been extremely profitable and the specie was on its way to be placed aboard an ocean-going vessel for shipment to New York.

Some of the money was recovered, but the banks never revealed how much was lost with the Eagle and remains buried in the mud on the bottom of the Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.

A mystery of murder & missing gold on the Ocheesee Road!

This rare 1849 $20 gold piece is at the National Museum of
American History. Could a treasure of similar coins worth
millions of dollars be hidden south of Grand Ridge, Florida?
National Numismatic Collection, National Museum of American History

The end of the War Between the States (or Civil War) brought with it a time of hunger and starvation for people of all races in the rural counties of the Florida Panhandle. It was also a time when ruthless outlaws, many of them deserters from either the Union or Confederate army, stalked the roads and byways in search of plunder.

It was a time when anyone thought to possess gold or other valuables could quickly become the victim of a robbery or worse. 

A man named S.D. Thom learned this deadly lesson on the night of September 2-3, 1865, when he set off from Ocheesee Landing in Calhoun County to meet up with a man named Luke Lott:

Thom came ashore at Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County,
Florida. He traveled west from here to meet with Luke Lott.

From a private letter, written from Chattahoochee on the 6th, we learn that Mr. S.D. Thom, a well-known citizen of Columbus, was found dead, on Sunday, Sept. 3d, on the road between Luke Lott's house and Gregory's saw-mill, in Jackson county, Fla., about fifteen miles from Ocheesee, with nine buckshot in his body. He was buried on the 4th. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Thom, as the above excerpt notes, was a prominent businessman in Columbus, Georgia. He had gone down the Chattahoochee River from that city in a small boat and stayed with a friend named A.D. Bull on the night of August 26th:

...[H]e showed a bag which he said contained $800 in gold, and told his host that he was going to see Mr. Luke Lott, whom he knew, and whom he had promised a visit, if he ever came to Florida, to buy bacon. He left the next morning in a bateaux, a negro being with him, for Lott's place. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

Calhoun County as it appeared in 1860
when it still extended all the way to the
Gulf of Mexico. Ocheesee is at the top left.

The mention that Thom had gone to Florida to "buy bacon" means that he was planning to purchase a large supply of pork. He was engaged in business in Columbus and the amount would have been considerable.

Luke Lott, said by the article to have been an acquaintance of the murdered man, was a fascinating - and deadly - character. 

He lived in northern Calhoun County between the Apalachicola and Chipola Rivers, but owned a large plantation that extended well into Jackson County. He had been successful and highly-regarded before and during the war, although there were also rumors that he had murdered one of his slaves. Lott was the captain of the Calhoun County Home Guard unit and military records indicate that he was a friend of Governor John Milton. 

He was a pro-secession "fire eater" - to use the terminology of the day - and became a bitter enemy of the "Carpetbaggers" (Northerners who moved South) and "Scalawags" (Southern political allies of the Carpetbaggers) who controlled Florida during the Reconstruction era. He was, in fact, later accused of becoming an armed assassin.

...The report is that he went to Lott's deposited his money with him, remained a day or two, and was last seen with Lott, going towards Marianna to buy bacon. Report further says that Thom had deposited some $8,000 and $4,000 with Lott, but the writer is confident that he had not exceeding $400. Some friend should examine into the affair. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, September 19, 1865.

The reports of the time do not mention the exact location where Thom's body was found other than to note it was on the road between Luke Lott's home, in Calhoun County, and Gregory's Mill, in Jackson County.

The beautiful old Gregory House at Torreya State Park was
the home of Jason Gregory, the builder of the mill mentioned
in the accounts of S.D. Thom's murder.

Gregory's Mill had been built in around 1850 by Jason Gregory, a well-known resident of Ocheesee, It stood on the headwaters of Carpenter Sink Creek about 1.5 miles west of State Road 69 and about the same distance north of the Calhoun County line. Gregory is primarily remembered today as the builder of the beautiful old Gregory House that once stood at Ocheesee but now can be toured at Torreya State Park.

Lott lived almost due south of the mill in northern Calhoun County, although he had extensive land holdings throughout the area.

Civil law had broken down in the region by the end of the War Between the States, largely due to the capture or killing of so many local authorities during the Battle of Marianna. The U.S. military responded to the reports of the murder and an investigation of sorts followed:

We learn that Mr. LUKE LOTT, a citizen of Calhoun county, well known here, is under arrest in this city charged with the murder of Mr. THOM, of Columbus, Ga. Since his arrest a negro has been taken into custody for the same offence under suspicious circumstances. The case will be tried before a Military Commission. Mr. D.P. Holland is council for the accused. The case of Mr. Lott, we understand, is one of mere suspicion only. - Tallahassee Semi-Weekly Floridian, October 25, 1865.

Jackson County as it appeared in 1888 (more or less!). The murder took
place south of Grand Ridge on the Calhoun County line.

D.P. Holland, who served as Lott's attorney during his trial before the military tribunal in Tallahassee, had been a lieutenant colonel and later a colonel in the Confederate service. His legal expertise proved worthwhile and Lott was acquitted of the charges against him. 

The fate of the African American man also charged with the crime is unknown. It is interesting to speculate whether he might have been the same man who accompanied S.D. Thom on his trip down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, but this is not known with certainty.

The value of the stolen money is difficult to assess because so many different amounts were given by writers at the time. Gold was worth $30 per ounce in 1865 so a rough estimate, based on the range of values given for Thom's bag of coins, would be $16,738.05 to $503,400 at today's gold price of $1,258.50 per ounce.

This estimate is based strictly on the value of the gold itself and does not consider the value of 19th century gold coins to collectors! A single $20 Double Eagle gold piece from 1865 in excellent condition can be worth thousands of dollars today.

In other words, S.D. Thom's lost bag of gold could be worth millions. 

The money was not recovered at the time of his murder and may still be out there today, buried somewhere near the line that divides Jackson and Calhoun Counties.

How Ocheesee almost replaced Tallahassee as capital of Florida

The wooden frame capitol building in Tallahassee as it
appeared in 1831 when Ocheesee almost became state capital.
State Archives of Florida

Tallahassee had been capital of Florida for fewer than ten years when it almost lost the title to the Apalachicola River valley.

Pensacola and St. Augustine had never been thrilled that the new town being carved from the wilderness had taken their ancient titles as the twin capital cities of Florida. The population boom taking place in in Tallahassee, however, was rapidly solidifying its status.

The 1830 census revealed that Leon County, of which Tallahassee was the county seat, had become Florida's most populous county with 6,494 residents. Gadsden County was next with 4,895 while Jackson County was third with 3,907. 

Pensacola and St. Augustine had had lost their centuries old positions as the population centers of Florida in just nine years.

Florida as it appeared in 1832.
(Click to enlarge)

Anti-Tallahassee delegates to the Florida Territorial Legislative Council knew that 1831 might be their last chance to wrest the title of capital away from the growing town in the hills of Middle Florida. When the Council members convened that year, they took their best shot.

The delegates met at the tiny frame capitol building in Tallahassee in 1831 and voted for the appointment of a commission to review other potential sites for the establishment of a permanent capital city. 

The members of this commission began their work and three places quickly emerged as the leading candidates to replace Tallahassee. They were Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County, Mt. Vernon (Chattahoochee) in Gadsden County and an unidentified point on the Suwannee River. 

Mt. Vernon, which was soon renamed Chattahoochee due to mail confusion with the Alabama community of the same name, was the only one of these places that had become an actual town by 1831. It had been picked to become the site for Florida's new U.S. Arsenal and the arrival of steamboat traffic on the Apalachicola River spurred its growing development as an important river port.

The red clay of Ocheesee Bluff in Calhoun County, Florida.

Ocheesee Bluff, until recently the site of the Creek Indian village of Ocheesee Talofa, was also located on the Apalachicola River. The Federal Road crossed the river at Ocheesee, which was soon to be named the seat of government for short-lived Fayette County. 

Interests from the East Coast of Florida favored a location somewhere on the Suwannee River. A city there would have to be built from scratch, but unlike Tallahassee would be closer to St. Augustine, Jacksonville and Fernandina while also offering the advantage of river transportation.

It was a close decision:

SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. - The Commissioners appointed under the Resolution of the last Council have made separate reports - one infavor of Mount Vernon - two infavor of Ocheesee and one infavor of a point on the Suwanee as the seat of Government. - (Tallahassee Floridian, January 10, 1832).

This historic live oak tree at Ocheesee Bluff survives from
the days of the town of Ocheesee, Florida.

Three of the four commissioners favored a location on the Apalachicola River, but split between Mt. Vernon and Ocheesee. The latter place received a plurality of the total vote, but since the commission included four members it ended in a tie with Mt. Vernon and a site on the Suwanee.

Unable to break this deadlock, the Council delegates themselves decided to wait another year or two and see what might happen:

...The public buildings at Tallahassee will answer, until the progressive improvement of the Country shall show what point is likely to continue central, as regards the population of the Territory. - There are immense bodies of unexplored land of good quality in East Florida, and the Suwanee will probably be the center of population within ten years. - (Tallahassee Floridian, January 10, 1832).

The restored gunpowder magazine of the U.S. Arsenal at
Chattahoochee is now the Apalachicola Arsenal Museum.

It was not to be. The next ten years saw Leon County's dramatic growth continue while neighboring Jefferson County surged past Jackson to become the third most populous of Florida's counties. The St. Joseph Convention approved a proposed constitution for Florida and the territory was admitted to the Union as a state in 1845.

Ocheesee lost its chance to become capital of Florida by a single vote. Had the Apalachicola River supports on the commission unified their votes, the state capitol building would likely be there today. Instead, it is a ghost town. An old oak tree at Ocheesee Landing and the historic Gregory House across the river in Torreya State Park are virtually all that remain to prove it ever existed. 

Columbus, the town that soon grew on the Suwannee River, is also a ghost town today. Its cemetery and a few other traces can be seen at Suwannee River State Park.

Chattahoochee still survives as a small but charming city of just under 4,000 people. Its trail system has been named one of the finest of any small town in America and the Apalachicola River is both a Florida Blueway and a National Scenic Trail.

Tallahassee remains the state capital of Florida.

You can learn more about the ghost town of Ocheesee and Chattahoochee's historic River Landing Park in these videos from TwoEgg.TV:

Midnight Duel at Neal's Landing in Jackson County, Florida

The Chattahoochee River at Neal's Landing.

The last known duel in Florida history took place at Neal's Landing in Jackson County on the night of March 7, 1878. 

No one was injured but newspapers of the time reported that "both men stood up bravely."

The landing is now the site of Neals Landing Park, a popular and pretty spot for fishing, picnicking, camping and other outdoor activities. In 1878, however, it was the center of a prosperous riverboat community. A hotel, stores and warehouses thrived along the low bluff, their success made possible by the paddlewheel steamboats that carried passengers and cargoes up and down the Chattahoochee River.

The incident at Neal's Landing was one of the last true duels ever to take place in the United States. 

These "affairs of honor" were fought according to the Code Duello, a set of rules that governed how such encounters should take place. The code offered a way for gentlemen to settle their disputes in personal combat and was intended to prevent arguments from growing into violent outbreaks or family feuds.

Neals Landing Park is just off State Road 2 in Jackson County.

The practice fell from favor in the years following the War Between the States (or Civil War) and was outlawed in most jurisdictions.

The Neal's Landing duel resulted from a dispute that grew between a young man of that community and a young man of Columbus, Georgia. The former had "written something unpleasant about the gentlemen of this city," reported the Columbus Daily Enquirer.

The newspaper did not identify either man but reported that the challenge was issued by the resident of Columbus. 

Each man chose a second to take his place should he fail to appear and the choice of weapons and location fell to the man from Neal's Landing:

...The seconds are well known in this city [i.e. Columbus], and once lived here. The challenged party named the time midnight, weapons shot guns, each barrel to be loaded with thirteen buck shot, distance twenty paces. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 12, 1878.

An interpretive kiosk placed by the Jackson County Tourist
Development Council and Jackson County Parks provides
more information on the history of Neal's Landing.

Proper dueling etiquette then required that the two men meet at the time and place appointed. Their seconds were to load and check the weapons. The participants would then stand back to back. Each would then step off the required distance to the count of an observer and upon reaching 10 paces each, turn and fire.

The two men lived up to the requirements of the Code Duello but the Neal's Landing duel ended with an unexpected twist. The two seconds were unwilling to see their friends shoot each other down so they took matters into their own hands:

...The seconds did a good work for the principals by mutually agreeing to load with nothing but powder, without the knowledge of the latter parties. We did not learn how many shots were exchanged, but no damage was done as no lead was used. Both men stood up bravely and the "affair of honor" was settled amicably. - Columbus Daily Enquirer, March 12, 1878.

The bloodless duel allowed each man to demonstrate his courage while the wise decision of the seconds to load the shotguns with blanks prevented a tragedy.

No trace remains of the once thriving little community at Neal's Landing. Visitors can learn more of the site's history from an interpretive kiosk placed there by Jackson County Parks and the Jackson County Tourist Development Council.

Neals Landing Park is located at 7001 FL-2, Bascom, Florida.

For a bit duel-related fun, enjoy this clip from The Andy Griffith Show: