31 October 1837
Removal / transport disasterBook sources
Monmouth steamboat disaster kills Muscogee people during forced removal
Mississippi River, Louisiana
The steamboat Monmouth sank after a collision while carrying Muscogee people upriver during forced removal. Hundreds died. The disaster exposed the lethal conditions of transporting displaced families under the removal system.
Dates preserve the source’s precision. This entry is part of a selected historical record; its qualifications and sources are retained below.
Context / qualification
Zinn gives 311 deaths; the University of Arkansas at Little Rock exhibit describes more than 300. This first pass retains the scale without presenting a reconciled passenger or casualty list. The exhibit supports the date and collision; the chapter’s quoted newspaper accusation against contractors remains an uncollated source lead.
Sources
- Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, chapter 7, pp. 143–144; supplied print pages, edition/year unidentified
- University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Steamboats and Their Role in Indian Removal; Monmouth account citing Grant Foreman, Indian Removal, p. 187 ↗