C. T. Dumont Hit by the Tom Rees

At 6 p.m. on Thursday night, [December 14, 1865], the Madison packet C. T. Dumont, Captain Chas. David, bound down, collided, at Big Bone with the tow boat Tom Rees, bound up with a tow of barges.  One of the barges struck the Dumont forward, tearing off her entire guard, including the cook-house, stoves and all the cook-house furniture, together with the water wheel.  The wheel fell into the barge, which clung to the Dumont, being fast under her guard.  The hull of the Dumont was not injured.

The colored steward, named Sanderlin, and the first and second cooks, together with a cook-house or cabin-boy, all colored, were in the cook house when the accident occurred ad were killed.  The body of the second cook was found in one of the barges, which had floated off, and arrive here yesterday on the Major Anderson.  the bodies of the others had not been recovered at last accounts.  The stewards and the cooks of the Dumont reside in this city. 

We suppose the matter will be investigated by the Local Inspectors, who will decide who is to blame in the case of this collision.

 From the Cincinnati Commercial of December16, 1865

There's a picture of the restored Dumont, here, a little more background on the Dumont here, and of a subsequent mishap in a Warsaw hurricane, here.