The Life and Death of the City of Baton Rouge

[...]she left New Albany on the 25lh. The snag cut the bow of the boat in two, and the stern of the vessel went down as soon as she was run aground. Because the Baton Rouge was already very heavily loaded with over 1,400 tons of freight, the extra weight of the water snapped the hog chains, and the hull parted from the cabin and deck, which were kept afloat by cotton bales located under the boiler deck. [...]the boat swung around and as her bow neared the shore the stage plank was lowered. [...]all five of the steamboats Clemens traveled on during his 1882 trip met violent ends (Parsons 14-15).