You would enjoy reading Absolom Grimes, Confederate Mail Runner.  Ab was a
childhood buddy of Sam Clemens and ran with him in Ralls County in the few
weeks Clemens spent playing soldier in the summer of 1861,  When Sam Clemens
went west in August with Orion, Ab went with the Missouri troops to
Southwest Missouri and became a mailrunner.  His account includes running
into fellow Hannibalian steamboater Sam Bowen and others who worked the
river for the Union.
    More than two million human beings were freed from bondage in the "War
of Northern Agression."  I'm sure you meant the remark to be humorous, but I
found it rather distasteful.  Why don't you revisit Huck Finn and Pudd'nhead
Wilson before you embark on riverboat studies.  Terrell Dempsey