Passing Point: 1868 Steamboat Collision on the Ohio River

Passing Point is the true story of the collision of the steamers United States and America on the Ohio River near Warsaw, Kentucky, on the night of December 4, 1868. This accident was one of the worst river disasters in U.S. history, causing dozens of fatalities. The steamers collided due to pilot error, and both burned and sank when barrels of oil and whiskey in the cargo burst and the contents reached the furnaces of the steamer United States.

Since retiring from teaching, Don Morrison has volunteered for the Switzerland County Historical Society in his native Indiana and in Dharmsala, India, and Moshi, Tanzania. He has written historical novels, memoir books, and several historical articles. In researching his third historical novel, set during and after the Civil War, he learned a Confederate veteran, Marcus Toney, happened to be a passenger on the steamer United States that collided with the America, sinking both boats with many lives lost in December, 1868. The author researched and wrote the true story of this disaster in order to include parts of it in his third historical novel, to be published soon.