Qualla: Eliza Battle https://qualla.com/eliza-battle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:13 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Eliza Battle https://qualla.com/eliza-battle Eliza Battle: Introduction https://qualla.com/eliza-battle/ On cold winter nights along the Tombigbee River, fishermen and lock operators still report the same impossible thing: a steamboat wreathed in flame, drifting silently downstream before vanishing into darkness. The Eliza Battle has been gone since 1858, her hull resting on the river bottom where she sank, but her legend has only grown. She was the worst maritime disaster the Tombigbee ever saw, and in the folklore of southwestern Alabama, she never stopped burning.

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/9/r/eliza-battle-wp/dj9r-eliza-battle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Eliza Battle: Queen of the Tombigbee https://qualla.com/eliza-battle/ The Eliza Battle was launched in New Albany, Indiana, in 1852, a side-wheeled paddle steamer with a wooden hull displacing 316 tons. Operated out of Mobile, Alabama, by the firm of Cox, Brainard, and Company, she ran the Tombigbee River route between Columbus, Mississippi, and Mo...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/9/r/eliza-battle-wp/dj9r-eliza-battle-queen-of-the-tombigbee.mp3 0:06 2 full Eliza Battle: Fire on the Water https://qualla.com/eliza-battle/ In late February 1858, Captain S. Graham Stone and pilot Daniel Epps guided the Eliza Battle south from Columbus, making stops at Pickensville, Gainesville, Demopolis, and dozens of small river landings. By the time she departed Demopolis on February 28, the ship carried roughly ...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/9/r/eliza-battle-wp/dj9r-eliza-battle-fire-on-the-water.mp3 0:06 3 full Eliza Battle: The Phantom Steamboat https://qualla.com/eliza-battle/ The Eliza Battle sank to the river bottom after the fire, her hull settling into the mud where it remains to this day. But for the people who live along the Tombigbee between Pennington and Nanafalia, the ship never truly disappeared. Sightings of a burning steamboat have been re...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/9/r/eliza-battle-wp/dj9r-eliza-battle-the-phantom-steamboat.mp3 0:06 4 full Eliza Battle: A River Remembers https://qualla.com/eliza-battle/ The Tombigbee itself has changed since 1858. The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway, completed in 1985, reshaped portions of the river for modern barge traffic. But the stretch near Pennington where the Eliza Battle met her end remains relatively quiet, a tree-lined corridor of dark wa...

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]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/d/j/9/r/eliza-battle-wp/dj9r-eliza-battle-a-river-remembers.mp3 0:06 5 full