Colonel Plug

Colonel Plug (1700s?–1820?), also known as Colonel Fluger and referred to in legend as “The Last of the Boat-Wreckers,” was a notorious figure of American river folklore. Active sometime between the 1790s and 1820, he is remembered as a river pirate who led a gang operating along the Ohio River, particularly in the dense cypress swamps near the mouth of the Cache River. His outlaw encampment was said to lie downstream from the infamous Cave-In-Rock hideout and south of Fort Massac, a U.S. Army post that monitored river traffic near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

The Cache River, whose name comes from the French-Canadian voyageurs meaning “hidden place,” was a remote and inhospitable region. European settlers began arriving in 1803, but the swampy terrain proved difficult to farm. The area was plagued by venomous snakes, swarms of mosquitoes, and outbreaks of malaria that claimed many early settlers. Its isolation made it an ideal refuge for outlaws like Colonel Plug and his gang, who took advantage of the terrain to conceal their illegal operations.

Plug’s favored tactic was sabotage: his men would secretly board cargo boats, often hiding in the hold, and remove the caulking between the hull planks, causing the vessel to slowly take on water and eventually sink. Another method involved boring holes into the bottom of the boat with an auger. Once the vessel was disabled or sunk, the gang could loot it without resistance.

Boat caulking at the time involved pressing a mixture of cotton and oakum—hemp fibers soaked in pine tar—into the seams between hull planks using a mallet and a caulking iron. Without this watertight seal, the boats quickly became unseaworthy.

Stolen cargo and salvaged boats were reportedly transported downstream and sold in river towns like New Orleans. Colonel Plug’s reign allegedly ended when he drowned, trapped in the lower hold of a sinking boat—ironically the victim of the very method he had used against others.

Some historians speculate that the legend of Colonel Plug may have been inspired by real-life river pirate Samuel Mason, who also operated out of Cave-In-Rock under aliases such as “Bully Wilson.” However, there is little concrete evidence to confirm whether Colonel Plug was a real individual or a folkloric creation. The most detailed descriptions of him come from an 1830 article by Timothy Flint titled “Col. Plug, the Last of the Boat-Wreckers” in The Western Monthly Review, and a companion article titled “The Boat-Wreckers—Or Banditti of the West” published in the Rochester Daily Advertiser on January 29, 1830.

According to legend, Colonel Plug claimed he was born in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, and had served as a colonel in the New Hampshire militia. His alternate name, Fluger, suggests possible German ancestry. Yet, no historical records—military or census—confirm the existence of anyone by the name Fluger, Flueger, or Pflueger in Rockingham County at the time, casting further doubt on his claimed identity.

By the 1810s, river piracy began to decline. The arrival of steamboats, such as the New Orleans in 1811—the same year as the devastating New Madrid earthquake—transformed river travel. Steamboats were faster, less reliant on frequent stops, and harder to ambush. In response to ongoing threats, keelboat crews also began to travel in armed convoys for added protection, making piracy increasingly difficult and less profitable.

While the historical footprint of Colonel Plug remains faint, his legend persists as part of the rich, dark folklore of America’s frontier rivers.