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Sim Carstairs

Sim Carstairs (1822-) was an American ferryman who lived in western Missouri during the 1860s. During the American Civil War, Carstairs maintained his business by pretending to be loyal to whatever cause his customers belonged to, memorizing the most popular songs of both the Union and the Confederacy. In 1865, he ferried the outlaw Josey Wales and the carpetbagger Percy Long across the Missouri River, but he attempted to betray Wales when a group of Union Army cavalrymen arrived at the other bankk and demanded that Carstairs transport them to the other side. Wales responded by shooting the rope Carstairs used to bring his barge across the river, stranding Carstairs and the soldiers in the water as he and Jamie Bottoms escaped.

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