The deckhands often worked 18 to 20 hours without rest. Their songs were known as “Coonjines.” They had a haunting and somewhat barbaric quality and the harder the negroes worked the more they sang, keeping perfect time with their feet. The captain’s responsibility was great. He was responsible for the protection of life and property and the captains were often most heroic. Many captains on Red River never refused passage to anyone unable to pay, and their deeds have been recorded in history. The largest steamers had a capacity of 6,000 bales of cotton. While Jefferson was crowded with traffic, there were landings at practically all the big plantations on the Bayou and Lake. Some of the wharves at Jefferson were built by Thomas Hinkle, grandfather of Tom Hinkle of Paris, Texas, for whom is named Hinkle’s Camp on Cypress Bayou, founded by Mr. Hinkle during the days of the Texas and Pacific railroad construction. A few months before the Civil War the Legislature, under Governor Pease, passed a bill for an appropriation of some $200,000 to be used for the widening and deepening of the waterways of Texas. To Jefferson was allotted about $21,000 for a new turning basin and the general betterment of Big Cypress. The work was only partially completed when the war broke out and operations ceased. As the war passed into its second year Red River became vitally important to the Federal Government because the Northern armies had not yet gained a foothold in that part of the country. After the capture of the forts below New Orleans, many of the Confederate ships fled to the safety and security of Red River and its tributaries. During the Civil War the Confederate Government established a slaughter house, or packing plant, at Jefferson, through which to draw on Texas for a meat supply for the army. Cattle and sheep were slaughtered by the thousand and the dressed meat carried down to New Orleans, where it was reshipped to various branches of the army. The Federals sought to capture the meat supply of Texas but were defeated and the packing house continued to be operated until the end of the war. In those days, before the railroads became a great factor in the country’s development, the growth of a town with water transportation was deemed certain, and many of these supposedly fortunate towns scorned the railroads when they began to span the continent. Such was the attitude of Jefferson when the Texas and Pacific put through its main line from Texarkana westward.