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Capt. Napoleon Bonaparte Wiess (1839-1872). Captain Napoleon "Nap" Wiess was a pioneer Neches River boatman. In January of 1863, he and his brother, William Wiess, both steamboat men on the Sabine River, were involved in the breaking of the Union blockade of Sabine Pass (January 21, 1863). After the war, in 1866, both Napoleon and his brother William began their careers as steamer masters and owners on the Sabine-Neches waterways. Napoleon was one of the best-known steamboat masters to ply the Neches River, at various times in command of the sternwheelers "Adriance", "J. H. Graham" or the "Albert Gallatin." One record in Texana states that, in 1870, Captain Wiess of the "Gallatin" (an early vessel built at Beaumont) sent word ahead that "he would come and get the cotton" as soon as the river was at flood stage. It added that the "Gallatin" then docked at Boone's Ferry in Tyler county. For two days and nights, a grand ball was held aboard the steamer, while guests from as far away as Woodville and Moscow attended, "to hear the best fiddlers available." Napoleon Wiess' career was cut short in 1872 when he died of pneumonia at 33 years of age. He is buried at the Wiess Family Cemetery at Wiess' Bluff, Texas.
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