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Colonel Plug | |
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 Colonel Plug and his gang of river pirates patrolled the Cache River cypress swamp, of Southern Illinois, near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, hunting down helpless and unsuspecting river travelers, to attack, rob, and murder, between the 1790s–1820. | |
| Born | |
| Died | 1820? Cache River, present-day Pulaski County, Illinois? |
| Resting place | Cache River, present-day Pulaski County, Illinois? |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Colonel Fluger, Colonel Flueger, Colonel Pflueger, Col. Plug, Last of the Boat-wreckers |
| Occupation(s) | river pirate, criminal gang leader, state militia officer |
| Spouse | Pluggy |
| Founded by | Colonel Plug, Nine-Eyes |
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| Founding location | Cache River, at the confluence of the Ohio River, just above the Mississippi River, in Southern Illinois |
| Years active | 1790s–1820 |
| Territory | Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky |
| Ethnicity | European-American, African-American |
| Membership (est.) | ? |
| Criminal activities | river piracy, theft, fencing stolen goods, murder |
| Rivals | Samuel Mason (river pirate) |
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Colonel Plug (1700s? – 1820?), also known as Colonel Fluger and "The Last of the Boat-Wreckers", who existed sometime between the 1790s and 1820, was the legendary river pirate who ran a criminal gang on the Ohio River in a cypress swamp near the mouth of the Cache River. The outlaw camp of Colonel Plug was supposedly below the river pirate hideout of Cave-In-Rock and the U.S. Army post at Fort Massac, which monitored and policed frontier river traffic just above the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.