I fell into this site looking for a history of John Anderson (said to be born in Maine in 1830) and died at Grafton, Ill 3 Mar 1879. first real traceable activity is his appearance at his future wife's family's saloon in Point twp Calhoun Co. Illinois prior to their marriage 1 Aug 1866. This would be the Family of William H. Belcher and Mary (Yarber) who formerly had been married to Zebulon Yarber.

Now for the boat questions:
The Eclipse 1862 - 27 Jan 1865 was lost at Johnsonville, Tennessee she was under charter to the USQMD and her accident could be the result of leaking boilers . 27 Soldiers were killed and 78 injured.
The Miami 1863 - 28 Jan 1866 This boat exploded her boilers 6 miles above the mouth of the Arkansas River on 28 Jan 1866.
She had on board Company B of the 13th US Cavalry. 40 lives lost. She had been chartered before by the Union. but is not mentioned as her charterer at this time. The boat appears to have been owned by Captain George W. Wolff of St Louis and the master was Sol Franklin.
The W. R. Carter, exploded her boilers 9 Feb 1866 at Island 98, 35 miles above Vicksburg. She had the same type tubular boilers as the Sultana and the W. R. Arthur and the Missouri. Capt Jacob S. Hurd was master.
Then we have the three boats Bostona, Ida Handy and the James Raymond all burned in or near St Louis, 2 June 1866. All three of these boats has seen Union service. Question are any of these losses the activity of after the war Boat- Burners.

A book that civil war historians might fine interesting is "Dictionary of Transports and Combatant Vessels Steam and Sail Employed by the Union Army 1861 - 1868" compiled by Charles Dana Gibson and E. Kay Gibson 1995 in The Army's Navy Series, Ensign Press, Candan, Maine.