The Dictator was built at Shousetown, Pennsylvania in 1865 for Captain W. B. Donaldson. She had compound engines. She ran Cincinnati and New Orleans out of St. Louis. The Dictator figured in the explosion of the magnificent steamboat Missouri. On January 30, 1866, while racing with the Silver Moon, the Missouri blew up a few miles above Evansville and near the mouth of the Green River. The framework of the boat was completely demolished and many of her passengers and crew were killed. The accident occurred about 10:30 P.M. The Dictator was a short distance behind the Missouri when the explosion occurred, and came alongside to give every possible assistance. She took off the dead and wounded. At least 100 persons were killed, of whom some 20 were cabin passengers, and the rest were about evenly divided between deck passengers and crew. About 25 were rescued, most of them terribly mangled and scalded. The Dictator landed at Newburg and took on two physicians, who went along and gave surgical aid as the boat proceeded. Twenty six days later, on February 25, 1866, the Dictator burned at St. Louis, Missouri.