Posts Tagged ‘samuel l clemens’

Another Used Book Review

Monday, December 16th, 2013

“The Conquest of the Missouri” by Joseph Mills Hanson I highly recommend.  Published in 1909 the book is a biography of the life of Capt Grant P Marsh concentrating on the days of his support of the US Army during the Indian Wars of the 1870s.  Capt Marsh was a direct participant in some important historic moments

 

For several reasons, this is a great book on steamboat history and the general history of the development of the upper Missouri River valley: 

 

                (1)  Joseph M Hanson lived during the period he was writing about, 

                (2)  Joseph M Hanson personally interviewed Grant P Marsh who furnished much of the material set forth in the book.

                (3)  Joseph M Hanson also interviewed many of the Army officers who served in the Indian Wars and other notable people and steamboat men, such as William F Cody (Wild Bill), Samuel L Clemens Mark Twain), and Horace Bixby Mark Twain’s pilot mentor).

                (4)  The illustrations and plates are fascinating, such as the group of officers (including Custer) and ladies of the 7th US Calvary at Fort Lincoln in about 1875, approximately one year before the battle of the Little Big Horn.

                (5)  The names of many steamboats (Luella, Ida Stockdale, Key West, Josephine, and the Far West) and their officers are woven into the narrative unlike most other historic accounts.

For other reasons, this used book is of great interest to me, but maybe not to you:

Flyleaf of The Conquest uf the Missouri ca 1910 (F Nash Collection)

               

                (1)  The original owner of this book received it as a gift on16 Mar 1910 according to the inscription on the flyleaf.  That person, or subsequent owners, loosely inserted many newspaper clippings and notes about specific events on many pages.  These insertions I find fascinating.  In one case, an obituary was inserted including a hand written correction of what should have been written in the book.  The back of a First Loan and Trust deposit slip Yankton, SD 192_ was used as paper for the hand written correction.

                (2)  Capt Grant Marsh worked for some of my guys from Georgetown, PA.  Unfortunately, Joseph M Hanson got many of the Georgetown details, as I understand them, wrong.  I am considering writing a correction sheet and inserting it in the book for the benefit of the next reader.   Of course, Capt Marsh was the master of the str Ida Stockdale during the 1867 season on the upper Missouri River and his salary was $1,200 month.  That he was a skillful navigator and a proven captain is not arguable.  However, Joseph M Hanson gives Capt Grant a little too much control of and credit for building the boat that, in my opinion, belongs to Georgetown men.  The str Ida Stockdale was owned by Capt Jackman Taylor Stockdale and Capt Thomas Stevenson Calhoon who as partners directed the purchase and building of other packets.  There is no discernable reason that they would relinquish this oversight task to a hired captain.  Both Stockdale and Calhoon were veteran captains and pilots working on the lower Missouri before the Civil War and all the military waterways during the war.   Both had been to Ft Benton.  Joseph M Hanson named the owner of the str Ida Stockdale as Capt RS Calhoun rather than TS Calhoon.  The Georgetown Calhoons were prideful of the spelling of their name.  Joseph M Hanson acknowledged that Capt Thomas S Calhoon “accompanied” Capt Marsh “though he made the voyage for pleasure only and had nothing to do with the management of the boat”.  Actually, as well as a principle owner Capt Thomas S Calhoon was the first clerk of the str Ida Stockdale for the venture on the upper Missouri.  For confirmation, Capt TS Calhoon’s journals can be found at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.

 

I repeat that these apparent discrepancies are important to me, but maybe not to you.   Regardless, the book is a grade-A read.    

 

 

 

Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

 

Thomas Washington Poe

Friday, March 29th, 2013

If there is a “night shade” hovering over any stone in the Georgetown Cemetery, it would be the spirit of Capt Thomas Washington Poe for good reason.   Capt Thomas Poe was arguably the most far-famed and ill-fated steamboat captain from Georgetown, PA.  Thomas Washington Poe was born in 1819 in New Lisbon, Columbiana Co, OH.  He died on 31 Dec 1881 aboard the str Fearless on his way to Pittsburgh.

 

Capt Thomas W Poe with wives, Phebe and Martha Jane (F Nash Collection)

Misfortune paid its respects to Capt Thomas Poe many times and often far from home.  On 11 May 1855  the str Georgetown was fatally snagged at Bellefontaine Bluffs on the Missouri in route to a military post.  The  str Georgetown was owned by Thomas W Poe and other partners from Georgetown, PA.  He was the principal owner of the str Clara Poe which went up in flames during the Civil War - burned by rebel forces on 17 Apr 1865 at Eddyville on the Cumberland River.  He also owned the str Amelia Poe which was a complete loss when snagged on the upper Missouri river on 24 May 1868 and salvaged by 1,500 riotous Indians.  And he was the

Thomas Poe Illustration in Life on the Mississippi

owner of the str  Nick Wall which met a tragic end on the Mississippi River near Napoleon, AK on 18 Dec 1870.  Here a grisly incident occurred that Mark Twain retold in “Life on the Mississippi”.  The boat struck a snag and sunk rapidly.  Though injured himself by the falling roof, Capt Thomas W Poe attempted to save his wife trapped in a stateroom.  He chopped a hole in the roof with an ax striking the unfortunate Martha Jane (Troxell) Poe in the head.  Martha Jane Poe, fatally wounded, was returned to Georgetown for burial.

 

Although Thomas W died on 31 Dec 1881 aboard the str Fearless on his way to Pittsburgh,  his spirit lived on ― in the courts.  The steamer sank eight months later on 26 Aug 1882 on the Missouri.    The legal case regarding the property loss was finally decided by the Supreme Court of Missouri in Oct 1887― not in favor of the Poe heirs.  This verdict feels perfectly consistent with the trend of Thomas Washington Poe’s lfe.

 

 

 

Copyright © 2013 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

Mark Twain and Georgetown

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

Samuel L Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River before the Civil War.   For two years, Twain served as a cub pilot under Capt Horace E Bixby while he learned the 2,000 miles of the ever-changing Mississippi.

 

Twain’s connection to Georgetown, PA was Horace E Bixby.  Bixby worked on the steamer Sallie as one of her pilots at least one season on the upper Missouri River.  The Sallie, a sternwheel packet owned by Capt Thomas S Calhoon and Capt Jackman T Stockdale of Georgetown, PA,  docked at the levee at Ft Benton three years running: 1868, 1869, and 1870.  I do not know which year, or years, Capt Bixby worked.

 

During the Civil War Capt Bixby was the personal pilot for Flag-Officers of the Mississippi Flotilla, Foote and Davis.

 

 

Copyright © 2010 Francis W Nash
All Rights Reserved

No part of this website may be reproduced without permission in writing from the author.

 

Mark Twain on Steamboats.

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

“She is long and sharp and trim and pretty. She has two tall fancy-topped chimneys, with a gold device strung between them; a fanciful pilothouse, all glass and gingerbread.

…Finer than anything on shore. Compared with superior dwelling-houses and first-rate hotels in the valley, they were indubitably magnificent; they were palaces.”

History in Homes

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

I have been experiencing a problem with large pages.  For an unknown reason I could not add photos or links to one large page.  To solve my problem, I split the page entitled ”It Used to be a River Town” into a history of Georgetown and a history of the steamboat captains homes.  The data about the homes has been placed in another page named “History in Homes.”   I have added more photos and as times permits, I will include copies of some of the deeds for the properties. 

 

There is one fun event description added.  The story about the preparations for the 35th wedding anniversary of Mollie Ebert and John A Trimble is notable.  The redecoration of their parlors by a “force of artists” from Pittsburgh, their elegant supper at 10:00 PM, gifts exchanged…  The details of the story were taken from a newspaper clipping from an unidentified local paper.  I will try to determine the name of the newspaper.