The Great American Steamboat Race

by Benton Rain Patterson

  The people of the entire Mississippi Valley have been excited about this race as they never were before by any similar event, and the banks of the great river were thronged with thousands of deeply interested spectators during the progress of the race, all along the route from New Orleans to St. Louis.

  It is not to be denied that the illustrious name which the victor bears had much to do with the popular sympathy for her in this contest. To such an extent was this feeling carried that we heard of parties who had their money staked on the Natchez declare they would prefer to lose it rather than the Rob’t E. Lee should be defeated.2

  On reaching downtown St. Louis, Captain Cannon had sped the Lee past Walnut Street, where it was to land, and as if taking a victory lap, continued up to where the piers for the new bridge across the Mississippi were under construction, then had made a sweeping turn and headed back to Walnut Street, slowed his vessel and tied it up to the wharf boat there. Once it was tied up, the throng of well-wishers pushed their way onto the boat to congratulate all who were aboard, creating a lively celebration.

  “On board the Lee,” the Democrat’s reporter wrote, “the scene was one the like of which is seldom witnessed. Although the police placed on the steps leading to the cabin were active and determined, such crowds passed up and through the cabin that hardly anything could be heard for the noise arising from the confused movements.”3

  Cannon found himself swamped by the crowd, but managed to push free of the mass of bodies and make his way off the Lee and onto the wharf boat, where he was met by the official welcomers, including Captain Nat Green, who led him away from the throng and into a private office to escape the crowd and confusion, which he seemed to tolerate well enough. “He does not seem exhausted by the vigils necessary for the task performed,” the Democrat reporter commented. Among the dignitaries on hand to congratulate Cannon were a host of fellow steamboat captains as well as Mary Lee, the thirty-five-year-old daughter of the man for whom the triumphant Robert E. Lee had been named, and James B. Eads, designer of St. Louis’s new bridge.

  A man of forceful personality and opinions, Eads volunteered to Cannon that he would bet a thousand dollars that if the Lee had an iron hull, instead of its wooden hull, it would have made the trip from New Orleans faster by five hours. He told Cannon that an iron hull would have made the Robert E. Lee a foot lighter in the water and he then pressed Cannon to tell him how much faster the Lee could have gone if its draft had been a foot less. Fortunately for Cannon, another well-wisher was brought to him to be introduced then and he was able to turn away from the argumentive Eads.

  Captain Cannon did take time to answer other questions, though. One of his fellow steamboat captains asked him about the stage of water he preferred when attempting a fast trip. Cannon quickly responded, “Bank full of water. I want it bank full, always for my fast trip.”4 Cannon, the reporter observed, seemed “very happy,” and when asked about his feelings, Cannon replied that if he seemed happy, it was because he had met so many friends and was deeply gratified by the reception given him. Cannon attributed his success to the Robert E. Lee’s machinery, calling its engines “the best in the world” and claiming that except for the water leak, the boat’s machinery was in as good condition at the end of the race as it was when the Lee left New Orleans. Commenting on the fog that had slowed down the Lee and had critically delayed the Natchez, Cannon admitted, “Someone aboard was in favor of laying up,” apparently referring to himself, “but I persisted in running slow, and in a few minutes the fog was left behind.”5

  Amid the hubbub, one of the Lee’s passengers, feeling effusive over the success of the Lee and Captain Cannon’s handling of the vessel, penned a note of gratitude and commendation to him:

  We, the undersigned passengers of the Robt. E. Lee, take this method of tendering our thanks to Capt. John W. Cannon and his officers, for the pleasant trip just made, and would compliment Captain Cannon on his superior judgment and skill in the management of his boat, making the time quicker than it was ever made before. And we must say in praise of the noble craft, that everything worked to the satisfaction of all aboard. And we would hardly have known that she was on a fast trip had it not been for the continued cheering that greeted us at every landing as we passed. There was no excitement exhibited by the officers and crew during the whole trip. We would say to those who wish to take a pleasant, safe and speedy trip, to go on the “Robt. E. Lee.”6

  The note’s author then asked his fellow passengers if they would like to sign the statement, and the thirty who affixed their signatures to the note thereby entered their names into the annals of American maritime history, forever identified as participants in the great river’s greatest race.7

  It was almost six o’clock that evening when the Natchez came steaming into sight at St. Louis. As it passed Carondelet, steamers standing in the river greeted the Natchez with their whistles and bells, and the crowds on shore, standing on the riverbank and on the porches and balconies of houses, shouted and waved handkerchiefs. The crowds in downtown St. Louis, still celebrating the Fourth of July and the conclusion of the historic race, likewise cheered and hailed the late-arriving Natchez as loudly and enthusiastically as they had the Lee. As his vessel came up to its wharf boat Captain Leathers again pulled his new watch from his pocket and consulted it. It said 5:51 p.m., New Orleans time. The clock on the wharf boat, however, said 6:02, St. Louis time. In either case, the Natchez had finished the course some six and a half hours behind the Robert E. Lee.

  Warmly greeted by a legion of friends, Leathers also faced the newspaper reporters and others in the crowd who had questions for him. He promptly let them know that he believed the Natchez had run a faster race than had the Lee. He conceded that the Lee had arrived six and a half hours before him, but maintained that allowances should be made for the difficulties the Natchez had encountered. He said thirty-six minutes should be subtracted from his boat’s running time for the time it lost when it had to stop at Milliken’s Bend for repairs to the valve of its intake pump, and more than six hours should be subtracted for the idle time the Natchez had spent waiting for the fog to lift. When all was considered, Leathers figured, the Natchez had actually made the trip in twelve minutes less than had the Robert E. Lee.8

  Apparently no one in the crowd wanted to argue the matter with the formidable-looking captain of the Natchez. “The expression of his countenance,” one newspaperman reported, “is open, frank and rather pleasing. But if anyone is willing to calmly read that face, such a one would very probably conclude that he would not like to have him [Leathers] for an enemy.”9

  To t h e St. Louis Republican reporter who had been aboard the Natchez all the way from New Orleans and had become one of its champions, Leathers’s argument made perfect sense. “The Natchez,” he wrote, “was beaten to St. Louis several hours, yet if an accurate deduction of the time she lost by accident to her pump and also by making two special landings for passengers alone, together with the time lost in the fog and by her numerous backings toward New Orleans from shoal water [were made], it will appear that her real running time to St. Louis is not greater than that of the R.E. Lee.”10

  That same reporter, though, decided that the Natchez was no faster in the water than was the Lee, that they were equal. “The Natchez cannot possibly pass the Lee under way. She can get just so close as to ride on her swells and not another inch can she gain. The same would be the case with the Lee in the wake of the Natchez.... Were they let loose at New Orleans together on a big river they both would reach St. Louis in three days and twelve hours from New Orleans.”11

  Captain Leathers, in an interview with a St. Louis Democrat reporter the next afternoon, July 5, remained steadfast in his belief that the race had not proved the Lee to be the superior vessel:

  REPORTER : “Captain, are you prepared to admit that the Lee is faster than the Natchez?”

  LEATHERS: “No. The Lee is not faster, by a long sight. No, sir.”

  REPORTE
R: “Any objection to tell me something about your trip?”

  LEATHERS: “No. We went to New Orleans and there were over 90 people’s names on the register for the Natchez and we were to take passengers at Vicksburg, Greenville and Memphis. We had 40 deck and cabin passengers for Cairo, whom we put on boats or tugs, and we brought through to St. Louis about 70 cabin passengers.”

  REPORTER: “How about the Lee?”

  LEATHERS: “She did not land alongside any wharf boat on the river. We lost thirty-six minutes at Buckhorn in Milliken Bend, and put out twenty passengers at Memphis.”

  REPORTER: “Were you as thoroughly stripped as the Lee?”

  LEATHERS: “We did no stripping except of the extra cattle dunnage, and my boat is in perfect order in every particular.”

  REPORTER: “What is the fastest trip you can make from New Orleans to St. Louis?”

  LEATHERS: I can come in 3 days 12 hours; but I am sure not to try it in shoal water. I think the Natchez has the capacity to do it. But for two of my stoppages, I would have beaten the Lee to St. Louis.”

  REPORTER: “Wherein was the Lee’s greatest advantage in this contest?”

  LEATHERS: “She received one hundred cords pine wood off the Pargoud; that was her great aid and advantage, and then I lost six hours in the fog, and the thirty-six minutes I have mentioned before. But for those we would have beaten the Lee’s time to St. Louis some twenty odd minutes. My losing landings were at Buckhorn and Devil’s Island.”

  REPORTER: “Then, as to your preparation for a race, captain?”

  LEATHERS: “I made none. I took fuel at the usual places, and had assistance from nobody. No fuel but Pittsburg coal.”

  REPORTER: “Your passenger receipts must be considerable.”

  LEATHERS: “We had $3000 or $4000 passenger receipts. I wasn’t prepared to tear up my boat, but to carry passengers.”

  REPORTER: “How did you expect to get along above Cairo?”

  LEATHERS: “I expected to clean her out in this river. At Cape Girardeau I was only one hour behind her. I touched bottom twice, having missed the channel twice. We merely bumped, and immediately backed off.”

  Here the interview ended, the reporter informing Capt. Leathers that he supposed the Natchez would beat the Lee’s time within six months, but he [the reporter] would not ask any information on that point.12

  Leathers’s friends and backers in Cincinnati were generally more gracious, conceding the Natchez had been fairly beaten. The Cincinnati Gazette, perhaps speaking for them, expressed its feelings in a straightforward, no-excuses editorial published in a late edition on July 4:

  The three days’ agony is over. We are glad of it. There can be no doubt as to which is the fleetest steamer on the Mississippi. The Robert E. Lee need not make another run until a steamboat is built in the future that, upon trial, will excel her in speed. Cincinnati may be proud of the Natchez for her beautiful model. Her machinery is also good, else she would not have made the run she did — sometimes even gaining on the Lee.

  “Generalship” and many other things may have had their influence on the race, but the solid fact stares us in the face that the Lee has beaten the Natchez. The reason of this, to plain, common-sense people, is apparent, namely: The Lee is the fastest boat.

  The Natchez was built expressly to beat the Lee. The question heretofore has been, “Will the Lee beat?” The only question now is, “Has she done it?” We think she has, and fairly, too. The thirty-four-inch cylinders could not cope with the forty-inch cylinders. Cincinnati must build another boat and try the large cylinders.13

  By the next evening, Tuesday, July 5, the officers of the two steamboats were sufficiently recovered from their ordeal to attend the banquet planned to honor the loser as well as the winner. The celebration of the consummation of the great race was to be held at the Southern Hotel, four blocks back from the riverfront, on Walnut Street, a hotel widely known for excellent cuisine. The banquet’s organizing committee had engaged Postlewaite’s String Band to provide entertainment for the fifty or so invited guests, all men, most of them steamboat captains and officers. A long-time captain, Dan Taylor, apparently picked for his gift of eloquence, was to preside over the affair.

  In the hotel’s banquet room the guests took their places at three long, parallel tables that awaited them. At the head of the table on the right was seated the St. Louis harbormaster, Captain R.P. Clark, and beside him sat John Cannon. The other officers of the Robert E. Lee sat on either side of the table, along with Cannon’s old partners, Johnny Smoker and John Tolle, and others. It was obviously the Lee table, with a model of the vessel set on it as a centerpiece. One of those seated at it, however, was N.C. Claiborne, who was related to Leathers by marriage.

  At the head of the table on the left sat Captain W.W. Green. Tom Leathers sat to the right of him, and the other officers of the Natchez, as at the Lee table, were arranged on both sides of the table. Also at the table were, among others, Bart Able, captain of the Mollie Able, and John Christy, who had traveled from Memphis to be with his friend Tom Leathers at the celebration. At the center of the table stood a model of the Natchez.

  Between the Lee and Natchez tables was the center table, which may have been regarded as the neutral, or barrier, table. At the head of it sat — and occasionally stood — the banquet’s master of ceremonies, Captain Taylor, and arranged on either side of it were the rest of the celebrants.

  The food and wine were as rich and bountiful as might be expected aboard a grand Mississippi River steamer, and Postlewaite’s String Band performed superbly, according to all reports. When the dinner had been consumed, wine glasses emptied many times, cigars lighted and Postlewaite’s musicians had been stilled, Captain Taylor rose from his chair at the center table and began an oration of complimentary remarks, followed by a reminder of what the guests had come to celebrate. “The two steamers that arrived at our wharf yesterday,” he said, revealing the public-relations aspect of the race, “have demonstrated that steamers can navigate even the difficult waters of the Mississippi and yet compete with the railroad, as they have done.”

  His audience applauded in hearty agreement.

  “There are many of you here,” Taylor went on, “who have been longer upon the railroad from New Orleans to St. Louis than any of the gentlemen who have arrived on these steamers.” More applause and shouts of agreement. “I speak of that in general terms, previous to congratulating our friends, the officers of the two steamers who have been so successful and who have so perfectly illustrated the fact that steamers can navigate the Mississippi River and yet compete with railroads on the land, even though they cut across the corners.” That statement was intended as a joke, as his listeners understood it to be, and they responded with laughter and more applause.

  After a few more remarks in praise of steamboats, Taylor lifted his wine glass and announced, “I now offer you a toast, gentlemen. The crews of the steamboats Lee and Natchez!”

  His audience quickly responded with their own raised glasses and drank his toast. Taylor then called upon Captain Cannon for a few words.

  Cannon declined, and Colonel Claiborne of Kentucky, Leathers’s relative, stood to speak on behalf of Cannon. “I am related to both of these boats,” he told the celebrants, “to the Natchez by ties of blood, to the Robert E. Lee by state pride.” After reciting the achievements of the grand old steamer J.M. White as well as the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee, Claiborne reminded his listeners that the steamboat was invented by an American. “I make this statement,” he said, “when I know and feel that we have a better people, braver men and prettier women than there are in any nation.” Laughter and thunderous applause followed.

  “There is a name, gentlemen, in this celebration,” he went on, turning serious. “There is a name upon the card that invited me to this ovation, and there is something in that name, and I beg you to go slow.” The room grew quiet. “If any words should pass my lips hastily, that should sound harshly upon the ears
of the most sensitive, I will pour upon the wound the balm of a thousand oils before I get through.”

  His preparations made, he then delivered his tribute to what was in that mixed audience a controversial figure — the Confederate general for whom the winning steamer was named, Robert E. Lee. “The whole people of this great country respect the man, though they condemn his course,” Claiborne said. He pronounced himself one of those who “rejoiced in the final victory of the Union” and then, seeking to salve the war’s wound, offered a little lightness. “Suppose,” he said, “we had divided, where would the Natchez and the Lee have stopped? Not at St. Louis. And we would have been put out of this banquet tonight, and the wine and good spirits and good cheer we have had.”

  The audience responded as he no doubt had hoped, with laughter and applause. Finally, he raised his glass and called for, “Long life and good health to Tom Leathers and John Cannon!”

  That toast downed, Captain Taylor stood and turned to Leathers for a speech. Like Cannon, Leathers declined. Captain Able of the Molly Able rose to speak for him. By now the wine evidently was having some effect on the relevance and the reality of the remarks. Able wanted America to have credit for more than the invention of the steamboat. He pointed out for the audience that an American, Samuel F.B. Morse, had invented the telegraph, and another American, Cyrus W. Field, was the man who had laid the trans–Atlantic telegraph cable. The celebrants, now in a mood to cheer any agreeable statement, cheered for Morse and Field and Able’s reminder of their accomplishments. He took time to deplore the recent war and declared himself happy that peace had been reached, allowing the occurrence of such a great event as the running of the race between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee. “It is an event,” he declaimed, “which has stirred the American heart to its very core. There is no part of this great nation that has not responded to this great race of steam.”

  He then grandiosely predicted that the attention drawn to the midcontinent by the race and the resulting realization of the vitality of Mississippi River commerce would in the immediate future cause the nation to move its capital from Washington to St. Louis. His audience cheered that also. “I trust,” he said, concluding, “this will be the inauguration of a better, more cordial and social era in the life of western boatmen, and though the railroad car goes and the telegraph flashes on every side, there is no obstacle to shut this mighty river.... Your sons’ descendants will yet navigate its great waters and perhaps achieve greater triumphs than those who passed before them.” He then returned himself to his chair. The speeches went on, however, speaker after speaker making fanciful remarks and calling for toast after toast. Everyone had a chance to rise and speak. One of those who spoke raised the memory of the late Captain J.M. Convers, former master of the old J.M. White, and at that, Postlewaite’s musicians started playing “Auld Lang Syne,” and the celebrants sang along. When George Clayton, chief pilot of the Robert E. Lee, was asked to make a speech, Postlewaite’s String Band broke out into the rousing strains of “Dixie.” Clayton, however, begged off the requested speechmaking, pleading exhaustion.