Flatboating down the Mississippi

Christ Balich
Ogden School, Chicago

Navigating boats down rivers always seemed to be exciting, adventurous, and fun entertainment to Abraham Lincoln. At the age of nineteen, Lincoln had the chance to fulfill this dream. James Gentry, a wealthy land owner, offered Abe a job taking Gentry's boat filled with pork, flour, meal, and potatoes to New Orleans by way of the Mississippi River. In New Orleans Abe could either sell Gentry's products or trade for cotton, tobacco, and sugar. Abe was also to lake Gentry's son, Allen, along for help in case of an emergency. Abe accepted Gentry's proposal and started work on a large flatboat. Gentry was happy for he knew Abraham Lincoln was honest and dependable.

In the beginning of the spring of 1828, Abe and Allen started their one-thousand-mile journey to New Orleans. They loaded their goods onto the flatboat and pushed off, ready for adventure. One day, Abe and Allen passed a place called Wilson's Liquor Vault and House of Entertainment. If Abe and Allen had stopped at Wilson's they would have found trouble not adventure. It was discovered a little later that there were sixty human skeletons found belonging to river men lured to their death by the notorious Wilson gang.

Abe had a difficult time navigating down the Mississippi River because it is a very tricky river. Carl Sandburg described the treachery of the Mississippi:

A rising roar and rumble of noise might be rough water ahead or some whimsical current tearing through fallen tree-branches at the river side. A black form seems to be floating up-river through a gray drizzle; the coming out of the sun shows it is an island point standing still; the light and air play tricks with it.

Lincoln and Gentry traveled on nonetheless. They saw many steamboats and other flatboats. After a long while, they reached the northern boundary of Louisiana. On one of their last nights on the river they went to sleep on the boat in Madame Duquesne's plantation area. They were awakened by seven blacks who aimed to kill Abe and Allen and steal their goods. Abe and Allen fought fiercely and surprisingly drove the thieves from their boat. The only injury to Abe was a scar over his right eyebrow.

A short while later, Lincoln and Gentry arrived in New Orleans. They sold all the goods and also the boat. They stayed in New Orleans a few days and met many types of people from all over the world. One day Abe and Allen witnessed a slave auction. Once Abe saw how harshly the slaves were treated, he understood why they might have attacked Allen and himself on the boat. This may have influenced Abe later, when he was president, to declare the Emancipation Proclamation.

All in all, Abe's trip down the Mississippi River was a great adventure and success in his life. It also probably influenced his views on slavery.—[Edgar D'Aulaire, Abraham Lincoln; Richard Kiegel, The Frontier Years of Abe Lincoln; Sterling North, Abe Lincoln: Log Cabin to White House; Carl Sandburg, Abe Lincoln Grows Up.]

ILLINOIS HISTORY / FEBRUARY 1995

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