• May 4, 1859

    Submitted by scott on Sun, 10/31/2021 - 17:33

    May 4 Wednesday – Now a full pilot, Sam left St. Louis on the Alfred T. Lacey, copiloted by Bart
    Bowen (brother of Sam and Will Bowen), under Captain John P. Rodney, for New Orleans. “A
    pilot, in those days, was the only unfettered and entirely independent human being that lived in the
    earth” [LM; MTL 1: 14].
    Isaiah Sellers’ letter to the New Orleans Picayune:
    Vicksburg, May 4, 1859.
    My opinion for the benefit of the citizens of New Orleans: The water is higher this far up than it has

  • May 8, 1859

    Submitted by scott on Sun, 10/31/2021 - 17:33

    May 8 Sunday – Sam used the pen name of “Sergeant Fathom” and wrote a piece parodying Isaiah
    Sellers, the river’s “only genuine Son of Antiquity” [LM, Ch. 50]. Sellers had been a fixture on the
    Mississippi since Missouri became a state. He wrote “river intelligence” for various newspapers.
    According to Andrew Hoffman, Sam thought Sellers was “egotistical, long-winded, and incapable of
    trimming a tale to his audience—the last sin unforgivable in Sam’s eyes” [58]. No story another pilot

  • May 17, 1859

    Submitted by scott on Sun, 10/31/2021 - 17:33

    May 17 Tuesday – Sam’s Isaiah Sellers satire “River Intelligence” was published in the New Orleans
    Crescent, signed by “Sergeant Fathom.” Sellers were so offended he vowed never again to write for
    the newspapers [ET&S 1: 126]. Sam would use “Sellers” as the name of his main character in the
    Gilded Age, another know-it-all, if somewhat more sympathetic.