May 4 Thursday – Sam wrote that he and Bixby “joined a party of ladies and gentlemen, guests of Major Wood, and went down the river fifty-four miles, in a swift tug” [Ch 48 LM].
From Sam’s notebook:
On tug “W.M. Wood” to plantation ex-Governor Warmouth [Henry Clay Warmouth 1842-1931] 47 miles below N. Orleans. Party numbered 15—7 ladies. Parrot on board keeping up constant stream of remarks, some irrelevant, some not. Parrot’s swearing very inappropriate….Warmouth met tug in river opposite his plantation. Tall, witty, self-possessed man of 40. Took us in carriages over his place [MTNJ 2: 555-6].
On Warmouth’s sugar plantation, Sam saw an early steam-plow there and was fascinated by it [Ch 48 LM]. Sam decided to wait for Bixby’s City of Baton Rouge to return him north. One of the last large steamboats to be built (1881); 300-foot, 2,300 tons boasted six bridal chambers and all the trimmings [Powers, MT A Life 461]. (See Loges.)
Sam wrote from New Orleans to Livy. After relating the reunion with Bixby, Sam added:
“I hunted up Tom Moore, who used to be mud clerk on the John J Roe when I was a cub. He is short, & unwieldy with flesh, is a rich & respected burgher, & looks it. Good fellow is Tom; am going to his house to see his wife & six children, tomorrow” [MTNJ 2: 465n116]. Note: John T. Moore, Jr & Co. was wholesale grocers on Tchoupitoulas Street.