Sam Clemens on the Mississippi: Day By Day

April 10 Friday – The third and last Snodgrass letter dated Mar. 14 from Cincinnati ran in the Keokuk Post. The title, SNODGRASS, IN A ADVENTURE [MT Encyclopedia, Abshire 694].

April 10 Saturday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

April 11 Wednesday – City of Memphis arrived in St. Louis.

April 14 Saturday – City of Memphis left for New Orleans.

April 16 Friday – Pennsylvania arrived in St. Louis.

April 16 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child arrived in New Orleans.

April 18 Thursday – The Alonzo Child left for St. Louis. From Sam’s 1905 notebook entry: Alonzo Ch. heard of firing on Fort Sumter, April 18 at Vicksburg on way down (the day after it happened.) We hoisted stars & bars & played Dixie [Bates 36]. Note: Ft. Sumter was bombarded on Apr. 12, 1861.

April 2 Monday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

April 20 Tuesday – Pennsylvania left for New Orleans.

April 20 Saturday – Orion Clemens received his commission as Secretary of Nevada Territory [MTL 1: 121n3].

April 21 Saturday – City of Memphis arrived in New Orleans.

April 24 Tuesday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

April 25 Thursday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

April 26 Monday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

April 26 Friday – Sam boarded the Hannibal City to Hannibal. Sam wrote Orion of his intention to travel to Hannibal to collect a debt (probably the $200 Will Bowen had borrowed). He asked Orion to bring or buy the book, Armageddon by Samuel D. Baldwin.
“My Dear Brother: / I am on the wing for Hannibal, to collect money due me. I shall return to St. Louis to-morrow. “Orion bring down ‘Armageddon’ with you if you have it. If not, buy it.” [MTL 1: 120]. Note: Armageddon, by Samuel D. Baldwin (1845); see source notes on this book.

April 27 Saturday – Orion arrived in Keokuk with his wife and daughter. That night he left alone for St. Louis to see his mother, brother, and sister [MTL 1: 121n3].

April 28 Sunday – Sam boarded the Die Vernon as a passenger for the return trip to St. Louis, where he spent a few days with his family [MTL 1: 120n2].

April 29 Wednesday – Sam left St. Louis on the Crescent City (688 tons), bound for New Orleans. Bixby and Sam would make this run on the Crescent three times [Branch, “Bixby” 2].

April 30 Friday – Pennsylvania left for St. Louis.

April 4 Wednesday – City of Memphis left for St. Louis.

April 5 Friday – The Alonzo Child arrived in St. Louis.

April 6 Tuesday – Pennsylvania arrived in New Orleans.

April 8 Friday – The Aleck Scott arrived in St. Louis

April 9 Saturday – Sam was granted a license as a full steamboat pilot from the Department of Commerce in St. Louis. Until May 1861, Sam had the “best job in the world.” Note: Until copies of Sam’s pilot license surfaced in the late 1930s, it was thought by Paine, DeVoto and others (from Sam’s autobiographical estimates of eighteen months from his apprenticeship under Bixby,) that the date was Sept. 9, 1858. Sam may have recollected being allowed to pilot crafts without passengers prior to the issuance of his license, which would have been lawful at that time [The Twainian, Nov. 1939].

April 9 Tuesday – The Alonzo Child left for New Orleans.