August 19, 1853, 11am, Sam boarded the sidewheeler steamer Cornelia and traveled to Alton, Illinois. The Cornelia was sunk just two years later, running into a rock at Chain of Rocks. Chain of Rocks is a geological formation just below the confluence of the Missouri River and the Mississippi River.

August 19 Friday – At 8 AM Sam boarded a boat and started a journey by train and boat to New York. He did not tell his mother about the trip, which took about five days. From St. Louis to Alton, Ill by the sidewheeler steamer Cornelia, 11:00 AM, from Alton to Springfield on the partly completed Chicago and Mississippi Railroad; by Frink’s stage to Bloomington, Ind. [MTL 1: 5n2]. Dempsey notes that the train station was “just a few blocks” from the law office of Abraham Lincoln [232].