The Enterprise, or Enterprize, demonstrated for the first time by her epic 2,200-mile voyage from New Orleans to Pittsburgh that steamboat

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

  commerce was practical on America's western rivers.

Early days

The Enterprise was the fourth steamboat west of the Allegheny Mountains

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

. The Enterprise, with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French

Daniel French (inventor)

Daniel French , a "Yankee" inventor, was born in Berlin, Connecticut. From an early age French strove to become a "mechanician," an artisan trained in the theory of mechanics and skilled in the working of metals at increasing levels of precision...

, was launched in 1814 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania

Brownsville, Pennsylvania

Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, officially founded in 1785 located 35 miles south of Pittsburgh along the Monongahela River...

 for her owners: the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company. The Enterprise, under the command of Israel Gregg

Israel Gregg

Israel Gregg was the first captain of the steamboat Enterprise. From June to December of 1814, Israel Gregg commanded the Enterprise during two voyages from Louisville, Kentucky to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that were performed against strong currents of the Ohio River...

, was first used to transport passengers and cargo to ports between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

. From June to December she completed two 600-mile voyages from Louisville to Pittsburgh that were performed against strong river currents. With these voyages the Enterprise demonstrated for the first time that steamboat commerce was practical on the Ohio River

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

.

Voyage to New Orleans

On December 1, General Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

 had marched from Mobile to New Orleans

Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...

 with orders to oppose an imminent military invasion by a large British force. Jackson had been making frequent requests for military supplies, especially small firearms and ammunition, which were in short supply. To this end, the shareholders made the decision to send the Enterprise. Command was transferred to Henry Miller Shreve

Henry Miller Shreve

Henry Miller Shreve was the American inventor and steamboat captain who opened the Mississippi, Ohio and Red rivers to steamboat navigation. Shreveport, Louisiana, is named in his honor....

, a Brownsville resident and experienced keelboat captain, who had firsthand knowledge of the hazards to navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. On December 21, 1814, the Enterprise departed Pittsburgh bound for New Orleans with a cargo of military supplies, including the much needed small firearms. On December 28, the Enterprise passed the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, delivering the cargo of military supplies at the port of New Orleans on January 9, 1815.

Battle of New Orleans

Under normal circumstances, the voyage by the Enterprise into Louisiana's waters would have been a violation of the steamboat monopoly

Government-granted monopoly

In economics, a government-granted monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly by which a government grants exclusive privilege to a private individual or firm to be the sole provider of a good or service; potential competitors are excluded from the market by law, regulation, or other mechanisms of...

 granted to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton

Robert Fulton was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...

. However, the Enterprise was protected from the monopolists and free to navigate the state's waters by the martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...

 imposed by General Andrew Jackson on December 16.

Despite the delivery of small firearms and other military supplies by the Enterprise, Jackson's forces were still in dire need. Jackson sent the Enterprise to Natchez

Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...

 where several keelboats laden with various military supplies had been seen. The keelboats were located and the Enterprise took them in tow, delivering them to New Orleans on January 26. Then the Enterprise made another roundtrip voyage to Natchez, followed by a trip via the Red River to Alexandria

Alexandria, Louisiana

Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....

 with 250 troops in tow.

Voyage to Brownsville

By February 5, the last of the British troops had withdrawn and were aboard ship, eager to return home. On February 16, the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 ratified the Treaty of Ghent

Treaty of Ghent

The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

, finally putting an end to the war. However, official dispatches announcing the peace would not reach New Orleans until late February.

On March 1, Shreve advertises in a Natchez newspaper that the Enterprise will "ply between Natchez and New Orleans every nine days until the first week in May" when the Enterprise will depart New Orleans for Louisville. On March 13, Andrew Jackson rescinded martial law. On April 21, payment of the wharfage fee for the Enterprise was recorded. On May 1, Henry Shreve was arrested and the Enterprise seized by the sheriff, acting on court orders issued on behalf of the heirs of Livingston and Fulton, for violating their steamboat monopoly on Louisiana's waters. Attorney Abner L. Duncan, representing the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio River Steam Boat Company, posted bail and made arrangements for Shreve and the Enterprise to be released. On May 6, Shreve and the Enterprise finally depart New Orleans, reaching Louisville on May 31. During this voyage she became the first steamboat to reach Louisville from New Orleans. Then the Enterprise steamed to Pittsburgh and Brownsville. This voyage, a distance of 2,200 miles from New Orleans, was performed against the powerful currents of the Mississippi, Ohio and Monongahela rivers. The importance of this voyage was expressed in newspapers throughout the West.

Enterprise trial at New Orleans

The seizure of the Enterprise produced a strong reaction by the public against the monopolists. This sentiment was heightened by another seizure of a steamboat, the Dispatch, at New Orleans. An account of this incident was published in a Pittsburgh newspaper.

Dominic Hall

Dominic Augustin Hall

Dominic Augustin Hall was a United States federal judge, appointed by two different presidents to four federal judicial positions....

, the judge in the Enterprise trial at New Orleans, established a legal precedent by ruling against the monopolists. A letter announcing the news of the ruling and proclaiming its significance to the growth of steamboat commerce and the economy of the West was published in a Louisville newspaper:

The seizures of the Enterprise and the Despatch stimulated the Kentucky legislature to pass a resolution in January, 1817:

Legacy

The epic voyage of the Enterprise, demonstrating for the first time that steamboat commerce on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers is practical, and the judge's landmark ruling against the monopolists did much to stimulate the growth of steamboat commerce on America's western rivers.

External links

• History of the Enterprise Based on information provided by Barclay White
  Barclay White
  Barclay White was Superintendent of Indian Affairs during the administration of American president Ulysses S...
  
  , recorded by Thomas Shourds, and published in History and genealogy of Fenwick's Colony, New Jersey.
• The Enterprise trial at New Orleans Petition filed on February 14, 1816 by defense attorney Abner L. Duncan.
• "Constructing a navigation system in the West" Scholarly article written by H. Dora Stecker.