Also by John A.T. Hillier: http://www.55silentsongs.com/
johnathillier@pm.me
Copy of a Work in Progress – March 18, 2013 ©
About once a year I make a list of the various topics and subject matter that interest me. That list has grown quite long and now it has become too time consuming to update myself every day, or even once a week, on the diverse and myriad topics. The updates have to be completed by prioritizing what I feel is the most rewarding use of my time in doing research and then I do an in-depth study on some topics and only a cursory review of others. The reward I get has never been financial.
Sometimes I start at an initial focal point of interest and then check-out associated and interrelated curiosities that quite often expand into a never ending outward spiral. Once I was asked what I was looking for when a nearby friendly observer perceived that I appeared to be searching into various subject matters that had no ostensible relationship, and I replied: “I have no idea, but I will know as soon as I find it.”
One such expanding spiral of interest contains the social and business network of America’s renowned literary son, Samuel Langhorne Clemens, best known as Mark Twain.
On a worldwide basis for at least one generation, millions of people found it easy to like those who enjoyed the work of Mark Twain, and eschewed the few who disliked the entertainment he provided.
A few years ago I read a news article which stated that Mark Twain’s personal papers would be released pursuant to the terms of his will. His executors and autobiographers were instructed to wait for one hundred years to pass after his death before the vast majority of his personal documents, records or letters could be published for public consumption. Mark Twain’s wishes, for the most part, were honored and on April 21, 2010 the doorway into the past was opened; well, at least it’s ajar.
Sometimes I find interesting, but unrelated documents in the various archives. There is always a temptation to map out the social network if the name is familiar or important; for instance this document exists:
The Missouri State Board of Health
Bureau of Vital Statistics
Certificate of Death
File No. 31751
Full Name: Samuel L. Clemens
Male, Born June 8, 1869
Date of Death: September 24, 1911
? Jefferson County
Father: John Clemens – Birth Place – Kentucky
Mother: Mildred A. Bryant – Birth Place – Atlanta, Georgia
Since Mark Twain’s family came through Kentucky long before he was born and then settled in Missouri, and since Twain’s father’s name was John Marshall Clemens who died on March 24, 1847 in Hannibal Missouri, the connection was close enough to justify spending some time perusing through ancient and difficult-to-read microfilm copies in order to satisfy myself that no one salted the records in the archives. Some internet archives and books do contain errors, especially with respect to dates, and those mistakes can cause an unwary researcher to perpetuate the errors or lead the person into all sorts of wrong directions, and of course cause a researcher to waste a lot of valuable time.
Another document filed in The County of St. Louis, State of Missouri, gave information about a Samuel Clemens who died in 1844, however that Sam Clemens was apparently married to a person named Maria, or at least that’s what the blurred microfilm record appears to show. Mark Twain’s mother was named Jane Lampton Clemens. The original of the microfilm record was filed on March 11, 1847 and signed by Peter Ferguson – Judge of Probates. Samuel Clemens, husband of Maria, of St. Louis, Missouri, left a sizable track of land to his heirs. His estate records show it as 63.92 acres.
Mark Twain’s father also left a large parcel of land to his heirs but the size of his property was about a thousand times larger – according to the Mark Twain stories. Mark Twain would often say, “That’s the absolute truth – for the most part.” Try saying that in court.
Albert Bigelow Paine wrote an autobiography of Mark Twain in 1924, which he referred to as the First Edition. Mark Twain gave the history behind his father’s land and stated that it was 75,000 acres. In that autobiography, Bigelow made a note dated 1906, and stated the figure should be corrected to 100,000 acres. I don’t know if Bigelow had absorbed some of Mark Twain’s DNA while he was closely working with Twain on the autobiography for many years, but Bigelow’s work is not the gospel truth – for the most part.
I followed this particular old trail of family connections only because I have an inbred suspicious mind that’s completely benign. Or so I like to believe.
In the book
Mark Twain, A Biography, 1835-1910, Complete
The Personal And Literary Life Of Samuel Langhorne Clemens
Author: Albert Bigelow Paine
we read the following:
… Many of the characteristics that made Mark Twain famous were inherited from his mother. His sense of humor, his prompt, quaintly spoken philosophy, these were distinctly her contribution to his fame. Speaking of her in a later day, he once said:
“She had a sort of ability which is rare in man and hardly existent in woman—the ability to say a humorous thing with the perfect air of not knowing it to be humorous.”
She bequeathed him this, without doubt; also her delicate complexion; her wonderful wealth of hair; her small, shapely hands and feet, and the pleasant drawling speech which gave her wit, and his, a serene and perfect setting.
It was a one-sided love affair, the brief courtship of Jane Lampton and John Marshall Clemens. All her life, Jane Clemens honored her husband, and while he lived served him loyally; but the choice of her heart had been a young physician of Lexington with whom she had quarreled, and her prompt engagement with John Clemens was a matter of temper rather than tenderness. She stipulated that the wedding take place at once, and on May 6, 1823, they were married. She was then twenty; her husband twenty-five. More than sixty years later, when John Clemens had long been dead, she took a railway journey to a city where there was an Old Settlers’ Convention, because among the names of those attending she had noticed the name of the lover of her youth. She meant to humble herself to him and ask forgiveness after all the years. She arrived too late; the convention was over, and he was gone. Mark Twain once spoke of this, and added:
“It is as pathetic a romance as any that has crossed the field of my personal experience in a long lifetime.”
So, the choice of Mark Twain’s mother’s heart was towards a man who was never her husband – and one just never knows what kind of mischief lies in the heart of man, or in this case, a woman. Twain did make mention of the fact that his father never smiled. No doubt Twain’s father knew that he was just fulfilling a role, and he did it out of a sense of duty. I had to check it out, and as usual I found some unanswered curiosities.
Samuel Clemens seems to have been a very popular name in and around St. Louis, Missouri at the time Mark Twain was born.
The State of Missouri maintains a comprehensive and detailed database of “Soldiers’ Records”. That database has records for three persons named Samuel Clemens.
Samuel Clemens: Company H (Union)
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers/details.asp?txtName=&id=S78061&conflict=Civil+War
Click to access s00854_0362.pdf
Clemens, Samuel, Civil War, 13th Regiment Infantry Volunteers Company H Side: Union – Rank: Private Age: 24 Captain (illegible) ? Diel – Enlisted: Aug. 22, 1861 – Where: St. Joseph; Mustered in: Aug. 28, 1861; Where: ? R ? @ or Co. Mo. – Mustered out: Oct. 26, 1861 – Where: St. Joseph Mo
Samuel Clemens: Company C (Union)
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers/details.asp?txtName=&id=S78062&conflict=Civil+War
http://www.sos.mo.gov/Images/Archives/Military/s00857/s00857_2170.pdf
Clemens, Samuel, Civil War, 23rd Regiment Infantry Volunteers, Company C, Side: Union Age: 21
Samuel L. Clemens: Confederate
http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers/details.asp?txtName=&id=S381803&conflict=Civil+War#
Click to access s00728_2765.pdf
Clemens, Samuel L., Civil War, no company listed on main page Service: General Price
A brief description and disclosure appears in the records:
Samuel Clemens (age 21) of the 23rd Regiment Infantry Volunteers, Company C, Side: Union, shows Rank as Pvt. Captain ? “name not legible” enlisted Aug. 26, 61 at Middlebury, MO – Mustered in – Sept. 22, 61 at Benton Bks. Mo Remarks: Mustered out
The records show the following information:
Samuel L. Clemens, Captain, Civil War, Confederate, Commander: General Price and that the information is in Box 98 Reel s00728
There is a microfilm record with the title:
MISSOURI SOLDIERS (1861-1865) showing a Samuel L. Clemens Capt. service under Gen. Price, enlisted 1861.
Major General Sterling Price (September 20,1809 – September 29,1867) was initially part of the Unionist group that opposed secession, or at least some records show that he held that position in March of 1861. One record offers an opinion that Major General Price organized the Missouri State Guard to try and drive secessionist members out of the Missouri Government, but disapproved of the Federal Unionist Government using force to accomplish its objectives in having a Unionist Government in Missouri.
Major General Price officially joined the Confederate Army in 1862, but that was long after Mark Twain had allegedly arrived in Carson City, Nevada on August 14, 1861. I use the word “allegedly” because I have not viewed any of the original documents in the online internet archives, and I can only draw an inference or a conclusion after reviewing a copy of a copy of a document that an unknown person has published and presented as an authentic representation of a true or certified true copy of an original. There is lots of room for error.
The Mark Twain files archived on the internet, show a receipt dated July 25, 1861 issued by persons purporting to be official representatives of a stagecoach transportation service. I suppose at that time the stagecoach company did not have printed numbered receipts and felt it unnecessary to have the company’s name shown; or they could have run out of official receipts because of a heavy volume of summer traffic heading out West in the stagecoaches. The receipt indicates that the passage to Carson City, Nevada, was paid for on or about the same day that both Orion and Samuel Clemens were scheduled to depart for Nevada. Another interpretation of the details on the receipt suggests that only a partial payment was made on July 25, 1861 with an inference that possibly the terms of transportation allowed the balance to be paid upon safe arrival at the intended destination. It doesn’t matter; it’s just that I find it unusual for two people not to pay for a transportation ticket in full before getting on board the carrier. After all, what would the stagecoach company do if the travelers couldn’t pay the balance of the transportation costs when they arrived at the destination; send them back? Not likely.
Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain, is recorded to have been in Nevada in mid August 1861; therefore, Mark Twain could not have served under any official Confederate military command with Major General Price. However, Twain could have served under Major General Price when General Price was acting in support of the Unionists. Another interpretation of the limited information could even suggest that young Samuel Clemens was gathering military intelligence for the Unionists while he was networking with a volunteer military organization; or in the alternative, he wasn’t instructed to gather intelligence, but the information lodged in his memory was certainly extremely valuable information for the Unionists.
Mark Twain did describe in detail the memory feat he had accomplished as a young man when he memorized a massive quantity of detailed information about the Mississippi River in a very short period of time. That effort then placed him on a fast-track to get a Pilot’s License to operate a steamboat at the end of about eighteen months, rather than go through a typical four years’ apprenticeship.
Young Samuel Clemens would have been one mighty fine intelligence asset for the Unionists. He could have made the enemy laugh while he was secretly laughing at the enemy. He loved adventure, a challenge and worthwhile work. No doubt some of his family members, who were networked into the office of the Secretary of War, must have extolled Twain’s unique ability. Mark Twain’s first notebook survived through the years, but the most valuable notebook which contained detailed information about the conditions on the Mississippi River from New Orleans to St. Louis just immediately before the outbreak of the Civil War, has not been made available – yet.
That notebook would have contained the essential and even critical information needed by President Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War at the outbreak of the Civil War.
Orion Clemens received a plum employment position just as the Civil War broke out in early 1861. Abraham Lincoln must have asked a few questions when he appointed Orion Clemens as the Secretary of The Territory of Nevada on or about March 27, 1861. Then again, Honest Abe Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States who preserved the Union during the American Civil War, would have already known the answers. He was not a stupid person.
An appointment such as given to Orion Clemens would not have been procured and secured overnight. There had to be a reason for Clemens to seek the appointment and a strong social and business network to secure the position; or in the alternative, someone obtained it for him out of necessity in an intelligence operation. Orion Clemens would be leaving for Nevada and would have to leave his family behind for about a year until he arranged for permanent accommodation out West. He would be leaving his wife and young daughter to remain in an area that would undoubtedly be a war zone. Further, his mother would also be left behind during that period of time. Mark Twain, Orion’s brother, also was scheduled to leave his hometown and travel with Orion Clemens to Nevada. The two male members in Mark’s Twain’s immediate family had arranged to leave for Nevada at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 and left the women-folk behind, ostensibly to fend for themselves during the anticipated military conflict. The two men would be safe and sound, bored and suffering from lack of financially rewarding work at first, but free to spend their time with their feet up on the nearest convenient object while they smoked their pipes and sipped an occasional shot of scotch. Not a very noble thing to do, unless some powerful and influential groups of people had given their assurances that Mrs. Jane Clemens and her daughter, Pam, would be very well secured while the men were out West.
An argument could be made that Mrs. Jane Clemens, Twain’s mother, was safely secured in the residence of her daughter, Permelia (Pam) Moffett and that Mrs. Clemens’ two sons would be providing financial support to their mother on a monthly basis. However, Pam Moffett, according to some records, resided with her husband, William, in St. Louis, Mo. That town became an essential Unionist military stronghold in order for the Union to control the Mississippi River and superintend the shipment of supplies to the Union’s military divisions down south.
An argument could be offered that initially at the outset of the Civil War, Mrs. Clemens and her daughter would have been placed in a more precarious position with respect to their safety while residing in St. Louis than if they had set up residence in Hannibal, Mo. Then of course, there was Orion Clemens’ wife (Mollie) and daughter who remained behind while he journeyed out West. There had to have been some powerfully influential people behind the scene to cause these two men to leave town at that time – the summer of 1861 at the commencement of the Civil War.
The timing of the venture out West by Orion and Samuel Clemens has to be analyzed in order to get a chronological handle on the causality of events.
It’s best to keep the “causality” issue in its most succinct form possible to prevent a simple analysis from becoming bloated with extraneous details. We can start in June 1858.
Mark Twain’s younger brother, Henry, died on or about June 21, 1858 from his injuries sustained in an accident that occurred on or about June 13, 1858 after the steamboat the Pennsylvania had its boilers explode. The entire boat was subsequently and immediately encompassed by an outburst of consuming fire.
Mark Twain has given two versions of his story about a conflict he had had with a Pilot named William Brown who also steered the Pennsylvania. The dustup resulted in Henry Clemens remaining on the Pennsylvania, but Mark Twain had to take a separate boat for passage up the Mississippi River until the conflict had been resolved.
Twain claimed that Pilot Brown was basically illiterate and hard of hearing, and that the hearing problem was the underlying factor which caused an altercation in which Twain temporary abandoned his position as the Pilot of the steamboat under his charge, so that he could pummel his brother’s assailant, Pilot Brown.
Henry Clemens died from his injuries and Samuel Clemens never fully recovered from the psychological and emotional shock caused by his younger brother’s death. He blamed himself.
It would be perfectly normal for Mark Twain to have gone through a long period of acute mourning and grief and it would be unreasonable to expect him to have written essays or letters containing any humorous content immediately after the death of his brother. It would have taken some time for his psychological wounds to even scab over, let alone heal. There is an archived reference to a letter Mark Twain allegedly wrote on May 17, 1859, burlesquing Pilot Isaiah Sellers; however, I suspect that Twain was just venting his bottled-up contempt for Pilot Sellers’ ridiculous pontifications, if Twain did indeed publish the satire in May 1859.
No doubt that every time young Samuel Clemens rode up or down the river and passed by the spot where his brother Henry had suffered fatal injuries, Clemens would have had his wounds ripped open. His friends, his employer and his family saw his suffering become manifest in his physical appearance. Mark Twain noted that his hair had started to become grey. Twain was aging rapidly under the stress.
There was an inquest into the explosion of the steamboat, the Pennsylvania, and no doubt the owners of the boat were subjected to civil suits. Pilot Brown should never have been allowed to operate a steamboat if Mark Twain’s opinion of Brown was accurate. Pilot Brown died from his injuries when the Pennsylvania exploded and since Henry Clemens also died from his injuries as a result of the explosion, no other witnesses could give evidence about the altercation between Samuel Clemens and Pilot Brown; at least no such witnesses have been revealed to-date.
The normal course of conduct in such matters would result in the employer of young Samuel Clemens giving an order for Mark Twain to keep quiet and say nothing; however, Twain’s family, close friends and investigators would have questioned him at great length. The entire Clemens family would have pulled every morsel of information out of Mark Twain in order to get a full and proper account about the principal cause of the accident which resulted in the death of young Henry Clemens, and most certainly the Clemens family members who were influential and networked with the Missouri State Legislature and the United States Congress, would have moved expeditiously to try and prevent such an occurrence from ever happening again.
Mark Twain needed a change of environment to save his life, but what could he offer to anyone in exchange for help.
The State of Missouri during the Regular Session of the Twenty-Second General Assembly, begun and held at the City of Jefferson on Monday, December 29, 1862, passed an Act to incorporate the Mississippi and Illinois Pilots’ Benevolent Association.
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Corp.asp?427408
https://www.sos.mo.gov/BusinessEntity/soskb/Agent.asp?4027818
It stated the following:
AN ACT to incorporate the Mississippi and Illinois Pilots’ Benevolent Association
Whereas, A number of steamboat pilots, engaged in the navigation of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, have formed an association for the laudable purpose of increasing skill and information, improving the habits, elevating the character, and promoting the interest of all those pilots entrusted with control and safety of steamers and ether vessels, and Whereas …..
Names of Incorporators:
Horace B. West, James Abrams, Benjamin Chepley, William A. Goll, Michael Fitz Henry, James T. Sargent, John A. McKinney, David E. Rees, Kendrick D. Davinney, William C. O’Hara, John Wesley, James Whitfield, William T. DeWitt, Lloyd T. Belt, John C. Moore, James B. Thomas, and John Goury, and their associates and successors …..
Section 4. of the Act Stated:
No diploma shall be given by the association to any pilot who has not been thoroughly examined, as to his knowledge, skill, and experience, in the business of piloting in the particular trade, or upon the particular waters, in respect of which he proposed to pilot, and who shall not have been recommended by a committee of five persons, who have severally served as practical pilots for a period of not less than five years; the applicant for a diploma shall be of full age; shall have good theoretical knowledge and practical skill in the business of piloting; shall have served as a pilot, or as an apprentice to a pilot, at least three years; shall be of good moral character; of steady, sober, attentive and industrious habits, and possessed of adequate physical health and strength; when more than two members of the examining committee shall report unfavorably upon the qualification of an applicant, no diploma shall be granted to him; Provided, however, that the association may raise a new committee, if they shall consider that the applicant, from any cause, has been unjustly dealt with; but in such cases it shall be the duty of the President, or other chief officer of the corporation, to administer an oath to the members of the second committee, fairly and faithfully to examine the applicant.
- The general Assembly may alter, amend or repeal this charter at any time.
This act shall take effect from its passage.
Approved March 23, 1863
It doesn’t take much deep thought to perceive in one’s mind’s eye the acute consternation this piece of legislation would have caused the riverboat pilots while it was being contemplated, argued and articulated in the legislature. Section 4. of that Act would have eliminated Brown as a Pilot of the steamboat the Pennsylvania or any other steamboat.
Based on the admissions of Mark Twain, it is highly unlikely that he himself would have had his license renewed in 1863 because of his altercation with Pilot Brown. And of course Pilot Isaiah Sellers would have given Twain the thumbs down for mocking him in an essay that Twain referred to as a burlesque. I have never seen a copy of the newspaper article, only reprints of the alleged satire.
http://www.twainquotes.com/Steamboats/Fathom.html
Samuel Clemens would have been fully apprised of the details in the pending legislation not only through the other riverboat pilots, but also through his brother’s contacts. Mark Twain knew that his career as a steamboat Pilot was finished and he was aware of that fact in early 1861. Whatever information he recorded in his notebook during the two years before the outbreak of the Civil War, was more valuable to the Secretary of War than to Mark Twain’s employer or to Twain himself.
Mark Twain had to leave the Mississippi River region not only to have a change of scenery to help heal his mind, but also to get away from any revengeful riverboat pilots who would soon figure out that the foundation of evidence used to pass the new legislation had to have come from one young man named Samuel Clemens; not only from the inquest into the Pennsylvania explosion, but also from the detailed and meticulous notes kept in his possession. And no doubt young Clemens knew the political allegiances held by each of his associate steamboat workers and pilots.
At this time I will point out a matter that rests within the anomalous files which I generally refer to as “unanswered curiosities”. The world-wide-web has archived a copy of a document which purports to be a “Pilot’s Certificate” for Samuel Clemens. The document contains these words:
In accordance with the Act of Congress, approved Aug. 30, 1852.
The document states that Samuel Clemens was licensed to operate steamboats between New Orleans and St. Louis. It is dated April 9, 1859 and one of the signatures on the document purports to be an inspector with the name of James E. McCord.
Since there are a number of people with the same legal name as Samuel Clemens, who all lived in or about the same geographical location, and since there are a least three people with the name of Samuel Clemens in the Missouri Civil War records, I suppose it’s not a waste of time to note that a Colonel James E. McCord was part of The Frontier Regiment in Texas during the Civil War and that that Regiment was amalgamated with the Confederate Army about the same time that Major General Price, Samuel Clemens’ alleged commander, fled to Texas. The inference here is that a future Confederate soldier may have signed the certificate which authorized Samuel Clemens to be a licensed Steamboat Pilot, if the Certificate is authentic; however, since McCord became a Confederate soldier in 1862, he was not a Confederate soldier in 1859 when the certificate was signed. The other point is that if the James E. McCord who signed the certificate is the same James E. McCord who was a Colonel in the military, what qualifications did he have to authorize the license for Samuel Clemens to be a Steamboat Pilot? Yes, a most curious thing indeed. Lot’s of room for speculation. This short essay reads like a Hollywood script. Mark Twain would have laughed.
Samuel Clemens stated in his book, ROUGHING IT, Published 1880, that he and his brother Orion had traveled from St. Louis to St. Jo (St. Joseph) in order to start their overland journey of about 21 days to Carson City in Nevada. St. Joseph was the same place that a 24 year old enlisted soldier by the name of Samuel Clemens, mustered out on October 26, 1861. Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835; therefore in October of 1861 he would have been 25 years old.
CHAPTER I. ROUGHING IT, Published 1880,
My brother had just been appointed Secretary of Nevada Territory–an office of such majesty that it concentrated in itself the duties and dignities of Treasurer, Comptroller, Secretary of State, and Acting Governor in the Governor’s absence. A salary of eighteen hundred dollars a year and the title of “Mr. Secretary,” gave to the great position an air of wild and imposing grandeur. I was young and ignorant, and I envied my brother. I coveted his distinction.
Not much packing up was necessary, because we were going in the overland stage from the Missouri frontier to Nevada,…
We were six days going from St. Louis to “St. Jo.”–a trip that was so dull, and sleepy, and eventless that it has left no more impression on my memory than if its duration had been six minutes instead of that many days.
CHAPTER XXI.
We were approaching the end of our long journey. It was the morning of the twentieth day. At noon we would reach Carson City, the capital of Nevada Territory.
CHAPTER XXII.
…I had become an officer of the government, but that was for mere sublimity. The office was an unique sinecure. I had nothing to do and no salary. I was private Secretary to his majesty the Secretary and there was not yet writing enough for two of us.
On October 7, 1877 The New York Times published a speech given by Samuel L. Clemens to the Boston Ancient & Honorable Artillery Co. in Hartford, CT. Clemens stated:
“ For I too am a soldier. I am inured to war. I have a military history. I have been through a stirring campaign, and there is not even a mention of it in any history of the United States or the Southern Confederation.”
Samuel Clemens, Mark Twain, carried on in jest, but someone was keeping notes which ended up in the database referred to above as:
Another “online project” at
http://www.twainquotes.com/Steamboats/1902final.html
provides some information about Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) but it ends at:
Clemens’ Service: 14 May 1861 – 21 May 1861
The following is an excerpt from that site:
Many years later Clemens related to his biographer Albert Bigelow Paine his last trip north from New Orleans to Saint Louis. Hostilities were increasing between the Union and Confederate forces and river traffic was coming under increasing scrutiny. Although Clemens incorrectly recalled the name of the NEBRASKA as the UNCLE SAM, evidence points to the boat being the NEBRASKA. In his biography, Paine wrote:
Zeb Leavenworth was one of the pilots, and Sam Clemens usually stood watch with him. They heard war-talk all the way and saw preparations, but they were not molested, though at Memphis they barely escaped the blockade. At Cairo, Illinois, they saw soldiers drilling — troops later commanded by Grant. The UNCLE SAM came steaming up toward St. Louis, those on board congratulating themselves on having come through unscathed. They were not quite through, however. Abreast of Jefferson Barracks they suddenly heard the boom of a cannon and saw a great whorl of smoke drifting in their direction. They did not realize that it was a signal — a thunderous halt — and kept straight on. Less than a minute later there was another boom, and a shell exploded directly in front of the pilot-house, breaking a lot of glass and destroying a good deal of the upper decoration. Zeb Leavenworth fell back into a corner with a yell.
“Good Lord Almighty! Sam,” he said, “what do they mean by that?”
Clemens stepped to the wheel and brought the boat around. “I guess they want us to wait a minute, Zeb,” he said.
They were examined and passed. It was the last steamboat to make the trip from New Orleans to St. Louis. Mark Twain’s pilot-days were over.
He would have grieved had he known this fact.
“I loved the profession far better than any I have followed since,” he long afterward declared, “and I took a measureless pride in it.”
The dreamy, easy, romantic existence suited him exactly. A sovereign and an autocrat, the pilot’s word was law; he wore his responsibilities as a crown. As long as he lived Samuel Clemens would return to those old days with fondness and affection, and with regret that they were no more.
Source – Mark Twain: A Biography, Albert Bigelow Paine
Mark Twain may have made a Freudian-slip, or in the alternative, he provided a subtle but humorous clue about the nature of his last steamboat journey. He was working for Uncle Sam – another Sam!
I can forthrightly state that I have cleaned my eyeglasses several times as I reviewed the above subject matter, and in each and every view, my take is that Mark Twain was a war hero. His information would have saved thousands of lives and shortened the Civil War. He needed to keep things under wrap for a hundred years, just in case. He deserves a medal.
The following information is interesting.
http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3390/pg3390.html
My Mark Twain, by William Dean Howells
Excerpts:
But I believe it was not until he had taken his house at 21 Fifth Avenue that he began to talk to me of writing his autobiography.
He meant that it should be a perfectly veracious record of his life and period; for the first time in literature there should be a true history of a man and a true presentation of the men the man had known.
But one day he said that as to veracity it was a failure; he had begun to lie, and that if no man ever yet told the truth about himself it was because no man ever could. How far he had carried his autobiography I cannot say; he dictated the matter several hours each day; and the public has already seen long passages from it, and can judge, probably, of the make and matter of the whole from these. It is immensely inclusive, and it observes no order or sequence. Whether now, after his death, it will be published soon or late I have no means of knowing. Once or twice he said in a vague way that it was not to be published for twenty years, so that the discomfort of publicity might be minimized for all the survivors. Suddenly he told me he was not working at it; but I did not understand whether he had finished it or merely dropped it; I never asked.
Research Reference Material:
http://www.marktwainproject.org/
http://www.stlcourtrecords.wustl.edu/search.php
http://collections.mohistory.org/search/?text=Clemens&q=custom_search
I may, at a later date, express an opinion on the cause and effect of Mark Twain’s involvement in the occult. When Mark Twain and his wife Olivia were first married and living in Buffalo, she stated that she felt like she was being stalked by death; it was more literal than figurative. But that’s another script.
John A.T. Hillier March 18, 2013
johnathillier@pm.me