battles of Niagara, Chippeway, etc., in which he was severely wounded, having lost two fingers from his right hand. The objects of the expedition were "to ascertain the point where the Rocky mountains are intersected with the 49th degree of latitude, which forms the western [northern] boundary between the possessions of Great Britain and the United States; to inquire into the trading capacity and genius of the various tribes through which they may pass; and, finally, to investigate whatever may be novel or interesting in the geology, botany, mineralogy and natural history of those yet unknown regions." Johnson adduced a great mass of testimony to show that navigation on the Missouri was four or five times as difficult as on the Mississippi. Major Stephen H. Long (p. 73) said that, at a moderate stage, the velocity of the Ohio from Louisville was three miles and a quarter an hour; of the Mississippi, between the Ohio arid the Missouri, four and a half miles; of the Missouri to Council Bluffs, during the navigable season, five and a quarter miles. Select French crews had voyaged from St. Louis to Council Bluffs in forty-five or fifty days. The journey required great skill in hands. P. 81. John O'Fallon testified that for nearly the last two years he had been "actively employed in transporting merchandise, etc., for the troops up the river Missouri, and the last year as high up as the Council Bluffs; which place I have once visited in that time ... Owing to the great and extraordinary drought that prevailed, not only in the western country, but, I believe, throughout the United States, I was informed by the oldest traders residing on the Missouri, that the river was lower, and its navigation worse than they ever knew it before. He had always doubted that any steamboat could navigate the Missouri with profit or safety and Major Long concurred with him "after his arrival near the Council Bluffs." O'Fallon eulogized Major |
Sebree, Johnson's agent, and Captain Craig, commander of. the Expedition, for competency. He noticed that one of Halderman's boats, employed by the quartermaster at St. Louis, when it arrived at Council Bluffs from the Jefferson, had hardly twenty tons; while on the Mississippi or Ohio it would carry thirty tons. "Personally appeared John O'Fallon and made oath, On the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God", etc., was the form of oath in O'Fallon's deposition. Christopher Crow, "clerk and steersman to the steamboat Expedition, from Louisville until she stopped at Cow Island, in the Missouri", testified to the good condition of the Expedition and Johnson on their arrival at Belle Fontaine, and that repairs would not have detained them more than forty-eight hours. These boats failed to reach Council Bluffs "on account of the low water and nothing else." Atkinson issued his order that the Expedition should stop and the provisions be taken by keel boats, on account of the low state of the water. (P. 88) Andrew Johnson said, (p. 95) that it was necessary to lie by at night on the Missouri, but not on the Mississippi. It was necessary to clear the boiler of mud every two or three days. It takes about five days to go from Cow Island to Council Bluffs. A boat would last only half as long on the Missouri as on other streams. The Johnson's capacity was ninety tons; the Expedition carried two hundred and twenty-five tons and the Jefferson three hundred, to St. Louis. By a round trip on the Mississippi that season the Jefferson would have made, clear, $20,000; the Expedition, $22,000; and the Johnson, $10,000. James Taylor (p. 97) testified that the distance from the mouth of the Missouri to Council Bluffs was upwards of seven hundred and fifty miles. A. Johnson, agent for the contractor at St. Louis, dilates (p. 108) on the allegation that the army officers criticized the government for risking |
too much on Johnson's credit, alleging that he had drawn $180,000 more than he could account for and that Halderman, who at first wanted to engage to furnish him with keel boats, afterward refused and was employed by Captain McGunnegle, representing the government, to supply them. P. 110. August 29, 1820 [1819], Captain Bliss, commanding the Sixth infantry, ordered that "in consequence of the stoppage and final failure of the steamboat Thomas Jefferson, and the master and agent of the same having, on the 10th of July, declined, to the commanding officer, to navigate the same to Council Bluffs, the place of its destination.... by the department order of the 3d of July last, Lieutenant Brown, quartermaster Sixth infantry, will immediately demand and receive from the master and agent of the said boat the provisions, stores and munitions of war, and all the property on board of it belonging to the United States, or the troops thereof, preparatory to its being loaded into keel boats, provided for that purpose by the quartermaster-general's department"; to which Sebree, the agent, presumptuously refused to accede, insisting on retaining forty tons to put on Colonel Johnson's keel boat, "now with said steam boat." P. 112. Sebree states that he left Belle Fontaine July 5, on board the Thomas Jefferson, and proceeded to a point forty miles below Franklin," "which is about two hundred miles from the mouth of the river; the water then became so low that it was impossible for her to proceed "According to Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, p. 439, note, this point was opposite the mouth of the Osage river; but that is about double the distance of Major Sebree's estimate. The same writer says, also, that the Jefferson was sunk here by a snag, but there is no mention of such an occurrence by Major Sebree and none in the comprehensive report of the investigation of the expedition. There is much misstatement in the brief account of the expedition given by Houck's History of Missouri, v. 3, p. 199. |
further up the river." Without delay he advised James Johnson of the impossibility of going farther with the Jefferson, and Johnson replied that with a few days to provide hands he could furnish keel boats to take all the loading of the Jefferson, that one boat was sent at once, and another would start in a few days. But McGunnegle informed Johnson that unless he could start boats on Monday (it was then Saturday) the government would start its own boats. Sebree put three hundred and thirteen barrels of flour on Johnson's fifty ton boat. The rest went by government boats, sent by McGunnegle; and on account of orders given the officer commanding the detachment (Captain Bliss), "it was with some difficulty I obtained even that." Why, being cognizant of Johnson's overdraft, did not the officers get all they could out of him? seems a pertinent but not answerable query. Ibid. Thomas Hempstead testified that, from the rise in the spring to August 1st, the Missouri would afford ten to thirty feet of water and the current three and a half to seven miles an hour. P. 113. John Harris testified that boats the size of the Johnson carried ninety tons up and down the Mississippi and the Ohio; that the Expedition brought two hundred and twenty-five tons, and the Jefferson two hundred tons to St. Louis; but it would not answer to load them more than half that amount for the Missouri. The Expedition arrived at St. Louis May 12, and the Johnson May 17; they were detained near Belle Fontaine till July 5, but were ready with their crews to start on from the 17th of May, and in consequence of detention were prevented from reaching Council Bluffs--which is probably correct as to lateness of starting, though this explanation of the responsibility for it is at least doubtful. "The difficulties of the river increase very much from Cow Island . . ." |
P. 116. George Colefax testified that the Jefferson and the Expedition were entirely new for the Council Bluffs voyage and were of the first class. The damage to the Expedition from wear and tear in going to Cow Island was at least thirty per cent. The Johnson was a very fast boat. Six officers on board the Expedition gave Captain Craig and his outfit bright encomiums. Where there was sufficient depth of water he could out-run the keel boats and cut and load his own wood. Date lines designated Martin Cantonment as "Camp Martin, Cow Island, on the Missouri river "--about ten miles above the site subsequently occupied by the city of Leavenworth. P. 118. Smith Calvert went on the Johnson in May, 1819, from Louisville to Belle Fontaine. Both the Johnson and the Expedition were fine boats and were ready to proceed at any time after arrival. He saw Colonel Atkinson's troops go by Colonel Johnson's warehouse at the mouth of the Missouri in keel boats after he had fallen back there from Belle Fontaine. St. Louis was fifteen to eighteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri. P. 128. Captain James McGunnegle testified that Gen. Jesup arrived at St. Louis about May twenty-eighth, Col. Atkinson June first, and the Sixth regiment at Belle Fontaine about June fifth. Shortly after the arrival of the troops he heard Col. Atkinson say that his movement was entirely depending upon the steamboats and supplies on board which would not be ready to move for ten or fifteen days; and, in the meantime, he would experiment with the application of wheel power to propel the keel boats. This work was commenced by the troops about eight or ten days after their arrival and was not completed until one or two days after the steamboats reached Belle Fontaine from the mouth of Wood river. He thought it was about the twenty-seventh of June that the Expedition and Johnson |
were reported to be in readiness to sail from the mouth of Wood river to Belle Fontaine. The troops were employed in making wheels for the keel boats until a very few days before starting; "but this labor was never considered indispensable to the movement." He had frequently heard Col. Atkinson say that he could have moved within ten days after the infantry arrived but for the detention on account of boats and supplies. Andrew Johnson promised him that the Johnson would be sent below to get the troops and stores from the Jefferson. P. 125. H. J. Offutt, master of the Jefferson, tells a story of the difficulties of the Missouri on account of sand which cuts machinery, the many bars, shifting channels, planters--large trees fast in the sand--and the extreme rapid current. A double set of hands was required for keel boats. The crew of the Jefferson for a year cost $15,000; rigging and other outfits, $8,000; tonnage, 22,281.95; the vessel was inferior to none on the western waters; and her engine was one of the best and most powerful on western waters. It propels her with full cargo--222 tons--on the Mississippi at all times, but can ascend the Missouri only with little more than half of full tonnage. A steamboat will last only four years on the Missouri; nearly double that time on the Mississippi. Anchors get caught in logs and can't be got loose and so are lost. The tonnage of the Expedition was little more than the Jefferson's; the Johnson's was a hundred tons, and she was one of the fastest boats on the Mississippi river. P. 130. Colonel Talbot Chambers testified that during the last summer (1819) one keel boat, manned by a detachment of infantry under Captain Livingston, was sunk near Grand river; and another, loaded with munitions of war, about sixty miles below the Council Bluffs. Nothing of the cargoes of consequence was saved. In July the river was uncommonly high; in the fall proportionately low. At |
Fort Osage Captain Craig lost confidence and wanted to send the cargo by keel boats, but was overruled. There were three companies of riflemen--ninety men in each--at Cantonment Martin. P. 132. Capt. Craig says the Expedition arrived at St. Louis May twelfth or thirteenth, where they were detained, with their crews--at Belle Fontaine--until July fifth, and on that account prevented from reaching Council Bluffs with their loads, and probably returning. The Johnson could carry about ninety tons; the Expedition, two hundred and twenty-five; the Jefferson, two hundred, to St. Louis, but only half that on the Missouri river. P. 133. William Pinkney's "letter and opinion", submitted to the arbitrators, dated Washington, March 29, 1820, makes, pretty clearly, the point that the goods should pass an authorized inspection at St. Louis, and there Johnson's responsibility ended, except as to their transportation. Repacking and resalting were extraneous. If detained for any cause but his own negligence the contractor must be fully compensated. Pp. 140-157. Henry Clay's argument, dated Washington, March 28, 1820, summarized the objects of the government of the United States: to establish a military post at the mouth of the Yellowstone river, the post to be "one of a line and part of a system whose object was a monopoly of the rich fur trade of the northwest, the suppression of British influence on the numerous and warlike Indian tribes who inhabit or hunt in those regions, and the communication of a just dread amongst them of the power and resources of the United States." Another object was exploration, "and particularly to determine if the benefits which the genius of Fulton has conferred upon our country and upon the world, in the improvement of navigation, could be realized on that great river. The conception of this daring enterprise was grand and worthy of the distin- |
guished individuals who preside over the department of war and the quartermaster's department, to whom the merit of it is believed to belong." The great compromiser (this was the very year in which he won that vain title) followed this preliminary dish of taffy with the regular course of his argument. "Success," he contended, "required adequate means not measured out upon calculating parsimony, but liberally supplied, on a scale proportionate to the magnitude of the undertaking." Johnson was to furnish at least two steamboats calculated to navigate the Mississippi "and its waters." Johnson complied with conditions "amply commensurate", at the mouth of the Missouri, "long before the arrival of Col. Atkinson with his regiment." The Expedition arrived at St. Louis May 12th; the Johnson, on the 17th; the Jefferson," shortly after." Repairs necessary to continue the journey required not over forty-eight hours. The faults were (1) Col. Chambers' failure to coöperate in inspection; (2) the demand for resalting and repacking; (3) non-arrival of Colonel Atkinson and Gen. Jesup; (4) unavoidable delay "incident to the operation." It was nearly a month after the arrival of the steamboats when Atkinson and his regiment and Jesup, with definite authority, came. "It would be monstrous to apply any huckstering principles to such a contract." It required only five days more to go from St. Louis to Cow Island than from Cow Island to Council Bluffs. In July and August of this year the quartermaster contracted for the transportation of provisions, etc., at five and one-half cents per pound on keel boats from Belle Fontaine to Council Bluffs; but they were only half loaded. He paid by capacity or tonnage of the boats, so that the real rate was eleven cents. Mr. Clay argued plausibly for an extra-contractual bonus for pioneer experiment. "In the meantime the government is entitled to the everlasting gratitude |
of posterity for having demonstrated the interesting fact that the Missouri is navigable by steamboats .... That the whole of the voyage was not performed is not the fault of James Johnson. The non-performance of it proceeded from causes beyond his control. The stage of the water was such that he could make no further progress, and the prosecution of it was suspended by order of the officer of the government ";--which more than smacks of specious pettifogging. He might better have contended, frankly, that the United States ought to foot almost any bill, regardless of contractual limitations, treating the undertaking as an extra-contractual enterprise. But he wished to "catch 'em coming and going". Johnson, he insisted, was excused from executing his contract by act of God and was also entitled to detention damages as if the order to stop on account of low water was the fault of the other party. Good evidence was deduced that his own crew insisted that they could go no farther. "It is conceived that so much of the whole period of detention up the Missouri as, in navigable states of the river, would have been sufficient to complete the voyage, should be deducted, and the compensation for detention up the river to that extent reduced, in consideration of the admission of the charge for full freight." The contract contained the liberal clause, "such reasonable and further allowance"--beyond the usual compensation--"as may be equitable and just; provided, that if, in the arrangements and operations of the government, the said steamboats should be detained in their destination, from the want of concentration of the articles, etc. to be transported, or otherwise, and not imputable to the negligence of the said James Johnson". "Otherwise" contemplated "the arrangements and operations of the government", not the act of God. Moreover, all risks were discounted in the unprecedented rate. Clay, how 14 |
ever, assumed that the detention at the mouth of the Missouri was not imputable to the fault or negligence of Johnson, and that but for it "the voyage might unquestionably have been completed." If this is true, then the low water catastrophe might be imputed to the government. "The testimony shows that, in ordinary seasons, and but for the unexampled low state of the river, the voyage might have been completed". This was not relevant; because Johnson ran that risk himself. Colonel Atkinson's letters (pp. 159-171) illuminate the anti-Johnson side of the controversy. Though he arrived at St. Louis June first, he writes under date of June seventh. He says it will probably take a fortnight to finish inspecting the provisions intended for the supplies on the Missouri. Two of Johnson's boats arrived "a few days before me". The Jefferson was lying one hundred and fifty miles below in consequence of a part of her machinery having given way. In three or four days he will send off Colonel Chambers from Belle Fontaine, with two hundred and seventy men of his regiment, in four transport boats brought from Pittsburg, to join the part of the regiment at Cantonment Martin, "with instructions to be ready to ascend with my regiment on its arrival there with steamboats. The rifle regiment will be transported in keel boats and my own in the four steamboats "--Expedition, Jefferson, Johnson, Calhoun-- " attended by four keel boats ... I have not the least doubt of the practicability of navigating the Missouri with steam power, notwithstanding the almost universal opinion to the contrary. My regiment and the detachment of the Fifth arrived this morning" [seventh], "and will probably reach Belle Fontaine today . . . I do not think that we can get off sooner than a fortnight. Colonel Johnson will, most probably, not be ready earlier ... The steamboat under care of Major Long" (Western Engineer) "is a short distance below and will probably arrive to |
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