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Through his interest in river craft built at Brownsville, young Shreve found a friend in Daniel French, who had patented a steam engine. When built into a boat it made of it a steamboat. Shreve liked the engine and formed a partnership with French, The Monogahela and Ohio Steamboat Company. They built the Enterprise in 1814, and right proud was her young captain when he took her to "N'awleans" on her maiden voyage. It was intended to be a brief trip down, and right back again just to prove their contention that the boat could travel up stream---a fact which rival ship builders had not been able to accomplish.
There was visible excitement in the old French town. Andrew Johnson was there making ready for his great victory. He ordered Shreve and his boat into service, his first job being to carry all women and children to safety. While making preparations to follow orders he was abruptly ordered to appear before Jackson. Not knowing Old Hickory very well, he told his courier to go to hell, or some such friendly rejoinder. That message, when delivered to the General, brought on his famous mad scenes and, when the young steamboat captain was arrested and brought before him, pounced upon him with a soul withering growl: "By God, Captain Shreve, do you dare disobey my orders?" "Yes by God, I do dare," Shreve roared back at him. Andrew Jackson mellowed. He liked that. When had anybody ever cussed back at him? The result was that soon the straps of captain in the United States Army appeared on the shoulder of the riverboat captain's jacket, and he was kept near at hand by Jackson until New Orleans was thoroughly cleaned up.
- May 30, 1815, the Enterprise reached port in Louisville, Ky., the first
steamboat ever to ascend the Mississippi River. Every trip Henry Shreve
had ever made had added to his conviction that navigation could never amount
to much until clean deep channels were made through the dense accumulation
of logs, trees, snags, sawyers, planters, and great boulders, shoals and
overhanging trees, which made of a pilot's life one hideous nightmare.
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