Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans by John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer Page B

dueling was at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Duels could result from any accusation or breach of etiquette, real or imagined, serious or slight. Rules for fighting were spelled out in the Code Duello. Creoles in New Orleans never fought with fists, as the Kaintocks did, but with weapons, and they were trained by weapons masters whose academies were established on Exchange Alley. The duel was called an affair of honor. It sometimes resulted in death, but more often, the offended party’s honor was satisfied by merely wounding his opponent. Under the “Dueling Oaks ” at the Allard Plantation , now City Park, or in Père Antoine’s garden, behind the Cathedral, thousands of duels were fought using everything from swords and rapiers to rifles and shotguns.
    The Introduction of Steamboats
    The advent of the steamboat had a lasting effect upon the lives of the people who lived along the Mississippi. Of particular interest was the maiden voyage of the steamer New Orleans, the first steamboat on the Western territorial waters. It was built in 1811 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Nicholas Roosevelt, pioneer in steam navigation, former associate of Robert Fulton’s, and great-grand-uncle of the future president Theodore Roosevelt. Nicholas Roosevelt was on board for the maiden voyage, which was eventful, to say the least. The boat, 116 feet long and 20 feet wide, left Pittsburg in September 1811 and did not arrive in New Orleans until January 1812. Anything calamitous or extraordinary that could happen did.
    A baby was born to Mrs. Nicholas Roosevelt (daughter of architect Benjamin Latrobe) in Cincinnati during a month’s layover, while the passengers waited for the water to rise. The earthquake of 1811 occurred, frightening the Indians and causing them to attack the steamboat. (The Indians thought the smoke-burping ship had caused the earthquake.) In the midst of all this, the ship caught fire. And when the ship landed in New Orleans in January 1812, the captain wooed and married Mrs. Roosevelt’s maid.
    Until this time, there were mostly flatboats and keelboats on the river. There were few boats coming up from the mouth of the river. Now that the steamboat had been invented, keelboatsmen who sold their boats with their merchandise in New Orleans could travel back upriver by steamboat if they could afford it or have their merchandise shipped by steamer. At last, traffic both ways on the same vessel was possible.
    The Embargo Act of 1807
    In 1807, war was being fought on the Atlantic Ocean between England and France. Although the United States was a neutral power, its ships had repeatedly been seized by both warring nations. Appeals by President Jefferson had been made and ignored. Therefore, Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807, prohibiting the shipment of American goods to either England or France.
    Port cities such as New Orleans suffered greatly because of the Embargo Act. Imports and exports dropped to one-third of their former volume. Businesses closed. Smuggling resulted. By 1812, the injustices of the British in impressing American seamen, blockading American ports, and encouraging Indian attacks on settlers moving westward led to American involvement in the European war. In addition, War Hawks in Congress were convinced that victory over the British would win Canada and Spanish Florida for the United States. New England states were opposed to the nation’s entry in a war for which it was ill-prepared. Nevertheless, within days after Louisiana became a state, the United States declared war against England.
    The Battle of New Orleans
    Early in the war, the British enjoyed far more successes than the Americans. The British continued to blockade American ports. They defeated the Americans at Dearborn and Detroit and captured and burned Washington, DC. In spite of Oliver Perry’s victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, most Americans began to realize the state of unpreparedness of the new nation and to abandon