A Flatboat Journey Ends

Recently I wrote about a flatboat that stopped here in Vicksburg and wanted to let you know how the journey ended. It was used to re-enact Abraham Lincoln's 1828 flatboat journey down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It will be trucked back to Indiana now that it has reached its destination of New Orleans.

The flatboat's journey, called "Lincoln's Journey of Remembrance," began Sept. 9 from the Ohio River town of Rockport, abut 15 miles from where Lincoln grew up in southern Indiana.

The 60-foot-long, 25-ton flatboat made 23 stops on its journey before arriving in New Orleans on last Saturday, a trip of nearly 1,100 miles, including a stop here in Vicksburg on Sept. 28.

The crew braved 7-foot waves as the boat met with the remnants of Hurricane Ike. The crew had to use two 150-horsepower outboard engines to ride out the storm.

Crew members met with the visitors and shared stories about Lincoln during the trip.

Duane Walter, 71, told how Lincoln witnessed a slave auction at the end of his flatboat journey. Seeing family members separated at auction made an impression on the young Lincoln, Walter said.

"He said he would hit that hard if he ever got the opportunity," Walter told the Evansville Courier & Press. "Of course, well, he got something of an opportunity later in life."

The flatboat was being dismantled in preparation for loading it onto a semi-trailer and driving it back to Indiana.

The boat will be put on display at Lincoln Pioneer Village in Rockport, about 30 miles east of Evansville.

The trip is one of the area's events marking the nation's two-year celebration of Lincoln's life and legacy tied to the 200th anniversary of his birth. Lincoln was born in Kentucky in 1809, then lived in Indiana's Spencer County from ages 7 to 21 before moving to Illinois.