The steamboat Enterprise demonstrated for the first time by her epic voyage from New Orleans to Brownsville, Pennsylvania that steamboat commerce was practical on the Mississippi River and its tributaries.
Early days
The Enterprise, or Enterprize, with an engine and power train designed and built by Daniel French, was launched before June 1814 at Brownsville for her owners: the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company. The Enterprise, under the command of Israel Gregg, was first used to transport passengers and cargo to ports between Brownsville and Louisville, Kentucky. From June to December she completed two voyages from Louisville to Pittsburgh that were performed against strong river currents. With these voyages the Enterprise demonstrated for the first time that steamboat commerce was practical on the Ohio River.
Voyage to New Orleans
On December 2, General Andrew Jackson had marched from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans with orders to oppose an imminent military invasion by an overwhelming British force. Jackson had been making frequent requests for military supplies, especially small firearms and ammunition, that were in short supply. To this end, the shareholders made the decision to send the Enterprise. Command was transferred to Henry Miller Shreve, a Brownsville resident and experienced keelboat captain, who had firsthand knowledge of the hazards to navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. On December 21, 1814, the Enterprise departed Pittsburgh bound for New Orleans with a cargo of "Cannon-balls, Gun-Carriages, Smith's Tools, Boxes of Harness, &c". On December 28, the Enterprise passed the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville, delivering the cargo of military supplies at the port of New Orleans on January 9, 1815.
Battle of New Orleans
Under normal circumstances, the voyage by the Enterprise into Louisiana's waters would have been a violation of the territorial steamboat monopoly granted to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton. However, the Enterprise was protected from the monopolists and free to navigate the state's waters by the martial law imposed by General Andrew Jackson on December 16.
Despite the military supplies delivered by the Enterprise, Jackson's forces were still in dire need, particularly for small firearms, gunpowder and shot. Responding to reports that several boats laden with military supplies were near Natchez, Jackson sent the Enterprise. The boats were located and the Enterprise took them in tow, delivering them to New Orleans.
Then the Enterprise made another voyage to Natchez and returned to the port of New Orleans by February 12, 1815 when she was entered for the first time in the New Orleans Wharf Register as "Steam Boat (le petit) Captne Shrive".
Then the Enterprise steamed up the Red River to Alexandria with 250 troops in tow and returned to New Orleans.
Voyage to Brownsville
On February 4, 1815, the British fleet, with all of the troops aboard, set sail for Mobile Bay. On February 16, the United States Senate ratified the Treaty of Ghent, finally putting an end to the War of 1812. However, official dispatches announcing the peace would not reach New Orleans until late February.
On March 1, Shreve advertised in a Natchez newspaper that the Enterprise would "ply between Natchez and New Orleans every nine days until the first week in May" when the Enterprise would depart New Orleans for Louisville. On March 13, Andrew Jackson rescinded martial law. On April 21, payment of the wharfage fee for the Enterprise was recorded.
On May 1, John Livingston submitted a petition to the Federal Court accusing captain Henry Shreve and the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company of violating the territorial steamboat monopoly granted to Robert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton. John Livingston's petition requested a payment of $5,000 and the forfeiture of the Enterprise. Sheriff John H. Holland, acting on orders issued by the court, quickly arrested Henry Shreve and seized the Enterprise. On May 2, attorney Abner L. Duncan, representing the shareholders of the Monongahela and Ohio Steam Boat Company, posted bail and made arrangements for Shreve and the Enterprise to be released.