Against the Current: Six Women Who Commanded Mississippi Steamboats

During the heyday of steamboat travel on inland rivers of the U.S., this form of transportation was considered the epitome of comfort and convenience.

Like most other fields of employment in the late 1800s, riverboats offered limited opportunities for women. They could work in the traditional “housekeeping” type roles, such as cooking, serving, laundering, and cleaning, but piloting or captaining the vessels was considered a man’s domain.

Still, six women made names for themselves as steamboat captains in the Mississippi River valley.

On the mid-continent rivers, there were two main types of steamboats: the packet boat and the excursion boat. Packets carried commercial goods, such as cotton, tobacco, or animals, with a limited number of passengers.

Excursion boats are associated with the romance and adventure of river travel, with luxurious cabins and fine dining, as well as grand ballrooms. In the mid-19th century, showboats added music, vaudeville acts, minstrel shows, and even circuses.

Who was really the first?

Nettie Johnson

The first woman to be licensed as a master on inland waterways was Nettie Johnson, who owned a small steam packet in the 1870s with her husband, a pilot. They pioneered operations on the Ohio River and continued throughout World War I, transporting war supplies.

Mary Miller became a licensed pilot after traveling with her husband in 1882 to enter the Ouachita River trade. When he became incapacitated, Mary passed the exam in 1884 and carried on the business. She claimed to be the first female pilot on the Mississippi, though Johnson and others have also been named as the first.

‘Angel of the Mississippi’

Next came Blanche Leathers, who made her maiden trip as skipper of the packet Natchez VIII in 1884. When she first left New Orleans as a captain, ferry boats, ocean liners, tugs and freighters saluted her with whistles, and people on shore waved and shouted.

Like the others, she had learned the occupation from her husband, who she had married in 1880. “I would stand beside him at the wheel,” she said, “and repeat to him each snag, each bank, each plantation, each landing place. He taught me to steer at night when it was so dark you couldn’t actually see your hand before your face.” The couple had seven steamboats until the Natchez VIII sank in 1918.

A mere 5’5” tall, Blanche became known as the “angel of the Mississippi.” She was also called “Little Captain” or “Boss Leathers,” and one newspaper described her as “the most distinguished of Louisiana women.” When she was interviewed in 1927, she had ceased river travel, but she said, “I keep my license just the same, for I shall never be really anything but a pilot.”

‘Dawg-goned’ Callie

A more colorful figure was Callie Leach French, described as a “bell-ringing, horn-tootin’, wheel-turning captain.” She married Augustus Byron French, who ran the New Sensation steamboat.

Captain Callie Leach
French, circa 1890

She was licensed for the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in 1888, and by 1895, she obtained a master’s license covering almost all of the region’s navigable waterways. She and her husband specialized in running showboats. Known as “Aunt Callie,” she served as pilot and captain alongside Augustus, and she also cooked, mended, nursed, acted, and wrote gags. She was well-known for her favorite saying, “Well, I’ll be dawg-goned!” and she never lost a boat or had an accident.

When her husband died in 1902, Callie took over the business and managed it with the help of another couple until she retired in 1907.

50-Plus years on the rivers

Perhaps the longest-serving female riverboat captain was Mary Becker Greene, who navigated the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for more than 50 years.

Captains Mary and Gordon Greene aboard one
of their steamers, 1903. UW Digital archives

She married Gordon C. Greene, “a riverman through and through,” in 1890, and they lived aboard his boat, the H. K. Bedford steamer.

“When you marry a riverman,” Mary said, “you marry the river, too. That’s the code of steamboatin’.” Working with and learning from her husband, Mary earned her master’s pilots license by 1892, becoming the only woman captain on the Ohio.

The Greene Line Steamers company grew, but a new vessel, the Argand, was losing money. Mary took it over in 1897 and earned $2,500 in profits on her first round-trip.

The five-foot-tall “petticoat skipper” took great pride in keeping the vessel clean, orderly, and running smoothly. She sewed curtains and linens and focused on comfort and reliability for passengers.

Greene family aboard the Greenland, 1905

Operating on the Ohio, Mississippi, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers, the company added the Greenwood and the luxury steamer the Greenland—a 215-foot $40,000 vessel with 50 staterooms and a special suite of five rooms for the Greene family.

After the couple’s oldest son Henry, age 9, died in 1907, Mary focused on the family, staying at their land-based home with their two remaining sons, Tom and Chris. But as they grew, she returned to the river.

Gordon died in 1927, and Mary with her sons continued to run the company. Due to the Great Depression of 1929, they were down to two steamers, but in 1935, the company purchased the Cape Girardeau. With a capacity of 175 passengers and 60 crew, the vessel was renamed after Gordon.

Chris died suddenly in 1944, and Tom took over. Mary, though in her late 70s, remained active on the Gordon C. Greene.

In 1946, Tom learned that the Delta Queen and Delta King, twin steamboats valued at $1 million each, were being auctioned in California. With his mother’s approval, he bid $46,250 for the Queen and was the only bidder.

Following the lengthy journey from Sacramento to Cincinnati, the vessel was given a six-figure renovation. Mary took up residency in stateroom 109 in 1948 and continued her hostess duties. She was on her 12th pilot’s license in 56 years of renewals. In April, 1949, she joined Delta Queen passengers in dancing the Virginia Reel, and two days later, on April 22, Mary died in her stateroom.

The golden days of steamboating may be over, yet a few vessels still travel the mid-continent rivers, bearing passengers and the spirit of these pioneering women who once steered their own courses.

For more details about the era, see also my earlier post,  Heroes, Heroines, and History: Steamboating on the Mississippi River Sternwheelers

Sources

Women in Transportation: Changing America's History

East Carroll Parish, Louisiana Genealogy: Women Steamboat Captains

Blanche Douglass Leathers - Wikipedia

Callie Leach French - Wikipedia

Hadley, Edwin (27 January 1952). "There Goes the Showboat". The Courier-Journal. The Courier-Journal Magazine, p. 16. Retrieved 2018-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.

Interview and story with Blanche Leathers, steamboat captain of the Packett Natchez in 1927. - Page 1 | Louisiana Digital Library

Mary B. Greene: The Ohio River’s Leading Lady (Part 1) - Weelunk

Mary B. Greene: The Ohio River’s Leading Lady (Part 2) - Weelunk

Early Marietta: Captain Mary B. Greene, Pioneering River Lady

Multi-award-winning author Marie Wells Coutu finds beauty in surprising places, like undiscovered treasures, old houses, and gnarly trees. All three books in her Mended Vessels series, contemporary stories based on the lives of biblical women, have won awards in multiple contests. She is currently working on historical romances set in her native western Kentucky in the 1930s and ‘40s. An unpublished novel, Shifting Currents, placed second in the inspirational category of the nationally recognized Maggie Awards. Learn more at www.MarieWellsCoutu.com.





When the lights of Broadway dim, Delia leaves the city behind. But will her family welcome her home again?

The historical short story, “All That Glistens,” was included in the 2023 Saturday Evening Post Great American Fiction collection and is now available free when you sign up for Marie's newsletter here. In her newsletter, she shares about her writing, historical tidbits, recommended books, and sometimes recipes. Soon she'll be sharing a historical romantic short story set in Scotland.