In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

chapter 1 The Formative Years mississippi delta. December 1838—After more than two months of monotony at sea, the Havre Paquet approached the wide Mississippi River delta. At the river entrance, Captain Robert H. McKown took on a local pilot to guide the sailing vessel, towed by a steamboat tug, over the final 120 miles to New Orleans. The New York and Havre packets made regularly scheduled North Atlantic crossings three times each month; the average travel time between the French port Le Havre and New York was forty-four days, with fourteen additional days to New Orleans.1 Even though screw-driven steamers were already cruising between the harbors along the Atlantic coast of Europe, sailing vessels such as the Havre were still commonly used to cross the ocean. America may have appeared raw and uncivilized to Europe’s aristocracy, but intellectuals looked for new and fascinating experiences and hoped to write about what they had seen. Common people considered the New World the “promised land”; they anxiously crossed the Atlantic to escape political oppression , to seek religious freedom, or to seek a better life in a country where “the air is more free”;2 others came for a combination of these reasons. One of the passengers aboard this Havre packet was the cultivated, forty-two-year-old Joseph Chanut, who had received an unsolicited offer to teach in one of the three major colleges in antebellum Louisiana and was now immigrating to his new future with his oldest son Octave. As his marriage in France was not as he had envisioned, Joseph felt attracted by the prospect of a better life; he accepted the challenge to teach in a country with which he was not familiar and to take responsibility as a single parent. Understandably, Joseph must have wondered if he had made the right decision. Would he like being vice president of a southern college and would his colleagues accept him as their peer? His six-year-old Octave Alexandre had his own thoughts about his life and future. Octave’s mother had told him that he would go with his father, whom he barely knew, and leave the security of his home, then living with his mother, his grandmother, and two younger brothers. Many family members had come to 2 Chapter 1 see him and his father leave Paris,3 and he undoubtedly wondered if he would ever see them again and why he had to go with his father. Crossing the Atlantic Ocean was a long and, at times, hazardous journey, but Captain McKown had made everyone feel comfortable. The passenger list of this Havre packet shows twelve passengers in the cabin section;4 eight male, three female, and one child, with six of them French and the other half American residents. About fifty French, Swiss, and German passengers traveled in the steerage section, probably dreaming of a golden future in America. Most likely Octave became acquainted with fellow passengers and members of the crew, who were known to give youngsters an education in seafaring while crossing the Atlantic. After a brief stop in New York, the packet continued its trip south past the fabled and stormy Outer Banks, around Florida, and finally to New Orleans. On arrival, the passengers recorded their names, ages, and professions at the Customs House. Then, father and son Chanut located the steamboat to take them to their final destination, Jefferson College in the St. James Parish, sixty miles upriver. A new life, so different and not Parisian at all, began for Joseph and Octave. During the next twelve years, their paths would slowly diverge. Joseph Chanut could not reinvent himself and eventually returned to France. Young Octave Alexandre Chanut sought a different direction. As he matured, he became a successful civil engineer and accumulated wealth; he earned United States citizenship and anglicized his name to Octave Chanute, married, and raised five children with his wife. By every definition, he became a true American. Antebellum Louisiana and Jefferson College In 1803, Napoleon, emperor of France, sold “New France” to the United States, and part of this purchase became the state of Louisiana in 1812. During the next fifty years, more than a half-million immigrants from the East Coast, Europe, Haiti, and Cuba settled in this new possession, looking for freedom and fortune. Joseph Chanut was one of these immigrants hoping to utilize his native tongue for his and his son’s personal betterment. Most newcomers to Louisiana were fascinated...

Share