Like many old tales from famous people, this one has become legend and is told in varying versions. However, it is known that during the Marquis de Lafayette’s second and final visit to the United States in 1824-25, he traveled up the full length of the Ohio River and paid an unexpected visit to the James Cavender family .
In May 1825, after spending some time with the Andrew Jackson at his Hermitage near Nashville, Tennessee, Lafayette took passage on the steamboat Mechanic and headed for Louisville, Kentucky, where he was to the honored guest at a huge reception. Among the distinguished passengers on board where the Marquis’ son, Georges Lafayette, a former governor of Louisiana named Thebeaudot, and a former governor of Kentucky, Isaac Shelby.
It was a pleasant enough voyage, and all went well until one drizzly night when they were passing the site of the present town of Cannelton, Indiana. Shortly past midnight, the boat struck an underwater snag and came to halt with a violent shudder. The hold began to fill with water, and it was obvious the boat was sinking rapidly. The Captain gave the order to abandon ship. A cry went up to save General Lafayette. Torches were lit, and the deckhands hurried to launch the small skiffs and herded the passengers overboard into them.
Presently Lafayette appeared, fully dressed, wigged and completely unperturbed. In mid-staircase he stopped, suddenly remembering that he had left his snuff box in his stateroom. Thereupon he sent his secretary. Levasseur, nback up to fetch it. Some say the box was one his prized possessions because it had a miniature portrait of George Washington painted on the lid, or maybe he just didn’t want to be without snuff in a crisis. Anyway, the precious box was recovered, and the general and his secretary has hurried to the rail and overboard.
The boat waiting below was already crowded, and the river was rough. In the darkness Lafayette lost his footing and tumbled headlong into the water.
Had it not been for the quick action of two sailors, he might have drowned in the Ohio River.
However, the great man was no worse off than wet, so when the small boat reached shore , fires were built for a general drying-out.
According to records, no lives were list in the disaster, but Lafayette lost his carriage, luggage and about $8,000.
All the excitement, the shouting and the blazing bonfires on the river bank awakened the family of James Cavender, who lived in a log cabin nearby.
When the Cavenders found out what had happened and who the distinguished personage who had alighted so unexpectedly on their shore, they hastened to offer Marquis de Lafayette hot broth in their cabin and a warm bed for the rest of the night.
The next dawn ushered in a gray and rainy day, but about 9 a.m. another steamboat, Paragon, was sighted churning up the river. They flagged her down and she hove to and took aboard the Mechanic’s unfortunate passengers and carried them on to Louisiville.
Whether or not Lafayette actually slept in the cabin is still debated today, but it is a fact that for many years thereafter the spring near the Cavender place was widely known as the Lafayette Spring. A bronze plaque marks the spot today.
