Five minute history - Showboats
By Brodie Curtis
During the early 19th century, the Mississippi River was the Western Frontier of the United States. And New Orleans was its exotic capital.
River navigation evolved from flatboats floating from all parts of the eastern United States down the Tennessee, Cumberland, Wabash, Allegheny, and other rivers into the Ohio, all the way to Cairo and then into the mighty, big muddy Mississippi River. Brave voyagers who survived the harrowing river travel settled at landings and outposts along the route, or ventured on overland to homesteads in Midwestern prairies or the Mississippi Delta. Some continued west on covered wagon journeys at the Red River or other points of departure. Its said that as many as 500,000 migrated west on covered wagons by the US Civil War which began in 1861, but many more times that number of settlers migrated west by boat.
The lower Mississippi River during the Antebellum Period (prior to the Civil War) was an agrarian world, mostly disconnected from the rest of the US except by the river. It focused on the production of King Cotton (the most profitable crop), sugar, tobacco, and rice. The institution of slavery during the Antebellum Period profligated a landowner planter elite class who held concentrated wealth and enjoyed superior social status on the backs of inexpensive human capital. Opportunities in the Deep South were sparse for European immigrants, so many of them tended to settle in the northern states where industrial jobs were plentiful.
The horrific plight of enslaved persons had caught the attention of Northerners through literature and increasing reports of travelers. The Abolitionist Movement took hold, and by the events of SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE, seeds had been sown for the great conflict between the Northern and Southern states, the Civil War.
Steamboats came onto the mighty rivers of the Western Frontier in the early decades of the 19th century. By the 1840s and 50s, dozens of Showboats were on the rivers, providing accommodations that were luxurious for the times for those of means and unique entertainment. A cabin could be let for a journey from New Orleans to St. Louis for $100, in today’s dollars about the price of a first class ticket from Chicago to Paris.
Steamboats on the Mississippi River could be a romantic place where travelers wore fashionable tophats and festooned gowns and twirled parasols on the top deck and in lounges. Some boats featured plush carpets, fine dining, and theaters where thespians and musical acts brought entertainment and levity to both passengers and residents of river landings. The acts thrilled locals, giving them respite from their daily hardships.
Along with romance, plenty of dangers accompanied river travel. Literally thousands of boat wrecks settled on the bottom of the Mississippi due to tree branch snags, unseen sand bars, storms, and boiler explosions. Gambling and carnal vices were plentiful in some areas of the Lower River. River pirates lurked. On boats, conflict and rage could boil over in a second given the remote and relatively lawless geography.
Passengers fancied landing in New Orleans, the French-influenced crescent city of the Western Frontier, situated around the segment of a circle formed by a graceful curve of the river. Visitors encountered a resident population varied in its skin tone, tongues, tastes, habits, manners and moral codes perhaps like no where else on earth.
SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE’s characters lived during this period, meeting its challenges and pursuing their triumphs. Come along on their journey!
Now let's check out Brodie's book:
Showboat Soubrette
By Brodie Curtis
Publication Date: December 10th, 2025
Publisher: Westy Vistas Books
Pages: 367
Genre: Historical Fiction
FROM STAR SHOWBOAT SINGER
TO PIRATE PREY ON THE WICKED RIVER!
Showboat singer Stella Parrot’s star rises in the Antebellum South with every sold-out performance along the lower Mississippi River. When a river pirate viciously assaults her, new friends Toby Freeman and John Dee Franklin foil the attack. However, the pirate’s family is bent on revenge.
Stella, Toby, and John Dee escape their riverboat with able assistance from young cub pilot Sam Clemens, only to be pursued by the notorious Burton Gang. As the trio runs for their lives, mortal perils await at every turn: a fierce storm, high-stakes gambling confrontations, deadly combat, and a cotton boat up in flames. Stella, a Cherokee Indian, and Toby, a free Black man, and their friend White man John Dee endure relentless racial prejudices and injustices in the gritty underbelly of the Wicked River while fleeing to New Orleans—where the Burtons will be waiting!
SHOWBOAT SOUBRETTE’s fast-paced lower river adventure chase features romantic showboat scenes and is unsparing in its exploration of the bigoted and sometimes lawless riverboat era.
'Curtis is also a master of description and atmosphere. The novel is vivid with detail from the dining room and theatre of the showboat to the whorehouses of New Orleans. Life on the Mississippi is in full view here, from river pirates to dock workers. Sailors, gamblers, and society ladies all get their fair share of attention, and despite the class differences, more social fluidity occurs than we might expect.'
Tyler, Goodreads 5* Review
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This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.
Raised in the Midwest, Brodie Curtis was educated as a lawyer and left the corporate world to embrace life in Colorado with his wife and two sons.
Curtis is the author of THE FOUR BELLS, a novel of The Great War, which is the product of extensive historical research, including long walks through the fields of Flanders, where much of the book's action is set. His second novel, ANGELS AND BANDITS, takes his protagonists into The Battle of Britain. Curtis’ third novel is set on a Mississippi Riverboat prior to the Civil War.
A lover of history, particularly American history and the World Wars, Curtis reviews historical fiction for the Historical Novels Review and more than 100 of his published reviews and short takes on historical novels can be found on his website: brodiecurtis.com.
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