Johnson, Bailey, Captain
Section 28.2
ID # 281090

Bailey Johnson
1815 – 1887
Steamboat Captain
on the Cumberland River

Erected 2015

Documentation
1908 Plat: Capt. Bailey Johnson
       1815 – 1887
1909 List: Capt. Bailey Johnson
       Section 28 NE Lot 12
       Owner: Capt. Jacob Hunter
Smith (1908): Captain Bailey Johnson
       1815 – 1887
Garrett (1971): Same as Smith (1908)
Lot Card: Jacob Hunter purchased
       Lot 12  in 1843 and added
       to the lot in 1852. (20 x 32)
Interment: Feb. 24, 1850
       Jacob Hunter Oak
       No tombstone 1908 Plat
Interment: Dec. 28, 1887
       Bailey Johnson Oak
       On J. Johnson [sic] lot

Survey Visit: 10-4-2015

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HISTORY

Byrd Douglass, in Steamboatin’ on the Cumberland, listed Captain Jacob Hunter and Capt. Bailey Johnson as “early steamboat captains.”

Timed steamboat races were popular in the mid-19th century between New Orleans and Nashville, a distance of 1,226 miles. Captain Jacob Hunter’s steamboat “Talleyrand” made the trip in 5 days and 23 hours. Then Captain Joseph Miller’s steamboat “Nashville,” on June 12, 1843, made the trip in 5 days and 19 hours. In less than five years, Bailey’s brother Captain Jesse Johnson would beat that time. On May 29, 1849, Captain Johnson’s steamboat “America’ set the record in 5 days 17 hours. This steamboat record was never broken.