Allen H. Ortte
Allen Ortte was a native of Yorktown, Virginia, but was a resident of New Orleans since boyhood. He married Elizabeth Evilina Wardle, who bore five sons and three daughters. The daughters were Bessie (who married Walter T. Long) Oneida (who married James Campbell Tourne) and Allene (who married Rinaldo Osborne). The sons were Edward, Richard, James, Henry, and Charles.
Allen was a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River, an occupation that he began prior to the Civil War. He was the helmsman on the steamboat Belle of Acton when she made her record-breaking trip from New Orleans to Alexandria in 1871. Among other steamboats he piloted were the Texas and the New Orleans. During the Civil War Captain Ortte was pressed into service by the Union General Banks to pilot a federal gunboat on an expedition up the Red River. His last service on the river was as a pilot on the steamboat Gem running between New Orleans and Shreveport. He died in New Orleans on March 31, 1901.
Documents
Much of the above information (and language) comes from the document, The Osbornes and the Orttes of New Orleans by Roger C. Smith.
