Flatboat journey to New Orleans is reported to have taken a month. John Hanks left boat in St. Louis, but Offutt, Lincoln, and Johnston continue to New Orleans and appear to have stayed a month. Lincoln and Offutt may have returned together to Springfield, for license to retail merchandise in Sangamon County is granted Denton Offutt July 8, 1831. Five-dollar fee indicates stock in store was valued at $1,000.Autobiography Written for John L. Scripps, [c. June 1860], CW, 4:60-67; County Commissioners' Record C, 256.