from Book of the 1st American Chess Congress

pp.394-5  (by John Jacob Löwenthal)

     On the 10th of May I left Cincinnati, and after spending two days at Louisville reached New Orleans on the 18th. On the 22d I delivered my letter of introduction to Mr. Rousseau, and was by him introduced to E. Morphy and several other amateurs. Matches were arranged between Mr. Rousseau, Mr. Morphy and me. On the 26th, I played with Mr. Rousseau (not match games) and won 5 games, all we played.
     On the 27th I met Paul Morphy, then a youth, and played with him. I do not remember whether we played in all two or three games; one was drawn, the other or others I lost. The younger player appeared to me to possess Chess genius of a very high order. He showed great quickness of perception, and evinced brilliant strategical powers. When i passed through New York on my way to the great international tournament in London, I mentioned him to Mr. Stanley, and predicted for him a brilliant future.
     The intense heat of New Orleans, which from the first had enfeebled me both physically and mentally, produced a severe illness and incapacitated me from playing. It was not until the 15th of June that I was able to undergo the fatigue of travelling, and on that day I left for Cincinnati, where I arrived on the 22d, and remained during the rest of my residence in the United States.

p.507 (by Daniel Willard Fiske)

The crowning triumph, however, of the younger years of the American master was his defeat of Löwenthal. This distinguished Hungarian player, who had long before acquired a European reputation as a gifted cultivator of the art of Chess, was, like like his famous Chess-loving countryman, Grimm, driven into exile by the disastrous events which followed the heroic but unfortunate struggle of the Magyars against Austria. Coming to America, he visited New York and some of the western cities, and finally reached New Orleans in May, 1850. On the twenty-second and twenty-fifth of that month he played with Paul Morphy (at the time not yet thirteen years of age) in the presence of Mr. Rousseau, Mr. Ernest Morphy, and a large number of amateurs of New Orleans. The first game was a drawn one, but the second and third were won by the invincible young Philidor. Another opponent of Paul Morphy's before the Congress was Mr. James McConnell, a lawyer of New Orleans, with whom he played about thirty games, of which he won all but one.

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