HHHHH^H ^^^^^^^HpHHHIIH^HI PS* ^ ^^^^^^^Kp^^'':''':'; ' .167 ^^^1^: ^0• r*^ o I* o '^ A> V <• o f •I o * '^ "^ -©Us* ^^ ^ o.a. -^O O M ^^ * w JEAN BAPTISTE LEMOINE DE BIENVILLE. "The Father of the Louisiana Purchase." ^ ^ THE STORY OF THE Louisiana Purchase. BY Virgil A. Lewis, M. A. Ex-State Superintendetit of Free Schools of West Virginia; Me^nber Trans-Allegheny Historical Society; Member American Historical Association; Author of a General '''History of West Virginia;'" '"His- tory and Government of West Virginia ,'' etc. ST. LOUIS: Woodward & Tiernan Printing Co. 1903. THE LfBKARY OF CONGRESS. Two Copies Received SEP 18 1903 t Copyright Entry ^SS Cu XXc No COPY d. copyeight, 1908, by vlrgil a. lewis, Mason, Wkst Va. The Author's Preface. The present is eminently a proper time in which to pre- pare the ''Story of the Louisiana Purchase," for a cen- tury ago that region was largely inhabited by wild beasts and savage men. The issuance of this little volume falls fittingly into the one hundredth anniversary of the trans- fer of that vast domain to the United States; little apology should, therefore, be made for the publication of a work of its kind at this time. Whatever may be the de- fects in its composition and arrangement, the subject must be one of much interest, and, therefore, a justifica- tion for the appearance of the work. It is a theme which will grow in interest in the future, and thus will be added an increasing charm to the story. It contains a succinct account of the principal events in the annals of the region known to American history for a hundred years as the Louisiana Purchase, and it is fit- ting that these should come vividly to the minds of the people of the United States in this its centennial year. This purchase more than doubled the area of our country at that time, and made possible the later extension of our boundaries to the Pacific Coast. It may be said that the Louisiana Purchase has a litera- ture of its own : that is true, and this narrative has been written from a great mass of matter pertaining to that region, now easy of access to all students, but not at all available to general readers. Much of the material on which this volume is based is to be found in the publica- 4 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. tions of the American Government. Among these are the ''Annals of Congress," containing the debates and proceedings of the Congress of the United States ; Poore's "Federal and State Constitutions and Colonial Charters;" Waite's ''American State Papers and Docu- ments ;" the "Diplomatic Correspondence of the Office of the Secretary of State," from 1800 to 1803, inclusive; the "Treaties and Conventions between the United States and other Powers since July 4, 1776;" together with the reports and journals of explorers and travelers, such as those of Lewis and Clark, Pike, Dunbar, Long, and others. In addition to the foregoing, the works of many au- thors who have had access to original sources of informa- tion, have been carefully examined and data compiled therefrom. Of such are Du Pratz, La Harpe, Shea, Mar- gry, Parkman, Monette, Marbois, Flint, Gayarre, Martin, Bonner, Windsor and Coues, with the authors of the his- tories of States in and adjoining the Louisiana Purchase, and others far too numerous to be cited here. It is, therefore, believed that in the following pages there will be found the internal evidence of that re- search so necessary to make a volume of unimpeachable history, however humble it may be. Its preparation, in- stead of being a task, has been a labor of love, for the theme — that of history — is one in which the author finds constant pleasure. Cordially he sends the "Story of the Louisiana Purchase" to a generous public, w^hose ap- proval he hopes to win. xr a t Point Pleasant, West Virginia. The Publisher's Preface. On the 4th of May, 1903, the author visited the Admin- istration Building of the World's Fair, at St. Louis, for the purpose of submitting his manuscript of the "Story of the Louisiana Purchase" for examination. He was directed by Hon. Walter B. Stevens, the Secretary of the W^orld's Fair Company, to place it in the hands of Colonel Samuel Williams, of the Press and Publicity Department, and this was done, that gentleman kindly promising to give it a most careful reading. This he did, and on the 9th of May ensuing, Mr. Stevens wrote the author com- municating the report of Col. Williams and said : St. Louis, U. S. A., May 9, 1903. Dear Sir — I have submitted to Mr. Samuel Williams of the Press and Publicity Department, perhaps the best informed man in the organization of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Com- pany upon the history of the Louisiana Purchase, your "Story of the Louisiana Purchase," and have asked from him an ex- pression of opinion upon the manuscript. I think there can be no objection to giving the opinion of Mr. Williams upon your work. Respectfully, Walter B. Stevens, Secretary. Mr. Virgil A. Lewis. 6 Tim ri'Hi.isiiiiK's I'k'i'j-.tcn. TIic report of Mr. Williams as lliiis submitted to the author 1)v Mr. Stevens, was as follows: For SKruKTAKV W. B. Stkvkns: (Report (in llio "Story of the Louisiana I'nrrliaso.") Mr. Secretary — I have read (he nianuseripl of Prof. Lewis' "Story of ihe Louisiana Pnrehase." and have found it a sueeinct and unpretentious hut a very full and clear statement of the ma- terial and interesting facts of Louisiana Colonial history, and of the Purchase Treaty, with accounts also of the Territorial history of Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri after i8o,r. the Burr Conspiracy and the New Madrid earthquake, all gleaned from fountain head and indispnted sourees. Respectfully, (Signed) Samuf.i. Willtams. Such is the verdict of the hii;hesl authority as to the aocuracv and merit of this little voliuue. Table of ContenTvS. YuE Louisiana Liki iiase 15 CHAP ILK 11. Faki.y Spaniakiks in iHK Louisiana Puiu hasf. 21 (:iiArri-:iv iii. EXI'LORATION AN!) SliTTI.F.MENT OF NeW FrANTK — FlRST AT- TEMPT TO Colonize the Louisiana Purchase 29 Cll WVVK 1\ I'lKsr PKintANFNT Sftti.fment I'F Tin: Mississirn \ \i 1 fv . . . 45 CHAPTER V. liiE Loiisiwv Purchase Gkantfd ro Anihonv Ckozet . . . 55 CllAPri':R \ 1. PuK Louisiana Purchase Under the West Indies Com- pany, and the Company of the Indies 00 CHAPTER \ 11 rin; Louisiana Purchase Under Royal Government ;;S 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VIII. The Louisiana Purchase Ceded to Spain 93 CHAPTER IX. The Louisiana Purchase Under the Spanish Dominion ... 105 CHAPTER X. The Louisiana Purchase Retroceded to France 126 CHAPTER XI. The United States Endeavoring to Secure Control of the Mississippi River 132 CHAPTER XII. Negotiations Leading up to the Purchase of Louisiana BY THE United States — The Treaty of Paris — ^The Con- ventions 157 / CHAPTER XIIT. Spain Opposes the Cession — Ratification of the Treaty and Conventions — Legislation by Congress Relating to THE Louisiana Purchase 187 CHAPTER XIV. The United States in Possession of the Louisiana Pur- chase — Civil Government Established Therein 204 CHAPTER XV. The Expedition of Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean — Other Explorations in the Louisiana Purchase 220 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTER XVI. The Burr-Blennerhassett Conspiracy — The Beginnings OF Literature in the Louisiana Purchase — Miscellany. .242 CHAPTER XVH. The Earthquake of New Madrid in 181 i 273 CHAPTER XVHL The First States Formed Within the Louisiana Pur- chase 278 APPENDIX A. The Cession of the Louisiana Purchase. 287 APPENDIX B. Lieutenant William Clark's Letter — First Published Account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 290 APPENDIX C. Compensation to Lewis and Clark and their Companions ON Their Expedition to the Pacific Coast 297 APPENDIX D. Poem Commemorative of the Lewis and Clark Expedition .299 10 TABLE OF CONTENTS. MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. FRONTISPIECE — Portrait of Jean Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville. MAPS. Map Showing Louisiana Purchase 19 Map of the Island of Orleans 125 SKETCHES. De Soto on the Banks of the iMississiPPi River 26 ' Statue of LaSalle, in Lincoln Park, Chicago 40 ' Captain Lewis and Lieutenant Clark Holding a Council WITH the Indians 225 Ground Plan of Fort Mandan 227 Captain Lewis in Indian Costume 230 - PORTRAITS. RuFus King 133 Thomas Jefferson and James Madison 144 Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe 163 Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the French 1 Republic I General Alexandre Berthier , ^ Francois Barbe Marbois j William Charles Cole Claiborne ^ General James Wilkinson / ^^"- Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark 220 Patrick Gass 236 ^ Aaron Burr and Harman Blennerhassett 242 "* TABLE OF CONTENTS. U Periods in the History of the Louisiana Purchase, Together with the Names and Dates of Administration of the Several, Governors Thereof. PERIODS. Early Spanish Explora- "<^NS From 1527, to ,1543. Voyages and Discoveries OF THE French - 1524," 1686. Original French Settle- ments " ^1686. " Sept. 12,1712. Crozet's Grant for Louis- i^^N'^ " Sept. 12, 1712, " Aug. 23, 1717. The Charter of the West Indies Company - Sept. 6, 1717, " April 10, 1732. The Royal Government. . " April 10, 1732, " Aug. 18. 1769. The Spanish Dominion.. ' Aug. 18,1769, " Nov. 30,1803. Last French Possession.. " Nov. 30,1603, " Dec. 20,1803. The American Occupa- tion " Dec. 20, 1803, '' present time. 12 TABLE OF CONTENTS. » THE FRENCH GOVERNORS OF LOUISIANA. Antoine Lemoine de Sau- VOLLE From Feb. lo, 1699, to Aug. 22, 1701. Jean Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville " Aug. 22, 1701, " May 17, 1713. GOVERNORS UNDER CROZET'S CHARTER. Lamothe de Cadillac From May 17, 1713, to Mar. g, 1717. M. De L'Epinay " Mar. 9,1717, "Mar. 9,1718. GOVERNORS UNDER THE WEST INDIES COMPANY. Jean Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville From Mar. 9, 1718, to Jan. 16, 1724. Dugue de Boisbriant, ad interim '' Jan. 16,1224, "Aug. 9,1726. M. Perkier " Aug. 9, 1726, " Jan. i, 1733. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 13 GOVERNOR^ UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT. Jean Baptiste Lemoine de Bienville From Jan. i, 1733, to May 10, 1743. Pierre Francois Marquis de Vaudreuil " May 10, 1743, " Feb. 9, 1753. Louis BlLLOUART DE KeR- LEREC " Feb. 9, 1753, " June 29, 1763. D'Abbadie " June 29, 1763, " Feb. 4, 1765. M. AuBRY " Feb. 4,1765, "Aug. 18,1769. THE SPANISH GOVERNORS AND CAPTAINS-GENERAL OF THE PROVINCE OF LOUISIANA. (Resident at New Orleans.) Don Juan de Ulloa From Mar. 5, 1766, to Oct. 31, 1768. Count Alexander O'Reilly " Aug. 18, 1769, " , 1770. Don Antonio Maria Bu- CARELY, ad interim. " 1770, " Aug. 17, 1772. Don Luis de Unzaga " Aug. 17,1772, "Jan. 1,1777. Don Bernardo Galvez " Jan. i, 1777, *' , 1785. Don EsTEVAN MiRO " ,1785, "Dec. 30,1791. Don Francisco Luis Hec- tor, Marquis de Caron- delet " Dec. 30,1791, "July 26,1797. Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos " July 26,1797," ,1799. Marquis de Casa Calvo, ad interim " , 1799, " , 1601. Don Juan Manuel Salcedo " June . ., 1801, " Nov. 30, 1803. 14 TABLE OF COhrTENTS. SPANISH LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS OF UPPER LOUISIANA. (Resident at St. Louis.) Don Pedro Piernas From Nov. 29, 1770, to , 1775 Francisco Cruzat " , 1775, " Don Ferdinando Leyba. . . . " ,1778, " Francisco Cruzat " , 1780, " Don Manuel Perez " 1788. " Zenon Trudeau. " , 1793, " Carlos DeLassus '' , 1798, " Mar. 9 1778 1780 1788 1793 1798 1804 THE AMERICAN GOVERNOR OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. William Charles Cole Claiborne From Dec. 20. 1803, to Oct. i. 1804. /( /<^c ^ ir ( ? f ^ THE STORY OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. CHAPTER I. The Louisiana Purchase. What is known in American history as the Louisiana Purchase is a region of vast extent. Its boundaries were long unknown. By the terms of the treaty of Paris, in 1763, the middle of the Mississippi was made the dividing- line between the British and Spanish possessions down to where the thirty-first degree of north latitude crosses the river — that is, to the northern boundary of what was then West Florida. This was continued as the dividing line between the United States and the Spanish possessions west of the Mississippi by the treaty of 1783, and con- firmed by that of San Lorenzo between Spain and the United States in 1795. When Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, the third article of the treaty of St. Ildefonso, concluded October t. 1800, declared that Spain ceded Louisiana to France, 16 THE STORY OF THE 'Vith the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it." Nor were bounds more definitely expressed in the treaty conckided between France and the United States, April 30, 1803. It was then declared that "the French Republic cedes to the United States the Province of Louisiana, with the same extent as it had when France possessed it before and when in the hands of Spain." During the negotiation of this treaty, Robert R. Livingston, one of the American minis- ters spoke of the indefinite boundaries of the Province, and Napoleon remarked that "if an obscurity did not al- ready exist, it would, perhaps, be good policy to put one there." Indeed, after the title to the Louisiana Purchase had vested in the United States, the authorities knew almost nothing of its boundaries. It Was spoken of in Congress in 1803, as "This new immense, unbounded world." On the 8th of March, 1804, a resolution of that body declared that "It is believed, besides the tracts on the east side of the Mississippi, to include all the country which lies to the westward between that river and the mountains that stretch from the North to the South, and divide the waters running into the Atlantic from those which empty into the Pacific Ocean ; and beyond that chain between the terri- tories of Great Britain on the one side, and of Spain on LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 17 the other side to the South Sea" — the Pacific Ocean. Thus early were the States of Idaho, Oregon and Wash- ington claimed by Congress as a part of the Louisiana Purchase. Some of the members of Congress who were opposed to the ratification of the treaty attacked it because of the vagueness of boundary. John Randolph admitted all that these opponents claimed, and replied that this subject of boundary was one to be discussed and settled with Spain in after years. In this he was correct, for the western boundar}' of tlie Louisiana Purchase was not defined until done by the terms of the treaty between the United States and Spain, concluded February 22, 1819, when the boun- dary between the two nations, on the west side of the Mis- sissippi, was defined as follows: ''Beginning on the (julf of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine, in the sea, and continuing north along the western Ijank of that river to the 32d degree of latitude ; thence by a line due north to the degree of latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or Red River; thence following the course of the Rio Roxo westvv'ard to the degree of longitude 100 west from London, and 23 west from Washington ; thence crossing the said Red River, and running thence by a line due north to the River Arkansas ; thence following the course of the southern 18 THE STORY OF THE bank of the Arkansas to its source; thence a Hne due north to the 420! parallel north ; and thence by that par- allel of latitude to the South Sea." Thus bv this treaty tiie United States ceded and renounced all claim to terri- tory west and south of this line ; and Spain forever yielded all claim and rights to territory east and north of it. Thus was definitely fixed the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase, sixteen years after its cession by France. We have said that the Louisiana Purchase is a region of vast extent, and such it is. From it have been formed all of the States of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and seven-eighths of Kansas, one-third of Colorado, two- thirds of Minnesota, two-thirds of Wyoming, all of the Indian Territory, and five-sixths of Oklahoma. If a Hne be drawn from the Falls of St. Anthony to the source of the Missouri, it will measure one thousand miles ; drawn from the same point to Pike's Peak, its length will be eight hundred miles ; one extended from the Lake of the Woods to the mouth of the Mississippi will measure thirteen hundred miles, or, if the meanderings of that river be followed, twenty-five hundred miles. ^ The total area of the Louisiana Purchase is eight hun- I L^ v\ ^ dred and eighty-four thousand, five hundred and forty- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 19 square miles — in round numbers, about nine hundred thousand.* Thus it is seen that it is one-eighth of the whole of North America ; nearly a third of the whole continental area of the United States ; nearly three times as large as the Thirteen Original States of the American Union ; more than three times as large as Texas ; more than thirteen times as large as all New England ; twenty -one times as large as Virginia; and one hundred and eight times as large as Massachusetts. It is nearly three-fourths as large as China ; nearly one-fourth as large as Europe ; and one-fifth larger than Mexico. When *A hundred years ago it was asserted that the Louisiana Purchase in- cluded all of the region lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, and in addition thereto, the present states of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. Congress, in 1S04, expressed its belief in this; Lewis and Clark exploring it in 1804-5-6 did not stop at the Rocky Mountains but went on to the Pacific Ocean, and, by the United States census of 1810, its a-rea was esti- mated at 1,115,335 square miles, which evidently included the three states named. Many maps have been issued — some of them by the American Gov ernment — showing its western boundary north of California to be the Pacific Ocean; whilst others — some of them published under the authority of the Government — have fixed its limits in that direction at the Rocky Mountains. But ever since 1819 the line fixed by the treaty with Spain in that year has been recognized as the boundary from the mouth of the Sabine River north- ward to the forty-second degree of latitude, while that further to the north- ward was long in doubt. In more recent years, however, the crest of the main range of the Rocky Mountains, extending from the forty-second degree northwesterly and crossing the northern boundary of Montana about ninety miles east of its northwest corner, has been and is now regarded as the northwestern limit of the Louisiana Purchase. This excludes the three states named above and the Purchase may be bounded thus: On the east by the Mississippi and a line drawn from its source to the Lake of the Woods; on the north by British America; on the west by the line fi.xed by the treaty with Spain in 1819 and the Rocky Mountains; on the south and southwest by Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Within these bounds is an area of about 900,000 square miles, as stated in the text. 20 THE STORY OF THE its population has become as dense as that of Massachu- setts, it will contain more than three hundred millions of people within its borders. Throughout this wide expanse there once dwelt a peo- ple now extinct, and who have left but few traces of their existence. These consist of mounds which dot the land- scape, and implements, weapons, and ornaments, scattered over the surface, or dug from the sands and gravel beds of the rivers. However interesting they may be to the antiquarian and the student of ethnography, they have no place in history, for neither in blood, manners, speech, nor laws, have these people left a mark in all the land in which they lived. Over this same region in all its parts, white men found Indian nations roaming everywhere, but claiming no property in land, and existing in all stages of savage and barbarian life, from that of the Digger Indians of the Columbia River, to that of the Sun Worshippers on the banks of the Mississippi. They, too, have but slight connection with our subject, which deals rather with the discovery, exploration, and settlement of the re- gion by white men, and with the changes of sovereignty of different nations over it. These with an account of th.e planting of civilization, and the founding of States within its borders furnish the material for The Story of the Louisiana Purchase. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 21 CHAPTER 11. Early Spaniards in the Louisiana Purchase. In the year 1492, Columbus, the great Genoese navi- gator, made known to Europe the existence of a New World, and thus prepared the way for two centuries of the most active prosecution of voyage and adventure in the whole history of the human race. Immediately after the announcement of the discovery, all the nations from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia engaged in trans- Atlan- tic exploration. North America was partitioned among three of them — Spain, England and France. The former occupied the southern part ; England, the middle portion ; while France took possession of the region lying along the St. Lawrence, and around the Great Lakes. Spain hastened to profit by the finding of a New World, and encouraged her navigators and merchants to engage in exploring and colonizing her vast possessions beyond the Atlantic. This they did. Ponce de Leon sought for gold and a fountain of perpetual youth on the shorelands of Florida. Nunz de Balboa, from an em- inence on the Isthmus of Darien, discovered the Pacific Ocean. Hernando Cortez landed on the coast of Tobasco 22 THE STORY OP THE in 1 5 19, and in three years conquered the Mexican Em- pire, reduced its people to vassalage, and changed the name of the country to that of New Spain. Francisco Pizarro built a ship on the west side of Darien, and in 1524 despoiled the Empire of Peru. In 1527, Pamphilo de Narvaez sailed from Spain with three hundred men and fifty horses, for the purpose of exploring the region between Florida and the Rio Grande. His vessels, three in number, arrived at Apalachee Bay the next year, where the army was landed. One of the vessels returned to Cuba for supplies, and the others, hav- ing unloaded their cargoes, sailed away to the westward and were never afterward heard of. Then the men began the march to the Rio Grande. There was great suiTfering ; the horses were killed and eaten ; then the spurs and stir- rups were forged into nails ; five small boats were con- structed on which the troops embarked ; two of these were lost at the mouth of the Mississippi, and the others dashed to pieces on the coast of Texas, where all on board perished, except Cabeza de Vaca, and four com- panions, one of whom was Estevan — Stephen — a negro, the first of his race that ever trod the soil of the south- western part of the United States. These survivors journeyed over Texas, ascended the Rio Grande to its source, and thence traversed the vast LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 23 extent of country to the westward, and, in 1536, after years of wandering and untold suffering, arrived at Sina- loa, on the Gulf of California. From here they proceeded to the City of Mexico, where they informed Mendoza, the Governor-General of New Spain, that in their wanderings they had learned of the existence of rich countries, in which were "populous towns and very large houses," away to the northward. Mendoza had himself heard of the "Seven Cities of Cybola," said to be far away in that direction, and Francisco de Coronado, the Captain-Gen- eral of New Galicia, the northwestern province of New Spain, was called to the city and given command of an army of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred natives, with which to go in search of these cities. This force assembled at Compostella, near the Pacific coast of Mexico, early in 1539, and marched to Culiacan. Hernando Alarcon transported the supplies in two ships to the head of the gulf of California. The army left Culi- acan on the 7th of March, and on the 26th of August ar- rived at the mouth of the Colorado River. Here Coro- nado failed to find Alarcon, who had gone a hundred miles up that stream, and, without his supplies, he began his march to the eastward across Arizona. The spring of 1 541 found the army encamped near the source of the Rio Grande, and Coronado had learned that the fabled cities 21 THE STORY OF THE of Cibola were but the communal villages of stone and mud inhabited by the Zuni Indians of Arizona and New Mex- ico — the Pueblas of a later day. But he was told that Ouiaviri, an opulent city, stood on a great plain away to the north.east, and he began his march in that direction in search of it. Onward the army proceeded over mountains and across prairies of vast extent into tlie Louisiana Pur- cliase, where the far-famed city proved to be but a large Indian town near tlie site of the present city of Wichita, in Kansas. "Here," says Coronado, "the army marched across mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth and weari- some, and bare of wood. All that way the plains are as full of crooked-backed oxen as the mountain Serena, in Spain, is of sheep." Such is the first description of the prairies of the Louisiana Purchase. None can identify the line of march of Coronado. It is believed that he visited eastern Colorado, and he probably reached the Mis- souri River, between the sites of the present Kansas City and Council Bluffs. These first European adventurers in the Louisiana Purchase returned to New Spain, and thus ended in failure one of the most important enterprises ever undertaken in the unexplored solitudes of inland America. By a singular coincidence, another Spanish army was wandering over the wilds of the southern part of the con- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 25 liiient, and penetrated the Louisiana Purchase at the same time that Coronado was on the plains of Kansas. On the 31st day of May, 1539, ^^^^ ^^^^ o^ eleven ships of Her- nando de Soto cast anchor in the Bay of Santo Espiritu, on the west coast of Florida. That clay there were landed eight hundred infantry, and three hundred and fifty cav- alry. The former were composed of armed knights ; the latter of the best lancers of Spain. The commander had been a captain in the army of Pizarro in his conquest of Peru. Many men had sold their estates to engage in an enterprise which, in its results, promised to eclipse the conquest of Mexico. Among them were many of the first captains of Spain, the foremost of whom was Muscoso de Alvarado, who ranked next to De Soto himself. To the historian Garcillasco, one of the most scholarly men of his time, we are indebted for the account of the expedition. Now began the march into the wilderness, which has no parallel in the history of adventure in America. Beneath the dark shades of the southern forest the splendid pageant moved on, cheered by martial music and Castilian songs. These steel-clad warriors pressed their way through the marshes of the lowlands of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Alississippi. Winter and summer were one to them. On the banks of the Alabama, a short distance below Selma, they fought the battle of Mavilla with the 26 THE STORY OF THE Chickasaw Indians, in which the latter were defeated with great slaughter, but not until the Spaniards had eighteen men killed and one hundred and forty wounded. The winter of 1540 was spent in a deserted village of the Chickasaw Indians in northern Mississippi, and early in April the march was resumed and continued until the first day of May, 1541, when the adventurers halted on the banks of the Mississippi River. The "Father of Waters" lay spread out before them, and they were the first Europeans that ever looked upon it. De Soto and his companions stood for a time entranced, and then gaz- ing across the mighty river, they beheld the shoreland of the Louisiana Purchase, which the imagination now painted as a land where was to be found vast treasures of gold and silver and precious stones, all ready to be gath- ered by the hands of the first adventurers who should reach its borders and penetrate its wild retreats. Barges were speedily constructed, and the army crossed to the western bank, a landing being effected not far from where Helena, Arkansas, now stands. The exact route of De Soto's army, like that of Coro- nado's west of the Mississippi — then a primeval solitude — cannot be determined with any degree of certainty ; but if it could be traced in detail it would not serve any good purpose to follow it through the then trackless region, a. D. (J) CO C/} CO UJ I I- u. o (f) < CQ LiJ X H Z o >- tr < b H O CO HI Q (26) LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 27 across plains and over mountains, through tangled hrakc and brier. For more than a year the army moved aim- lessly about. It was probably at the mouth of the Arkan- sas ; then up the Mississippi as far as New Madrid ; then westward over the Ozark mountains to the plain beyond, where it spent the winter of 1541, in western Missouri. Then it wandered into western Arkansas among the Bos- ton mountains, and thence to the valleys of the White, the Arkansas, and the Red Rivers, down the last of which it followed to its confluence with the Mississippi, now in the State of Louisiana. Here, on the first day of May, De Soto died of fever caused by exposure and fatigue. His dying words were: "Spain expects a richer harvest of glory and more ample domains for her children." True it is that — **The path of glory leads but to the grave." His body was placed in an oaken trunk, and at midnight his companions rowed it out upon the stream and sunk it beneath the turbid waters of the mighty river which he himself had discovered. The survivors, now numbering but little more than three hundred, chose Alvarado as their leader, and began the journey across Texas to ^Mexico. But when they reached the Rio Grande, they beheld the towering moun- tains beyond, and returned to the mouth of the Red River. 28 THE STORY OF THE There they constructed several small boats, and descend- ing the Mississippi, followed by a thousand hostile war- riors in canoes, reached its mouth on the i8th of June, 1543. From here they coasted around the gulf to the westward, and fifty days thereafter reached the mouth of the Little Panuco River in Mexico, whence they made their way to the capital of that country, and from there some returned to Spain. From the day that the little brigantines of the sur- vivors of De Soto's army left the mouth of the Mississippi River, no other vessels save the Indian canoes plowed its waters again for more than a hundred and thirty years. Even the very existence of the river was forgotten save in Spanish chronicle and vague tradition. The curtain of oblivion was, as it were, again stretched from sky to sea, and the great Mississippi Valley lay hidden in its shadows. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 29 CHAPTER III. Exploration and Settlement of New France — First Attempt to Colonize the Louisiana Purchase. It has been stated that in the occupation and settlement of North America, France took possession of the region along the St. Lawrence and around the Great Lakes. In the year 1624, John De Verazzano, sailing under the flag of that country, crossed the Atlantic, reached Cape Fear, North Carolina ; sailed northward along the coast of New- foundland, claimed the country north of the English pos- sessions for his king, bestowed upon it the name of Fran- cesca, and then returned to France, reaching Dieppe in July of the following year. Ten years thereafter, James Cartier, having a commis- sion from Francis I., King of France, sailed for America ; discovered the Strait of Belle Isle; entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and then proceeded up the river of that name as far as Hochelaga, now Montreal, where he took formal possession of the countrv in the name of his kino-, calling it New France. Here he spent the winter, and in the spring of 1536, began the homeward voyage. Francis la Roche and others continued to visit these northern seas. 30 THE STORY OF THE and in 1579, there were one hundred and fifty French vessels engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries. In 1603, Henry IV., the French King, made Samuel Champlain Lieutenant-General of New France, and the next year, De Monts founded Port Royal in Acadia, now Nova Scotia. Henceforth there was great activity in the French colony. Champlain explored the islands and coast north of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and then, sailing up the river of that name, founded Quebec in 1608. Here he joined the Huron Indians in a war against the Five Na- tions, and, while thus eng-aged, discovered the lake which bears his name. In 161 3, a French settlement was made at St. Xavier, on Mount Desert Island, and the next year Le Caron went from Quebec and penetrated the country of the Mohawks southwest of Lake Ontario. In 1620, Champlain laid the foundation of Fort St. Louis, at Que- bec, a fortification to be known in later years as the Gib- raltar of America. The boundless region to the west of the St. Lawrence lay all unexplored, but, in 1659, ^wo fur traders spent the winter on the shores of Lake Superior, and the next spring, arrived at Quebec with sixty canoes laden with furs, and rowed by three hundred Algonquin warriors. These told the story of Indian population in that distant country, and Rene Mesnard, an aged missionary, was LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 31 selected to establish a mission thereon as a place of assem- bly for the Indians of the surrounding nations. On the 15th of October, 1661, he reached the straits of Kewee- naw Bay, in northern Michigan, where he called his sta- tion St. Theresa. There he remained nearly a year, and then departed for the Apostle's Islands, but while on his journey, was lost on Keweenaw peninsula, and never seen again. He. w^as followed in the mission work of the wilderness by Claude Allouez, who embarked at Quebec in 1665, and on the first of October, arrived at La Pointe, the great village of the Chippewas, on the Bay of Che- goi-rnei-gon, in Michigan. Here he met deputations of ten or twelve of the neighboring nations assembled in council to concert means against their common enemy, the Sioux. Allouez secured an audience, and in the name of his sovereign, Louis XIV., offered them peace and alliance with France. This was joyfully received, and the mission station of the Holy Spirit was there founded. Here Allouez remained two years, and then returned to Quebec. His successor was James Marquette, a name ever to be prominent in the history of the Mississippi Valley. Marquette was joined by Claude Dablon, another mis- sionary, and in 1668, they established the first permanent settlement in Michigan at the Falls of St. Mary — Sault 32 THE STORY OF THE Ste. Marie. An Indian congress was held here, and nearly all of the nations of the lake region were placed under the protection of Louis XIV. Marquette gathered the remnant at Point St. Ignace, north of Mackinaw Strait, where a post was long maintained as the key to the West. Thus was the whole lake region made known to France, and M. Talon, the Viceroy of New France, sent Nicholas Perrot, in 1671, with a military force to propose a congress of Indians at Sault Ste. Marie the following spring. Here, at the appointed time, many chiefs and warriors assembled, and Sieur St. Lusson, the repre- sentative of France, was charged to take possession of all the country to the westward, and to receive the Indians under the protection of the French king. Thus was an alliance formed between the barbarous nations of the American wilderness on the one side, and France on the other, which continued for nearl\- a hundred years. The same year, Dablon and Allouez explored the country west of Lake Michigan, that is, what is now western Michigan and northern Illinois. As early as 1666, Indians from the far west visited Quebec, and told the story of a mighty river beyond the Great Lakes. This aroused an interest in that of which the very existence had long been but a vague tradition. Some thought that, if there be such a river, it flowed LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 33 away into the north Pacific Ocean, then called the "South Sea," and that it would open trade with China; others believed that it found its way into the Gulf of California, and would thus form a means of communication with New Spain; and still others insisted that it poured its mighty flood into the Gulf of Mexico, and that its ex- ploration would give to France the possession of the whole interior of the continent of North America. The authorities at Quebec determined to know the whole truth. Count Frontenac arrived as Governor of New France, in 1672, and M. Talon, the late Intendant, recom- mended to him Louis Joliet, a native of Canada, and a resident of Quebec, as a suitable person to entrust with the exploration, and he was selected for the enterprise. James Marquette, the missionary, had come to New France in 1666, since which time he had been engaged in mission work among the Indians, and was at this time pastor of the church of St. Ignace at Mackinaw Strait, where, on the 8th of December, 1672, Joliet arrived, hav- ing orders to take Marquette with him as a companion on his expedition. At this place the remainder of the winter was spent, and on the 17th of May ensuing, the two set out, with their attendants, on the voyage to Green Bay. From its shore they ascended the Fox River until, on the loth of June, they reached its source. Then, lift- 34 THE STORY OF THE ing their light canoes on their shoulders, they carried them across the narrow portage which separates the waters of the Fox River from the Wisconsin. "From here the guides returned," writes Marquette, ''leaving us alone in this unknown land." Embarking on the broad Wisconsin, with the wide bosom of its blue waters spread out before them, they rowed down the stream until, on the 17th day of June, 1673, they "entered happily on the great river with a joy that could not be expressed." Europeans had found the Mississippi again. A hundred and thirty years had come and gone since white men had beheld it, and they were the first Frenchmen who ever saw it. Now they began its descent, and the dipping of their oars kept time with the measured cadence of their songs. They went on shore near the site of the present city of Davenport, where they were the first white men in lovv'a, and the first Frenchmen ever within the Louisi- ana Purchase. On the 25th of June, when further down the river, they saw footprints of men on the western shore. Landing, they followed these for six miles into the interior, where they came to an Indian town, and were hospitably entertained. Embarking again, they continued their journey until they reached the Indian town of Qua- paw, at the mouth of the Arkansas River. Here they learned, beyond a doubt, that the Mississippi flows into LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 35 the Gulf of Mexico. On the 17th of July they began the return voyage by way of the Illinois River and Lake Michigan to Mackinaw, where both remained during the winter. Then Marquette resumed his missionary labors, and, early in the spring of 1674, Joliet proceeded to Quebec, where his report of the exploration and discov- ery of the Mississippi produced great joy, and the bells of the cathedral were rung from morning till night in cele- bration of the event. Now the bounds of New France might be extended to the Gulf of Mexico. The greatest explorer of the Mississippi Valley was now in New France, but, as yet, unknown. This was Robert Cavalier de la Salle, who came from France to Quebec in 1666, when but twenty-three years of age. He settled at La Chine, near Montreal, and from here, in 1669, set out on a tour of western exploration to find the Ohio River, the existence of which he had learned from the missionary Dollier de Casson. He traveled with two missionaries bound for the western lakes until he came to Presque Isle on the southern shore of Lake Erie, where, leaving them, he, with several companions, crossed the highlands to the Allegheny River, and then descended the Ohio as far as the falls — now Louisville, Kentucky. He returned to Quebec, and the next year made a tour of the Great Lakes, and visited the site of the present city 36 THE STORY OF THE of Chicago. Patronized by the Governor, he built Fort Frontenac, where Kingston, Ontario, now stands, and was there ni command until 1677. He had proposed to explore the Mississippi to its mouth, and Frontenac sent him to France, where he explained to Colbert, the Minis- ter of Marine, the boundless resources of the Mississippi Valley, and the advantages that France would derive from its exploration and settlement. This he asked per- mission to undertake. Not only did he obtain that con- cession, but, with other privileges, he was granted a monopoly of the fur trade for a series of years. A ship laden with supplies for his use sailed from Rochelle, June 14, 1678, and cast anchor at Quebec, on the I5tli of the ensuing September. La Salle brought with him as his lieutenant the Cavalier de Tonti, whose name was to be coupled, henceforth, with that of his own in the dramas and tragedies of the wilderness. The expedition was fitted out at Fort Frontenac, passed over Lake Ontario, ascended the Niagara above the Great Falls, and at Tona- wanda creek, on the upper course of that river, built the ''Griffin," a vessel of forty tons, so named from the coat- of-arms of Count Frontenac. She was launched and be- gan the voyage with forty men on board, among them Tonti and Louis Hennepin. This was the first vessel built by white men that ever plowed the blue waters of LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 37 the Great Lakes. Over Lake Erie, through Detroit Strait, across Lake St. Clair, to which La Salle gave its name, and on across Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, the voy- age was continued to Green Bay. Here the "Griffin" was freighted with the choicest furs, and sent back to Quebec. From that day to this, none know her fate, for it is still a secret of these inland seas. La Salle remained at Green Bay some time, aw^aiting the return of his vessel that was never to come. Then he proceeded to the southern end of Lake Michigan, w^here, on the bank of the St. Joseph's River, he built Fort Miami and passing over to the Illinois River, erected on its shore, a short distance below where Peoria now stands, a small fortification which he called Fort Creve Coeur. That part of the Mississippi above the mouth of the Wis- consin was, as yet, unexplored, and La Salle now sent Louis Hennepin to find the source of that river. With two men, one of whom was M. Du Gay, he proceeded down the Illinois in a canoe, and reached its mouth on the 29th of February, 1680. From here the voyage up the Mississippi was begun and continued to the Falls of St. Anthony, so called by Hennepin, and when a short dis- tance beyond, on the nth of April, they w^ere taken pris- oners by the Sioux Indians, who held them in captivity for eight months. Then, through the intercessions of a 38 THE STORY OF THE Frenchman — du Lhut — they were liberated, and returned by way of the Wisconsin and Fox Rivers to Mackinaw. There Hennepin spent the winter, and then proceeded to Quebec, where he arrived April 6, 1682. Meanwhile, La Salle left Tonti in command of Fort Creve Coeur and visited Quebec, where he speedily ad- justed some business matters, and then hastened back to the Illinois. There he found the fort demolished — the work of the Five Nations — and the garrison gone, he knew not where. Again, he set out for Quebec, and on reaching Mackinaw, was overjoyed at meeting with the faithful Tonti, who told him the story of wreck and ruin on the Illinois. The two proceeded to Quebec. The Mississippi had now been traversed from the Falls of St. Anthony to the mouth of the Arkansas, and La Salle resolved to explore its lower course to the Gulf of Mexico. Friends aided him to fit out the expedition for that purpose. With Tonti, Zenobe Membre, thirty Frenchmen and a band of faithful Indians, he left Quebec late in the summer of 1681, and, on the 3d of November, all were at Fort Miami. From here, Tonti and others passed around the southern end of Lake Michigan to the mouth of the Chicago River, and crossed the portage to the Illinois, while La Salle, with the remainder of the party proceeded by way of the Kankakee River, and all LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 39 were united at Fort Creve Cceur, on the 4th of January, 1682. From here the voyage began, and, on the 6th of February, the canoes from the mouth of the lUinois, shot out into the floating ice of the Mississippi, then known at Quebec as the Colbert River. The mouth of the Missouri was passed, and on the Chickasaw Bluffs, where Memphis now stands, a little stockade was erected and named Fort Prudhomme, for a man who was here lost in the forest, but afterwards returned. A stop was made at the mouth of the Arkansas, and a monument of possession was reared. Onward floated the canoes over the broad reaches of the "Father of Waters," and another monument was placed on the bluff where Natchez now stands. On the 6th of April, they came to where the river spreads out into three channels. Dautfay led a party down the South Pass; Tonti and Membre, with others, descended the middle one; while La Salle conducted the remainder of the party down the western channel. Briny waters sprayed the canoes, and soon the Gulf of Mexico — the American Mediterranean Sea— lay spread out before them. All were reunited, and on the shoreland, just within one of the outlets, the usual ceremonies were per- formed. The notary drew up a record of the proceedings, a cross Vv^as planted, the escutcheon of France was nailed 40 THE STORY OF THE to a tree near by, a leaden plate, bearing inscriptions as- serting possession, was buried, and then La Salle took solemn possession of all the vast region stretching away from the Rocky Mountains to the Alleghanies — the water- shed of the Mississippi — in the name of his king, and that day — the 9th of April, 1682 — a wide domain passed into history as Louisiana. To the mighty river he gave the name of St. Louis. Then all returned to the Illinois, whence La Salle dispatched Zenobe Membre to France with an account of the expedition and its results. He and Tonti with their companions now built Fort St. Louis, in which he matured his plans for the colonization of the Mississippi Valley ; chief of these was the founding of a permanent settlement at the mouth of the great river. Early in the spring of 1683 he went to Quebec, and soon after sailed for France. The Marquis de Seignelay, son of Colbert, whom he had succeeded as Minister of Marine, now became the patron of La Salle, who was made Commandant of Lou- isiana. An expedition was fitted out at the expense of the government to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, within the bounds of the Louisiana Purchase. L: consisted of a squadron of four vessels — the flag-ship '7oli," the frigate "Aimable," the brig "La Belle," and the '*St. Francis," a ketch, all under the command of STATUE OF LA SALLE, LINCOLN PARK. CHICAGO. (40) LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 41 Beaujeau, a captain of the navy. Two hundred and eighty persons went on board, one hundred of whom were soldiers under Joutel, a brother of La Salle. Of the others there were twelve families — men, women and children — five clergymen, and a number of mechanics. The sails were spread and the voyage began from Ro- chelle on the 4th of July, 1684. The '']oY\' reached San Domingo first, the ''Aimable" and "La Belle" came in together, but the ''St. Francis" never arrived, she having been taken by Spanish privateers. From here Beaujeau sailed for the mouth of the Mississippi, but by mistake missed it, and in January, 1685, cast anchor in Matagorda Bay on the coast of Texas, a hundred leagues west of his destination. Here the ''Aimable," having on board the greater part of the supplies, was wrecked on the sandbars. Then the colonists went on shore, and, on the bank of the little Lavaca River, built a frail structure which they called Fort St. Louis. Beaujeau sailed for France in the "Joh," on the 15th of March, and the ''Belle" alone was left. Soon after, her captain was killed in the forest, and then she was driven on shore by a storm and filled with water. La Salle made a fruitless canoe voyage in search of the mouth of the Mississippi, then endeavored to find the mines in New Spain, but failed in this. With several soldiers he attempted to reach the Illinois country, but again all, disheartened, returned to the shores of the bay. 42 THE STORY OF THE Meanwhile, Tonti, on the Ilhnois, having learned from Canada that the expedition had sailed from France, descended the Alississippi to meet his chief at its mouth. In this he was doomed to disappointment. He found that the tree, on which La Salle had placed the arms of France two years before, had blown down, and, despairing of finding the colony, he planted another cross, replaced the arms on another tree, twenty miles from the mouth of the river, and then, having written a letter bearing date April 20, 1685, which he left with the Indians, to be given La Salle if he ever came, he ascended the river and made his way back to the Illinois country. Now there was sickness, starvation and death in the colony ; the living were unable to bury the dead. A des- perate effort was made to reach Canada and bring aid therefrom. La Salle, with sixteen others, set out on the journey. Misfortune produced dissension. The leader was blamed for all their griefs and sufferings, and, on the loth of March, 1687, when on a branch of the Trinity River, in Texas, Du Haut and L'Archeve, prompted by the mutinous spirit that possessed them, concealed them- selves in the high grass, and shot and killed La Salle and his nephew. The assassins were then killed in a fight over the spoils; six of the party joined the Indians, but Joutel and the others made their way to the fort on the Illinois, LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 43 which they reached September 4, 1687. From here they journeyed to Quebec, whence they soon after sailed for France. Thus failed the first effort of France to found a colony in the Mississippi Valley. As Tonti and his party were returning from the mouth of the Mississippi, whither he had gone to meet La Salle, they ascended the Arkansas River, fifty miles to a village of the Ouapaw Indians. "Some of his people,'' says Du Pratz, "insisted they might be allowed to settle there, which was agreed to, he leaving ten of them at that place, and this small cantonment maintained its ground, not only because from time to time increased by some Canadians who came down the river, but, above all, because those who formed it, had the prudent precaution to live in peace with the natives." Such was the founding of Arkansas Post, in 1686, the first European settlement within the Louisi- ana Purchase. New France was now divided into two vast regions called Canada and Louisiana, to the latter of which be- longed the Illinois Country south and west of Lake Michi- gan. As no bounds were ever fixed, these divisions were spoken of in general way only. But France had estab- lished her title to the Louisiana Purchase, basing it on the right of discovery. Her voyagers and explorers had been all along the Mississippi, from the Falls of St. Anthony 44 THE STORY OF THE to the Gulf ; had, at many places, set foot on its western shore; and had made the settlement on the Arkansas. They had named the Mississippi the St. Louis ; the Mis- souri, the St. Philip; the Wabash, the St. Jerome; the Illinois, the Seignelay ; the Ohio, ''La Belle;" the Min- nesota, the St. Peter's ; while Lake Ontario was Lac Frontenac ; L>ake Huron was Lac Tracy ; Lake Michigan was Lac Orleans ;■ Lake Erie was Lac Conti ; and Green Bay was Paun's Bay. But thirteen years were to pass away before France should make another effort to plant a colony within the borders of the Louisiana Purchase. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 45 CHAPTER IV. First Permanent Settlement of the Mississippi Valley. Among the most prominent families of Canada is that founded by Charles Lemoine at Montreal ; a number of its members spent their lives in the military and naval service of France, where they won titles of distinction. Among these were Pierre Lemoine de Iberville, Jean Bap- tiste Lemoine de Bienville, Antoine Lemoine CI ateaugay, and Antoine Lemoine de Sauvolle, all of whom dis- tinguished themselves in the early history of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1694, Iberville came to Canada with two ships and a small land force with which he ravaged the English set- tlements, and on July 3d of that year, off the coast of Acadia, now Nova Scotia, in the first naval battle of the New World, he attacked three British ships, and captured the Newport of sixty guns. Fog enabled the other two to escape. Thenceforth, he was the naval hero of King Wil- liam's war, and the "idol of his countrymen." Thirteen years had now passed away since Tonti had founded the little cantonment on the Arkansas, and no other settlement had been made in all the Louisiana Pur- 46 THE STORY OF THE chase. But in 1697, Pontchartrain, the French Minister of Marine, sent two ships to explore the Louisiana coast, and gather information regarding it. Iberville was ready to carry out any scheme projected for the colonization of that region, and he obtained a commission fof ''establish- ing direct intercourse between France and the Missis- sippi." Pontchartrain was the patron of the enterprise, and an expedition was fitted out for this purpose. Two frigates, the ''Bodine" and ''Marin" of thirty guns each, and two transports composed the squadron. On board were two hundred persons — men, women, and children — and a company of miners. Bienville, a brother of Iber- ville, served as a midshipman on the "Bodine," and Sau- voile as ensign on the "Marin." The sails were set, and on the 17th of October, 1698, the squadron began the voy- age from the harbor of Brest, and Iberville, having re- ceived orders "to land near the mouth of the Mississippi, and to prevent at all hazards any other nation from land- ing there," steered for San Domingo. Here the two frigates and one of the transports arrived on the 4th of December ensuing, and the other came into port ten days later. The "Francois," a fifty-four gun ship, was added to the squadron as an escort to the American coast, and all sailed from San Domingo on the 31st of December, and on the 23d of January, 1699, arrived in Pensacola LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 47 Bay, in Spanish territory. From here the voyage was continued until, on the 3Tst, the ships entered Mobile Bay, where a large island was named Massacre, because of the great quantity of human bones found on it. Another move was made, and on the loth of February the vessels cast anchor in the roadstead at Ship Island, on the shores of which some huts were erected as a protection to the people who sought rest on shore after a long sea voyage. On the 13th, Iberville, with Bienville and eleven sailors, left the ship and went to explore the shore of the main- land. Eight days later, the "Francois" sailed for San Domingo. On the 27th, Iberville and Bienville went in search of the Mississippi. They paddled along the shore of the gulf past the bluffs of white sand on which stood dense groves of live oaks, water oaks, pines, cedars, and magnolias, until, at last, on the second of March, 1699, ''with two row boats, some bark canoes, and fifty-three men," they entered the mouth of a mighty river, hence- forth destined to be the royal highway of a nation. They proceeded up stream as far as Red River, where the sur- vivors of De Soto's Spanish army lost their leader, a hun- dred and fifty years before. While on this voyage they met some of the Indians from whom they received Tonti's letter, written and left with them fourteen years since, to be given to La Salle if he should ever come. From its con- 48 THE STORY OP THE tents they knew of a certainty that they were in the Mis- sissippi. On the return voyage, Bienville proceeded by way of the mouth of that river, while Iberville entered the river which has since borne his name, and pursued his way through lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, which later received their names in honor of the Minister of Marine and his son, and passed to the outer sea. Both brothers returned to their ships the same day. A landing was now effected, and a site selected for a settlement. This was on the sandy shore of the little Biloxi Bay, near Ocean Springs, now in Harrison County, Mississippi, the boundary between French Louisiana and Spanish Florida not having been determined. There they erected Fort Maurepas, the walls of wood being eighteen inches thick and nine feet high, and on which were mounted fifty cannon. Seventy men and six boys were landed as a garrison. SauvoUe was installed as com- mandant, Bienville as the king's lieutenant, and de Bor- dinac, as chaplain. Then the colonists built their cabins around the walls of the fort. On the 3d of May, Iberville, with two frigates sailed for France, accompanied by one of the transports which went as far as San Domingo for supplies. In August, Bienville left Fort Maurepas at Biloxi, with several men and two perogues to explore the lower Mis- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 49 sissippi. Entering its mouth, he proceeded up the stream nearly four hundred miles. He went on shore where Natchez now stands, and was so pleased with the beauty of the place, that he resolved to visit it again. As the perogues were being rowed down the river, they met on the i6th of September, an English ship of sixteen guns. It was commanded by Captain Barr, who informed Bien- ville that a similar vessel was at the mouth of the river, and that they were sent by Dr. Daniel Coxe, of New Jer- sey, at the time proprietor of the grant by Charles I., in 1629, to Sir Robert Heath, for Carolina. The object of the voyage was to sound the passage at the mouth of the Mississippi. Bienville told him, in reply, that he was then within the territory of the French king, who was at that moment engaged in settling the country. There Captain Barr, having learned this, turned back, and to this day the place, eighteen miles below New Orleans, is known as the "English Turn." This was, doubtless, the first ship that ever entered the Mississippi River, or navigated the waters of the Louisiana Purchase. Louis XIV. did not favor the effort to make a per- manent settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi, and at this time, April 8, 1699, we find the Minister of Marine writing that "the King does not at present intend to form a permanent establishment on the Mississippi, but only to 50 THE STORY OF THE complete the discovery in order to prevent the EngHsli from taking possession there." But Iberville, on his re- turn to France, explained that the settlement was already made, that Fort Maurepas had been built, and a garrison placed therein. Now that the work of colonization was begun, the King resolved to aid it, and did so to the end of his life. Early in January, 1700, Iberville again arrived at Fort Maurepas. He came in the good ship "Renominee," which was laden Vv^ith supplies. He brought with him a commission from the King for Sauvolle, making him Gov- ernor of the Colony. Bienville now reported the recent appearance of the English ships at the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, and Iberville, remembering his instruction not to permit "any other nation to land there," saw that it must be fortified if successfully defended. Accordingly, he with Bienville and several members of the garrison de- parted for tliat purpose. In January, 1700, a fort was built on what is now known as "Poverty Point," fifty-four miles from the mouth of the river, and on its east bank. This was the first structure ever reared by Europeans on the banks of the Mississippi. It was named Fort Balise. Bienville was made commandant here, while Sauvolle con- tinued in that capacity at Fort Maurepas. About tlie first of March, Iberville proceeded up the river to view the site of Natchez, of the beauty of which LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 51 Bienville had informed him. He, too, was delighted with it, and on the high bhiff laid out Le Ville de Rosalie. From there, in April, he sent Sieur Lessueur with a party up the Mississippi in search of copper mines. They pro- ceeded as far as the mouth of the St. Peter's River, now the Minnesota, and spent a fruitless winter among the Iowa Indians, within the present limits of the Louisiana Purchase. Iberville descended the river, and proceeded to the ''Renominee," lying at anchor in the roadstead of Ship Island, in wdiich he sailed for France about the first of May, and was absent more than a year. Meantime, there was sickness and death in the little colony on the lonely and inhospitable Louisiana shore. Half the colonists perished, and w^re buried in the glit- tering sands at Biloxi, or in the spongy soil on the bank of the Mississippi. Among those interred at the former place was Sau voile, who died August 22, 1701. Thus perished the first Governor of Louisiana. When Bien- ville heard of this, he left a subordinate in command on the Mississippi, and hastened to Biloxi, where he assumed the duties of Governor of the Colony. Early in December, 1701, Iberville for the third time reached Fort Maurepas, with two ships of the line, and a brig laden with arms and provisions. He visited the grave of his kinsman, Sauvolle, on the sandy beach, and with 52 THE STORY OF THE Bienville, mourned his death. Then he hastened to the great enterprise with which he was charged — that of making permanent the settlement of the Louisiana Pur- chase. A garrison of tv/eive men was left at Fort Maure- pas, and the seat of the colony was removed to Massacre Island, which then received the name of Dauphine Island. Here Iberville superintended the erection of Fort St. Louis, which, henceforth, for nine years, continued to be the headquarters of the colonial establishment. Early in the spring of 1702, Iberville left the shore of Louisiana never to see it again. In the following year he was made Captain-General of the Colony; but the War of the Spanish Succession, better known in America as Queen Anne's War, was at hand, and he, as the chief naval officer of France, went to sea with a fleet of war vessels, and while lying in the harbor of Havana, pre- paring to ravage the coast of Carolina, died on the 9th of July, 1706. In July, 1703, the government sent out a ship with sup- plies, and having on board seventy-five soldiers — the first regulars sent to the Mississippi Valley. The next year Antoine Lemoine de Chateaugay, another brother of Iber- ville, arrived at Fort St. Louis with a cargo of supplies and seventeen settlers from Canada. Now the French authorities recognized the fact that the stability of the colony would be secured only by the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 53 establishment of family ties. Up to tliis time very few of the colonists had come to Louisiana with the intention of finding a permanent home. Nearly all were adventurers who had left France with the determination to return some time — either when they had accumulated a fortune or had gratified a desire for adventure. The endearment of home and friends are the ties that bind a man to a fixed habitation, and now, if these could be found on this side the Atlantic, then would the adventurers relinquish the fond hope of some time returning to France, and thus the permanency of the colony would be assured. To achieve this end, Louis XIV., in 1704, caused twenty females to be sent over sea to become wives of the colonists. He said to Bienville : "All these girls are industrious, and have received a virtuous and pious education." Then he added that they were to be married only to "such men as are capable of providing them with commodious homes." Such was the compliment paid by the aged King of France to the first European mothers of the Louisiana Purchase. Twenty-five more women, of similar good character, came over in the next year. The year 1705 was a gloomy one. There was pestilence and death, and at one time there were but forty-five able bodied men in the colony. The fort on the Mississippi was abandoned, the garrison retiring to Fort St. Louis. Thus 54 THE STORY OF THE there were then but two settlements — Biloxi and Dau- phine Island — and at the end of the year, so great had been the fatality that there were but one hundred and forty-five people alive in the colony. In the midst of this distress, M. Barrot, the first regularly educated physician in the Louisiana Purchase, arrived at Dauphine Island. He was sent by the King to minister to the waints of the suffering. In 1707, De Muys was appointed to succeed Bienville, but he died at Havana while on his way to the colony, and Bienville remained as Governor of Louisi- ana. Queen Anne's War continued, and this resulted in the neglect of all colonial interests. In 1710, there were but two hundred and forty-nine Europeans in the colony, of whom one hundred and twenty -two were soldiers, and they were the possessors of fifty cows, forty calves, twelve oxen, fourteen hundred hogs, and two thousand hens. Such was the Louisiana Purchase tv/elve years after the founding of the settlement at Biloxi. Bienville now resolved to remove the settlement from Dauphine Island to the mainland, and he selected a site on the west bank of Mobile River at the head of the bay, and there erected Fort St. Louis de Mobile. The removal was made in 171 1, and here was located the capital of Louisiana for the next twelve years. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 55 CHAPTER V. The Louisiana Purchase Granted to Anthony Crozet. In the summer of 17 12 there were in all Louisiana but twenty-eight families — each more wretched than the others — and the total population, including two companies of fifty men each, numbered but four hundred, of whom twenty were negroes. To the astonishment of all, An- thony Crozet petitioned Louis XIV., and obtained the ex- clusive right to trade with that country. He was at this time one of the foremost commercial men of France, and, perhaps, the wealthiest merchant in Europe, having ac- cumulated a vast fortune in the East India trade. He had lent large sums of money to France when in need, and was recognized, in consideration of his worth and in- fluence, by being created Marquis de Chatil. His charter, dated at Versailles, September 12, 171 2, v/as signed at Fontainebleau by Louis XIV., in the seven- tieth year of his reign, and registered at Paris on the 27th ensuing. It included all the lands possessed by France in Louisiana, and ''bounded by Nev/ Mexico on the west ; by the lands of the English of Carolina, on the east ; and from the edge of the sea so far north as the Illinois ; 56 THE STORY OF THE together with all the inhabitants, forts, houses and rivers," including the St. Louis, now the Mississippi; the St. Philip, now the Missouri ; and the St. Jerome, now the Wabash. The region thus granted was a greater empire than France Was ever to be, and the privileges were to continue for a period of fifteen years. By the terms of this charter, the King was to pay ten thousand dollars annually for nine years to assist in de- fraying the expenses of Louisiana, after which time, Crozet was to pay the whole cost of maintaining the colonial system, including the erection of forts and the support of garrisons. All persons were forbidden to trade with Louisiana during its continuance "under pain of con- fiscation of goods and ships.'' Crozet was to receive three-fourths of the proceeds of all mines worked, the King the other fourth ; to own forever all lands which he might put under cultivation, and the buildings which he might erect thereon. He w^as to send two shiploads of colonists and one cargo of negroes annually to the colony, and was to nominate all officers, the same to be appointed by the King. The code of Paris was adopted for the government of the colony, in addition to which was to be added an executive council similar to that of San Do- mingo. Thus were the manners, customs and laws of the French capital made those of the Louisiana Purchase. LOUISIANA PURCHASIl. 57 Two ships with suppHes and settlers, and having on board Crozet's government, arrived in Mobile Bay, May ly, 1 713. Lamothe de Cadillac came as Governor. He was an old Canadian soldier, who, in 1701, with a hundred men from Quebec, built Fort Pontchartrain on the site of the present city of Detroit. With him came Lemoine des Ursins, Crozet's colonial agent. They brought a com- mission for Bienville as Lieutenant-Governor. Cadillac was greatly disappointed with Louisiana which he had been told was a flourishing colony, but which he found on his arrival to be but a "miserable existence." He wrote Crozet saying : 'Tts story is nothing but fables and lies." Then he added: "Believe me, this whole continent is not worth having, and our colonists are so dissatisfied that they are all disposed to run away." The proprietor, in 1714, insisted on a cultivation of the lands and the development of a commerce, and desired that trading stations be established not only along the Mississippi but on the Wabash, Illinois and Missouri rivers. To this, when making reply, Cadillac said : "What! is it expected that for any commercial or profit- able purposes boats will ever be able to row up the Missis- sippi into the Wabash, the Illinois, or the Missouri ? One might as well try to bite a slice off the moon." Little thought the old Governor at that time that two centuries 58 THE STORY OF THE hence these rivers would be the seat of the greatest inland commerce of the world. The chief business of all was to search for mines. They expected that they would grow rich by the discovery of gold, silver and precious stones, and in this pursuit their best energies were wasted. Even Cadillac himself ascended the Mississippi a thousand miles, and traversed the Illinois country in search of silver mines. Population increased, but there were but few negroes, and they were in the vicinity of the fort at Mobile. Crozet now at- tempted to open trade with New Spain. In 171 5, he sent M. de St. Denis on an overland journey to Mexico City to make a treaty of commerce with that country. He arrived there on the 5th of June, and was kindly received by the Duke of Linarez, then Viceroy of New Spain, who promised that such a treaty should be made. But he soon after died, and his successor was opposed to this. Emis- saries were also sent, by Crozet, to Spanish Florida, but failed in their mission because of the exclusive features of his charter by which he obtained a monopoly of the trade of the Louisiana Purchase. Neither could his agents control the Indian trade, some of which went to Canada, and another part to the English in Carolina. Early in the year 17 16, Cadillac sent Bienville to build a fort on the Mississippi. With a small body of troops he hastened away to the site of Natchez, which he had ad- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 59 mired so much, and on which Iberville had laid out a town sixteen years before. Here he reared the walls of Fort Rosalie and, while superintending that work, smoked the calumet of peace with the chiefs of the Natchez na- tion, whose warriors assisted in the construction of the fort. The work was completed on the 3d of August, an^l Bienville, having detailed a garrison from troops with him, returned to Mobile on the 4th of October, 17 16. Prior to this year all communication between Canada and Louisiana had been bv wav of the Wisconsin and Illinois Rivers, but now journeys began to be made along the Wabash and down the Ohio to the Mississippi. There was much discouragement in Louisiana. The rich mines, supposed to exist, had not been found. Agriculture was wholly neglected. Louis XIV., Crozet's best friend, died September i, 171 5, and was succeeded by Louis XV., then but five years of age, with the Duke of Orleans as Regent of France. Cadillac resigned the office of Governor, and on the 9th of March, 1717, De L'Epinay arrived at Mobile as his successor. A few months more satisfied Crozet with his Louisiana experi- ment, and, after having spent hundreds of thousands of francs in the Mississippi wilderness without profit, he sur- rendered his charter on the 23d of August, 1717, when it had been in force four years, eleven months and nine days. 60 THE STORY OF THE CHAPTER VI. The Louisiana Purchase Under the West Indies Company, and the Company of the Indies. The Louisiana Purchase was a wilderness in which the vain search for gold and the trading in furs, rather than the substantial pursuits of agriculture, allured the col- onists to ruin. There the bones of deceased emigrants who had been induced by Iberville and Crozet to seek the Mississippi as their home, still whitened its valleys ; yet, in France, visions of untold wealth existing somewhere along its tributary streams were ever before the people, who thus beheld mines of silver and gold, beds of precious gems, plantations of infinite extent and surpassing beauty, towns and cities, commerce and trade, which were de- sired to replenish an empty treasury and thus save the failing fortunes of a sinking empire. On the 6th day of September, but fourteen days after the Duke of Orleans accepted the charter of Crozet, he granted another to the West India Company, which suc- ceeded to all the franchise's surrendered by the former, with greatly increased privileges. John Law, who or- ganized this company, and who was its director-general, LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 61 was a man of a remarkable career. He was a Scotchman, born in Edinburgh in 1671 ; went to London when twenty years of age ; traveled over Europe ; studied banking and commerce ; accumulated money by speculation, and, in 1716, became a banker in Paris. His maxim was "Wealth depends upon commerce," and his company was given a monopoly of the Canadian trade, and practical sovereignty over the Louisiana Pur- chase. By the terms of its charter, it was granted the exclusive right to the trade of the latter for twenty-five years, and, in addition thereto, possessed extraordinary powers. It could cultivate lands, develop mines, make treaties with the Indians, wage war, levy troops, erect forts, maintain garrisons, grant lands, fit out ships of war, cast cannon, establish courts, and appoint and remove judges. Its capital, fixed at one hundred millions of francs, was divided into two hundred thousand shares of five hundred francs each. France was on the verge of bankruptcy because of the extravagant expenditure of Louis XIV., and the national securities were almost worthless, but, upon the payment of one-fourth in cash, these could now be exchanged for the stock of the com- pany, which was, therefore, in great demand. At the time that Louisiana was first made known, a rumor spread throughout the Old World that all its vast 62 THE STORY OF THE regions were full of mines. These had never been dis- covered ; still a vague report had remained in the minds of the people that this country concealed immense treas- ures. No one could tell the exact spot where these riches might be found, but this uncertainty of itself tended rather to encourage the search for them. Law and his company easily persuaded the French people that these mines, so long spoken of, had at last been found, and they were far richer than they had been supposed to be. To give credence to this, a number of miners were sent to Louisiana to Vv'ork them, and these were accompanied by a body of troops to protect them while thus employed. This was enough. Every man exerted himself to ac- quire the right of partaking of this source of wealth which was believed to be inexhaustible. Li addition to mines, there vv^ere fertile lands, and cultivators of the soil were wanted. The company offered free transportation to all who would go to Louisiana, and there take possession of the lands to be given them. The whole region was be- lieved to be the best in the world. The Mississippi be- came the center of all men's minds, hopes and aspirations. It was the most popular financial scheme that ever flour- ished in France. The people were possessed with a mad frenzy of speculation ; the wealthy sold their estates to enable them to purchase the stock of the company, which LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 63 had risen many hundred per cent, while numbers of those without means went on board ships bound for Louisiana, thinking that in some unknown manner wealth would flow in upon them. In May, 1719, the company received a further concession of the monopoly of the trade of Africa and the East Indies and China^ and took upon it- self the name of the Company of the Indies. It now prac- tically controlled the foreign trade of the kingdom. It increased its capital to six hundred and twenty-four thou- sand shares, and in connection with Law's bank it under- took to pay the national debt of France. Law was pos- sessed of regal powers, for he now occupied the position of the foremost financier of his time. His house was beset from morning till night with applicants for stock. Dukes, marquises and counts, with their wives and daughters, waited for hours in the street before his door, to know the result of their applications, and the crowd became so great that the headquarters were removed to the Hotel de Soissons. But the system was already complete and had begun to decay. It was at its height at the beginning of 1720. The government became alarmed because of the colossal character of the scheme. A panic ensued. Suddenly the dream was dissolved ; the mines vanished ; the transports of joy produced by the possession of wealth gave place to 64 THE STORY OF THE the gloom and silence of misfortune. Many thousands had lost their all, and there was financial ruin on every hand. The enchanted country was now held in execra- tion. Its very name became a reproach. The Mississippi v/as the terror of all men, and no recruits could be found to send there. The l)ank failed : Law fled from Paris, and after wandering over Europe for nine years, died in pov- erty in Venice. His scheme, the greatest of its kind the world has ever known, while it wrecked the fortunes of thousands, gave to trade a mighty impulse, and this was felt in Louisiana. The Company of the Indies was now reduced to a simple commercial corporation, with the busi- ness of which Law had nothing to do. It continued to hold its franchises in Louisiana, and henceforth controlled the affairs of the colony for several years. These we shall now proceed to notice. In 1717, the canton of Illinois was detached from Can- ada, and added to Louisiana, with Dugue de Boisbriant, a cousin of Bienville, as commandant. On the 9th of March of the following year, three of the company's ships — the first sent out — arrived at Mobile Bay. They brought large quantities of supplies, three companies of infantry and sixty-nine settlers. With them came a com- mission for Chateauguy as commandant of the militar}' forces of Louisiana, and one for Bienville, making him LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 65 Governor of the colony. His first act was to send a party to clear the site of the present city of New Orleans. In a few days he followed with the newly arrived colonists, and, in the dense canebrakes laid out the city after the plan of Rochefort, in France, naming it in honor of the Duke of Orleans, ''who denied God and trembled at a star." That day he located a city with twice as much river navigation above it as any other city on the globe. In 17 18, eight hundred persons, sent by the company, arrived in the country, one of whom was Le Page du Pratz, the first historian of the Louisiana Purchase. The three ships bearing them sailed from Rochelle ; the first four days of the voyage were stormy, but fair weather followed. The first land seen was Puerto Rico, and the next, San Domingo, where, at Cape Francois, a landing was effected. Isle Dauphine was reached on the 25th of August, where "all united in singing Tc Dciun because no life had been lost on the voyage." There they were joined, three days later, by Bienville, who came to conduct them to the new town on the Mississippi, where they were to receive their assignment of lands. Of those who came, "some perished for want of enterprise, some for want of food, some from the climate, while others prospered ex- ceedingly." Hardy Canadian emigrants came, who were more successful than those from France, and others ar- 66 THE STORY OF THE rived from over sea, so that in the year 17 18, fifteen hun- dred immigrants reached Louisiana. The company having resolved to profit by the experi- ment of Crozet, encouraged the tillage of lands. In 17 18, it introduced the cultivation of rice and wheat. The for- mer speedily became an important article of culture. Of the latter it was said that, "From the careless mode of cul- tivation, it would, at first, only yield from five to eight fold, running to straw and blade without filling the ear." In 1746, however, the culture was so far extended that six hundred barrels of flour were received at New Orleans, from the Wabash, and in the year 1750, the French of Illinois raised three times as much wheat as they con- sumed, and large quantities of grain and flour were sent to market; in 1797, more than two thousand barrels of flour were received at New Orleans from Upper Louisi- ana. Du Pratz had said that the plains of Louisiana were more valuable than the mines of Mexico, and worth more to trade and navigation than the richest mines of Peru. Large grants of land were made throughout the whole known part of the Louisiana Purchase. To every actual settler, the company gave a suitable piece of land, with seed to plant it, a gun, an ax, a mattock, a cow, a calf, and a cock and six hens. John Law, the founder of the company, received for himself twelve miles square ''near LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 67 Quapaw," an Indian town at the mouth of Arkansas River. Here he proposed to estabHsh a ''Grand Duchy." M. Levins was his trustee. It was to be colonized by Ger- man, Swiss and French emigrants. The proprietor sent over accoutrements for a company of dragoons soon to follow, and spent one and a half millions of francs in pre- paring for improvements ; it would certainly have been a flourishing settlement, had not the troops been stopped, and had not the arms, provisions and merchandise, which he was sending there, been confiscated and sold to satisfy creditors after his failure. His colonists, almost to a man, removed and settled on the west side of the Mississippi above New Orleans. The place has ever since been known as the German Coast. In 1 7 19, eleven ships brought immigrants to Louisiana, and five hundred negroes were imported from the coast of Guinea. At the beginning of this year, ships arrived at New Orleans bringing information of a war between France and Spain, and Bienville resolved to take Pensa- cola. He collected the few regulars, and enlisted as vol- unteers a number of Canadian and French emigrants, just arrived, and with M. de Richebourge as captain, and Chateaugay as the King's lieutenant, he sailed away, anrl Pensacola was taken by surprise. The entire garrison, including the Spanish governor, were made prisoners. 68 THE STORY OF THE These were sent to Havana, according to the terms of sur- render, and Bienville having detailed a garrison for the captured town, returned to New Orleans. Soon after, the Spanish man-of-war, ''Great Devil," sailed to attack the Louisiana settlements. She was met by the French man-of-war, ''St. Philip," Other vessels of both nations came up, and on the 7th of September, a naval battle was fought in Mobile Bay, which resulted in a victory for the French. A treaty of peace between the two nations was concluded the same year, and by its terms the Perdido River was agreed upon as the boundary line between French Louisiana and Spanish Florida. Thus the settle- ments of Biloxi, Dauphine Island, and Mobile were found to be in French territory. This year, too, the company sent two hundred miners to New Orleans. Philip Fran- cois Renault was in charge of them, with the title of Director-General of the Mines of Louisiana. He pur- chased five hundred slaves in San Domingo to work the mines, and with this force reached the Illinois country in 1720, and established his headquarters a few miles above Kaskaskia, on the site of Fort Chartres, where he founded the village of St. Philip's. From there expeditions were sent out far and wide, even to the banks of the Ohio and the valley of the Missouri in the vain search for gold and silver, neither of which was found; but the lead mines of LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 69 Missouri, including those of the St. Francis River, were discovered, opened, and the product smelted and shipped to France. While this search for mines was being made, Bienville sent M. du Tissenet, a French officer, from New Orleans, to explore Upper Louisiana. He ascended the Mississippi and the Missouri to the mouth of the Osage, up which he went two hundred and fifty miles to visit the Indian nation of that name; thence he traversed the prairie one hundred and twenty-five miles to the country of the Pawnees. After remaining there some time he journeyed fifteen days to the westward, where, on one of the upper tributaries of the Kansas River, he found the Padukah nation, from whom he received a welcome recep- tion. Here, on the 27th of September, 17 19, he reared a cross, and placed thereon the arms of France. He prob- ably crossed the trail of Coronado, the Spanish explorer, who traversed this region nearly two centuries before. At the same time, M. de Bourgmont went with a small de- tachment of French troops from Mobile and took posses- sion of an island in the Missouri River just above the mouth of the Osage, on which he built Fort Orleans. The Spaniards in New Mexico watched with jealous eyes the movements of the French in thus taking posses- sion of the Missouri Valley. In 1713, they had, in antici- pation of French occupation in the valley of the Red 70 THE STORY OF THE RiveT, entered it themselves, and founded on its banks the town of Natchitoches, the second permanent settlement made by Europeans within the Louisiana Purchase. Now they undertook a similar movement in the Missouri Val- ley. Early in the year 1720, an expedition was fitted out at Santa P> for the purpose of founding a colony far be- yond the limits to which they had hitherto confined them- selves. The caravans directed their march toward the country of the Osages, whom they wished to induce to take up arms against their inveterate enemies — the Mis- souris — whose territory they had resolved to occupy. The Spaniards missed their course, and came directly to the nation whose ruin they were meditating, and, mistaking them for the Osages, communicated to them their design, without any reserve whatever. The chief of the Missouris who learned by this singular mistake of the danger which threatened his people, told the Spaniards that he would gladly concur in promoting the success of the undertak- ing, and desired only forty-eight hours in which to as- semble his warriors. This he did, and then, while th.' Spaniards slept, massacred every one without regard to age or sex, except the chaplain, who was spared because of the vestments he wore. Thus was prevented the set- tlement of a Spanish colony on the Missouri nearly two centuries ago. This massacre is believed to have occurred near the site of Leavenworth, Kansas. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 71 In the last named year the company huilt Fort Chartres, on the east side of the Mississippi, twelve miles above Kaskaskia, and sixty-four below the mouth of the Mis- souri. Its ramparts of stone, garnished with twenty can- non, scowled across the Mississippi, and the surround- ing country. Its walls were eighteen feet high, with four bastions and fifty-eight loopholes. It was the best con- structed military work in America at that time. There was fixed the seat of government of Upper Louisiana, and there it was to continue for more than forty years. The next year was a busy one. Great wareli^uses were constructed at New Orleans, Biloxi, and Mobile. The company provided that the people might ob- tain all their merchandise and provisions at the last named place, or at Dauphine Island, but, if delivered at New Orleans, five per cent would be added ; at Natchez, ten per cent ; at Yazoo, thirteen per cent ; and if on the Missouri, or in the Illinois country, fifty per cent. One thousand three hundred and sixty-seven negroes were now brought from Africa. Immigrants continued to arrive, and at the close of the year it was shown that the company, since its organization, had dispatched forty- three ships to Louisiana, and that these had brought seven thousand and twenty people to the colony. But of this number, about two thousand had died, deserted, or gone back to France. 72 THE STORY OF THE Early in 1722, the Duke of Orleans appointed three commissioners — Toget, Ferrund and Machinet — who had been nominated by the company, to divide Louisiana into Parishes. This was done, and they were named as fol- lows ; New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, Alibamons, Natchez, Yazoos, Arkansas, and Illinois. Thus was Illinois still retained as a canton of Louisiana. It was then regarded as the "Granary of the Mississippi V^alley." The next year Bienville removed the seat of government to New Orleans, where there were then ''about a hundred very humble houses," and a population of ''between two and three hundred souls." It had been at Biloxi three years, at Dauphine Island nine years, at Mobile twelve years. Now it was permanently fixed at New Orleans. In 1722, when Charlevaux saw the future metropolis of Louisiana, it was a "wild desert place covered with reeds and trees." One of the best men in the colony at this time was de la Chaise, who was the chief commercial agent of the com- pany. His honesty and integrity won not only the confi- dence of the proprietors, but of the people as well. His will was for years supreme, even the executive submitting to it. In the year 1724, a fierce war raged among the Indians of the Missouri Valley. In it the Missouris, Osages, Kan- sas, Padukahs, and other nations were engaged. M. de LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 73 Bourgemont, who was then stationed at Fort Orleans, which, as formerly stated, he had erected on an island in the Missouri River, determined to bring about a peace among these warring nations around him. With a small detachment of French soldiers from his garrison, he set out on the 3d of July of this year, and proceeded directly to the Missouris, with whose chiefs he smoked the pipe of peace. Having augmented his little army, he proceeded to the country of the Osages, where the pipe was again smoked. Several warriors enlisted, and the march was continued to the principal town of the Kansas nation. There he delivered an address upon the evils of the war then raging, and pledged the chiefs to a truce. Many warriors there joined him, and all journeyed to the coun- try of the Padukahs, where he was hospitably received. There gathered the chiefs of the nations now visited, and Bourgemont explained to them that the great French chief was opposed to war, and that it was his will that all should live together in peace like brothers and friends, and if they wanted his love, affection and assistance, they must live thus for the future. His efforts were successful and hostilities ceased. He again smoked with them, and requested them to smoke the pipe with each other. To all he gave presents of red and blue shirts, sabres, gunpowder, balls, musket-flints, 74 THE STORY OF THE gun-screws, mattocks, hatchets, Flemish knives, wood-cutters, clasp-knives, mirrors, combs, scissors, beads, awls, needles, drinking-glasses, brass wire, rings and other articles. Then he explained to them that the French flag — the beautiful fleur-de-lis — was the em- blem of peace and friendship, and if they accepted it, they must study war no more. The chiefs of each nation bore the flag back to their people, and within a few weeks the warriors of each were hunting and fishing to- gether, and regaling themselves in the wigwams of each other. M. Bourgemont returned to Fort Orleans on the 5th of November, after an absence of four months, in which time he had established the rule of France in the valley of the Missouri, and that, too, without the shedding of a drop of blood. He kept a journal of the daily transactions, and to this Du Pratz, the historian, had ac- cess soon after it was written. Now the colony was torn by dissension, and Bienville was ordered to France. He sailed in January, 1724, leav- ing Dugue Du Broisbriant, former commandant of the canton of Illinois, as Acting Governor. For twenty-five years he had not been outside of Louisiana, except when on his Pensacola campaign in 1719. His successor, M. Perrier, arrived in the colony, March 9, 1726, and at once assumed the oflice of Governor. He improved New LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 75 Orleans, enlarged its limits, discouraged the vain search for mines, and encouraged agriculture so that within two years after his arrival, rice, indigo and tobacco were grown successfully. Next year Du Poisson, a missionary, ascended the Mississippi almost to its source, and re- mained some time among the Dakotah Indians. Around Fort Rosalie dwelt the Natchez Indians, whose traditions and character connected them with the Mayas of Yucatan. They were Sun Worshipers, and kept a fire burning continually in their temple. Of them it may be said that they were the best civilized Indians who dwelt within the present limits of the United States. M. Chopart was in command of the garrison at Fort Rosalie. Six miles away was the White-Apple-Town of this nation. Its location — a beautiful one — Chopart demanded for a site for a plantation. The demand was refused by the chief. Great Sun, on whom it was made. The French officer then threatened to seize it by force. Then the Natchez planned a general massacre. This took place November 29, 1729, at which time the home of every Frenchman was attacked; the fort was taken by strata- gem, and on that day two hundred and fifty people fell victims at the hands of these barbarous people. Not more than twenty whites and six negroes escaped, and one hun- dred and twenty children, eighty women, and nearly as 7 I 76 THE STORY OF THE many negroes were taken prisoners. A few days later, Dii Poisson, who had gone as a missionary to the Dako- tahs, but who was then stationed among the Kansas In- dians crossed over to Natchez, and was cruelly put to death. The massacre proved to be sad work for the Natchez nation. Governor Perrier sent a vessel to France with tidings of the horrible deed, and then hastened to prepare for war. New Orleans was fortified, and there were eight hundred French soldiers in Louisiana. The Chickasaws and Yazoos were the allies of the Natchez, while the Choctaws joined the French. The war was carried into the Indian country. On the 27th of January, 1730, Lesueur, a Canadian officer, w^ith seven hundred Choctaw warriors, attacked the Natchez at St. Catherine's creek, eighteen miles below Fort Rosalie, and killed sixty of their warriors, and took tw^enty prisoners. On the 13th of February ensuing, Cavalier de Loubouis, with a force of five hundred French soldiers, which he had assembled at the mouth of Red River, attacked them at Fort Rosalie. A parley ensued, and the Natchez agreed to put all their prisoners — women and children — into the custody of the Choctaws. This they did, and that very night fled across the Mississippi. It was now the year 1730, and there were five thousand whites and two thousand five hundred blacks in Louisiana. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 77 The Company of the Indies had controlled the affairs of the colony for fourteen years, in which it had succeeded no better than Crozet. And now, after having spent twenty millions of francs in its effort to colonize and de- velop Louisiana, it surrendered its charter, together with all fortresses, artillery, ammunition, warehouses and plantations, with the negroes belonging thereto, and on the loth of April, 1732, Louis XV., by royal proclama- tion, dissolved the company, and declared his Province of Louisiana free to all his subjects. 78 THE STORY OF THE CHAPTER VII. The Louisiana Purchase Under Royal Government. Louis XV., then in the twenty-second year of his age, was on the throne of France, and his colonial policy was broad and liberal. The Louisiana Purchase was now called the "Province of Louisiana." M. Perrier was con- tinued as Governor ; M. Salmon, the Commissary of Marine, and M. Perrier de Solvent, a brother of the Gov- ernor, with the title of Lieutenant-General, both now came to Louisiana. The latter brought with him one hun- dred and fifty marines, and he and the Governor having augmented this force by the addition of militia, and Choc- taw warriors, hastened away to attack the Natchez In- dians, who, after the massacre of the year before, had fled to the west side of the Mississippi. There they made their final stand on the banks of Silver Creek, a tributary of the Black River, where, in the first battle ever fought between white men and Indians within the Louisiana Pur- chase, the Great Sun, with forty warriors and three hun- dred and sixty-five women and children were made pris- oners, taken to New Orleans, and thence sent to San Domingo, Where they were sold as slaves to the planters. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 79 The nation was destroyed. The remnant that escaped sought refuge among the Chickasaws. Governor Perrier was succeeded by Bienville, the old veteran of the Mississippi, who again returned to Louisi- ana, after an absence of nine years. It was now expected to see a rising colony, which in time might grow into a powerful nation of infinite advantage to France. To aid in this, the government did all possible to advance colonial interests. To such an extent did it go in this direction that it even prohibited the cultivation of tobacco in France that the nation's supply might be grown in Louisiana, and the colony thus enriched by its sales at home where the consumption was twenty million pounds annually. One of the first acts of Bienville was to rebuild Fort Rosalie at Natchez. The Chickasaw nation had its home on the upper tributaries of the Tombigbee, Mobile and \azoo rivers. Its warriors were the fiercest and bravest of all the southern Indians with whom the French colon- ists came in contact. Bienville demanded that the Natchez who had taken refuge among them should be given up. To this the chiefs with great courage and in- dignation refused to comply. This meant war, and both sides prepared for the struggle. M. De Blanc, with six boats was sent up the Mississippi with orders from Bien- ville to D'Artaguette, Commandant of Illinois, to bring all 80 THE STORY OF THE the force possible, and join him on the loth of May, 1736, in the Chickasaw country. The boat laden with ammuni- tion was left at the mouth of the Arkansas, the others returning to New Orleans, and a detachment was sent down from Illinois for it. When near the mouth of the Ohio, this was attacked and all on board killed, except Du Tissenet, Jr., and one, Rosalie, who were taken pris- oners, but afterward escaped. Meantime, Bienville went by sea to the mouth of the Mobile River, where he met the head chief of the Choc- taws, now the allies of the French. To him the merchan- dise given in consideration of the assistance about to be rendered, was delivered, and Bienville returned to New Orleans, where he mustered an army numbering five hundred and forty-four French soldiers, some militia, free negroes and slaves. All set out for the mouth of the Mobile, where twelve hundred Choctaws were already in waiting. On the second of April the advance up the river began, the Indians marching along its eastern bank. The destination was the Chickasaw capital, which was situ- ated near Pontotoc on a stream of that name, now in Lee County, in northern Mississippi. Here was a fort erected under the direction of English traders from Carolina. There were palisades and earthworks with portholes all around. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 81 On the 20th of April, the army reached the mouth of the Tombigbee, where it remained until the 4th of May, when the line of march was again taken up, and on the 26th it lay before the Chickasaw fort — the French soldiers in the center, and the Choctaws forming the two wings. An attack was made at once, but Bienville had no artil- lery, and he could not succeed. The English flag was flying over the fort in which were thirty traders, and in a battle lasting four hours, the French wxre defeated, hav- ing sustained a loss of thirty-two killed and seventy wounded. The former were left on the field of the disas- trous defeat, and the army fled in disorder back to the Tombigbee, which it descended in boats, and returned to New Orleans. But the rout of Bienville's army was not the worst. D'Artaguette, the Commandant of Illinois, had obeyed orders, and with thirty men from the garrison of Fort Chartres, a hundred volunteers from the inhab- itants, and. nearly the entire fighting force of the Kaskas- kia Indians, began his march to join Bienville. Father Sinilac, the founder of Vincennes, with a body of Miami Indians, and some Iroquois warriers, met him at the mouth of the Ohio, and the whole force entered the Chickasaw country. On the morning of May 9th, all were before the fort which was not reached by Bienville for sixteen days thereafter. D'Artaguette waited until 82 THE STORY OF THE the 2 1 St, and then with his three hundred and sixty-six French and Indians attacked the fort. His alHes fled at the first fire. He with Sinilac and nineteen more of the P>ench were taken prisoners and burned at the stake. The remnant that escaped was conducted back to the Mis- sissippi by a boy — Voisson by name — but sixteen years of age. A gloom now spread over Louisiana, and Bienville was greatly grieved when he heard of the tragic death of these men. The colonists had now learned of the powerful enemy with which they had to deal, and the Governor sent to France for aid. This time the movement was to be made by the Mississippi, and a detachment from New Orleans ascended that river, and erected a fort as a base of sup- plies at the mouth of the St. Francis — the first structure reared by Europeans within the present limits of the State of Missouri. Thither went the regulars, a body of colo- nial militia, and a number of Choctaw warriors. . Bienville arrived, the army advanced, and he fixed the place of ren- dezvous at the mouth of the Little Wolf River — the Mar- got of the French — where Memphis now stands. There on the bluffs he built Fort Assumption, so called from the day on which he arrived. It was but forty-five miles dis- tant from the Chickasaw capital. Here the army gath- ered. M. de Noailles came with seven hundred regulars LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 83 from France ; De Celeron brought the cadets of Quebec and Montreal ; then came De la Buissoniere, the new Commandant of Illinois, bringing with him a part of the garrison from Fort Chartres, a body of militia, and some Illinois warriors, until at the great review on the 12th of November, 1739, there were twelve hundred white men and twenty-four hundred Indians — the largest army that up to that time had ever been assembled on the banks of the Mississippi. Wagons and sledges were constructed and roads cleared that the cannon might be transported for the siege of the Chickasaw capital. The horses for this purpose were brought from Illinois. But now, from some unaccountable cause, the army lay here from August, 1739, until April, 1740. Provisions became so scarce that the horses that were to draw the artillery were eaten ; then sickness raged, and death ensued. Bienville gave up the thought of invasion, and resorted to diplo- macy. On the 15th of March he detailed De Celeron, with his lieutenant, M. de St. Lausent, and the cadets, to go to the Chickasaw capital to offer terms of peace in his name. The chiefs, believing this to be but the advance guard of the invading army on the Mississippi, hastily accepted the terms oft'ered, and carried the pipe to Bienville, who smoked it with them. Thus ended the war with the Chickasaws, in April, 1740. Both forts — that of Assump- 84 THE STORY OF THE tion, and the one on the St. Francis — were demoHshed, and Bienville returned to New Orleans after an absence of ten months. The scarcity of a circulating medium hindered indus- trial enterprise, and to remedy this the first issue of paper money in the Louisiana Purchase was made in 1736, the amount being forty thousand dollars. Seven years later there was another issue, but about the only effect of it was to drive what little specie there was out of circula- tion. In 1743, De Verennes de la Verandrye, a young Cana- dian officer, endeavored to reach the mysterious moun- tains which the Indians asserted stood far beyond the sources of the Missouri. With his brother and two Cana- dian soldiers, he penetrated the vast unknown wilds from Fort de la Rene, on the Assiniboin, three hundred miles west of Lake Winnipeg. Journeying up the Mouse River to the villages of the Mandan Indians, near the site of the present city of Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota, he thence ascended the Upper Missouri, traversed the gorges of the Wind River Mountains, and then, at the "Gate of the Rocky Mountains," which range he had dis- covered, he reared a monument bearing the arms of France, and thus asserted the title of that country to the region now included in the States of Montana and Idaho. LOUISIAN^A PURCHASE. 85 He and his companions were the first Europeans that ever trod the dreary wastes of the Upper Missouri. In 1743, Bienville left Louisiana never to return. He had been Governor of the colony for thirty-four years, in which time he had won the title of the "Father of Louisi- ana." He was now sixty-four years of age, and was yet to live twenty-five years. His successor was the Marquis de Vaudreuil, who arrived at New Orleans, May 10, 1743, at which time there were four thousand white people, two thousand and twenty negroes, and a French army of eight hundred men in the Louisiana Purchase. He con- firmed the treaty made by Bienville with the Chickasaws, and there was nevermore to be war between the French and the Indians in the Mississippi Valley. Like Cadillac in the time of Crozet, he was much interested in mining, and he sent miners over the plains of Illinois and Missouri in search of gold, silver, and precious gems. Among his first acts was to grant to one Deruisseau the sole right to control the trade of the Missouri River and its tributaries. Vaudreuil's administration continued ten years, at the end of which time he was made Governor-General of Canada, and went to Quebec. His successor in the gov- ernment of the Louisiana Purchase was Captain Louis de Kerlerec, an officer of the French navy, who landed at New Orleans on the 9th of February, 1753. His admin- 86 THE STORY OF THE istration extended over a memorable period in American history, and ere it closed he witnessed the fall of the French power east of the Mississippi. In 1755, tho struggle between France and Great Britain, known in America as the French and Indian War, began. Its chief cause was the dispute as to the territorial claims of the two nations. It continued for seven years, and when it ended Quebec had fallen, and Vaudreuil — the former Governor of Louisiana — had surrendered Canada and all its dependencies to the British crown. Spain had been engaged in the war on the side of France, and the British had taken Havana and the Philippine Islands, but, by the terms of the treaty of Paris, January i, 1763, these were given up to Spain in consideration of the cession of the Floridas to Great Britain. France was, at the same time, as will be seen, left without a square mile of territory in North America. Not in all the world's history has a sin- gle treaty transferred so much of the earth's surface from one country to another. Nearly a whole continent and many isles of the sea changed ownership "at the scratch of a pen." By the terms of this treaty Louisiana lost the canton of Illinois, the extent of which was about equal to that of the present State in which the name is preserved, and which at the time contained about two thousand white in- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 87 habitants. Orders were given to the French officers com- manding in the region thus ceded to surrender the forts therein to the British troops when they should appear to receive them. IntelHgence of the cession reached IlHnois in the autumn of 1763, and there was here, as in every case of a change of sovereignty, great dissatisfaction. Time must elapse before the British could come to take possession, and Nyon de Villiers, then Commandant of Illinois, did not wait for this, but left his second officer, St. Ange de Bellrive, in command, and descended the Mississippi to New Orleans. In 1755, St. Genevieve, the oldest European town in Upper Louisiana, was founded on the west bank of the Mississippi, nearly opposite Fort Chartres, by two brothers, Francois and Jean Valle, who here found a home. Soon other settlers came, and the place was never afterward deserted. In 1763, a corporation known as the Louisiana Fur Company was formed at New Orleans, and received a charter from Governor Kerlerec, by which it was granted the exclusive right to trade with the In- dians on the Missouri, and on all streams above it falling into the Mississippi. Pierre Linguiste Laclede was its chief man, and with several followers, among them two brothers, Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, he left New Or- leans in the summer of this year, and after a three months' 88 THE STORY OF THE journey in boats up the Mississippi, arrived at Fort Char- tres, where he learned of the cession by France of her east Mississippi possessions to Great Britain. On the west side of that river, the sovereignty of France was, as he supposed, still supreme, and he there sought a location. This was selected sixteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri, and on the 15th of February, 1764, he sent Auguste Chouteau, with a party, to fell the forest and erect some cabins as a depot of supplies and deposit for the Louisiana Fur Company. In the autumn of the same year several town lots were laid out, and thus began the City of St. Louis, the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley. Three years thereafter Delor de Tragette founded Vide Poche — afterward Carondelet — and in 1769 Blanchette laid out St. Charles on the Missouri, the oldest European settlement in the Louisiana Purchase north of that river. In the meantime, the British were endeavoring to ob- tain possession of Fort Chartres, where the French officers impatiently awaited their coming. Major Loftus, with four hundred regulars attempted to reach it from Pensa- cola in 1764, but was defeated by the Indians at Loftus Heights, on the Mississippi, four hundred miles from its mouth. Then Captain Pitman, with a detachment from Mobile, advanced as far as New Orleans, where he aban- doned the undertaking. But Captain Sterling, dispatched LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 89 by General Gage, by way of the Great Lakes, finally reached IlHnois, and to him De Bellrive surrendered Fort Chartres, which had been the seat of the French govern- ment on the Upper Mississippi for forty-five years, and with his garrison crossed the Mississippi, and on the 17th of July, 1765, unfurled the flag of France over St. Louis, which that day became the capital of Upper Louisiana. Now more than forty years had elapsed since the mas- sacre of Natchez, and its horrors had passed out of mind. The mismanagement of the Company of the Indies was forgotten ; the name of Louisiana had ceased to be a re- proach ; a period of prosperity had dawned, and the banks of the Mississippi and the Missouri, Arkansas and Red Rivers were being inhabited. In 1755, the English de- stroyed the French settlements in Acadia, now Nova Scotia. This was one of the saddest episodes of modern history. Nearly four thousand men, w^omen and children, stripped of all their earthly possessions, were driven on board like dumb animals, packed in the holds of English ships, and distributed along the shores of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina. Away be- yond the Mississippi still floated the flag of their beloved France, against which they had sworn, years before, never to take up arms, and many of them determined to 90 THE STORY OF THE again live beneath its folds. Thither they made their way, some by sea, and others over Braddock's Road to the Ohio, and thence down that river and the Mississippi to New Orleans, where they met a royal welcome from their countrymen. There, in the year 1756, six hundred fam- ilies arrived, and found homes on both sides of the Mis- sissippi, from the German coast as far up as Baton Rouge, and on the west side to Point Coupee. In all. more than eight hundred Acadian families reached the banks of the Mississippi in the ten years preceding that of 1765. Then, too, the population was increased by the addition of many people from Canada who refused to live under the British flag. For years, interest in industrial enterprises and agricul- ture had been increasing, and the production of cotton, the culture of which had been introduced by the Com- pany of the Indies, received, in 1742, a mighty impulse, because of the invention of a cotton gin by M. Dubreuil. of New Orleans. This was the first gin in use in Amer- ica. Now orange groves adorned the spacious grounds around the homes in the vicinity of New Orleans. In 1757, missionaries in San Domingo sent to their brethren in Louisiana some sugar canes for cultivation, to- gether with several negroes who understood this. They began its culture on a small plantation on the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 91 banks of the Mississippi, just above the old town of New Orleans. The following year, others cultivated the plant, and made some attempts at the manufacture of sugar. In 1758, M. Dubreuil — the same who had invented the cotton gin — established a sugar estate on a large scale, and erected the first sugar mill in the Louisiana Purchase, in what is now the lower part of the city of New Orleans. Five years later, it had become a staple product of the colony. It was the greatest gift ever made to Louisiana. The social life, manners, and customs of the early French people of the Louisiana Purchase make an inter- esting study. They were remarkable for the talent of in- gratiating themselves into the good graces of the war- like nations of the wilderness. *'On the margin of 1 prairie or on the banks of some gently flowing stream, their villages sprung up in long, narrow streets, with each family homestead so contiguous that the merry and so- ciable villagers could carry on their voluble conversation, each from his own door or balcony. The young men de- lighted in the long and merry voyages, and sought new adventure in the distant travels of the fur trade. After months of absence upon the shores of the largest rivers and their longest tributaries, among their savage friends, they returned to the village with stores of furs and pel- tries, prepared to relate their hardy adventures, and the 92 THE STORY OF THE thrilling incidents of their perilous voyage." Such were the scenes in the early days of St. Louis, St. Charles, St. Genevieve, Arkansas Post, Natchez, New Orleans, and every other old French town in the Louisiana Purchase. Governor Kerlerec's administration drew to a close June 9, 1763, on which date he was succeeded by the noble and patriotic D'Abbadie, who, after nearly two years of service, died at New Orleans, on the 4th of February, 1765. His successor was M. Aubry, who continued in office until the end of Royal Government in the Louisiana Purchase, August 18, 1769, after the national govern- ment of France had expended fifty millions of francs in the Mississippi Valley. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 93 CHAPTER VIIL The LoiTisiANA Purchase Ceded to Spain. As the struggle between Great Britain and France for territorial supremacy progressed, the latter witnessed the fall of her strongholds — Quebec, Montreal and others — and it became evident that she must lose her vast posses- sions in America. On the west side of the Mississippi she owned the Louisiana Purchase, and partly in considera- tion of the assistance of Spain in the war, but chiefly to prevent it from passing into the possession of Great Britain, her King, Louis XV., gave it away. This he did secretly on the 3d of November, 1762 — the date of the preliminary treaty between France and Great Britain — when his Prime Minister, the Duke of Choi^seul, and the Marquis of Grinaldi, the Spanish ambassador at the Court of Versailles, signed at Fontainebleau an act by which the French King ceded to his cousin, Charles IIL, King of Spain, and his successors forever in full ownership and without any exceptions or reservations whatever, ''and from the sense of affection and friendship existing between these two royal persons," all that country in America under the name of Louisiana. 94 THE STORY OF THE This action on the part of the French monarch was so unexpected and so sudden that the Spanish minister had no instructions regarding it, and he accepted the princely gift upon the condition that his action be ratified by his King. Speedily intelligence of the transaction flew to Madrid, and on the 13th of November — but ten days after the donation was made — Charles III. declared that 'Tn order to better cement the union which existed between the two nations as between the two kings, he accepted the donation tendered him by the generosity of the French King." The Island of Orleans on the east side of the Missis- sippi, on which the city of New Orleans stands, was in- cluded in the cession to Spain, and article seven of the definitive treaty of Paris, concluded January i, 1763 — but fifty-five days after the gift of the Louisiana Purchase to Spain — ceded to Great Britain, as has been stated, all the territorv owned by France on the east side of the Mississippi River, except the said Island of Orleans. It was further declared that the boundary between the possessions of the two nations, in America, should be irrevocably fixed *'by a line drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi, from its source to the river Iber- ville, and thence by a line in the middle of that stream and of lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea." LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 95 No reference whatever of the cession of Louisiana to Spain was made in the treaty, for the reason that the mat- ter was kept secret between the two nations — France and Spain. It has been stated that Spain, in consideration of the return to her of Havana and the PhiHppine Islands, ceded Florida to Great Britain. Thus, as a result of the war, she lost that peninsula, but gained instead thereof the whole of the Louisiana Purchase. These acts of donation and acceptance were kept secret, and the King of France continued to act as the sovereign of the Louisiana Purchase. On the first of January, 1763, he appointed Nicholas Chauvier de la Freniere, Attorney- General ; ten days later he named the officers of the col- ony, and on the 29th of June ensuing, appointed M. D'Abbadie as the successor of Governor Kerlerec. Rumors of a change of sovereignty reached the shores of the Mississippi, and created the greatest dissatisfaction among the inhabitants who detested the people and gov- ernment of Spain. But no official announcement of the transaction was made until April 21, 1764, when the good Governor received a communication informing him that the Court of Versailles had transferred the title of the Louisiana Purchase to the Court of Madrid, and directing him to surrender the province to the Governor or other Spanish officer who should arrive at New Orleans with 96 THE STORY OF THE orders from the King- of Spain to receive it. D'Abbadie was an ardent soldier and zealous patriot, and so deeply chagrined was he at what he considered the disgrace of his country, that his feeble health gave way, and in hag- gard illness he awaited alike the coming of the Spanish authorities and death. The latter came first. As before stated, he died at New Orleans, February 4, 1765, on which date he was succeeded by M. Aubry, the last Royal French Governor of the Louisiana Purchase. Every day the people might expect a Spanish Gover- nor and garrison to arrive, and they awaited in repug- nance and anger the coming of a change which was to place over their heads masters whom they hated. They knew not why, after they had settled the country, and were loyal Frenchmen, they should be transferred to the hands of strangers. "When we came here," said they to the French King, "didst thou not engage forever to pro- tect us with thy fleets and armies? Have we not striven to make thy name illustrious among the nations to whom it was unknown ? We hoped one day to come in competi- tion with thy rivals, and be the terror of thine enemies. But thou hast forsaken us. Thou hast bound us without our consent, by a treaty the very concealment of which was treachery. Thou hast torn us from our family to de- liver us up to a master whom w^e did not approve. Re- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 97 store us to him whose name we have heen used to call upon from our infancy. We shall languish and perish with grief and weakness. Preserve us from connections we detest." Such were the prayer and appeal of the French inhabitants of the Louisiana Purchase to the French King, but they did not alter the arrangements be- tween the courts of Madrid and Versailles. The Spanish government, notwithstandmg its tardiness in assuming authority, now proceeded to take possession of its new dominions. Antoine de Ulloa was appointed Governor, and his commission directed him to assume the command of Louisiana. He sailed from Cuba, and with four-score Spanish soldiers landed at New Orleans on the 5th of March, 1766. He was a man of distinction, a scholar, a historian, an astronomer, a botanist, a former superintendent of mines in Peru, a lieutenant-general in the naval forces of Spain, and founder of the naval school at Cadiz. But he was not fitted to govern the turbulent people on the banks of the Mississippi, who were then being transferred, against their will, from the sovereignty of one monarchy to that of another. According to the usual form he should have taken possession of the coun- try at once, but this he did not do. Orders continued to come from France ; M. Aubry, the French Governor, was still in command; French magistrates acted in that 98 THE STORY OF THE capacity; and French soldiers — the four companies in New Orleans — still performed military duty under the flag of France. These things induced the inhabitants to believe that Charles III. was but causing an examination of the coun- try to be made. But now there came an order from Spain which prohibited the Louisianians from carrying on any trading connections with the markets in which they had hitherto sold their productions. This led them to decide that, since Ulloa had deferred till then to take possession, he should not be permitted to do it at all. In September he left New Orleans, and proceeded to the Balise in Central America, for the spirit of resistance was now rife on the banks of the great river. The revolutionary movement began on the 27th day of October, 1766, when armed men entered New Orleans, and, before Aubry knew anything of it, had control of the town. Ulloa now returned, and the French Governor, to protect him, had him placed on board a vessel anchored out in the river. A provisional government was now formed at the execu- tive head of which was a Supreme Council. This body adopted a resolution declaring that the Spanish Governor should leave the country. The rioters hastened his de- parture by cutting the cable which held his vessel, and he sailed for Cuba, whence he soon thereafter went to LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 99 France. Thither, also, went representatives of the people of Louisiana. Both sides were heard, and then, on the 28th of October, 1768, the Tribunal, by a decree, directed Spain to take possession. Meantime, the Supreme Coun- cil at New Orleans assumed the colonial government, and Aubry was treated with contempt. Ulloa did not return to New Orleans, but proceeded to Madrid, where he informed the government of existing conditions on the Mississippi, and the Spanish King went to work in earnest to build up a great southwest empire in North America. That order might be restored, and obedience yielded, he resolved to govern the colony with a strong hand, and at Aranjuez, on the i6th of April, 1768, he signed a commission for Count Alexander O'Reilly, thus making him Governor and Captain-General of the Province of Louisiana. He was an Irishman by birth who had risen to prominence in the army of Spain, his rank being that of Major-General. He was second in command in Cuba, and from there was sent to the Missis- sippi with a fleet of twenty-five vessels and three thousand men. He arrived at its mouth, where he hoisted the flag of Spain on the 20th of July, 1769. The colonists, in inexpressible rage against the mother country, resolved to fight to the end, and then, if attacked by both Spain and France, they would take refuge on the L.cfC. 100 THE STORY OF THE east side of the Mississippi, where they would form a repubhc, and claim the protection of Great Britain. But, meantime, the Supreme Council saw no alternative other than submission, and it sent three of its members — La Freniere, Grandmaison and Marent — to wait on the Span- ish General and tender the submission of the province, accompanied by the request that all those who wished to leave the country, should be allowed two years in which to dispose of their property. O'Reilly received the depu- tation with affability, and assured the Council that he should cheerfully comply with all reasonable demands ; that those who were willing to remain should enjoy a mild and paternal government. The embassy returned to New Orleans before which the Spanish fleet anchored on the 17th of August. Aiibry and the French magistrates counseled peace, and the next day O'Reilly at the head of an army of twenty-six hundred men marched into the parade-ground where the French officers awaited him. The white flag of France — emblem of submission — which was waving on a high pole, was now slowly lowered, and that of Spain hoisted in its place, while the troops of both nations kept up an irregular discharge of small arms. Thus ended the French dominion on the shores of the Mississippi, where it had continued for full seventy years. That same day the inhabitants were freed from their al- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 101 legiance to France, and, within a few days, all who chose to submit to the Castilian yoke, subscribed to the oath of allegiance to Spain. Spanish sovereignty was now supreme in Louisiana, and only revenge remained to be taken. O'Reilly was clothed with unlimited power, and he was the possessor of a cruel and vindictive spirit. He ordered the arrest of Foucault, the Intendant of the colony; La Freniere, the Attorney-General; Noyant, his son-in-law, and Bois- blanc, the last two named having been members of the Supreme Council. A few days later, numerous other per- sons were arrested, among them being Marquis, Doucet, Petit, Marent, Caresse, Poupet, and the two Milhets, all of whom had been active in the late revolutionary move- ment. Villiere, who had been at the head of all the most vio- lent measures of resistance, had left New Orleans and gone to his country home, where he would have remained had not the late French Governor requested him to return, and assured him that he would not be molested. On his arrival he was at once surrounded by Spanish soldiers and carried before O'Reilly, who, hardened in cruelty as he was, felt some compunction at the thought of putting such a man to death. Villiere was accompanied by an old Swedish officer, who had fought under Charles XIL at 102 THE STORY OF THE the battle of Pultowa, where he had received eleven wounds — all in facing the enemy. At the sight of this venerable man, whose gray hairs seemed to give sanction to the rebellion, O'Reilly flew into a violent passion, and exclaimed : '*I ought to hang you also on the highest gib- bet that can be found." ''Do so," replied the soldier, "the rope can not disgrace this neck," and, baring his bosom he exhibited the scars of his wounds. The tyrant shrank from the sight, and the old man was released. Villiere was confined on board a Spanish vessel anchored in the stream, and one day he beheld his wife rowed by in a boat. He knew she was looking for him, and, bursting his bonds, he attacked his guards, who ran their bayonets through his body, and he expired almost instantly. His dying request, addressed to the captain of the vessel was : "That you will give these blood-stained garments to my children, and tell them that it is my last command that they never bear arms for Spain, nor against France." Others were arraigned for trial. Foucault and Brault maintained that they owed no account of their conduct but to the King of France, whose subjects they had never ceased to be. The first was sent to Paris, and the second acquitted. The others pleaded, but in vain. Villiere was dead, and eleven more, representing "the army, the magis- tracy, and the trade," were selected "as examples to the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 103 colony." Five of these were condemned to death. They were La Freniere,, Noyant, Marquis, Joseph Milhet, and Caresse, who were sentenced to be hung. They plead to liave recourse to royal clemency, but the only favor granted them was the substitution of shooting instead of hanging. On the 28th of September, the day appointed for the execution, all the troops were drawn up on the Place d'Armes in the center of which had stood for many years the little mission church of St. Louis. A strong patrol paraded the deserted streets — the inhabitants having re- tired to their houses and shut themselves in, that they might not witness the death of their friends. The five victims were led out in front of the barracks, where all met death with the utmost courage and resolution. It was attempted to blindfold them, but Marquis, a Swiss captain, long in the service of France, indignantly op- posed it. 'T have," said he, ''risked my life many times in the service of my adopted country, and I have never feared to face my enemies." Then addressing his com- panions he said, "Let us die like brave men ; we need not fear death. Take notice, Spaniards, that we die because we will not cease to be French. As for myself, though a foreigner by birth, my heart belongs to France. For thirty years I have fought for Louis le hicn-ahne, and I 104 THE STORY OF THE glory in the death that proves my attachment to him. Fire, executioners !" Six other prisoners — Boisblanc, Doucet, Marent, Jean Milhet, Petit and Poupet — were sentenced, the first for hfe, and the others for a term of years, to confinement in the dungeons of Moro Castle at Havana. Such were some of the horrible scenes that at- tended the establishment of Spanish sovereignty in the valley of the Mississippi. On the arrival of General O'Reilly at New Orleans, he sent Captain Rios with a body of Spanish troops to occupy St. Louis. Don Pedro Piernas, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana, soon followed, and on the 29th of November, 1770, he arrived at that place, and the same day formally received the government from St. Ange de Bellrive, who had removed it from Fort Chartres four years before, and now the sovereignty of Spain was su- preme throughout the whole of the Louisiana Purchase. More than eight years had passed away since the deed of cession had been signed at Fontainebleau, and in that time, one colonial system — that of France — had expired to give place to another — that of Spain. Two nations — Great Britain and Spain — now owned the whole area of the North American continent, with the middle of the Mississippi, the Iberville, and lakes Maurepas and Pont- chartrain as the dividing line between their possessions. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 105 CHAPTER IX. The Louisiana Purchase Under the Spanish Dominion. When General O'Reilly had suppressed the insurrec- tion at New Orleans, in which town he found a popula- tion of three thousand one hundred and ninety persons, he promulgated a form of government which was pro- claimed on the 25th of November, 1769. This had been prepared by Don Joseph Urrustia and Don Felix Rey, two eminent lawyers of Spain. On the i8th of February, 1770, a supplementary code was made public at New Or- leans. Thus begun Spanish rule in the Louisiana Pur- chase, and thus the French laws were speedily supplanted by those of the Spanish code. Under its provisions the chief officer was the Governor, whose title was Governor and Captain-General of Lou- isiana. He was appointed by the King, and he was the head of both the civil and military establishments of the province ; hence, he was usually an officer of the armw His resident council, called the Cabildo, an hereditary body, consisted of twelve men chosen from the most wealthy and respectable families. This body governed 106 THE STORY OF THE New Orleans by appointing its Mayor and other officials. The Intendant was an official, also appointed by the King, and he was entirely independent of the Governor. He was Chief of the Department of Finance and Commerce, and all public moneys were disbursed on his order. The Treasurer — a mere cashier — and several other officers were under his direction. Among others appointed by the King was an Auditor, who was chief adviser of the Governor, and an Assessor, who occupied a similar rela- tion to the Intendant; a Secretary of the Governor, and another of the Intendancy; a Surveyor-General; a har- bor-master, a store-keeper, and an interpreter of both the French and Spanish languages. In each parish there was an executive officer called the Commandant, who was ap- pointed by the Governor, and who was both a police and fiscal officer. Where there was a garrison, there was also a representative of the Intendant, who had charge of the revenues of his parish. Frequently assistant or deputy com.mandants were appointed, and these were called syn- dics. There was no system of local taxation. Every in- habitant was bound to make and repair roads, bridges, and embankments through his own lands. The colonial establishment was supported by a system of licenses and duties. The former yielded about six thousand dollars a year, while the latter, chiefly produced by a six per cent LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 107 levy on all imports and exports alike, yielded about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars in the same time. It may be safely said that the Spanish government of the Louisiana Purchase was one of the best to be found in all the American colonial systems. General O'Reilly visited a numljer of the parishes, ascended the Mississippi some distance above Baton Rouge, and when he had made himself somewhat ac- quainted with the conditions and needs of the country, he left Don Antonio Maria Bucarely as Governor ad interim, and sailed for Cuba. Don Luis de Unzaga arrived at New Orleans, and assumed the government August 17, 1772. Now a systematic survey of lands began to be made, and Don Pedro Piernas, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Louisiana, confirmed all of the grants made to settlers therein by St. Ange, the late French Commandant. Lands were granted to actual settlers only. These could obtain two hundred acres for each man and wife ; fifty for each child ; and twenty for each slave. The size of the family, therefore, determined the amount of land which a planter could secure. In 1775, Piernas was succeeded as Lieutenant-Gover- nor of Upper Louisiana by Francisco Cruzat ; the next year, Bernardo Galvez became Military Commandant at New Orleans, and upon the appointment of Unzaga as 108 THE STORY OF THE Governor and Captain-General of Caracas, he succeeded to the Governorship of the Province, July i, 1777. He was the most active man that ever controlled the destinies of the Louisiana Purchase. The American Revolution was then in progress, and in 1778, he was visited by Cap- tain Willing, a confidential agent of the old Continental Congress, whom he assisted secretly with arms, ammuni- tion and seventy thousand dollars in cash. Spain offered mediation, and when this was spurned, she declared war, June 16, 1779, against Great Britain. Galvez, already the earnest friend of the colonies, speedily organized volun- teer regiments, and, with fifteen hundred men invaded West Florida — then British territory — took Fort Bule on Manchac Pass, and captured Baton Rouge, taking Colonel Dickinson and his Sixteenth British American Regiment prisoners. In October, he was made a Major-General, and having received reinforcements from Havana, he laid siege to Mobile, which, in 1780, he compelled to surren- der. Then with an army increased to fourteen thousand men, he entered East Florida, and, after defeating the British in several engagements, invested Pensacola. Here he awaited the coming of a fleet from Havana, and on May 9, 1 78 1, the town with its whole armament and eight hundred prisoners fell into the hands of the Spaniards. Soon thereafter, the entire North Gulf coast was in pos- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 109 session of Galvez's army, and when the war was ended, he was made Viceroy of Mexico, the highest official position in Spanish America. His successor in the Governorship of the Louisiana Purchase was Don Estevan Miro. There is but one American revolutionary battlefield in the Louisiana Purchase. This is St. Louis. During that war, Detroit was the chief military station of the British in the Northwest. Here many expeditions against the Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky frontiers were fitted out. Here gathered the Girtys, Elliotts, McKees, and other notorious renegades of the Western border. These expeditions were usually commanded by British officers or tories, and largely composed of warriors of allied Indian nations. The Spanish authorities, together with all the inhabitants of St. Louis earnestly sympathized with the American cause, and, fearing an attack, the people fortified the town by building a semi-circular wall of logs five feet high with three gates therein, at which cannon were planted. In anticipation of this, Sylvia Fran- cisco Cartaboni had brought a small body of troops from St. Genevieve to assist in the defense. On the evening of May 5, 1779, an army numbering more than fourteen hun- dred men, composed largely of Ojibway, Menomonie, Winnebago, Sioux and Sac warriors, together with, some authorities say, a hundred and fifty British regulars, the 110 THE STORY OF THE whole commanded by a British officer, assembled on the east bank of the Mississippi, a little above St. Louis. A few of the enemy crossed the river that night as spies, but the whole army crossed early next morning, when many of the people, not knowing of the presence of an enemy, had gone to their fields. These were attacked, and those who were not killed, rushed to the town, where the gates were opened, and they were admitted. The firing alarmed those who were within the defenses, and the cry '*To arms ! to arms !" was heard on every hand. The army advanced slowly toward the town. Cartaboni with his men could nowhere be seen, and Don Ferdinando Leyba, the Spanish Lieutenant-Governor, was intoxicated. But the inhabitants determined to defend themselves until the last. They chose Pierre Chouteau as their leader, and a gallant defense it was. Fifteen men were posted at each gate, and the remainder were scattered along the line of defense in the most advantageous manner. When within proper distance, the assailants opened fire. This was answered by showers of grape and canister from the artillery, and a steady rattle of musketry from behind the walls. For a time the battle was waged with much spirit, but at last the assailants perceived that all their efforts would be vain on account of walls and entrenchments, which were defended by heroic men at the gates, and they LOUISIANA PURCHASE. Ill slowly withdrew. About thirty of the inhabitants of St. Louis were killed, and an equal number who were taken in the fields carried into captivity. The loss of the attack- . ing army was never known. Because of his conduct on this occasion, Lieutenant-Governor Leyba was soon after- wards removed from office, and Francisco Cruzat was again sent to fill the position. At this time there were two thousand people in Upper Louisiana. The succeeding year a conflagration swept away nine hundred houses in New Orleans. In 1797, Daniel Boone, pioneer of Kentucky, after a ten years' residence in the Great Kanawha Valley in which time he had represented Kanawha county in the Legisla- ture of Virginia, bade adieu to his friends in the then lit- tle trans-Allegheny town of Charleston— now the capital of West Virginia— and removed west of the Mississippi, where he found a home on the banks of the Missouri, about twenty-five miles above St. Charles, and there be- came a citizen of Spain. On the nth of June, 1800, De Lassus, the Lieutenant-Governor, appointed him a syndic, or assistant commandant, for the Femme-Osage district. Here he continued to reside until the 26th of September, 1820, when he died at the home of his son. Major Nathan Boone, when in the eighty-ninth year of his age. In 1840, his remains were removed to Frankfort, Kentucky, where they were reinterred with civic and military honors. 112 THE STORY OF THE The emigration from Spain was never large, and the population increased but slowly. But under the Spanish rule the trade of the Louisiana Purchase was greatly en- larged. In the year 1799 there were 2,000 bales of cot- ton, each of 300 pounds; 45,000 casks of sugar of 1,000 pounds each ; and 800 casks of molasses of 100 gallons each, among the exports from New Orleans. In addition to these, there were large quantities of indigo, peltry, lumber, corn and lead. So extensive, indeed, was this trade, that for the years 1800, 1801, and 1802, the total exports amounted to $2,158,000, while the imports for the same years aggregated $2,500,000. We may learn more fully of this trade and navigation, when it is known that in the year 1802, 268 vessels of all description entered the Mississippi ; and of these, 170 were American, 97 Spanish and one French. For the same year, 265 vessels sailed from the Mississippi. Of this number, 158 were Ameri- can, 104 Spanish, and 3 French. For the first six months of the year 1803, 173 vessels entered the river. Of these, 93 were American, 58 Spanish, and 22 French. For the same period of six months, 156 vessels departed from its mouth. Of these, 68 were American, 80 Spanish, and 8 French. Thus was New Orleans the distributing point for all articles of foreign growth or manufacture which were used on the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 113 and their tributaries, and through that port went almost the whole export trade of the entire Mississippi Valley. The only exception to this was that of a small quantity of fine furs, and the best bear and deer skins, which were shipped to Canada, where they commanded a better price. In 1799, De Lassus caused a census of Upper Louisiana to be taken, and by this the population of its towns and villages was shown to be as follows : St. Louis, on the west bank of the Mississippi, sixteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri, had 925 people ; Carondelet, on the Mississippi, six miles below St. Louis, 184; St. Charles, on the Missouri, twenty-five miles from its mouth, and eighteen by land from St. Louis, 895 ; St. Fer- nando, in a Httle valley leading from St. Louis to St. Charles, 276; Marias des Lairds, three miles west of St. Fernando, and distant twelve miles from St. Louis, 379; Meramec, on the river of that name, 115; St. Andrews, on the Missouri, fifteen miles above St. Charles, 393 ; St. Genevieve, on the west bank of the Mississippi, opposite Kaskaskia, 949; New Bourbon on the Mississippi, three miles below St. Genevieve, 560 ; Cape Girardeau, on the west bank of the Mississippi, forty-one miles above the mouth of the Ohio, 521 ; New Madrid, on the Mississippi, eighty-four miles below the mouth of the Ohio, 782 ; and Little Meadow, on the Mississippi, thirty-five miles below 114 THE STORY OF THE New Madrid, 49. The total population of these towns was 6,028, of which 4,748 were white, 197 free colored, and 883 slaves. These people of Upper Louisiana must have been busy, for it was shown to Congress that in this year they produced 88,349 bushels of wheat; 84,534 bushels of corn ; 28,000 pounds of tobacco ; 965 bushels of salt; and 170,000 pounds of lead. They had 7,980 horned cattle, and 1,763 horses. The same year they ex- ported through the port of New Orleans, produce valued at $73,176. Such was Upper Louisiana at the close of the Eighteenth century. There was but little domestic manufacturing during the Spanish occupation. The Acadians made some cotton into quilts and cottonades ; and in some other parts of the province, the families of the planters spun and wove some coarse cloths of cotton and wool mixed. There were, in the Louisiana Purchase, two cotton spinning machines at that time, one of which was in Iberville parish, and the other in that of Opelousas. In New Orleans there were manufactures of rope and cordage, and shot and powder, and one sugar refinery making annually two hundred thousand pounds. Spain did but little — almost nothing, in fact — for educa- tion in the Louisiana Purchase. There was one free school in New Orleans, the teachers of which were paid LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 115 by the king, their business being to teach the CastiHan language to the children of French parents. A similar school was maintained at Natchez, but the work done was not so extensive, there being but two teachers employed. Now, for the first time the Louisiana Purchase began to be a subject of great importance in American affairs, and henceforth it was to occupy a prominent place in the history of the United States — indeed in that of the world. Spain was displeased with the treaty of Paris in 1783 which terminated the war of the American Revolution, because it extended the western bounds of the Republic to the Mississippi, and made the middle of that river, from its source to the thirty-hrst degree of north latitude, the dividing line between the two nations — the United States and Spain. It will be remembered that below this degree the latter nation, at this time, owned both sides of the Mis- sissippi, and thus had absolute control of the navigation of that river for full three hundred and fifty miles of its lower course. This meant that both the exports and im- ports of the whole vast region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries must be subject to duties at the Spanish port of New Orleans. The American authorities, urged to action by the men who were planting civilization, and founding States on the west side of the Alleghenies, and whose trade was subject 116 THE STORY OF THE to these duties, sought to secure a treaty with Spain, hon- orable ahke to both nations, by which the free naviga- tion of the Mississippi might be secured for a commerce on which the Spanish authorities were then imposing a duty of six per cent ad valorem on all exports as well as imports. But Don Diego Garderoqui, the Spanish minis- ter to the United States, declared that his King would never permit to any nation the free use of the Mississippi, both banks of which belonged to Spain. To this he added that his King would not consent to any treaty implying the right of the United States to the navigation of that river. John Jay. afterwards Chief Justice of the United States, who had been engaged in this negotiation, now suggested to the old Congress of the Confederation, that he thought it would be good policy, and, therefore expedient, to conclude a treaty with Spain limited to twenty or thirty years, in which it should be stipulated that for the time the United States would forbear to navigate the Missis- sippi below the thirty-first degree of north latitude. But this was rejected by Congress, the seven Southern States voting in the negative, while the six Northern states voted affirmatively. Following this, that body, in 1788, re- solved ''That the free navigation of the Mississippi is a clear and essential right of the United States, and that the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 117 same ought to be supported as such." At the same time, the cry of these Western people was that no treaty should ever be concluded with Spain that did not secure to the United States the free navigation of that river from its source to the ocean. Meantime, in 1793, war between France and Spain be- gan, and Charles Edward Genest, the Minister of the French Republic to the United States, arrived at Philadel- phia, where he was received with great enthusiasm by the citizens who presented him with an address congratulat- ing France on obtaining that freedom she had helped the American colonies to secure. He maintained that the United States was in duty bound to aid his country in her war, and, notwithstanding President Washington's re- cently issued proclamation of neutrality, he planned a hostile expedition against Louisiana. There was violent opposition to Spain in the West, because of her restric- tions to navigation on the Mississippi, and Genest, resolv- ing to profit by this, sent four French agents among the people of the western country to enlist an army of two thousand men who, under the banners of France, would invade Louisiana, conquer the Spanish settlements, and bring them under the control of his country. In consid- eration of this service, the navigation of the Mississippi was to be forever free to the Americans, and, in addition 118 THE STORY OF THE thereto, there were to be French pay, French rank, and magnificent grants of land in the conquered territory, for all who would help to win it from Spain. The plan met with the warmest approval in many sections, but the Spanish minister to the United States informed Washing- ton of the movement, and he issued orders to General Wayne, who was then mustering his cavalry in Kentucky, preparatory to his campaign against the western Indians in 1794, to hasten his artillery to Fort Massac in Illinois, below Louisville, and there take all possible steps to pre- vent this rash expedition. At this juncture, news was re- ceived of the recall of Genest by the French Government, together with a disavowal of his acts. Thus ended the movement which he was inaugurating. Commercial conditions were not improved on the Mis- sissippi. Again an effort was made to treat with Spain, and, at length, early in 1795, that country signified a will- ingness to enter into a treaty of friendship and naviga- tion with the United States. Thomas Pinckney, of Sout'i Carolina, was at that time United States Minister at Lon- don, and President Washington directed him to iiastcn to Madrid. This he did, arriving there about the first (;f June. There he met the Spanish Commissioner, Prince de la Paz, and what is known as the treaty of San Lorenzo was concluded and ratified by the King at Aran- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 119 jiiez, April 26, 1796. It acknowledged the southern boun- dary of the United States to be the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and on the western boundary the middle of the Mississippi as far down as the said degree. Then the twenty-second article read as follows : "His Catholic Majesty will permit the citizens of the United States for the space of three years from this time, to deposit their merchandise and effects in the port of New Orleans, and to export them from thence without paying any other duty than a fair price for the hire of the stores; and his Majesty promises either to continue this provision, if he finds during that time that it is not prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or, if he should not agree to continue it, then he will assign to them, on another part of the banks of the Mississippi, an equivalent establishment." Thus at last, after ten years of worry and vexation with Spain, that for which the people of the trans-Allegheny region had clamored so earnestly — the free navigation of the Mississippi through its whole course — was secured; and, in addition thereto, another most important conces- sion — that of the free deposit of merchandise at New Or- leans for three years, and if not continued there, at the end of that time to be established at some other point on the banks of the Mississippi, within the Spanish dominion — was gained. 120 THE STORY OF THE Now, all went well. Population increased rapidly west of the Alleghenies. Kentucky grew in importance ; Ten- nessee was admitted into the Union ; thousands of people found homes in the old Northwest Territory west of the Ohio, and in the Illinois Country, even to the banks of the Mississippi. Territories were organized, Pittsburg be- came the gateway of the West, and Marietta, Chillicothe, Louisville, Lexington, Vincennes and other towns sprung up rapidly; and, as we have already seen, commerce in- creased to large proportions on the Mississippi, where twice as much of it belonged to the United States as was in the hands of both France and Spain. But now there was intrigue on the part of the Spanish authorities. Baron de Carondelet,. who had succeeded Don Estevan Miro as Governor of Louisiana, having learned of the late enterprise of Genest, now sought to add the trans- Allegheny country to the domain of Spain, or to secure the establishment of an independent govern- ment therein. In an effort to do this, he, in 1797, but two years after the treaty of San Lorenzo — sent his secret agent, Thomas Powers, to Kentucky, where he submitted to prominent men — Sebastian, Innis, Murray and others — a plan by which the western country was to rebel and declare its independence of the American Union, and then form a government wholly independent of the United LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 121 States. To aid in this, two hundred thousand dollars, twenty pieces of artillery, and other munitions of war were to be supplied by the King of Spain. Fort Massac, on the Illinois side of the Ohio River, was to be occupied, and the Federal troops dispossessed of the posts upon the western waters. In the event of their success in thus establishing a new government, Spain was to grant especial privileges — among them the free navigation of the Mississippi — and as an inducement to encourage this movement, it was intimated that she would not comply with the treaty of 1795, as to the United States, but would make every concession to the new trans-Allegheny gov- ernment. But the Kentuckians were loyal to the Amer- ican Union, and gold and the promise of future prefer- ment could not buy them. But there were abuses of the rights of navigation, probably, on the part of all three nations, and the Spanish authorities, under various pretexts, seized and confiscated American vessels and their cargoes. This produced much dissension, but the climax was reached on the i8th of October, 1802, when Jean Ventura Morales, the Spanish Intendant at New Orleans, believing, as he said, that the right accorded the Americans on the Mississippi had ceased under the provisions of the Peace of Amiens, con- cluded on the 27th of the preceding March, discontinued 122 THE STORY OF THE the right of deposit at that port. This he did by a ''decree," declaring that : 'T order that from this date the privilege which the Americans had of importing and ex- porting their merchandise and effects, in this capital, shall be interdicted." William E. Hulings, the Vice-Consul of the United States, at New Orleans at this time, transmitted a copy of the ''decree," the same day it was issued, to James Madison, Secretary of State. Wil- liam C. C. Claiborne, Governor of Mississippi Territory, wrote President Jefferson from Natchez, tmder date of October 28, 1802, and said of this act: "It has excited considerable agitation at Natchez and vicinity. It has in- flicted severe wounds on the agricultural and commercial interests of this territory, and it will prove no less injuri- ous to all the western country." James Garrard, Gover- nor of Kentucky, writing President Jefferson under date of November 3, 1802. informed him that: "The citizens of this State are very much alarmed and agitated, as this measure of the Spanish government will, if not altered, at one blow, cut up the present and future prosperity and in- terests by the roots." On the 28th of the same month, Claiborne wrote Manuel de Salcedo, the Spanish Gover- nor-General at New Orleans, calling his attention to the violation of the provisions of the treaty, and in most for- cible terms denounced and remonstrated against the act of LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 123 the Intendant. To this Salcedo replied by saying that the King of Spain "has not hitherto issued any order for sus- pending the deposit, and consequently has not designated any other position on the banks of the Mississippi for that purpose. * * ^ I^ myself, opposed on my part, as far as I reasonably could the measure of suspending the port." Then, he added, and that truthfully, too, that ''the Intendant conducts the business of his ministry with a perfect independence of the Governor." He closed his letter by expressing the hope that his King 'Svill take the measures that are convenient to give effect to the deposit, either in this capital, if he should not find it prejudicial to the interests of Spain, or in the place on the banks of the Mississippi, which it may be his pleasure to designate." Meantime, excitement spread throughout the Mississippi Valley, and on the 27th of November, James Madison, Secretary of State, wrote Charles Pinckney, the American Minister at Madrid, and said: ''You are aware of the sensibility of our western citizens on such occasions. The Mississippi is to them everything. * '^ * The Hud- son, the Delaware, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States formed into one stream." The Secretary was right in this, for as the intelligence of this act spread throughout the east Mississippi region, there was, from the banks of that river to the crest of the Alleghenies, the 124 THE STORY OF THE greatest excitement and indignation. Mass meetings were held at Pittsburg, Lexington, and other places, and throughout the whole western country the public mind was thrown into a fever of excitement, and the entire re- gion was blown into a flame leady to burst forth in war. There, thousands of men, all inured to hardships and border wars, and many of them veterans of the Revolution, declared their intention to invade Spanish Louisiana. It was not the western country alone that was disaf- fected, for there was great indignation throughout the whole United States, and while the excitement was at its highest pitch. Congress convened. A few days later, Claiborne wrote Madison from Natchez and said : "The port of New Orleans remains shut against the American deposit. American produce is permitted to be received by vessels lying in the middle of the stream, but the land- ing of produce is unconditionally forbidden." President Jefferson transmitted this letter to Congress on the nth of January, 1803, accompanied by a special message, in which he said : "The late suspension of our right of de- posit at New Orleans is an event of primary interest to the United States." At once there was much agitation in that body, and a vigorous effort was made in the Senate to authorize the President to take immediate possession by Map of the INLAND of OrLEANX /or fhe possej-s/on of luhich the l/nitecf ^JtateJ' 6e^an the nf^otiationj^ that i'nctect j'n fhc L ouij-tan a Purch a j^e* . (125) LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 125 force of the Island of Orleans/'' and a proposition was made to the end that fifty thousand troops occupy and hold New Orleans, and this carried with it an appropri- ation of fifteen millions of dollars to aid in the expense of a war with Spain. But now the power and dominion of that country was nearing its end. There was to be another change of sovereignty in the Louisiana Purchase, where Spanish rule had continued thirty-four years in Lower Louisiana and thirty-three in L^pper Louisiana. It was not until April 20, 1803, that the Marquis D'Yrujo, the Spanish Minister at Washington, informed Madison that his Government had ordered the re-establishment of the American right of deposit at New Orleans, and it was then too late to mitigate the losses caused by the violation of the treaty provisions between the two countries by the Intendant at that place. *That long, narrow strip of land ou which is situated the city of New Orleans is known as the "Island of Orleans." To it many references are to be made in the Story of the L,ouisiana Purchase. It is bounded on the south and west by the Mississippi. On the north is the Iberville River, fifteen miles below Baton Rouge, and the most eastern outlet of the Mississippi; its waters unite with the Amite river, and then, after flowing forty miles, empty into Lake Maurepas. The Iberville is navigable only a few months in the year, and, indeed, it is dry a portion of the time. The eastern boundary of the island is formed by Lake Maurepas, twelve miles in length, eight in breadth and twenty north of New Orleans; by Manchac Pass, nine miles long, which con- nects the last mentioned lake with Lake Pontchartrain, which is forty miles in length and twenty-five in breadth; and by the Passes of the Rigolets, which unite Lake Pontchartrain with the gulf. This island is, by the winding course of the Mississippi, two hundred and thirty miles in length and from three to fifty in breadth. On it are the parishes of St. Bernard and New Orleans, with portions of those of Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension and Iberville. We shall see with what interest the United States authorities were afterward to regard the Island of Orleans. 126 THE STORY OF THE CHAPTER X. The Louisiana Purchase Retroceded to France. In the autumn of 1802, while the indignation of the American people, caused by the closing of the port of New Orleans by the Spanish authorities, was at its great- est height, intelligence of the retrocession of the Louisiana Purchase by Spain to France was received, and only in- tensified it. For awhile there was doubt as to the truth- fulness of this report, but it was speedily confirmed, and it was learned that what is known as the treaty of St. Ilde- fonso between Spain and France had been concluded secretly on the first day of October, 1800. In article three of this document, it was declared that "His Catholic Majesty promises and engages on his part to cede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire exe- cution of the conditions and stipulations herein relative to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony or Province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it." It appears that the only consideration required on the part of France was that of a compliance with the *'condi- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 127 tions and stipulations" relative to the Duke of Parma. These must be met before France could come into full possession of that vast region over which she was now to extend her sovereignty for a second time. Let us see what they were. The Grand Duchy of Parma with its two principal cities, Parma and Placentia — the first its capital, and both having universities — lay on the Lombard Plain in North Italy, within view of the Alps, and sheltered on the south by the Apennines. It was sixty miles long and fifty broad, and had an area of three thousand square miles. It was a land of rich pastures, corn and fruits, with deposits of copper and silver. Its theater was the most famous in Europe. Its revenues amounted to forty millions of francs annually. By the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, the title to it was confirmed to the Bourbon family of Spain. South of the Apennines, and bordering on the Tuscan sea, in western Italy, lay the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, with its more than nine thousand square miles of surface, the extent and boundaries of which were nearly identical with those of the ancient Kingdom of Etruria, which was the cradle of the Etruscan race, and where dwelt a people before the founding of Rome. From its mountains flowed down to the sea the historic Tiber and Arno, and other 128 THE STORY OF THE streams celebrated in Italian song and story. It was a land of wine, oil, figs and oranges, teeming with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and there were manufactured silks and velvets — the richest in the world. Within its bounds were several cities, among them Leghorn, Pisa, and Florence, the last named the Athens of modern Italy. Its revenues* amounted to a hundred millions of francs annually. Napoleon, then engaged in his "continental consolida- tion scheme," desired to possess the Grand Duchy of Parma, that he might annex it to his Cisalpine Republic of northern Italy. His army had already entered it, but Spain was his ally, and he could not, therefore, claim it because of a military occupation. He must secure the title to it by treaty stipulations, and he accordingly sent General Alexandre Berthier to Madrid to ascertain upon what terms it could be acquired. But a short time previ- ously the French army had taken possession of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Spain saw the westward advance of civilization in America encroaching on the Mississippi, and she regarded the Louisiana Purchase as the key to Mexico, which she then held under the name of New *These revenues were derived from one-tenth of the yearly value of every house; the tenth of all estates that were sold; the ground rents of the houses in IvCghorn and other cities ; eight percent out of the portion of all women when they married; five sous a head on all cattle when sold; and almost a general excise of all provisions. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 129 Spain. If she could put France in possession of it once more, it would prove a barrier for the protection of Mex- ico. Ferdinand, a brother-in-law to the King of Spain, and to the Emperor of Germany, was now the Grand Duke of Parma. After considerable negotiation and diplomacy, an agreement was reached by which the Duke was to surrender all his rights, titles and claims to Parma, with its revenues of forty millions of francs annually to the French Republic, and Spain was to retrocede the whole of the Louisiana Purchase to France. In consid- eration of these concessions, France was to secure, de- liver, and confirm to the Duke of Parma, the rights, titles, and revenues — the last amounting to a hundred millions of francs annually — of Tuscany, and to put him in posses- sion thereof, with the title of Prince of Tuscany and King of Etruria, and to obtain for him the honors of royalty. Upon this agreement was based the treaty of St. Ilde- fonso, which, as before stated, was concluded on the first day of October, 1800. When France had complied with these "conditions and stipulations," then would Spain, within six months, sur- render Louisiana to her. Napoleon made haste, and just one hundred days thereafter secured, by the fifth article of the treaty of Luneville, concluded on the 9th of Febru- ary, 1 80 1, at the old town of that name which stood amid 130 THE STORY OF THE the meadows beyond the little Moselle river in eastern France, the provisions that the "Grand Duchy of Tuscany shall be given up, and the same shall be possessed in full sovereignty by His Highness the Infant Duke of Parma." Ferdinand had died but a few weeks before, and his titles and rights had descended to his infant heir, Luis, upon whom Tuscany was thus bestowed. Napoleon now dispatched his brother, Lucien Bona- parte, post haste to Spain, where he negotiated the treaty of Madrid, concluded March 21, 1801 — just forty days after that of Luneville — by which the provisions of the treaty of St. Ildefonso were confirmed. But now a com- plication arose. It was discovered at Paris that Fer- dinand had died without assigning to the French Republic his rights and titles to the Grand Duchy of Parma. A special ambassador was at once dispatched to Madrid, where, on his arrival, Spain, by an act of the Crown, speedily made valid the French title to the estates of Parma. By these transactions, France acquired an indis- putable title to the Louisiana Purchase. It has been seen that France exchanged Tuscany, with its revenues of a hundred millions of francs annually, for Parma with its revenues of forty millions of francs yearly, and the Louisiana Purchase. The value of the latter was there- fore estimated at sixty millions of francs. But no official announcement was made for nearly a year afterward. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 131 In July, 1802, orders from the Spanish King came over-sea to the Marquis of Cassa Calvo, at New Orleans, late the Governor ad interim, to surrender the province to the French Republic whenever a Commissioner should arrive to receive it. But now, France was almost as tardy in taking possession of the province as Spain had been a third of a century before. It was not until the spring of 1803 that Peter Clements Laussat, representing the French Republic, arrived at New Orleans, where, after considerable delay, the Spanish Commissioner, together with Manuel de Salcedo, on the 30th of November, 1803, presented to Laussat the keys of the City of New Orleans, and by this form surrendered into his hands the Louisi- ana Purchase. There were no French soldiers, but the citizens fired cannon, and amid rounds of cheers the Spanish flag was hauled down, and that of France was run up. Then, Laussat issued a proclamation, informing the people that they were again under the government of France, and there was great rejoicing on the banks of the Mississippi. 132 THE STORY OF THE CHAPTER XL The United States Endeavoring to Secure Control OF THE Mississippi River. Our story has progressed until we now approach one of the most important events — the purchase of Louisiana — an account of which is recorded in the whole history of America. Our best sources of information regarding it are to be found in the diplomatic correspondence of the United States for the years 1801 to 1803, inclusive, but before examining these, let inquiry be made regarding the men whose names are prominently connected with the history of that transaction. On the 4th day of March, 1801, a new administration of the United States Government began. Thomas Jeffer- son then became President. He was born in Virginia in 1743 ; studied at William and Mary College; was a mem- ter of the committee to draft the Declaration of Inde- pendence, and was the author of that document, as he was, also, of the statute providing for religious freedom in Virginia ; was a Governor of that State ; a Minister to France in 1785; Secretary of State under Washington; Vice-President during the administration of John Adams, and elected to the Presidency in 1800. He carefully watched the trend of affairs in Great Britain while the negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase were in progress at Paris. (133) LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 133 James Madison, whom Jefferson made his Secretary of State, was born in Virginia ; was graduated from Prince- ton College, where he was distinguished for his knowl- edge of the Hebrew language; was a member of the Executive Council of his native State; a member of the Continental Congress, and of the convention in Philadel- phia in 1787 which framed the Federal Constitution; and a member of the national Congress when he entered the cabinet of Jefferson, in which he remained until he was himself elected to the Presidency. President Jefferson named Rufus King as Minister to Great Britain. He was born in that part of Massachu- setts now included in the State of Maine ; was graduated from Harvard College in 1777; served in the Revolution- ary War as aide to General Sullivan ; was a member of 2. the Continental Congress in 1784; a member of the con- vention that framed the Federal Constitution, and one of the signers of that document; removed to New York in 1788, and the next year was elected a Senator in Con- gress. He was appointed Minister to Great Britain by Washington, and served in that capacity throughout the administration of John Adams, and through five years of that of Jefferson. As a diplomatist and political writer he displayed great ability. Charles Pinckney was a man worthy of the confidence of the American people. He was born in Charleston, 134 THE STORY OF THE South Carolina ; received a good education ; entered the Revohitionary Army when but a boy, and was for a time held a prisoner at San Augustine, Florida; was a mem- ber of the State Legislature ; a member of the convention which framed the Federal Constitution, in 1787, and President of the convention of South Carolina which rati- fied it. He was a representative of a family of patriots, ever active in the service of his country at home, and Jefferson appointed him Minister to Spain, that he might worthily represent it abroad. / P 6 / Robert R. Livingston was^ appointed Minister to France ; he was born in New York ; was graduated from Kings College; was a member of the Continental Con- gress; one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence; and in 1781, was made Secretary of For- eign Affairs under the old Confederation. He was wealthy, and a representative of a distinguished family; a man of the world, possessed of social tact and business ability; was remarkably well informed, and broad and liberal in his views; and on all classes of subjects dis- played uncommon intelligence. There was another distinguished American whose name was later to be connected with the story of the purchase of Louisiana. This was James Monroe, of Virginia. He was educated at William and Mary College ; enlisted in LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 135 the Continental army, in which he displayed great brav- ery. He was Military Commissioner of Virginia, a mem- ber of the Continental Congress, and a member of the convention, at Richmond, which ratified the Federal Con- stitution ; a United States Senator ; Minister to France in 1794; a Governor of Virginia, and in the years which were to come, was to serve two terms as President of the United States. In France, there had been ten years of the most re- markable history which it has been the lot of any nation — ancient or modern — to make. There a king had been beheaded ; a revolution, without a parallel in the annals of the world, had swept away a monarchy and established on its ruins a republic, governed at first by a Directory which had been overthrown to give place to a Consulate of three members, of which Napoleon Bonaparte, the "Corporal of Corsica," and the conqueror of Europe, was at the head, with the title of First Consul. There was, at this time m Europe, temporary peace, and he gave his attention to internal reforms. Order was everywhere seen, and he restored whatever was good and valuable of the old institutions which the tempest of revolution had not swept away. He reformed the judiciary, and in these tliree years caused to be prepared the famous code which still bears his name, and which is still the basis of law in 136 THE STORY OF THE x^fy^ -some European countries. He had called into his min- istry or cabinet the wisest men in all departments of knowledge, and who were the first statesmen of France. Of these, Charles Maurice Talleyrand was the Minis- ter of Exterior Relations. He was born in 1754, his father being an officer in the army of Louis XV., and his mother a member of the royal household of Versailles. He was educated at the Academy of St. Sulpice, where he distinguished himself as a student; became a member of the States-General; Minister of Louis XVL to the Court of St. James ; traveled in the United States in 1794, bringing with him a letter of introduction from Lord Lansdowne to President Washington ; participated in the French Revolution, and was one of the most pro- gressive and thoughtful statesmen that France ever pro- duced. Under the rule of the Directory he was Minister of Foreign Affairs, and was continued in the same office by the First Consul, but under another title. Another member of the French ministry was Francois Barbe de Marbois, who as a young man had been Secre- tary of Legation at Philadelphia in the last years of the American Revolution, and, later, charge d'affaires. He wedded a daughter of Governor Moore, of Pennsylvania. Afterwards he located the French consulates in the United States in which he spent more than ten years. In LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 137 this time he compiled for pubHcation Jefferson's ''Notes on Virginia," the first edition of which was pubHshed in Paris. He was at this time the Minister of the Treasury, and an ardent friend of America. Still another name was prominent in the ministry of the French Republic. It was that of General Alexandre Berthier, who had served as a captain and topographical engineer under La Fayette and Rochambeau in the Amer- ican Revolution. He commanded the French army that in 1799 overran Italy, and occupied the city of Rome, and the next year negotiated and signed the treaty of Ilde- fonso, thus securing to France the title to the Louisiana Purchase, and now became Napoleon's Minister of War. King Charles IV. was then on the throne of Spain ; his Queen was Maria Louisa of Parma ; his Prime Minister was Emanuel Godoy; Chevalier J. Nicholay D'Azura was his Minister at Paris, and M. Casa Yrujo, in a sim- ilar capacity, represented the Court of Spain at Washing- ton City. George III. was King of Great Britain, and Lord Hawkesbury was his Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Such, in brief, were the men who made the diplomatic history of the Louisiana Purchase. On the 29th of March, 1 801— twenty-five days after the administration of Jefferson began — Rufus King 138 THE STORY OF THE wrote from London the first intimation that the United States Government received of the retrocession of the Louisiana Purchase by Spain to France. This intelli- gence had created excitement in London, where the Brit- ish authorities beheld, in the rise of the French power in America, the conquest of their Canadian possessions wrested from France nearly forty years before. Now it caused alarm in the United States where the people saw in this, a menace to western settlement, to commerce and the navigation of the Mississippi, the latter most important interest, not only of the people on the west side of the Alleghenies, but of the future prosperity of the nation. This caused the Americans to look to the southward for an outlet to the sea, either by the Iberville River and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, or by way of the Tombigbee and Mobile Rivers. But this meant the own- ership of West Florida, or rather, of both Floridas,* *Florida when first defined was of much greater extent than the State now bearing that name. Then it extended from the gulf northward to the 3]st degree of latitude, and from the Atlantic on the east to Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas, and above the Iberville River, to the Mississippi on the west. It thus contained what is now eastern Louisiana and the southern parts of Mississippi and Alabama below the said parallel. For two centuries Florida with this extent belonged to Spain, and as early as 1719 that nation recognized the region as being divided into two parts by the Perdido River, which now forms the boundary between the States of Alabama and Florida. In 1763 Spain ceded the entire region to Great Britain in consideration of the return of Cuba, which the British had conquered the preceding year. Now Florida was divided in two provinces — East and West Florida — the former east of the Perdido River and identical with the present State, and the latter west of the Perdido, and, as stated, extending westward to Lakes Maurepas and Pontchar- train and to the Mississippi above the Iberville. Now they were spoken of LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 139 which it was believed, had now been ceded to France. If these could not be secured, then, would the French Republic sell the Island of Orleans on which stands the city of New Orleans? For two years the United States and France had been engaged in a war on the ocean, but this had been terminated by a treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of September, 1800, articles two and five of which left the matter of debts due by either na- tion to the citizens of the other, for future adjustment, but those to whom they were due were authorized to prosecute such claims. In these two years, French privateers had captured and destroyed a vast volume of American commerce, and already the United States was urging the claims of its citizens for payment. These were known as the French "spoliation claims." Now, would France cede the Island of Orleans and the Floridas — if she possessed them — in payment of these claims? as the Floridas. Both were given colonial forms of government and some Carolinians removed thither, and about fifteen hundred Greeks, Minorcans and Italians were brought over as colonists from the Mediterranean. But when the Revolution began, the inhabitants of these provinces were so few that they did not unite with the Thirteen Colonies in their struggle for inde- pendence. In 1781 West Florida was conquered by an army from the I,ouisiana Purchase under Galvez, the Spanish Governor and Captain-General, and in 1783. Great Britain, after holding them for twenty years, retroceded both to Spain in exchange for the Bahama Islands. Now came a period of decadence and many of the inhabitants left the country. In the negotiations leading up to the purchase of r,ouisiana the Floridas played an important part, the French asserting that they were included in the Louisiana cession, the Span- iards denying this, and the Americans endeavoring to secure them from either nation. 140 THE STORY OF THE Would she sell them? Or, would she sell the Island of Orleans, and thus give to the United States absolute con- trol of the Mississippi ? Answers to these questions now became the subject of negotiation. The thought of pur- chasing the control of the Mississippi was not new. It originated with Benjamin Franklin, who while in Paris wrote John Jay in 1780 — more than twenty years before — and said : "Poor as we are, yet, I know we shall be rich; and I would rather agree with the Spaniards [then the owners] to buy at a great price the whole of their right in the Mississippi than to sell a drop of its waters." Thus, with almost prophetic vision the old philosopher then saw that which it would be necessary to do in the future. On the first of June, 1801, Lord Hawkesbury, in Lon- don, while talking to Rufus King, introduced the subject of the retrocession of Louisiana — the first time it had been mentioned at court — and asked him what he thought of it. King, who believed it dangerous to the interests of both their respective countries, but preferred not to commit himself, replied by quoting the famous saying of Montesquieu, 'That it is happy for trading nations that God has permitted Turks and Spaniards to be in the world, since of all nations they are the most proper to possess a great empire with insignificance." On the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 141 20th of November ensuing, King sent from London to Madison the first copy of the treaty of St. Ildefonso that reached the United States. From this it was learned that Spain's compensation for the Louisiana Purchase to- gether with the Duchy of Parma, was the cession by France of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Robert R. Livingston was given his commission and letters of credence on the 28th of September, 1801, and having received his instructions from Secretary Madison, ''to make inquiry regarding the Spanish cession of Lou- isiana," he sailed for France in the frigate ''Boston," bound for the Mediterranean Sea, which landed him at P>ordeaux, and then continued her voyage, while he pro- ceeded to Paris. He vvas an ardent advocate of freedom, and he knew that nothing short of the change that had taken place could have lessened the calamities of France, and he assured the ministers of the French Republic that he meant to have no intrigues with its enemies. In con- sequence of this, he soon acquired a degree of favor at Court, such, indeed, as the ministers of other nations did not have accorded them. And, as a rule, they answered his correspondence politely if not satisfactorily. He was, therefore, soon a favorite with the First Consul, and with the more liberal and intelligent of the statesmen who sur- rounded him. They had assisted in freeing a people 142 THE STORY OF THE from a monarchy ; so had he. On his arrival, ''I found/' said he, ''the credit and character of our nation very low.. ' Our people were considered as interested speculators whose god was money." He was, at once, about the busi- ness before him, and on the loth of December he wrote Madison, saying, "This Parma business is settled," mean- ing that the retrocession of the Louisiana Purchase had actually taken place. The next day when one of the min- isters of the French Republic spoke in his presence of the lack of means to pay the public debts, he suggested to him the sale of the Island of Orleans to the United States. To this the minister replied promptly by saying, "None but spendthrifts satisfy their debts by selling their lands." This is the first reference to be found in the diplomatic correspondence between the two nations re- lating to the sale of any part of the Louisiana Purchase. Meantime, as the days passed away, Livingston was urg- ing upon the ministers the payment of debts due Amer- ican citizens, and Fulwar Skipwith, the United States Consul at Paris, was equally importunate in the matter of pressing these claims. Madison now requested Livingston to bring the mat- ter of the cession of the Island of Orleans and West Florida to the United States directly to the attention of the French authorities. This he did on the 2d of Febru- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 143 ary, 1802, when he wrote Charles M. Talleyrand, and desired to know ''if it would be practicable to make such arrangements between the two nations as would, at the same time, aid the financial obligations of France, and remove by a strong natural boundary all further causes of discontent between her and the United States." By this he meant the cession of the Island of Orleans to the United States when the Mississippi would become the /7 "strong natural boundary" between the two nations. To this communication no reply was ever made. On the 5th of February, 1802, King wrote Madison from London saying that he had information that, in compliance with the wish of Napoleon, France would proceed speedily to colonize Louisiana. This report was confirmed in a letter written the next day by Livingston to Madison, saying, ''Statesmen here say that the settle- ment of Louisiana will occasion a great waste of men and money. But," he adds, "Napoleon is much attached to the scheme, and it must be supported. * >i^ * Gen- eral Bernadotte is designed for the command of the Lou- isiana expedition, and he has asked for ten thousand men." It was true that Napoleon was determined to oc- cupy and colonize Louisiana. He beheld in it a new Egypt, and saw in it a colonial establishment that should counterbalance the eastern establishment of Great Britain. 144 THE STORY OF THE He saw in it a position for his generals, and, what was more important in the state of things then existing, he saw in it a place for the ostracism of suspected enemies. Only a few days before this, Barbe Marbois, the Minis- ter of the Treasury, had remarked to Livingston that the French Republic considered its newly acquired posses- sions an excellent ''outlet for its turbulent spirits." This information intensified interest in the United States, for it was the policy of the American government to discourage, if possible, the occupation and colonization of Louisiana. On the i8th of April, 1802, President Jef- ferson, writing Livingston in Paris, said : ''The cession of Louisiana by Spain to France works most sorely on the United States. On this subject the Secretary of State has written fully, yet I cannot forbear recurring to it personally, so deep is the impression it makes on my mind. It completely reverses all the polit- ical relations of the United States, and will form a new epoch in our political intercourse with all nations of any consideration. France is the one which, hitherto, has offered the fewest points in which we could have any conflict of right, and the most points of a communion of interest. From these causes we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as one with which we never could have an occasion of difference. Her growth, therefore. < I O DC < CO D O -I UJ I H UJ I I- \- < liJ < H CO >- GC < I- UJ cr o UJ CO < H Z IxJ 9 CO UJ cc Q. UJ X (144) LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 145 we viewed as our own — her misfortunes ours. There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our terri- tory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will, ere long, yield more than half of our whole produce, and certainly more than half our inhabitants. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defense. ^^ * >!< * ji-,g (j^y ^1-,^!- France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the sentence which is to restrain her for- ever within her low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations, who, in conjunction, can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment we must ' marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation. We must I turn all our attention to a maritime force for which our re- sources place us on very high gronnd ; and having formed and connected together a power which may, under re- i enforcements of her settlements here, impossible to ' France, make the first cannon which shall be fired in ; Europe the signal for tearing up any settlements she may ( have made, and for holding the two continents of Amer- \ ica in sequestration for the common purposes of the United States and British nations. . This is not a state of things we seek or desire. It is one which this measure, if adopted by France, forces on us as necessarily as any 1 146 THE STORY OF THE Other cause by the laws of nature, brings its necessary effect. Every eye in the United States is now fixed on the affairs of Louisiana. Perhaps nothing since the Revolutionary War has produced more uneasy sensa- tions through the body of the nation." Speaking further of the relations of the two nations, he said that if anything could reconcile these, ''it would be the ceding to us of the Island of Orleans. * >!= * This would, in a great degree, remove the ceaseless jarring and irritation between us and, perhaps, for such a length of time as might produce other means of making the measure permanently conciliatory to our interests and friendship. >i- =i^ * jf France changes that relation, it embarks us necessarily as a belligerent power in the first war in Europe. In that case, France will have held pos- session of New Orleans during the interval of a peace, long or short, at the end of which it will be wrested from her." The summing up of it all was that if France would cede the Island of Orleans to the United States for an equivalent in money, then the ''marrying" with Great // Britain would not take place, and France could have the /' benefit of an American guarantee of sovereignty west of // the Mississippi River. He sent this letter by Dupont de Nemours, open, expressly and avowedly that its contents might be made known in France. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 147 The authorities of Great Britain were favorable to the views expressed by Jefferson, for, on May 7, 1802, while his letter was in transit on the ocean, Lord Hawkesbury wrote Rufus King and said: 'It is impossible that so important an event as the cession of Louisiana by Spain to France should be regarded by the King in any other light than as highly interesting to His Majesty and the United States, and should render it more necessary than ever that there should subsist between the two govern- ments that spirit of confidence which is become so essen- tial to the security of their respective territories and pos- sessions." At the same time he informed King that his Government had received no official communication from either Spain or France, and stated that his sovereign was anxious to learn the sentiments of the Americans on every part of this subject, and the line of policy which they would be inclined to adopt in the event of this ar- rangement being carried into effect. This letter was in reply to one written by King on the 21st of April, asking that ''the British Government will, in confidence, explain itself upon this subject." In the early spring of this year, there was uncertainty and anxiety at Washington, and on May ist Madison wrote Livingston urging him to press the matter of the purchase of the Island of Orleans, and of the Floridas, if 148 THE STORY OF THE the latter be included in the cession, and added : "In every view it would be a most precious acquisition." Nine days later he wrote Charles Pinckney, at Madrid, instructing him, if the cession had not taken place, to en- ' deavor to secure the cession of the Spanish territory east of the Mississippi, including the Island of Orleans, to the United States, with the Mississippi as a common boundary, with a common use of its navigation for both nations. Meantime, the colonial scheme in France went on, as appears from Livingston's letter to Madison, under date of May 28th, in which he stated that Louisiana would certainly be colonized by the French ; that General Ber- nadotte was to command; that Collet was to be second in command; that Adet was to be colonial prefect; but that the expedition was delayed because of a misunder- standing between France and Spain as to the boundaries of Louisiana — the former asserting that the Floridas were included in the cession, while the latter denied this, and insisted upon the strict meaning of the term "Lou- isiana." Spain was determined to hold the Floridas as security for the protection of her vast territories in South America and Mexico, while France desired to possess them that she might prevent the United States from ob- taining a controlling influence in the Mexican Gulf. She LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 149 therefore insisted, and rightly, too, that for her there could be no Louisiana without the Floridas. But now all uncertainty was to cease at home and abroad, for on the second day of June, 1802, J. Nicholay D'Azara, the Spanish Minister at Paris, officially informed Livingston of the retrocession of the Louisiana Purchase, and, fur- ther, that the Floridas were not included in it. But France so much desired to possess them, that now Gen- eral Bournonville was sent post haste to Madrid, where in the first conference with Emanuel Godoy, the Spanish Premier, he proposed to restore the Duchy of Parma to Spain in exchange for the Floridas, and when this was declined, he offered to pay forty mxillions of francs for them. But this, too, was declined. Livingston watched the progress of this negotiation, for he felt that if France should obtain a title to the Floridas, she would never sell the Island of Orleans ; rather she would hold it, and thus continue in absolute control of the navigation of the Mississippi River. While awaiting the issue of the nego- tiation at Madrid, Talleyrand declared to him, with ref- erence to the French occupancy of the Louisiana Pur- chase, that nothing would be done that would give the people of the United States any just ground for com- plaint; that, on the contrary, their vicinity would pro- mote our friendship. 150 THE STORY OF THE Now, for the first time, Livingston gave evidence of perplexity, when, on writing Madison, on the 20th of May, he said that all of his communications had thus far terminated "in nothing." But he never lost sight of the claims of his fellow citizens, and only two days before this he had addressed a communication to Talleyrand, in which he made an imperative demand on the French Government for the payment of these debts. He again wrote Madison, on the 30th of July, and said : "The only thing that can be done is to endeavor to obtain a cession of New Orleans, either by purchase or by offering to make it a port of entry to France on such terms as shall promise advantage to her commerce, and give hopes of introducing her manufactures and wines into that coun- try." Ten days later, he said that he could "get nothing from the French Government regarding Louisiana." This was true so far as official information was concerned, but he was a careful observer of what was passing around him, and on the 6th of August, he informed Mad- ison that the dispute between France and Spain regard- ing the Floridas had been settled ; that the French col- onization scheme went on ; that General Victor had been appointed to the supreme command of the military estab- lishment of Louisiana ; that he was to have a general of division, and two generals of brigade, a controller of LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 151 forests, and three thousand men, and that two milHons of francs were appropriated for the Louisiana service. Then he expressed the thought that a war between France and Great Britain might retard the movement, and added : "Good may come out of this evil if it shall happen." In the month of August, Livingston was engaged in an effort to prevent the colonization of the Louisiana Pur- chase, and he busied himself in the preparation of an ex- tended "Memoir to the French Government," in which he endeavored to answer the question : "Whether it will be advantageous to France to take possession of Louisi- ana?" His conclusion was that it would not and could not be profitable to do this. He considered the subject under two heads : First — As it affects the commerce and manufactures of France. Second — As it affects her posi- tion and relative strength. These were fully discussed, and he declared that : "Colonies are never cherished for themselves, but on account of the influence they have on the general pros- perity of the nation, and as one man at home contributes more to this than two at a distance, no wise nation col- onizes but when it has a superfluous population, or when it has capital that cannot otherwise be rendered produc- tive." He closed this Memoir by saying : "The cession of Louisiana is, however, very important to France, if she 152 THE STORY OF THE avails herself of it in the only way that sound policy /^ would dictate. I speak of Louisiana proper, in which I do not include the Floridas, presuming that they make no part of the cession. Since by this cession she may acquire a right to navigate the whole Mississippi and a free trade; and, if she knows how to avail herself of this cir- cumstance by a perfect understanding with the United States, she will find a vent through it for a vast variety of her commodities when she has given the people of the western States the habit of consuming them in preference to those they receive from Great Britain. This can only be done by affording them cheaper. She can only afford them cheaper by interesting the American merchant in their sale, and having the use of his capital, and by en- gaging the Government of the United States to give them preference. These objects can only be obtained by a ces- sion of New Orleans to the United States with a reserva- tion of a right of entry at all times, free from any other duties than such as are exacted from the vessels of the United States, together with the right to navigate the Mississippi ; this will give her ships an advantage over those of any other nation. * * * While on the other hand, should France retain New Orleans, and endeavor to colonize Louisiana, she will render herself an object of jealousy to Spain, Great Britain and the United States, LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 153 the three of whom — Spain on the west, Great Britain on the north, and the United States on the east — would dis- courage her commerce." Twenty copies of this ''Memoir" were prepared and dis- tributed among the ministers and other officials of the French Republic. It is the most important State paper ' connected with the diplomatic correspondence relating to ,' the Louisiana Purchase, except the treaty itself. On the 30th of A'ugust, Livingston, still in great earn- est, wrote direct propositions to the French Government on the subject of Louisiana, but was assured by Talley- rand that any offer made at that time was premature, and that Louisiana would be occupied ; that this w^as abso- lutely determined upon, and that the expedition would sail for that purpose in about six weeks. By the first of September, he had again grown impatient because of the long delays on the part of Talleyrand and others to reply to his communications, and in his letter to Madison on this date, he said : ''There never was a government in which less can be done by negotiation. There are no peo- ple, no legislature, no councillors. One man is every- thing. His ministers are mere clerks, and his legislators and councillors but parade officers. All reflecting men are opposed to the wild expedition to Louisiana, but no man dares tell Napoleon so. But I am persuaded that the 154 THE STORY OF THE whole will end in the relinquishment of the country — an abandonment of the enterprise. * * * There has been a rupture with Portugal ; England is sour ; and the action of this government will not suffer peace to con- tinue." Madison wrote Livingston on the 15th of October, and said : "If the occasion can be so improved as to obtain for the United States, on convenient terras, New Orleans and the Floridas, the happiest of issues will be given to one of the most perplexing questions." Time passed ; little progress was made, but Livingston was constantly seek- ing opportunities to advance American interests. On the 26th of October he was extremely fortunate in having a conversation with Joseph Bonaparte, a brother of Napo- leon, a brother-in-law of General Bernadotte, whose sis- ter he had married, and who was himself soon to become King of Spain, and later of the two Sicilys. The subject of Louisiana was fully discussed, and the latter made a confidante. He said that he would receive in an informal way any communication which Livingston might make, but added: "My brother is his own counsellor; but he is a good brother ; he hears me with pleasure, and I have access to him at all times. T have an opportunity of turn- ing his attention to a particular subject that might other- wise be passed over." Livingston asked him if he had LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 155 read his ''Memoir to the French Government." He re- plied that he had, and that he had conversed upon the subject with the First Consul, who, he found had read it^^^ with attention, and that he had told him he ''had nothing i"^ more at heart than to be upon the best of terms with the United States." Livingston then spoke of the debts due from the French Government to American citizens — a subject he ever made prominent — and expressed the hope that these might be adjusted by the cession of New Or- leans and the Floridas, if the latter should ever come into the possession of France. Joseph then asked him whether ' the United States would prefer the Floridas to Louisiana.^ Livingston replied that "as between the two, there was no comparison in their value, but that the United States did / not want to extend their boundaries across the Missis-/ sippi. * * ^ That all they sought was security, and not extension of territory." To this Joseph replied that "to secure any additional cession from Spain would be very difficult." By this he meant the cession of the Flor- idas. Now Livingston had found an avenue by which he could reach the First Consul other than through a tardy ministry. The name of Joseph Bonaparte is scarcely mentioned, hereafter, in the diplomatic correspondence, but Livingston's references to "the only person who was supposed to have influence with him" — Napoleon — leaves 156 THE STORY OF THE no doubt as to who is meant, nor can there be any that he was active in the future negotiations, as an ardent friend of America. Again the colonization matter attracted attention, and on the 28th of November, Livingston wrote Jefferson, saying that he thought all Europe, except Russia, was ready to rise against the power of Napoleon, and that while the expedition was under orders to sail for Lou- isiana, it was deterred in anticipation of coming events. Writing Madison on the same day, he said: 'This Mis- sissippi business, though all of the officers are appointed, and the army is under orders, has received a check. It is obstructed for the moment." He had learned that a fur- ther complication regarding the Duchy of Parma had arisen, and, but four days later, he wrote Madison that, ''The Parma trouble is settled, and the expedition will sail for Louisiana in about twenty days ; the appropriation for it has been increased to two and a half millions of francs, and the people there are to pay the expenses of govern- ment." His last letter of the year, that of December 22d, informed the Secretary of State that the expedition had not vet sailed. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 157 CHAPTER XII. Negotiations Leading up to the Purchase of Louisi- ana — The Treaty of Parts — The Conventions. At the beginning of the year 1803, a crisis was at hand in the history of North America. It was the most critical period in the annals of the United States since the found- ing of the Government. Questions of mighty import were presenting themselves for solution. Was France to colonize Louisiana, occupy New Orleans, and control the navigation of the Mississippi ? Was Great Britain, in her impending war with France, to conquer the country west of that river, and thereby extend her possessions from the Lake of the Woods to the Gulf of Mexico? Was the United States to be confined to the east side of the Mis- sissippi, between the thirty- first parallel of north latitude — the northern boundary of Florida — and the Great Lakes? Or, was that republic to become the possessor of New Orleans, to control the commerce on the mighty river, and by securing the Louisiana Purchase, make pos- sible the future extension of its boundaries to the Pacific Ocean, so as to include the twenty trans-Mississippi States of to-day? American statesmen at home and 158 THE STORY OF THE abroad saw the wonderful possibilities, acted wisely, and ''l^nilded better than they knew." On the nth of January, Jefferson conferred upon Liv- ingston plenipotentiary powers to enter into a treaty or convention with Napoleon for ''securing our rights and interests in the river Mississippi." Similar increased powers were given Pinckney at Madrid that he might treat for the same interests if it be found that the cession to France had not been fully confirmed. Then after ex- pressing entire confidence in the ability of both these gentlemen, on the same day, Jefferson nominated James Monroe as Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraor- dinary, to proceed to Europe, there to negotiate jointly with either Livingston, or Pinckney, or both, in the mat- ters before them. On the next day his nomination was confirmed by the Senate by a strict party vote — fifteen to twelve. He was expected to be absent more than a year, and his salary was fixed at nine thousand dollars per an- num. On the 13th, Jefferson wrote him at his home in Virginia informing him of his appointment, and, he added : "The agitation of the public mind on the occasion of the late suspension of our right of deposit at New Orleans is extreme. In the western country it is natural and grounded on honest motives. '•' -^ * Something sensible has become necessary ; and, indeed, our object LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 159 of purchasing- New Orleans and the Floridas is a measure " liable to assume so many shapes that no instructions can be squared to meet them. * ^ * On the events of this mission depend the future of this Republic." On the same day that Monroe's appointment was con- firmed, Congress made an appropriation of two millions of dollars *'to defray the expense which may be incurred in relation to the intercourse between the United States and foreign countries." ''We must have New Orleans," was the declaration of the day, and it was then heard on every hand — often in the halls of Congress. No doubt the money thus appropriated was intended to pay for the Island of Orleans. Meantime, Livingston was busy with American inter- ests in Paris, and on the loth of January, he informed the French ministry that Great Britain desired to gain control of the mouth of the Mississippi, and thereby es- tablish a southern connection with her Canadian pos- sessions by way of that river and the Great Lakes. To obtain this possession, she would find but little difficulty unless prevented by the United States ; for Louisiana, a new colony, would be imable to withstand the forces of Canada advancing on New Orleans. Then he submitted to Talleyrand an outline of a treaty, which he accom- panied by the remark that "Louisiana will never be worth 160 THE STORY OF THE possessing by France without the Floridas." And, con- tinuing, he said : "First: Let France cede to the United States so much of Louisiana as Hes above the Arkansas River. This will place a barrier between the French possessions and Can- ada, which will prevent successful attack from that source before aid can arrive from France." ''Second: Let France retain the country west of the Mississippi, and below the Arkansas River — a region capable of sustaining fifteen millions of people — and by this action she will place a barrier between the United States and Mexico — New Spain. Then if the former shall ever have the wild idea of carrying their arms into that country, she will be at hand to aid Spain, or against the attack of any other European power." ''Third: Let France hold East Florida as far west as the Perdido River, and then cede West Florida and the Island of Orleans to the United States. This will give France the best lands and nearly all the settlements, to- gether with Fort St. Leon, on the west bank of the Mis- sissippi, eighteen miles below New Orleans, but because of a great bend in the river, nearly opposite that city, and which has an equally good harbor, is higher, healthier, more defensible, destined to be the chief seaport of Louisi- ana, and will become the capital, even though France re- tains New Orleans, which is a small town built of wood." LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 161 "Such an arrangement alone can keep the whole of that vast region from falling into the hands of Great Britain, who, with her maritime power in the gulf, and a martial colony in Canada, will, with her fleets block up the seaports, and attack New Orleans, while an army of fifteen or twenty thousand men from the St. Lawrence can overrun the whole settled portions of Louisiana. Thus France, by holding on to Louisiana as it is, will, in the end, make Great Britain the master of the New World." Then he referred again to the mutual interests of France and the United States, and said that if the French authorities thought of these and of the means of protect- ing them, he would like to arrest the settlement of the boundary matter between the United States and Great Britain, then being adjusted by Rufus King, at London. To this he added : "Every reason of policy should now in- duce France either to relinquish her design of colonizing Louisiana altogether, or to cover her position by ceding New Orleans to the United States." On the i8th of January, Madison wrote Livingston saying that Monroe had been appointed, and would sail in a few days, to assist him in the negotiation. "He will," said he, "be the bearer of instructions under which you are to act. * * * 'pj^e object of them will be to pro- 162 THE STORY OF THE ^'cure the cession of New Orleans and the Floridas to the United States, and, consequently, the establishment of the / ' Mississippi as the boundary between the United States and Louisiana. In order to draw the French Government into this measure, a sum of money will make part of your propositions, to which will be added such regulations of the commerce of that river and of others entering the Gulf of Mexico as ought to be satisfactory to France." On the 5th of February, Livingston informed Madison that: "The Louisiana armament has not yet sailed, it being frozen fast in the ice on the coast of France." This was the last mention he ever made of the scheme. In a letter written on the i8th to Madison, he informed him that he found another avenue to the First Consul t1ian through his Minister of Exterior Relations, and that he ' had effectually done this. "I can," says he, "have a per- ' sonal conference with him whenever I choose. * '•' ''' France is fully impressed with the nullity of her posses- sions in Louisiana without some port on the gulf." Nine days later he sent a communication to Napoleon, in which he pressed upon him the payment of the debts due to American citizens, saying that these debts ''against the Government of France are so well founded that no administration that ever prevailed in France has refused to recognize them." "At the same time, I must," said he. Ul CO < o cc D Q. < CO D O _l UJ X I- Q UJ < O CD UJ LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 163 "solicit some treaty explaining- the terms on which France has received Louisiana from Spain." This he urged more earnestly upon the French authorities than ever before because a communication just received from Madison informed him that the Spanish Intendant at New Orleans still kept that port closed against the de- posit of American merchandise. He further pressed upon Napoleon the thought that France could never derive any benefit from the occupation of New Orleans, and that he could not but express doubt of "any advantage to be derived to France from the retaining of that country [Louisiana] in its full extent. '^ ''^ '^^ I think it will be well for her to make such grants of it as will protect it against an enemy from Canada as well as from the sea." On the second of March, Madison delivered to Monroe "Letters of Credence" for himself and Livingston, by which they were authorized to treat with the Government of the French Republic "on the subject of the Mississippi and the territories to the eastward thereof, and without / the LTnitcd States." 'The object in view," continued Mad- ison, "is to procure by just and satisfactory arrangement a cession to the L^nited States of New Orleans and West and East Florida, or as much thereof as the actual pro- prietor can be prevailed on to part with." It must be kept in mind that France was engaged in a constant effort 164 THE STORY OF THE to secure the Floridas from Spain, and Madison said fur- ther that: ''The French Republic is understood to have become the proprietor, by a cession from Spain, of New Orleans, if not of the Floridas." The chief object, how- ever, was to make the Mississippi, down to its mouth, the boundary between the United States and Louisiana. The unstability of the peace of Furope, the hostile atti- tude of Great Britain, and the languishing state of the French finances were all favorable to American interests. So thought Madison. But he l>elievcd that it was the in- tention of Napoleon to occupy New Orleans, and by thus gaining control of the Mississippi, hold the key to the commerce of its great valley, and thus command the re- spect and influence of the United States in his war with Great Britain, then near at hand. In this way, he would, at least, make the American Republic a neutral power. In addition to the letters, Madison also delivered to Monroe the form of a treaty — doubtless the work of Jef- ferson — which specified the objects desired. It was ar- ranged in a series of articles in the first of which was the provision that France should cede to the United States forever, her territory east of the Mississippi whatever it might be, comprehending New Orleans and the islands lying north of the channel known as the South Pass at the mouth of the Mississippi, France retaining to herself ' LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 165 /^/all the territory on the west side of that river. Thus supplied with instructions for himself and Livingston, Monroe sailed from New York for Havre on the 7th of March, and reached Paris on the 12th of April after a stormy voyage of thirty-six days. Talleyrand now aided Livingston to reach the ear of the First Consul, a thing he had not previously done. General Bernadotte and Marbois favored the cession of the territory on the east side of the Mississippi, as did other prominent men, among them Le Brun, who was in- timate with Barbois on account of the intermarriage of their children. On the nth of March, Livingston wrote Madison saying that French stocks were selling at sixty- one per cent, "a decline of four per cent in the last few days." In his letter of the next day, he said with respect to the negotiations for Louisiana: 'T think nothing will be effected here. I have done everything I can, through the Spanish Embassador here, to obstruct the bargain between France and Spain for the Floridas, and I have good hope that it will not be soon concluded." It was at this time the policy of the American authorities to dis- courage the cession of the Floridas to France, for if that country insisted on holding New Orleans, then might the United States secure, by treaty with Spain, a part at least of West Florida, and thus obtain by one or more of its rivers, an outlet to the gulf. 166 THE STORY OF THE But now the French ministry made a proposition to Livingston. It was to make New Orleans a free port of entry to the vessels of three nations — France, Spain and the United States — to all incoming vessels — that is on imports — provided the United States Government would agree to admit free the merchandise of France and Spain to the upper Mississippi, and the valleys of the Ohio and the Missouri. This Livingston could not consider, first because of its terms, and secondlv for want of authoritv. In a lengthy letter to Talleyrand, written on the i6th of March, Livingston spoke of Napoleon as "an enlightened statesman who had advanced his country to the highest pinnacle of military glory and national prosperity." But he declared that "Louisiana is, and ever must be, from physical causes, a miserable country in the hands of any European power. Nor can France on any principle of sound policy dictate any change in the circumstances of New Orleans that shall exclude the citizens of the United States from the right of deposit to which alone they must be indebted for their prosperity. Be assured, sir," he continued, "that even were it possible that the government of the L^nited States could be insensible to these suffer- ings, they would find it as easy to prevent the Mississippi River from rolling its waters into the ocean, as to control the impulse of the people to do themselves justice. * '^ LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 167 wSir, I will venture to say that were a fleet to shut up the mouths of the Chesapeake, Delaware and Hudson, it v.ould create less sensation in the United States than the denial of the right of deposit at New Orleans has done. .!: ^ * ^YXiQ people of the Western Country were emi- grants from the different States in which they left con- nections deeply interested in their prosperity." Meantime, war clouds were rising over Europe. Rufus King writing Madison from London under date of the 17th of March said: ''We are all in a bustle, not knowing whether we are to have war or peace." Soon, however, this was to be determined, for all Europe was to be con- vulsed once more. Napoleon realized that he was on the eve of a war with Great Britain. He had himself vio- lated the terms of the Peace of Amiens, and Britain was \ never to make truce with him again. He well knew, too, that the Louisiana Purchase was the most defenseless of his possessions; that as such it would be the first the British would strike, and that it must fall into their hands. This knowledge alone induced him to make the sale. He judged wisely that he would better sell it for as much as he could get, for he was to lose it entirely if he at- tempted to retain it. Pie was not so weak in military capacity as to suppose for a moment that he could hold a 168 THE STORY OF THE level and comparatively unfortified mud bank, inhabited only by a few thousand Creoles, and a vast wilderness in- land occupied by savages, with the Atlantic Ocean be- tween it and France, against the fighting men of five mil- lions of people ; and that, too, with Great Britain joyfully and eagerly ready to anticipate any assistance he could send, so that not a regiment could reach Louisiana with- out, in part at least, owing it to favoring incidents. He now saw that his colonization scheme was at an end ; that this new domain was worthless to France, and must soon pass from its grasp. It was, therefore, both to his ad- vantage and credit to part with it for the best equivalent he could obtain, before the outbreak of another war. The "first cannon fired in Europe," of which Jefferson had spoken nearly a year before, was about to roar the knell of the Peace of Amiens, and it was now for Bonaparte to say whether it should be the ''signal," also, for holding the two continents of America in ''sequestration" for the common purposes of the "united British and American nations." On Saturday, April 9th, Marbois went to the Palace of St. Cloud,* to attend a meeting of the Ministry. Napo- *The Palace of St. Cloud was situated at the village of that name, on the left bank of the Seine River, seven miles west of the center of Paris. It was there that the decision to sell lyOuisiana was made. It continued to be a royal residence until 1870, when it was burned by the Prussian army. DC UJ I 1- QC Ul GO vUJ CC Q z < ^^ X i) LlI Ul _l < O ;h z 3 Ul CD _CB 'S5 3 O ►4 X( ^ •*^ ^ UJ *■> 1- '% QC -o < lU Q. o < Z O CQ o >, Z V O UJ _l a O a Q. < Z o a a ■ the profession of law. In England he wedded Margaret Agnew, a daughter of the Lieutenant-Governor ovf the Isle of Man and a granddaughter of General Agnew, who was with Wolf at Quebec. Soon after he sold his ex- tensive estates in Ireland and sailed for America, landing in New York. In 1797 he crossed the mountains and halted at Marietta, Ohio. The next year he purchased the beautiful island in the Ohio River, two miles below Parkersburg, West Virginia, and fourteen below Marietta, which has ever since borne his name. There he erected a palatial mansion — the best home on the borders of civiliza- 244 THE STORY OF THE tion at that time. To it he brought a Hbrary of choice and vakiable works, with chemical and physical apparatus for his own pleasure and self-improvement. Possessed of an ample fortune to supply every want, his wife, a woman of rare beauty and accomplishments, of high spirits and am- bition, and with lovely children, he was surrounded with everything that can make life desirable and happy. Let us notice briefly what was then known as the "West- ern Country," which then had nearly a million inhabitants. The State of Kentucky had been a member of the Union for more than twelve years ; Tennessee for nearly nine, and Ohio for little more than two. V^irginia stretched away to the Ohio River and included the present state of West Virginia. Mississippi Territory had been erected in 1798; the Territory of Indiana, then including the "Illinois Country," formed in 1800; the Louisiana Pur- chase had been the property of the United States less than two years, but from it the Territory of Orleans had been formed eight months before when the residue of the Pur- chase had been attached to Indiana Territory. Far away to the southwest, beyond the Louisiana Purchase and a thousand miles from the Mississippi lay a vast and wealthy empire — Mexico — governed by tyrants whom the people hated and defended by troops whom soldiers should despise. For years the riches of that country had been LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 245 the theme of travelers, and its mines, which were inex- haustible, had flooded the treasury of Spain with gold. Now, a bold adventurer, commanding an army of x\nglo- Saxon soldiers, could easily conquer that empire and make it his own. Somehow, somewhere in this western and southwestern country, Burr resolved to retrieve his fortunes, to attain distinction and power, and thus find an opportunity for triumphing over his once-admiring but now political en- emies. Leaving Washington he proceeded to Pittsburg. There, in April, he procured a boat in which he floated down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. At Cin- cinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Nashville and many other places he was received with enthusiastic attention ; he stopped at Blennerhassett's Island ; at Fort Massac, in the Illinois Country, he had an interview with General Wilk- inson, with whom he had stood side by side in Mont- gomery's attack on Quebec, who was then commanding the Western Military Department of the United States, and who, on the 4th of July of this year began his ad- ministration as Governor of Louisiana Territory, just then arisen out of the District of Louisiana. To him he confided so far as to tell him of his proposed plans and solicit his participation therein. Wilkinson sent him in a government boat, under escort, to New Orleans, where he arrived in June. 246 THE STORY OF THE Burr, never idle, busied himself while in the Crescent City with the consideration of plans for future activity. Three schemes appear to have presented themselves, as follows : First — The mustering of an army and the invasion and conquest of Mexico. Second — The separation of the States and Territories west of the Allegheny Mountains from the Union, and the formation of a new republic of which New Orleans should be the capital. Third — In event of the failure of both these measures, the purchase of a great landed estate on the Wichita, in the Territory of New Orleans. It consisted of nearly a million acres which had been granted, previously, by the King of Spain to Baron Bastrop. The seat of this estate was the old Spanish Fort Miro where dwelt, as we have seen, a population of four hundred people. There Burr contemplated the establishment of a colony of wealthy and intelligent individuals, where he might gather around him a society remarkable for its elegance and refinement. But the second and third of these schemes were to be sub- sidiary to the first. At New Orleans he met David Clark, who had been the United States Consul at that city in the latter years of the Spanish dominion. He had assisted Laussat in preserving LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 247 order there during the twenty days, in 1803, intervening between the surrender of the Louisiana Purchase to France and its transfer by the latter country to the United States. Clark was so incensed against the Spaniards be- cause of the closing of the Port of Deposit at New Orleans against the Americans, in 1802, that Burr easily enlisted him in his enterprise. Returning up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Pitts- burg, Burr proceeded to Washington City, where he spent the winter. All that he had said and done will never be known. Of the three schemes mentioned, he spoke of the one most popular and therefore most likely to secure co- operation. He led those with whom he conversed to believe that there would be a war with Spain, and this of all things he most earnestly desired, for it would furnish a safe pretext for invading Mexico; that that country would be invaded and Texas, if nothing more, conquered ; that an organization known as the Mexican Association, in New Orleans, desired him to lead them against New Spain — an honor which he had declined ; that he sought no office within the United States ; that a large majority of the people of Mississippi and Orleans Terri- tories were disaffected toward the Federal Government; that the people of New Orleans were disgusted with American rule; that a revolt would take place and that 248 THE STORY OF THE the States and Territories west of the Alleghenies would separate from the Atlantic States, But he persisted in saying that he had no interest in these things farther than in a speculative way. He stopped at Blennerhassett's Island on his way up the Ohio but did not see the pro- prietor because of his absence in New York. For this reason, he, in December, wrote Blennerhassett a flattering letter, in which he referred to his talents as deserving a higher place and suggested that he ought to engage in that which "might increase his fortune and render him- self a more important individual to society." Blenner- hassett was much pleased and replied to this letter desiring "to be admitted into a participation in any speculation which might present itself to Burr's judgment as worthy to engage his talents." This meant, as Blennerhassett afterward explained, "not only a commercial enterprise or land purchase, but a military venture as well." Let us briefly notice the southwest border in the year 1806, at which time trouble existed between the United States and Spain growing out of the dispute regarding the boundary between the Territory of Orleans and the Province of Texas, the latter then a part of New Spain. The Spanish army on the Texan frontier was commanded by General Simon de Herrera, who sent detachments into the region east of the Sabine claimed by the United States LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 249 as the boundary line between the two countries ; occupied the old French town of Bayou Pierre on Red River ; ar- rested American citizens and sent them under military escort to be confined at San Antonio and in other Texan jails ; drove back the American exploring- expedition under Freeman when ascending the Red River in the interest of geography and science, and acting under orders from the President of the United States. And Spanish soldiers had cut down the stars and stripes in the chief town of the Caddoe Indians, who had hoisted the American flag in evidence of their allegiance to the United States Gov- ernment. When these things were known at Washington City, President Jefferson ordered General Wilkinson to send the regulars to the Sabine frontier. The advance was made under Colonel Thomas H. Gushing, who, on his arrival at Natchitoches, wrote General Herrera, under date of August 5th, demanding that he withdraw the Spanish troops from the east side of the Sabine River, and added that, after this warning, should these troops continue within the territory of the United States, "it will be my duty to consider you as an invader of our territory and act accordingly." To this Herrera replied the next day, saying: "It is true that I have crossed the Sabine River with a detachment of troops belonging to the King with orders from the Captain-General. -^ '"' '•' I hold 250 THE STORY OF THE myself responsible * * ''' to the orders that govern me, and if your Excellency makes any infringement, you alone will be answerable." On the 26th of August, Claiborne, the Governor of the Territory of Orleans, wrote Herrera, charging him, among other things, with the invasion of American terri- tory, the arrest of citizens of the United States and the destruction of the stars and stripes, and saying: "If the officers of Spain persist in these aggressions, your Ex- cellency will readily anticipate the consequences ; and if the sword must be drawn, let those be responsible whose unfriendly conduct has rendered it indispensable." This communication was sent by Colonel Henry Hopkins, the Adjutant-General of the Territory of Orleans. Herrera made a reply to this two days later, in which he admitted all the charges made by Claiborne and closed with the declaration that : "If I am provoked to it, I shall en- deavor to preserve the honor of my troops, and to fulfil the obligation with which I am invested." Claiborne now sent a second communication in which he demanded, in the name of the American Government, the release of its citizens confined at San Antonio, and declared that, if driven to it "by the unjust aggressions of the forces of his Catholic Majesty, the troops of the United States will endeavor to maintain their own and their country's honor." LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 251 President Jefferson was kept advised of these condi- tions, and General Wilkinson was ordered to call on the Territories of Mississippi and Orleans for a corps of five hundred volunteer cavalry* and hasten to the frontier. This he did and established his headquarters at Natchi- toches. From there on the 24th of September he wrote Antonio Cordero, the Spanish Governor of Texas, and after reviewing the acts of the Spaniards in occupying the country east of the Sabine, closed by saying: 'T owe it to my own fame and to the national character to warn you that the ultimate decision of the competent authority has been taken, that my orders are absolute, and my de- termination fixed to assert and (under God) to sustain the jurisdiction of the United States to the Sabine River against any force which may be opposed to me." Such was the threatening attitude of affairs existing on the Sabine frontier in the autumn of 1806, when a clash of arms and a consequent war between the two nations were imminent at any moment. Meantime, it was a busy year for Burr, who, by cor- respondence and through his agents, who were to cast their fortunes with his, actively promoted his schemes in *These troops were immediately enlisted, and Jefferson in his message to Congress. December 2d, 1806. said of them: "The method in which they responded did honor to themselves and entitled them to the confidence of their fellow-citizens in every part of the Union." 252 Tllll STORY OP TliE the West. Writing Blennerhassett under date of April 15, 1806, he referred to the purchase of lands in the Southwest and then mentionedi another enterprise, of which he said : *'No occupation which will not take you off the continent can interfere with that which I have to propose." This was the formation of a Southwest Em- pire of which he should be the head. Napoleon was, at that very moment, erecting on the ruins of a monarchy out of which had grown a temporary republic, an empire as vast as the European continent. Why not Burr do this in America? This was his hope, his ambition. His military genius, his greed for power and fame svere all aflame, and he was dreaming of the time, as he thought, so near at hand when he should be the sovereign of a new and mighty domain. He would cross the Alleghenies ; descend the Ohio ; make Blennerhassett Island the rally- ing point ; gather the malcontents, the disaffected, the chivalrous and adventurous ; organize an army ; proceed down the Mississippi ; occupy New Orleans ; muster an insurrectionary army in the Lower Mississippi Valley ; march to the western boundary of the Louisiana Pur- chase, where a state of war then almost existed; cross the Sabine River into Mexico, or, if aided by the British fleet, land at Vera Cruz ; conquer the provinces in detail ; incite the inhabitants to war against their rulers; enter LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 253 the City of Mexico, drive out the Spanish officials, and as monarch of the conquered country seat himself on the ancient throne of the Montezumas. Then, to this he would annex the Mississippi \ alley States and Terri- tories, and thus establish a great and glorious empire stretching away from the Alleghenies to the Pacific, of which the Louisiana Purchase, in which the germs of republican government w^re but beginning to be planted, was to be a part. Such w^as the dream of Burr in the spring of 1806. But, alas ! how delusive is hope ! He "had touched the full meridian of glory" and was now "hastening to his setting." He "had trod the ways of glory and sounded the depths and shoals of honor," and now he turned his exhaustless energies to the West. From Phila- delphia, in July, J 806, with the enthusiasm of a con- queror, he wrote a lengthy cipher-letter to General Wilk- inson. This contained important details ; it declared that the necessary funds were obtained ; that the enterprise had actually commenced ; that Burr would go to the Ohio in August ; that the protection of England was secured and that an agent had gone to Jamaica to arrange with the British admiral on that station ; that the fleet would meet the land forces on the Mississippi ; that the detach- ments would rendezvous on the Ohio about the first of 254 THE STORY OF THE November; that the boats would be at the Falls of the Ohio on the 5th with the first five hundred or one thou- sand men and that "it will be a host of choice spirits ;" that they would arrive at Natchez from the 5th to the T5th of December; ''that the people of the country to which we are going are prepared to receive us ;" that if "\vt will protect their religion" and not subject them to a foreign power all will be settled in three weeks ; that Wilkinson will be second to Burr only ; and that ''The gods invite to glory and fortune." This letter was entrusted to Samuel Swartwout, one of Burr's faithful lieutenants, who left Philadelphia and journeyed to Pittsburg, whence he proceeded to St. Louis where he expected to find General Wilkinson, then the Governor of the Territory of Louisiana. In this he was disappointed, and procuring a skifif he descended the Mis- sissippi to Natchez, where he learned that the command- ing officer whom he sought was with the army on the Sabine frontier, his headquarters being at Natchitoches on Red River. Thither he journeyed overland, almost across the Louisiana Purchase, and on the 8th of October delivered tHe letter. Wilkinson deciphered this. In it Burr had said of the bearer : "He is thoroughly informed of the plans * * * j^g j^^y 13^ embarrassed in your presence ; put him at ease and he will satisfy you/' This LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 255 Wilkinson did and Swartwout told him that Burr's army, then being collected in the western States and Territories, would be thoroughly armed ; would number seven thou- sand men, and that these were being mustered for the purpose of invading the provinces of Mexico; that boats were being built on the Allegheny and Ohio; that Major Tyler would command those from the first named river and that five hundred men would be on them ; that the expedition to Mexico would be organized and equipped at New Orleans. Again Burr was at Pittsburg, whence he descended the Ohio and early in August arrived at Blennerhassett's Island. Here was discussed the ''colossal scheme." Blennerhassett heard of it in detail ; he was a lover of freedom, and when Burr painted for him a word picture of Mexico redeemed from tyranny by their united efforts, ''his whole nature was inspired and he entered enthusi- astically upon the undertaking, which he regarded as honorable and humane." Both engaged energetically in the work before them. Blennerhassett was a member of the firm of Dudley, Woodbridge & Co., boat builders of Marietta, Ohio, and Woodbridge visited the island, where he learned the character of the boats desired. Then Burr and Blennerhassett went to Marietta, where a contract was made for the construction of fifteen boats, ten of 256 THE STORY OF THE which were to have flat bottoms, to be forty feet long, ten wide, and two and a half deep ; four were to be fifty feet in length, one of which was to be fitted with cabins; another was to be sixty feet in length, to be used for carrying provisions ; the whole f^eet was to carry five hundred men. Light boats to convey a similar number were to be constructed on the Allegheny, whiHe six were to be built at Nashville on the Cumberlarrd River. Blen- nerhassett assumed the payment for the boats and for the stores as well. From Marietta Burr set out for Chillicothe, whence, after a short sojourn he went to Cincinnati, thence to Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky — everywhere seeking aid and enlisting recruits. In the latter State, on the 6th of November, 1806, Burr was arrested on the affidavit of J. H. Daviess, the United States District Attorney, charging him "with being engaged in preparation for a military invasion of the provinces of Mexico." He de- manded an immediate trial but this he could not get until the second of December, when he was defended by Henry Clay and acquitted for want of evidence, when, at the same time he had men under arms in the Ohio Valley and boats were being built and freighted for the very purposes of which he had been accused: This acquittal was greatly to his advantage, for it produced a popular LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 257 impression in his favor and a general disbelief in his guilt. From Lexington he hastened to Nashville to lock after his interests on the Cumberland. While in Ken- tucky at this time he was visited by Blennerhassett and the Bastrop lands were purchased from an agent named Lynch, the consideration being forty thousand dollars, of which sum five thousand dollars were paid. Henceforth, they declared that the object of the expedition was to settle these lands. It is believed that this purchase was intended as a place of rendezvous and of retreat in case of final discomfiture in the undertaking. In the event of success, they were to be used for bounty lands, one hun- dred acres being promised to each recruit. In the meantime the Government was not ignorant of existing conditions in the West, for early in the year Jefiferson was in receipt of such information as convinced him of "the beginning of this scene of depravity so far as it has been enacted on the Ohio and its waters." But the mass of what he had received was chiefly in the form of letters written by persons from all over the western country ''often containing such a mixture of rumors, con- jectures and suspicions, as made it difiicult to sift out the real facts," and much of this correspondence was received under the restriction of private confidence. But, at length, enough was at hand to convince the President that 258 THE STORY OF THE "designs were in agitation in the western country unlaw- ful and unfriendly to the Union, an'd that the prime mover in these was Aaron Burr, heretofore distinguished by the favor of his country." Jefferson, therefore, speed- ily began an investigation. He appointed John Graham, "^^ Secretary of the Territory of Orleans, as the secret agent of the Government to discover thq extent of the con- spiracy. He had instructions "to spy out and investigate the plot hostile to the national interests. * ''' * To enter into conference with the civil and military authori- ties in the West, and with their aid to discover the designs of the supposed conspirators, and to bring the offenders to punishment when he should have fully ascer- tained their intentions." Graham began his investiga- tions at New Orleans and then ascended the Mississippi to St. Louis, whence he proceeded to Fort Massac, Nash- ville, Louisville, Lexington, Cincinnati and arrived at Marietta, Ohio, on the 15th of November. Here he fixed his headquarters and made extended observations, visiting Colonel Hugh Phelps at Parkersburg, and John and Alex- *John Graham, who did so much to detect and expose Burr's enterprise, was a Virginian by birth, born at Dumfries, Prince William County, that State, in 1774. He received an excellent home training and graduated from Columbia College in 1790. He then settled in Kentucky, where he represented Lewis County in the Legislature of that State. In 1805 Jefferson appointed him Secretary of the Territory of Orleans. He was afterwards Secretary of the American Legation in Spain; then on special misson to Buenos Ayres; and in 1817, was minister to Portugal. He died in Washington City, August 6th, 1820. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 259 ander Henderson at their home, ''Beech Park," on the banks of the Little Kanawha, all in Wood County, West Virginia, and almost in sight of Blennerhassett's Island. At a hotel in Marietta he had a lengthy conversation with Blennerhassett, whom he had met in Kentucky five years before. Graham's policy was to prevent rather than to punish, and when he found him laboring under a de- lusion and completely under the influence of Burr, he told liim of the treasonable designs of his leader and urged him to withdraw from the enterprise. Blenner- hassett asked Graham if he had not heard of an asso- ciation in New Orleans for the invasion of Mexico, and expressed much surprise when informed by him that no such organization existed. He admitted that the boats being built and freighted at the mouth of the Muskingum were designed for the expedition, and declared the en- terprise to be a legal one and that he would have on board from sixty to one hundred men, and that if molested the insult should be repelled with the rifles with which they were to provide themselves. Graham replied by saying that the constituted authorities of the country would be expected, on the part of the general government, to stop his boats if they carried an unusual number of men and in an unusual manner. Sixteen boats with one hundred men, without families but all well armed, were to leave Marietta. 260 THE STORY OF THE Graham and others had kept Jefferson fully advised of the condition of affairs in the West^ and he now de- clared that Burr had but one purpose ; that he had found the attachment of the people of the western country to the Union too strong to be shaken ; and that his real and primary object was "to sieze New Orleans, plunder the bank there, possess himself of the military and naval stores, and then proceed on his expedition to Mexico." Burr had counted far too confidently on the co-operation of Wilkinson, who avers that he told Swartwout, when he delivered Burr's letter to him at Natchitoches, that he could not dishonor his commission by being an accom- plice. At the same time he sent a messenger to General Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, giving him the details of Burr's expedition and requesting him to watch the Ohio River therefor ; and at once prepared a letter containing the substance of that received from Burr and of the statements of its bearer, and dispatched an officer with it to Jefferson. The messenger bearing the communication to the President left Natchitoches on the 2 1 St of October and arrived at Washington City on the 25th of November, having been thirty-five days on the journey. Two days later, the President issued a Procla- mation, in which he declared that"Sundry persons, citizens of the United States * * * are conspiring and con- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 261 federating together * * >i< to provide and prepare the means for a mihtary expedition or enterprise against the dominions of Spain ; that for this purpose they are fitting out and arming vessels on the western waters of the United States * "^^ '^ are deceiving and seducing honest and well-meaning citizens, under various pre- tences, to engage in this enterprise. =i< * * j have thought fit, therefore, to issue my Proclamation, warning and enjoining all faithful citizens to withdraw from the said unlawful enterprise, as they will incur prosecution with all the rigors of the law ; and I hereby enjoin and require all officers of the law, civil and military, of the United States or of any of the States or Territories * * "^ to be vigilant in searching out and bringing to condign punishment all persons engaged or concerned in such enterprises. * * >k And I require all good and faithful citizens -i^ * >k to be aiding and assisting * * * in the discovery, apprehension and bringing to justice all such offenders, in preventing the execution of their unlawful designs and in giving information against them to proper authorities." This document created great excitement and alarm and aroused the people to energy. The eastern States offered assistance, and military companies whose organization dated back to the days of the Revolution, tendered their 262 THE STORY OF THE services to the President. Copies of the Proclamation reached Pittsburg on the second of December, and were speedily distributed throughout the Ohio Valley, and the contents went far to arrest the schemes of Burr. Orders were sent by Jefferson to the Governors of Louisiana, Orleans and Mississippi Territories to be on their guard and ready to resist any attack which might be made. At the same time orders were dispatched to every intersecting point on the Ohio and Mississippi from Pittsburg to New Orleans for the employment of such force, either of the regulars or of the militia, and of such proceedings, also, of the civil authorities as might enable them to seize on all boats and stores provided for the enterprise, to sup- press its further progress and to arrest all persons con- cerned therein. On the 8th day of November, General Wilkinson, at Natchitoches, was given orders to hasten accommodations with the Spanish commandant on the Sabine frontier, and then to fall back and guard the im- portant points on the east side of the Mississippi. He dispatched Major Moses Porter of the artillery with the utmost expedition with orders to put New Orleans in a condition of defense, and there to repair, mount, and equip for service every piece of ordnance ; to employ all hands in preparing shells, grape, canister, and musket cartridges with buckshot; to have every field-piece ready LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 263 with horse, harness and drag-rope, and to mount six or eight battering cannon on Fort Charles and Fort Henry — above and below the city— and along its front, flanks and rear. On the 25th of November the entire military force of the Territories of Mississippi and Orleans were ordered under arms. General Wilkinson, leaving Colonel Cushing to follow with the army, left Natchitoches and proceeded by way of Natchez, where he made application to the Governor of Mississippi Territory for five hundred men and then hastened on to New Orleans, where he arrived on the 24th, and at once had an interview with Governor Claiborne, the latter of whom immediately issued an ani- mated address to the citizens, exhorting them to defend the city. To this there was a spirited and patriotic re- sponse. Money was subscribed, bounties offered sailors, guns of the city placed on merchant ships and a fleet suddenly improvised to oppose that of the British from the West Indies, which rumor said was to aid Burr in his invasion of Mexico. Cushing, with the regular troops arrived at New Orleans on the loth of December, having left but a single company at Natchitoches. Cowles Meade, Secretary of Mississippi Territory, acting as Gov- ernor in the absence of Robert Williams, issued his procla- mation for the arrest of "all the Burr conspirators." Governor William H. Cabell, of Virginia, ordered Colonel 264 THE STORY OP THE Hugh Phelps to call a battalion of Wood County (now West Virginia) troops into service. Graham hastened away from Marietta to Chillicothe, then the capital of Ohio, where he had an interview with Governor Edward Tiffin, and the legislature in session at that place immedi- ately passed an act entitled ''An Act to Prevent Certain Acts Hostile to the Peace and Tranquility of the United States, Within the Jurisdiction of the State of Ohio." Under this Governor Tiffin acted with promptitude and ordered Captain Timothy Buell to put the Washington County troops under arms, and at the same time directed those of Hamilton County to rendezvous at Cincinnati. Graham then proceeded to Frankfort, Kentucky, where he explained matters to Governor Greenup, who, under an act of the legislature on the 23rd day of December, ordered out the troops of that State, the greater number having instructions to rendezvous at the mouth of the Cumber- land River. On the same day, Graham left Frankfort for Nashville, where Governor Sevier, then an aged hero of the Revolution and Indian wars, speedily put into activity the military forces of Tennessee. In the mean- time, the authorities of Mexico had learned of the con- templated invasion, and her army was put in motion to check it on her eastern border. Thus it was that on Christmas day, 1806, men were under arms from Pitts- burg to the Citv of Mexico. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 265 The first blow was struck by the Ohio troops at Mari- etta, when, on the night of the loth of December, Captain Buell captured the entire fleet of boats in the mouth of the Muskingum together with all the supplies thereon. This materially crippled the enterprise, but the movement was not yet suppressed. On the 9th of December, Comfort Tyler, one of Burr's chief lieutenants, in command of four boats with forty men on board, from Beaver, Penn- sylvania, arrived at Blennerhassett's Island. On the next nieht information of the disaster at Marietta having been received, Blennerhassett, fearing arrest, bade his wife and children adieu, went on board, and under cover of dark- ness Tyler's boats began the descent of the Ohio. Early next morning, Colonel Phelps, with two companies of Virginia troops commanded respectively by Captains John and Alexander Henderson, arrived at the Island. When he learned that the distinguished occupant had fled, he, with a detachment of mounted men, dashed away across the country to the mouth of the Great Kanawha River, hoping there to intercept the boats; but they kept well to the west bank of tlie Ohio and in the night passed by unobserved. They had similar good fortune at Cincin- nati, for they passed there on the evening of the i6th, but one day before the assembling of the Hamilton County troops at that place. Burr, who had gone to Ten- 266 THE STORY OF THE nessee after his trial and acquittal in Kentucky, was at Nashville when he learned of Jefferson's Proclamation, and leaving there on the 24th of December with four boats and thirty men, descended the Cumberland River to its mouth, where he met Blennerhassett. There all the boats, eleven in number — four under Burr, four under Tyler, two under Davis Floyd, a member of the terri- torial legislature of Indiana, and one under Blennerhassett — were assembled. Burr, learning of the approach of the Kentucky troops, slipped his moorings, and began his voyage down the Ohio. On the 31st of December, the flotilla lay to at Fort Massac and Burr sent a barrel of apples ashore — a holiday present to the family of the commandant, Captain Bissel. The night of the 3rd of January, 1807, was spent at Fort Pickering on the Chick- asaw Blufifs, where the city of Memphis now stands. Two days- thereafter, Burr took on board "a supply of lead, powder, tomahawks, and other articles of western warfare." A short stop was made at Palmyra and then the boats floated on and were lashed to the shore at Bayou Pierre, in Claiborne County, Mississippi, where on the 15th they were joined by an additional one having on board sixteen young men from Pittsburg, with whom came Mrs. Blennerhassett and her two little sons, who here joined her husband. There Burr, for the first time, LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 267 learned of the course of General Wilkinson. The boats were dropped down to Petit Gulf, and then, says Safiford :* ''On a dark and dreary night, in the month of January, as the flotilla pushed slowly from the landing at Petit Gulf, might have been observed the master-spirit of the expedition seated on a rough stool, in the inclement cabin of a flatboat, lighted only by the cheerless rays of a solitary candle and the decaying embers of a rudely con- structed fireplace. With his face buried in his hands, while his elbows rested on a table of unplaned boards, he who had heretofore braved the disappointments which had attended his undertaking with a fortitude that as- tonished while it gave confidence to his followers, now sat gloomy and dejected. Upon what he mused is beyond the ken of human prescience ; but, starting suddenly from his revery, he caught up an axe and directed his attendant to make an opening in the side of the boat. Through this, in the silence of night, when he supposed there was none to witness, the chests of arms for the expedition were silently sunk beneath the waters of the Mississippi." On the 29th the boats were lashed to the western shore — that of the Louisiana Purchase — nearly opposite the mouth of Cole's Creek, thirty miles above Natchez, and there George Poindexter, Attorney-General of Missis- *See William H. Safford's "I,ife of Harman Blennerhassett", p. 117. 268 THE STORY OF THE sippi Territory, acting in compliance with the proclama- tion of its acting Governor, Cowles Meade, arrested Aaron Burr and took him to the town of Washington, the capital of the territory, where an examination at once began. But it was shown that the crimes with which he was charged were those of treason against the general government, and not a violation of the laws of Missis- sippi Territory. Again Burr was free. But learning that Governor Williams would cause him to be arrested a second time, he fled to the boats. Once more he and Blennerhassett were together. Either might have ex- claimed with Campbell's "Exile of Erin" : "Sad is my fate, sighed the heart-broken stranger, The wild deer and wolf to a covert can flee, But I have no refuge from famine and danger, A home and a country remain not to me." Burr took leave of his few remaining followers, whom he advised to shift for themselves, and was rowed twenty miles in a skiff by John Dana, of Belpre, Ohio, landed on the left bank of the Mississippi, and mounted on horse- back, he began a journey to the eastward. Governor Williams offered two thousand dollars for his apprehen- sion. This was accomplished on the i8th of February and he was taken to Fort Stoddard on the Tombigbee River, and thence conveyed as a prisoner a thousand miles LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 269 to Riclimond, Virginia, where he was confined in the penitentiary of that State. Blennerhassett attempted to return to his island home but was arrested in Kentucky and taken to Richmond, where he, too, was confined in Prison. Burr was acquitted after a trial lasting six months — one of the most remarkable in all the annals of American jurisprudence. Blennerhassett was never ar- raigned. Thus ended — before it was begun — the Great Southwest Monarchy, of which Burr was to have been at the head ; Daniel Clark, its treasurer ; General Wilkinson, its Secretary of War; and Blennerhassett, its Minister to Great Britain. If the Burr-Blennerhassett Conspiracy had occurred four years earlier — in 1802 — when the Spanish authorities had closed the port of New Orleans against the deposit of western merchandise, the course of American history might have been changed. THE BEGINNINGS OF LITERATURE IN THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. The faint beginnings of literature form a subject of much interest in every part of the world — and no less so in the Louisiana Purchase. The first author who resided there was Le Page du Pratz, who came to Louisiana in 1 718, in the first ship sent out by the Company of the Indies. He spent a few months in the vicinity of New 270 THE STORY OF THE Orleans, then removed to Natchez, where he resided until the year of the massacre, when he returned to New Orleans. His official position was that of Superintendent of the King's Plantations and he was the first agriculturist worthy of the name in the Mississippi Valley. He re- mained at New Orleans until 1734, when the office was discontinued, and he went home in the King's ship "La Gironde," having spent sixteen years on the banks of the Mississippi. On his arrival in Louisiana he acquired a knowledge of what had transpired there since 1700, and after his return to France he continued to obtain informa- tion therefrom until 1757, when his ''History of Louisi- ana," in two volumes, was published in France. An Eng- lish translation was printed in London in 1768. His work is the basis of that of all later writers for the period which it covers. In 1753, the first literary production of the Louisiana Purchase was written in New Orleans by M. Villeneuve, an officer of the garrison of that place. It was a pamphlet containing a description of an aged Indian father — a Chickasaw — who suffered death that his son might be spared. It related that the Chickasaw's son had killed a warrior of another tribe. In retribution, the people of the murdered warrior demanded the young Chicksaw's life — but he could not be found, and in his stead, the LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 271 aged father, by his own request, was put to death, thus yielding up his own Hfe for the Hfe of his son. The first newspaper pubHshed within the Louisiana Purchase was La Monitcur, issued at New Orleans in the year 1794, and printed in the French language. The first newspaper printed in the United States west of the Mis- sissippi was the Missouri Gazette, published by Joseph Charless in 1808. It is still issued and is now called The St. Louis Republic. Charless was the public printer for the Territory of Louisiana, and the same year he printed the first book published in the Louisiana Purchase. It was a bound volume and contained the "American Laws in Force in Louisiana Territory." MISCELLANY. The Missouri Fur Company, composed of Manuel Lisa, Lieutenant William Clark and others, was organized in 1808. The first named had founded Belleview in Ne- braska three years before, and here in 181 1 the company erected a small fort and made its headquarters. In 1808, the territorial legislature passed an act pro- viding for the incorporation of St. Louis. This was the first incorporated town in the Louisiana Purchase west of the Mississippi River. Many Spanish officers still remained in the Louisiana Purchase, so many, indeed, that under date of August 7, 272 THE STORY OF THE 1805, Governor Claiborne wrote Madison, Secretary of State, from New Orleans, and said : *'No doubt you will be surprised to find so many foreign officers in this city ; the fact is. Sir, they are wedded to Louisiana and neces- sity alone will induce them to depart !" In 1 810, the total population in Upper Louisiana — then the Territory of Louisiana — was 20,845, of which all but about one thousand were within the present limits of the State of Missouri. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 273 CHAPTER XVn. The Earthquake of New Madrid in i8ii. The earthquake is the most direful of all physical phe- nomena ; no other disaster is so appalling in its effects,, and no foresight can avert its calamity, for no warning is given to its hapless victims. It has occurred in all ages and in every portion of the earth men have been terrified by its awful effects. The most violent earthquake that has ever shaken the American continent, since known to white men, occurred on the night of the 15th of December, 181 1. It is known as the Earthquake of New Madrid, because the town of that name, in the county of New Madrid, in Missouri, appeared to be the center of seismic or greatest disturb- ance. On the afternoon of that day strange sounds were heard on the river and in the forests. The weather was observed to be oppressively hot ; the air was misty and dull ; the sun was visible like a glowing ball of copper, his rays scarcely shedding more than a mournful twilight over the scene of river and forest. Night came on, but with, as yet, only slight evidences of the mighty catas- 274 THE STORY OF THE trophe which ere the darkness had passed away, was not only to convulse the Louisiana Purchase and the Mis- sissippi Valley, but was to put in tremulous motion the northern shores of South America, to agitate the quiver- ing waters of the Gulf of Mexico, to rock the Alleghenies and to die away in prolonged vibrations along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. More than three millions of square miles were shaken, and the convulsion extended east and west, from Florida to Pike's Peak and the source of the Missouri. Throughout a region lying between the mouth of the Ohio and that of the St. Francis, three hundred miles in extent, there were terrible heavings of the earth ; the country was but thinly settled and the people lived in log houses, the most difficult, of all that can be erected, to overthrow ; but nearly all of these w ere thrown down. If a city of brick and stone had flourished there at that time, it would have been reduced to a mass of ruins. Lakes of many miles in extent were formed in an Hour, while others, previously existing, disappeared. Whole tracts of land plunged into the Mississippi and the grave- yard of New Madrid with its sleeping tenants was hurled into the bed of that stream. In the forests, the trees waved together and were split in the midst and lashed one with another, covered vast extents of country, while LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 275 inclining- in every direction and at every angle with the earth and the horizon. The ground arose and sunk ; the undulations of the earth were like waves at sea, increas- ing in elevation as they advanced ; when they had attained their greatest height, they would burst and vast columns of water and sand would be discharged as high as the tops of the trees ; and the chasms thus made in the earth were visible many years thereafter. Whole districts were covered with sand and became uninhabitable. The boats were wrecked along the shores of the Mississippi, and thus many lives were lost in addition to those who per- ished on land. A bursting of the earth just below the town arrested the mighty river in its course and caused a reflux in its waters by which, in a little time, a great number of boats that had escaped destruction thus far, were swept away by the ascending current and left upon the dry land. The thunder roared, while ever and anon vivid flashes of light- ning, glaring through the troubled clouds of night, ren- dered the darkness doubly horrible. The sulphuretted gases that were discharged from the earth tainted the atmosphere with their effluvia, and so impregnated the waters of the river for one hundred and fifty miles as to render them unfit for use. The people attempted to run but were thrown to the earth with great violence. It 276 THE STORY OF THE was a scene never to be forgotten by those who witnessed it in the deep forests and in the gloom of darkest night. The noise was such as terrified beasts and birds as well as man. The village of Little Prairie, some thirty-five miles below New Madrid, was a heap of ruins. A hun- dred families resided there. The whole region round about was covered to the depth of two or three feet with white sand, and but two families remained of the whole settlement. Water swept over the entire region ; the cattle drowned and men and horses were swallowed "down deep in the pit." The people lived in houses no more that year, but passed the remaining months in bark huts and camps like those of the Indians, of so light a texture as not to expose them to danger in case of their being thrown down. The quakings continued at in- tervals for months, and the people remained in their mis- erable hovels trembling at the distant and melancholy rumbling of the approaching shocks. Evidences of the mighty convulsion still remain in the earth's surface after the lapse of nearly a hundred years. The lands were ruined and the territorial legislature of Missouri memorialized Congress by a resolution which Edward Hempstead, the first member of Congress from the west side of the Mississippi, presented in the House of Representatives Saturday, February 12, 1814, and on LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 277 February 17, 1815, Congress passed a bill by which "all persons owning lands in the county of New Madrid, which have been materially injured by earthquakes," were granted a like quantity of public lands elsewhere in Mis- souri Territory. 278 THE STORY OF THE CHAPTER XVIII. The First States Formed From the Louisiana Purchase. By an act of the second session of the Eighth Congress, passed March 2, 1805, the people of the Territory of Orleans were permitted to elect a General Assembly of twenty-five members, which should convene as a legis- lature in New Orleans on Monday the 4th of the ensuing November. It was further provided that whenever the Territory had sixty thousand inhabitants, they should be permitted to frame a constitution and be admitted into the Union. In 1810 there were twenty parishes. These were Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Catahoula, Concordia, Iberville, Lafourche, Natchitoches, Orleans, Ouachita, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, Rapides, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Landry, St. Martin and East Baton Rouge. In that year, too, the census showed that the Territory had a population of 76,556; and according to the pro- visions of the act of six years before, a convention as- sembled at New Orleans on the 4th of November, 181 1, LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 279 and framed a constitution for the proposed State. One of its provisions declared that "all printing presses shall be free, and every citizen may freely speak, write or print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty." Thus was a free press and free speech first secured in the Louisiana Purchase. The convention ad- journed on the 1 2th of January, 1812, and on the 30th of April, — the ninth anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase — Louisiana, the first State formed within it, was ad- mitted into the Federal Union. William C. C. Claiborne was chosen by the people as its chief executive. He had been -the Governor of the Province of Louisiana as it was received from France, and then of the Territory of Orleans for eight years — the whole period of its exist- ence. The Island of Orleans would have been the only part of the State east of the Mississippi had it not been that in 1810 the four parishes of West Florida, lying west of the Pearl River, north of Manchac Pass and east of the Mississippi — New Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, and St. Tammany — with a total area of four thousand eight hundred and fifty square miles, and ten thousand inhabitants rebelled against Spain ; and having formed the "Republic of West Florida," applied for ad- mission into the Federal Union. This was denied them and then Governor Claiborne permitted them to become 280 THE STORY OF THE a part of the Territory of Orleans. Thus they became a part of the State as it was admitted into the Union and thus its population was increased to 86,556. Missouri Made a State. On the 4th day of June, 18 i 2, the Twelfth Congress passed an act by which it was declared that the Territory heretofore called the "Territory of Louisiana shall hence- forth be known as the Territory of Missouri" and provid- ing a territorial Government therefor. It provided for a Governor whose term was three years, a Secretary to serve for four years, and a Legislative Council, whose members were to serve for five years. Members of the territorial legislature, whose term was two years, were elected on the 5th of October, 1812, and the Government was organized on the 7th of December ensuing at St. Louis, which had been the capital of Copper Louisiana for forty-seven years, and of the Territory of Louisiana for seven years. Benjamin Howard, who had been the last Governor of the Territory of Louisiana, now became the first Governor of the Territory of Missouri, and is- sued a proclamation declaring the Territory to be divided into six districts. These, with their population, accord- ing to the census returns of 1810, were as follows: LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 281 Districts. Population. St. Charles 3,505 St. Louis 5,667 St. Genevieve 4,620 Cape Girardeau 3,888 New Madrid 2,100 Arkansas 874 Settlements of Hempstead and St. Francis 184 Total 20,847 At the time of the formation of Missouri Territory, its area included all of the Louisiana Purchase except that embraced in the State of Louisiana. It was bounded on the south by New Mexico and Louisiana; on the east by the Mississippi River ; on the north by British Amer- ica ; and on the west by the Rocky Mountains. It was thirteen hundred miles in length, and nine himdred in breadth ; and its area, as has been stated, embraced more than eight hundred thousand square miles. On Monday, March 6, 1821, Congress passed an enabling act, authoriz- ing the people of Missouri Territory to prepare for state- hood and admission into the Union. There were in the Territory at that time fifteen counties : Howard, Cooper, Montgomery, Pike, Lincoln, St. Charles, Franklin, St. Louis, Jefferson, Washington, Ste. Genevieve, Madison, Cape Girardeau, New Madrid and Wayne. From these delegates were elected to a convention which assembled in St. Louis on the 19th of June, 1820. David Barton was 282 THE STORY OF THE chosen president and William G. Pettus, secretary of the convention. This body framed a constitution, one of the provisions declaring that "schools and the means of ed- ucation shall ever be encouraged in this State." Missouri was admitted into the Union on the loth of August, 1821, having at the time a population of 66,557. Alexander McNair was the first Governor of the State and William H. Ashley its first Lieutenant-Governor. Arkansas a Territory. On the second day of March, 1819, the southern bound- ary of Missouri Territory was defined by act of Congress to be ''a line beginning on the Mississippi River at latitude 36° north, and running thence west to the river St. Francis; thence up the same to latitude 36° 30' north; thence west to the western territorial line." It was further provided that all of Missouri Territory "lying south of this line and north of the State of Louisiana shall be known as Arkansas Territory." In 18 10, there were in this region but one thousand and sixty-two in- habitants ; of these one hundred and eighty-eight were in the settlements of Hempstead and St. Francis, and eight hundred and seventy-four were residing along the banks of the Arkansas River. But in 1820, the popula- LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 283 tion had increased to 14,242 ; there were then seven coun- ties : Arkansas, Clark, Hempstead, Lawrence, Miller, Philips, and Pulaski. Arkansas Post was the seat of Gov- ernment and James Mjller was the first territorial Gov- ernor. Such was the beginning of the third State that was to arise out of the Louisiana Purchase. The story is told. We have seen the Louisiana Pur- chase when it was a land inhabited by wild beasts and savage men ; when Castilian knights risked every danger, even death itself, in their vain search, in its hidden depths for gold, silver, gems, and opulent cities ; and when the Gauls first launched their boats upon its majestic rivers, traversed its wide extended plains, and then founded civi- lized homes on the shores of the Mississippi. We have seen how Crozet flung away millions of francs in an effort to create a monopoly of the trade of its wilderness inhabit- ants ; how John Law and his associates of the West Indies Company undertook to pay the national debt of France from the revenues to be derived from its mines and commerce; how, under royal government, its rulers es- sayed to break the barbarian power, and then to extend its settlements and improve conditions therein. We have seen, too, how France, by a single act of her sovereign at Ver- 284 THE STORY OF THE sailles, gave the entire region to Spain and then feared that the magnificent gift might not be accepted ; how that nation estabhshed and maintained sovereignty therein for thirty-four years, and then, by the^terms of a treaty con- cluded at St. Ildefonso, the royal glass emporium of that kingdom, gave it back to France, together with the Duchy of Parma, in exchange for Tuscany, a province older than modern Europe; how Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul and head of the French Republic, reared upon the ruins of a Bourbon throne amid scenes the most terrible that ever convulsed the world, transferred not an island and a city, but a North American empire to the Young Republic of the West, and thus made it possible for it to become a mighty power among the nations of the earth. Then, too, we have seen how the first germs of representative Government were planted therein and have watched their growth until the year 1820, when two great States — Louisiana and Missouri — and one Territory — Arkansas — had been founded, and equal rights for all men, with just laws, securing civil and religious freedom, had been extended throughout the whole extent of the Louisiana Purchase, from which other States — Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Mon- tana, Idaho, parts of Minnesota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and all of Indian Territory — were yet to be formed. LOUISIANA PURCHASE. 285 Well, indeed, may it be said that the Purchase of Louisiana was an event of wondrous consequences in American history. It was an acquisition the most valu- able ever added to the national domain, and it is there- fore one of the events of chiefest glory in the annals of the nation. Had there been no Louisiana Purchase, there would have been no trans-Mississippi States of the Fed- eral Union, no Northwest and Pacific Coast States under the American flag. To the public spirit, enterprise and progress of the people who inhabit that empire, trans- ferred by France to the United States, much of their natiofial grandeur and greatness is due. Not only this. but the Louisiana Purchase has proven, under the search- ing providence of God, a mighty w^orld-wide blessing. APPENDIX APPENDIX A. THE CESSION OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. An Instrument of Writing Signed and Exchanged by the Commissioners of the Two Governments and Designed as A Record of this Important Transaction — That OF THE Cession of the Louisiana Purchase BY France to the United States, December 20, 1803. (See "American State Papers," Vol. V., p. 21.) The undersigned, William C. C. Claiborne and James Wilkin- son, commissioners or agents of the United States, agreeable to the full powers they have received from Thomas Jefferson, Presi- dent of the United States, under date of the 31st of October, 1803, and twenty-eighth year of the Independence of the LTnited States of America, (8 Brumier, 12 year of the French Republick) countersigned by the Secretary of State, James Madison, and citizen Peter Clement Laussat, colonial prefect and commissioner of the French government for the delivery in the name of the French Republick of the country, territories and dependencies of Louisiana, to the commissioners or agents of the United States, conformably to the powers, commission and special man- date which he has received in the name of the French people from citizen Bonaparte, first consul, under date of the 6th of June, 1803, (17 Prairial, 11 year of the French Republick) coun- tersigned by the secretary of state, Hugues Maret, and by his 288 APPENDIX. excellency the minister of marine and colonies, Decres, do certify by these presents, that on this day, Tuesday the 20th December, 1803 of the christian era, (28th Frimaire, 12 year of the French Republick) being convened in the hall of the Hotel de Ville of New Orleans, accompanied on both sides by the chiefs and officers of the army and navy, by the municipality and divers respectable citizens of their respective republicks, the said William C. C. Claiborne and James Wilkinson delivered to the said citizen Laussat their aforesaid full powers, by which it evidently ap- pears that full power and authority has been given them jointly and severally to take possession of and to occupy the territories ceded by France to the United States by the treaty concluded at Paris on the 30th of April last past, (loth Floreal) and for that purpose to repair to the said territory and there to execute and perform all such acts and things, touching the premises, as may be necessary for fulfilling their appointment conformable to the said treaty and the laws of the United States ; and there- upon the said citizen Laussat declared that in virtue of and in the terms of the powers, commission and special mandate dated, at St. Cloud, 6th June, 1803 of the christian era (17th Prairial, 11 year of the French Republick) he put from that moment the said commissioners of the United States in possession of the country, territories and dependencies of Louisiana, conformably to the I, 2, 4 and 5th articles of the treaty and the two conven- tions, concluded and signed the 30 April, 1803, (id Floreal, nth year of the French Republick) between the French Republic and the United States of America by citizen Francois Barbe Marbois, minister bf the publick treasury, and the Messieurs Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, ministers plenipotentiary of the United States, all three furnished with full powers, of which treaty and two conventions the ratifications, made by the first consul of the French Republic on the one part, and by the Presi- dent of the United States by and with the advice and consent APPENDIX. 289 of the Senate, on the other part, have been exchanged and mutually received at the city of Washington, the 21 October, 1803 (28 Vindemaire 12 year of the French Republick), by citizen Louis Andre Pichon, charge des affaires of the French Republic, near the United States, on the part of France, and by James Madison, Secretary of State of the United States, on the part of the United States, according to the process verbal drawn up on the same day ; and the present delivery of the country is made to them, to the end that, in conformity with the object of the said treaty, the sovereignty and property of the colony or province of Louisiana may pass to the United States, under the same clauses and conditions as it had been ceded by Spain to France, in virtue of the treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, on the i Octo- ber, 1800 (gth Vindemaire, 9 year) between these two last powers, which has since received its execution by the actual re-entrance of the French Republick into possession of the said colony or province. And the said citizen Laussat in consequence, at this present time, delivered to the said commissioners of the United States, in this publick sitting, the keys of the city of New Orleans, de- claring that he discharges from their oath of fidelity towards the French Republick, the citizens and inhabitants of Louisiana, who shall choose to remain under the dominion of the United States. And that it may forever appear, the undersigned have signed the process verbal of this important and solemn act, in the French and English languages, and have sealed it with their seals, and have caused it to be countersigned by their secretaries of com- mission, the day, the month, and the year above written. Wm. C. C. Claiborne, [l.s.] James Wilkinson, [l.s.] Laussat. [l.s.] 290 APPENDIX. APPENDIX B. Captain William Clark's Letter to His Brother, General George Rogers Clark, the First Published Account OF THE Lewis and Clark Expedition. , How anxious Captain William Clark was to inform his dis- tinguished brother of the return of the expedition to St. Louis and of his own safety, is attested by the fact that he wrote him the same evening, notwithstanding he had not arrived there until noon of that day. There was at that time no newspaper published west of the Mississippi river, and Captain Clark's letter is, certainly, not only the first written, but the first pub- lished account of the expedition. That it should appear first in a Kentucky paper was to be expected. The observations of the editor precede the letter. It is printed here just as it then ap- peared. [From the Frankfort (Kentucky) Palladium, Oct. 9, 1806.J "We congratulate the public at large and the particular friends of Messrs. Lewis and Clark, and their enterprising companions, on the happy termination of an expedition, which, doubtless, will be productive of incalculable commercial advantages to the west- ern country, at no very distant period — improve our geographical knowledge of those hitherto unexplored regions — and assist the government of the Union, in estimating the true value of those boundaries which we claim by the purchase of Louisiana. What- ever difference of opinion m.ay exist on this point, we are per- suaded all think and feel alike, on the courage, perseverance, and prudent deportment of the adventurous party. They are entitled to, and will receive the plaudits of their countrymen. APPENDIX. 291 ''By the mail of this morning we have received from an obliging friend, the following letter from Capt. Clark, to his brother, Gen- eral Clark, near Louisville. Capt. Clark, did not, perhaps, in- tend it for publication; but to gratify, in some measure, the im- patient wishes of his countrymen, the General was prevailed upon to permit its appearance in our paper of to-day." ''St. Louis, Mo., September 23rd, 1806. "Dear Brother— We arrived at this place at 12 o'clock to-day, from the Pacific Ocean, where we remained during last winter, near the entrance of Columbia river. This station we left on the 27th of March last, and should have reached St. Louis early in August, had we not been detained by the snow, which barred our passage across the Rocky mountains, until the 24th of June. In returning through those mountains we divided ourselves into several parties, digressing from the route by which we went out, in order the more effectually to explore the country, and dis- cover the most practicable route which does exist across the continent by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers. In this we were completely successful, and have therefore no hesi- tation in declaring, that such as nature has permitted, we have discovered the best route which does exist across the continent of North America in that direction. Such is that by way of the Missouri to the foot of the rapids, below the great falls of that river, a distance of 2,575 miles, thence by land passing by the Rocky Mountains, to a navigable part of the Kooskooske 340 miles; and with the Kooskooske 72, miles. Lewis's river 154 miles, and the Cohmibia 413 miles to the Pacific Ocean, making the total distance from the confluence of the Missouri and Mis- sissippi, to the dicharge of the Columbia into the Pacific Ocean 3.555 miles. The navigation of the Missouri may be deemed good — its difficulties arise from its falling banks, timber im- bedded in the mud of its channel, its sandbars, and steady rapidity 292 APPENDIX. of its current, all of which may be overcome with a great degree of certainty by using the necessary precaution. The passage by land of 340 miles from the falls of the Missouri to the Koos- kooske, is the most formidable part of the tract proposed across the continent. Of this distance 200 is along a good road, and 140 over tremendous mountains, which for 60 miles are covered with eternal snows. A passage over these mountains is, how- ever, practicable from the latter part of June to the last of September; and the cheap rate at which horses are to be obtained of the Indians of the Rocky mountains, and west of them, reduces the expenses of transportation over this portage to a mere trifle. The navigation of the Kooskooske, Lewis's river, and the Columbia, is safe and good, from the first of April to the middle of August, by making three portages on the latter river. The first of which in descending is 1,200 paces at the falls of Columbia, 261 miles up that river; the second of two miles at the long nar- rows, six miles below the falls; and a third, also of two miles at the great rapids 65 miles still lower down. The tide flows up the Columbia 183 miles, and within 7 miles of the great rapids. "Large sloops may with safety ascend as high as tide water, and vessels of 300 tons burthen reach the entrance of the Multonah river, a large southern branch of the Columbia, which takes its rise on the confines of New Mexico, with Colorado and Apostle's rivers, discharging itself into the Columbia 125 miles from its entrance into the Pacific Ocean. I consider this tract across the continent of immense advantage to the fur trade, as all the furs collected in nine-tenths of the most valuable fur country in America, may be conveyed to the mouth of the Columbia, and shipped from thence to the East Indies, by the first of August in each year and will, of course, reach Canton earlier than the furs which are annually exported from Montreal arrive in Great Britain. APPENDIX. 293 "In our outward bound voyage, we ascended to the foot of the rapids below the great falls of the Missouri, where we ar- rived on the 14th of June, 1805. Not having met with any of the nations of the Rocky Mountains, we were of course ignorant of the passes by land, which existed through those mountains to the Columbia river; and had we even known the route, we were destitute of horses, which would have been indispensably necessary to enable us to transport the requisite quantity of ammunition and other stores to insure the remaining part of our voyage down the Columbia; we, therefore, determined to navigate the Missouri, as far as it was practicable, unless we met with some of the natives, from whom we could obtain horses, and in- formation of the country. Accordingly we undertook a most laborious portage at the falls of the Missouri, of 18 miles, which we effected with our canoes and baggage by the 3rd of July. From hence, ascending the Missouri, we penetrated the Rocky Mountains at the distance of 71 miles above the upper .part of the portage, and penetrated as far as the three forks of that river, a distance of 180 miles further; here the Missouri divides into three nearly equal branches at the same point. The two largest branches are so nearly equal of the same dignity, that we did not conceive that either of them could with propriety retain the name of the Missouri ; and therefore called these streams Jefferson, Mad- ison and Gallatin rivers. The confluence of these rivers is 2,848 miles from the mouth of the Missouri by the meanders of that river. We arrived at the three forks of the Missouri on the 27th of July. Not having yet been so fortunate as to meet with the natives, although we had previously made several exertions for that purpose, we were compelled still to continue our route by water. "The most northerly of the three forks, that to which we had given the name of Jefferson's river, was deemed the most proper for our purpose, and we accordingly ascended it 248 miles to the 294 APPENDIX. upper forks, and its extreme navigable point; making the total distance to which we had navigated the waters of the Missouri 3,096 miles, of which 429 lay within the Rocky Mountains. On the morning of the 17th of August, 1805, I arrived at the forks of Jefferson's river, where I met Capt. Lewis, who had previously penetrated with a party of three men, to the waters of the Columbia, discovered a band of the Shoshone nation, and had found means to induce 35 of their chiefs and warriors to accom- pany him to that place. From these people we learned that the river in which they resided was not navigable, and that a passage through the mountains in that direction was impracticable ; being unwilling to confide in this unfavorable account of the natives, it was concerted between Capt. Lewis and myself that one of us should go forward immediately with a small party, and explore the river; while the other in the interim would lay up the canoes at that place, and engage the natives with their horses to assist in transporting our stores and baggage to their camp. Accord- ingly I set out the next day, passed the dividing mountains be- tween the waters of the Missouri and Columbia, and descended the river, which I since call the east fork of Lewis's river, about seventy miles. Finding that the Indians' account of the country in the direction of this river was correct, I returned and joined Capt. Lewis on the 29th of August at the Shoshone camp, ex- cessively fatigued as you may suppose ; having passed moun- tains almost inaccessible, and compelled to subsist on berries during the greater part of my route. We now purchased twenty- seven horses of these Indians, and hired a guide who assured us that he could in fifteen days take us to a large river in an open country west of the mountains, by a route some distance to the north of the river on which they lived ; and that by which the natives west of the mountains, visit the plains of the Missouri, for the purpose of hunting the buffaloe. Every preparation be- ing made, we set forward with our guide on the 31st of August, APPENDIX. 295 through those tremendous mountains, in which we continued until the 22nd of September before we reached the lower country beyond them; on our way we met with the Olelachshoot, a band of the Tuchapaks, from whom we obtained an accession of seven horses and exchanged eight or ten others; this proved of in- finite service to us, as we were compelled to subsist on horseflesh about eight days before we reached the Kooskooske. During our passage over those mountains, we suffered everything which hunger, cold and fatigue could impose, nor did our difficulties with respect to provision, cease on our arrival at the Koos- kooske, for, although the Pallotepallors, a numerous nation in- habiting that country, were extremely hospitable, and for a few trifling articles furnished us with an abundance of roots and* dried salmon the food to which they were accustomed; we found that we could not subsist on these articles, and almost all of us grew sick on eating them; we were obliged therefore to have recourse to the flesh of horses and dogs as food to supply the deficiency of our guns, which produced but little meat as game was scarce in the vicinity of our camp on the Kooskooske, where we were compelled to remain in order to construct our perogues to descend the river. At this season the salmon are meagre and form but indifferent food. While we remained here I was my- self sick for several days, and my friend Capt. Lewis suffered a severe indisposition. "Having completed four perogues and a small canoe, we gave our horses in charge to the Pallotepallors until we returned, and on the 7th of October we embarked for the Pacific Ocean. We descended by the route I have already mentioned. The water of the river being low, at this season, we experienced much difficulty in descending; we found it obstructed by a great number of difficult and dangerous rapids, in passing of which our perogues several times filled, and the men escaped narrowly with their lives. However, this difficulty does not exist at high water, 296 APPENDIX. which happens within the period which I have mentioned. We found the natives extremely numerous and generally friendly; though we have, on several occasions, owed our lives and the fate of the expedition to our number, which consisted of 31 men. On the 17th of November we reached the Ocean, where various considerations induced us to spend the winter : we therefore searched for an eligible situation for that purpose, and selected a spot on the south side of a little river, called by the natives Netul, which discharges itself at a small bar, on the south side of the Columbia, and fourteen miles within point Adams. Here we constructed some log houses and defended them with a common stockade work. This place we called Fort Clatsop, after a nation of that name who were our nearest neighbors. In this country we found an abundance of elk, on which we subsisted principally during the last winter. We left Fort Clatsop on the 27th of March : on our homeward bound voyage, being much better acquainted with the country, we were enabled to take such precautions as in a great measure secured us from the want of provision at any time, and greatly lessened our fatigues, when compared with those to which we were compelled to submit in our outward bound journey. We have not lost a man since we left the Mandans, a circumstance which I assure you is a pleas- ing consideration to me. As I shall shortly be with you, and the post is now waiting, I deem it unnecessary here to attempt minutely to detail the occurrences of the last eighteen months. "I am &c, your affectionate brother, Wm. Clark." APPENDIX. 297 APPENDIX C. Compensation to Lewis and Clark and Their Companions on THE Expedition to the Pacific Ocean. The following bill was reported in the Lower House of Con- gress by a committee appointed to ascertain "What compensation ought to be made to Messrs. Lewis and Clark and their brave companions for their services in exploring the western waters." When on its second reading, a motion was made to amend it by inserting after the words "William Clark," the names of William Eaton, Priestly Neville O'Bannon, and George Washington Mann; but this was lost. The bill was passed by the House February 28, 1807; by the Senate, on the 2nd of March, and ap- proved by the President the following day. "An Act Making Compens.\tion to Messrs. Lewis and Clark and Their Companions." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled : That the Secretary of War be and he is hereby directed to issue land warrants to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, for one thousand six hundred acres each; to John Ordway and Nathaniel Prior, the heirs or legal representatives of Charles Floyd (deceased), Patrick Gass, Will- iam Bratton, John Collins, John Colter, Pier. Cruzatte, Joseph Field, Reuben Field, Robert Frazier, Silas Goodrich, George Gib- son, Thomas P. Howard, Hugh Hall, Francis Labuiche, Hugh M'Neal, John Shields, George Shannon, John Potts, John Bap- tiste Le Page, John B. Thompson, William Werner, Richard Windsor, Peter Wiser, Alexander Williard, Joseph Whitehouse, 298 APPENDIX. George Drulyard, Troiisaint Charbono, Richard Worfengton, and John Newman, three hundred and twenty acres each ; which several warrants may, at the option of the holder or possessor, be located with any register or registers of the land offices sub- sequent to the public sales in such office, on any of the public lands of the United States, lying on the west side of the Missis- sippi, then and there offered for sale, or may be received at the rate of two dollars per acre in payment of any such public lands. Section 2. And he it further enacted, that double pay shall be allowed by the Secretary of War to each of the before named persons agreeably to the time he or they may have served in the late enterprise to the Pacific Ocean, and conducted by Messrs. Lewis and Clark, and that the sum of $11,000.00 be and the same is hereby appropriated to discharge the same, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated." — See "Annals of the Congress of the United States," Ninth Congress, Second Session, p. 1278. APPENDIX. 299 APPENDIX D. A Poem Commemorative of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The following poem was written by one of America's most distinguished poets, in the autumn of 1806, just after the return of the expedition to St. Louis. It was published at the beginning of the ensuing year in the Pittsburg Magasine, and is printed here just as it appeared at that time. The poet afterward lost his life in the retreat of Napoleon from Moscow. A NEW SONG. The Discoveries of Captains L,ewis and Clark. By Joel Barlow, Esq. Let the Nile cloak his head in the clouds and defy The researches of science and time ; Let the Nigar escape the keen traveller's eye By plunging or changing his clime. Columbia ! not so, shall thy boundless dom.ain Defraud thy brave sons of their right; Streams, midlands and shorelands illude us in vain, We shall drag their dark regions to light. Look down, sainted sage, from thy synod of gods ; See, inspired by thy venturous son ; Mackenzie roll northward this earth draining floods, And surge the broad waves to the pole. 300 APPENDIX. With the same soaring genius, thy BROTHERS ascend, And seizing the car of the Sun; O'er thy sky propping hills, and high waters they bend, And give the proud earth a new zone. Potomac, Ohio, Missouri, had felt. Half her globe in their cincture comprest; His long curving course has completed the belt And tamed the last tide of the west. Then hear the loud voice of the nation proclaim, And all ages resound the decree. Let our Occident stream bear the young hero's name Who taught him the path to the sea. These four brother floods, like a garland of flowers, Shall entwine all our states in a band. Conform and confederate their wide spreading powers, And their wealth and their wisdom expand. From Darien to Davies our garden shall bloom, Where war's wearied banners are furl'd. And the far scenting breezes that waft its perfume Shall settle the storms of the world. Then hear the loud voice of the nation proclaim. And all ages resound the decree, That our Occident stream bear the young hero's name Who taught him^ the path to the sea. 7 • Bookkeeper proces /lagnesium Oxide • Deacidified using the Bookkee / ^ \j' -^ - fr::< ^— •R s>^ '' Neutralizing Agent: Magnesiun C'^^n - ^^Simill^' o \V*^^ !.v5^?^^??$$* Treatment Date: !-* \ '-^^.^ y "^^ WW<' «.*!-, JUL W . » a ^ *o 4,v « «• ' • ^i^ r\~ .^ *^^ *_sfSJ^^** ^ 4^ ^^jyT^^"* '^ C PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES, L.P "^^^^J^ll J^*- .** -4W^ ^ JF(\l^y>^ * ''^ /I A /C 111 Thomson Park Drive '^Ih^^^O: • OY -J^^^^* ^(y A/^-^ Cranberry Township, PA 16066 •p "^J "^ '♦ 0^ ''v-^^ ^■i^. . • • . LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 540 624 9