USA > Arkansas > A pictorial history of Arkansas, from earliest times to the year 1890. A full and complete account, embracing the Indian tribes occupying the country; the early French and Spanish explorers and governors; the colonial period; the Louisiana purchase; the periods of the territory, the state, the civil war, and the subsequent period. Also, an extended history of each county in the order of formation, and of the principal cities and towns; together with biographical notices of distinguished and prominent citizens > Part 7
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The Company made great efforts to promote the coloniza- tion of the country by inducing immigration ; but, after all, the increase of population from this source was but meagre. In 1712 it was by enumeration only 28 families in the whole province, and in 1717 numbered only 700 persons all told. M. Dargit, writing of its condition in 1730, said of it :
"After so many failures on the part of the Company, and the many millions the colony has cost the King during the past eighteen years it has been in his hands, it is scarcely more advanced than in the beginning."
(*) A settlement on Massacre Island, subsequently named Dauphin Island.
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FROM 1700 TO 1800.
In 1716 Cadillac was superseded by DeLepinay, who held for two years, when he was in turn superseded by Bienville in 1718.
In commencing this his second term of office Bienville, in 1718, founded New Orleans on a site which had been selected the year before, and named it after the Duke of Orleans. He made it the capital of the province. In this he was opposed by M. Hubert, the King's commissioner, who desired that. the capital should be located at Natchez, where he had estab- lished himself, but Bienville prevailed. The place was sur- veyed by the Sieur Le Blonde de La Tour, and a few log huts were built in irregular fashion. The Company of the West soon brought a colony of 800 persons to settle in Louisiana, and located a number of them at New Orleans, but after three years, by 1721, the settlement contained only two hundred persons, most of whom camped in the cane-brakes around the settlement.
In 1718 John Law obtained a grant of land four leagues square, lying on the Arkansas river, and settled on it a num- ber of emigrants whom he had brought from France and Ger- many, as a part of the colony of eight hundred. According to Le Page Du Pratz, who came with the colony, and who wrote a history of Louisiana, which was published in London in 1774, the land granted to Law was erected into a Duchy, and was under the charge of M. Levens, who was trustee for it. The failure of Law's schemes and his bankruptcy, which occurred shortly afterwards, broke up the settlement and dis- persed the colony. The German portion of the colony at first settled eight leagues higher up and to the west of the abandoned spot, but ultimately returned to New Orleans, and obtaining each for himself a small grant of land on the Mississippi near the city, formed a colony, which has ever since been called the German coast. The locality of this grant was somewhere near the Arkansas post. Charlevoix, who saw the place in 1721, said of it, in speaking of the Indians thereabout, whom he calls the "Kappas :"
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
"Opposite to their village is to be seen the melancholy rem- nants of the grant to M. Law, of which the Company (of the West) remain proprietors."* .
Dumont, in his Memoirs of Louisiana, in French's Histori- cal Collections, part V, says of the location of this grant :
"When the new settlers were scattered through the colony, each grantee of a concession went to' take posession of the ground assigned him. The people sent by Law came and settled about a league from the Arcanças post in the depths of the woods, where they found a beautiful plain surrounded by fertile valleys, and a little stream of fine, clear, wholesome wa- ter. This settlement began to prosper ; pavilions were already erected for the officers, and cabins for the workmen ; almost all, as I have said, were Germans-married men. Large store houses were even built, and everything seemed to promise that it would soon become flourishing, when those who com- posed it, learning of the fall of their patron, disbanded. Most of them abandoned the post and returned to the capital, intend- ing to cross over to Europe, but the Council of the Country opposing this design, they chose a place ten leagues from New Orleans, where each one settled on his own account. This place, now called the German Coast, was commanded, when I left Louisiana, by the Sieur d'Arensbourg .; The ground was very well cultivated by the new settlers, who were by no means indolent, and this place may be considered the garden of the capital."
M. Dumont, the historian, was a colonist about the years 1720-1740, a lieutenant in the French service, and his history was brought down to the latter date, about which time he re- turned to France.
On the IIth of August, 1728, the Company surrendered to the King all its rights against the assets of Law, which the King
(*) Vis-a-vis a leur village on voit les triste debris de la concession a M. Law dont le Com- pagnie est restee proprietaire.
(t) A distinguished Swedish officer, who was sent to Louisiana by John Law, at the head of 250 Germans. His sword is still in the hands of his decendants in Louisiana .- GAYARRE.
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FROM 170.0 TO 1800.
accepted on the 3d of September. This proceeding was based on a judgment for 20,000,000 francs, which they had obtained against Law, but of which only a small part had been paid.
The Company of the West made many grants of lands or "concessions" at about this date, the largest of which were to M. le Blanc at the Yazoo river ; to Koly at Natchez ; to Law on the Arkansas; Dartaguette at Baton Rouge ; Paris de Ver- . nay at Bayagoulas ; Meuze at Pointe Coupeé; Villemont on Black river; Cleiac at Natchez; and Chaumont at Pasca- goula. When M. le Blanc sent men to take possession of the grant made to him on the Yazoo, the little garrison there, which had been kept till then by the Company at that place, retired to the Arkansas post, which was then commanded by the Sieur de La Boulaye .*
Another colonist of this date, who conducted operations ex- tensively, was M. Dargit, who left Paris in 1718. He landed in Louisiana in 1719, with forty laborers, forty hogsheads of tools, supplies, and 80,000 crowns in letters of credit on the Mississippi Company or "Company of the West," of which he had been a director. He made his first settlement on the Ouachita river, where he built a small fort and several houses for his white and negro laborers, a store and blacksmith shop. His plantation was one square league of the finest land, on which he raised two crops of rice, corn and tobacco in 1721 and 1722. He was compelled to leave his plantation for lack of proper support and protection by the Company. He re- moved to the neighborhood of New Orleans in 1723. He took the contract for building the fortifications at Natchez and half the fortifications at English Turn. This is the name given to a point on the Mississippi a little below the upper point of the delta in the main river, and is so called because in September, 1699, an English ship of 16 guns, commanded by Captain Barr, ca'me sailing up the river, and at this point en- countered De Bienville in the act of descending from explora-
(*) Historical Collection of Louisiana, Vol. V., p. 34.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
tions made above. Finding the French in prior possession, the English turned back and proceeded no further. From that time the place has been known as "the English turn."
M. Dargit was the first in the colony to construct a water mill to clean rice, and was one of the trustees of the parish church in New Orleans in 1747 and 1748.
He wrote a Memoir of Louisiana, giving a history of the country and events of the date 1730 to 1750, which existed in the shape of manuscript only up to 1887-'88,when it was trans- lated into English, for publication, by Rev. Father H. A. Pich- erit, Pastor of St. Paul's church in Vicksburg, and from which translation this extract is taken.
The year 1719 witnessed the first large or general importa- tion of negro slaves into the Province of Louisiana. When Crozat took charge under his grant in 1712, there were only 20 negroes in the whole colony, and although his charter con- ferred the privilege of introducing them, it does not appear that he availed himself of it to any extent. In June, 1719, how- ever, a large number were sent under the auspices of the Com- pany of the West, brought from the coast of Guinea, and were distributed to the colonists at an agreed price. During the ex- istence of the Company, or for some time afterwards, their agents continued to supply the demand at the rate of from three to five hundred annually. In 1724 De Bienville drew up and promulgated a code of laws regulating the treatment of slaves, which remained in force until after Louisiana was ceded to the United States .*
In the year 1722 the Sieur Bernard de La Harpe, a French officer, was sent by Bienville to explore the Arkansas river. He took with him a company, among whom were the Sieur de Franchomme, as lieutenant, and one Bessan, a sergeant, and also M. Dumont, as lieutenant and engineer. Dumont says the expedition was undertaken, because reports had been spread among the Company of the West that there was an
(*) Historical Collections, Vol. III., p. 89; V. 119, 121.
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FROM 1700 TO 1800.
emerald rock somewhere on "the Arcancas river." The ex- pedition ascended the river for more than two hundred and fifty leagues, and advanced some fifty leagues into the coun- try by land, until the men began to murmur ; and La Harpe, fearing that the fate of La Salle might be his, retraced his steps and returned to the capital. This is the first known official exploration of the river.
"If in this expedition," Dumont concludes, "we had not the good fortune to discover the emerald rock which gave it rise, we had the satisfaction of traversing a very beautiful country, fertile plains, vast prairies covered with buffalo, stags, does, deer, turtles, etc., we saw rocks of jasper marble, at the foot of which lay slabs cut by nature's hand, others of slate and talc, very fit for making plaster. I have no doubt there are gold mines in the country, as we discovered a little stream which rolled gold dust in its waters."
The following are extracts from La Harpe's "HISTORICAL JOURNAL OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FRENCH IN LOUI- SIANA," giving an account of this journey, found in French's Historical Collections, to-wit :
P. 106. "On the IIth of March (1722) he (La Harpe) proceeded to the village of the Sotonis, situated on the left side of the river, which the French named Arkansas, and the Indians Nigette, which signifies red, on account of the color of the water.
P. 107. "On the 2d he proceeded with M. M. Dufresne and Boulay to the (concession) plantation of M. Law, situated north by northwest from the Sotonis, or Arkansas villages, and on the right of the river, ascending about two leagues and a half by the river, and one and a half by land.
"On the 9th men whom M. de La Harpe had sent to the Arkansas village returned with an Indian pirogue. In this he placed some articles and seven men, with orders to pro- ceed up the river and wait for him, at two days' journey, on the road. On the roth, after making some preparations for
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
his journey, he left the settlement with his detachment, com- posed of 22 men, and M. Dufresne, ensign of the company, at the post of Arkansas.
P. 108. "He continued his journey and made ninety leagues in a northwest direction to a large rock, which he called Le Rocher Francais," where he arrived on the 9th of April. This rock is on the right of the river ascending, and forms three steep hills of one hundred and sixty feet (160) in height, near to which are several fine slate quarries. He ascended the western hill, from which he discovered a fine country. At the rock is a waterfall, which forms an exten- sive and beautiful basin. The water of this river, for a dis- tance of thirty leagues, is of a reddish color, but it afterwards becomes clear and excellent to drink. .
"M. de La Harpe continued his explorations up to the 17th of April. Then he became short of provisions by the upset- ting of one of his pirogues.
"M. de La Harpe having ascended the Arkansas by water one hundred and fifty leagues to this place, although it is not above fifty or sixty by land, he laid up his pirogues to visit the mountains to the west of the river.
"On the 15th he commenced his march, each one carrying his sack of corn on his back. On the 19th, having advanced two leagues, he came to high mountains, between which were valleys and prairies, presenting beautiful views. Two leagues further he came to the border of a river 200 toises wide.
"On the 2 Ist he embarked on board his pirogue to return to the settlement of M. Law, which he found had been aban- doned by his people.
"On the 4th M. de La Harpe left the Sotonis, or Arkansas, to return to Biloxi, which he reached on the 25th of May, barely escaping a surprise by the Chicaches party."
In Martin's History of Louisiana, also, there is an account of this journey, mainly as above given. The statement is
(*) This is evidently what is now called Big Rock.
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
therein made that La Harpe prepared a map of the river. If so, it constitutes, undoubtedly, the first map of it ever made.
The system adopted by the French, from the necessity of the case, was to build forts wherever they occupied, and ac- cordingly, from the very mouth of the Mississippi, far up toward the great lakes was a chain of forts. One, called Fort Louis de La Mobile, was built at the mouth of Dog river in 1702, but which was abandoned, and a new one built in 17II at the mouth of Mobile river, where the city now stands. The earliest one was built at Old Biloxi in 1699, but which was abandoned and the garrison moved to New Biloxi in 1719. At Natchez in 1716, at Natchitoches in 1718, and at the Balize in 1722 they were built. While in the Illinois country, Fort St. Louis was built in La Salle's time, or about 1680, and Fort Chartres is said to have been built in 1720. One of the principal ones was that established by Bienville in 1716 at the site of the present city of Natchez, which, in honor of the Countess de Ponchartrain, he called Fort Rosalie. In fact it had been the intention of M. Hubert, the King's Com- missioner and acting Intendant, ever since his arrival at Dauphin Island, March 5th, 1715, to establish the capital of the colony at Natchez, hence he secured for himself, in 1720, a grant of land at that place, and opened a fine plantation there. He erected a water mill for grinding corn, and planted wheat, oats, etc. Everything was in a promising condition, but the savages committed such depredations on his plantation and stock that he sold it all, and left for France in 1722.
Among these forts was one called Fort St. Francis, on the St. Francis river, in Arkansas, built by Bienville's orders in 1739, to serve as a resting place and rallying point for his troops in his second war against the Chickasaws, which was just then opening. The site of this fort is believed to have been the site of the present town of Wittsburg, in Cross county .*
(*) Hon. H. M. Mcveigh, of Osceola, has kindly furnished by letter the following information on this point, to - wit: "An old friend of mine, Sam Hector, part Indian, who spent his early life among the Indians, tells me he has often picked up iron musket balls on the bluff at Witts- burg, when a boy, living among the Indians."
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
In 1724 Bienville was relieved of command and was sum- moned to France to answer charges made against him, and Boisbriant was placed in command in his absence. In 1726 Bienville was removed from office and Perrier was made Governor, and held the office until 1734, when Bienville was re-appointed, and came back to that colony with the rank of Lieutenant-General, and governed the country until 1743.
In 1728 it was proposed to make a settlement at Natchez, as the place was found very suitable for growing tobacco. Several persons settled there and constructed stores, etc., and a man-of-war anchored there and was freighted with tobacco.
In 1729 everything was going well, but, in 1730, the Natchez Indians rose secretly against the French, and in a dreadful massacre at Fort Rosalie fairly exterminated them. Chopart, the commander at Natchez, or Fort Rosalie, had cruelly mistreated the Indians, dispossessing them of one of their villages, the land of which he wanted, and the Natchez determined on the massacre for revenge, and persuaded the Yazoos to join them. It was proposed to make the massacre general, but their plans miscarried. In order to act simulta- neously at the different villages, it is related that to compute the time at which to act, bundles of sticks containing an equal number were distributed, one to each tribe. They were to throw away one stick each day, and when the last stick had been thrown away they were to strike at daylight the next day. By some means, whether by throwing away too many sticks, or by losing some, the Natchez lost the count, and so enacted their part in the diabolical business before the others. By this means, the massacre took place only at Fort Rosalie, instead of generally. Among the slain was Father Du Pois- son, who had been the first missionary sent among the Ar- kansa Indians, but who was at that time serving among the Yazoos and was temporarily at Fort Rosalie. In return for the barbarity of this massacre, the French made war on the Natchez, and, in a conflict between the two in the following
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FROM 1700 TO 1800.
year, 1731, that once powerful tribe was entirely broken and scattered ; and the captives taken by the French were treated with barbarous cruelty. The Natchez made overtures to the Arkansas to join in the massacre, but out of their attach- ment for the French they refused.
In 1736 a war broke out between the French and the Chickasaws, and Bienville led a force from New Orleans, to meet a similar force, brought from the Illinois country by D'Artaguette, numbering 396 men, consisting of 130 French, 38 Iroquois, 38 Arkansas and 190 Illinois and Miami. The expedition left Illinois on the 20th of February, 1736, the ob- ject being to attack their principal village, in what is now Lee county, Mississippi. The two forces did not meet, as planned. D'Artaguette arrived first, and, without waiting for the ar- rival of Bienville, attacked the Chickachas on the 24th of March, and was defeated with heavy loss; he himself being killed with 45 of his men, including 18 officers. He was de- serted by the Illinois and Miamis, hence the defeat and heavy loss sustained.
Bienville's force, 574 strong, arrived a week later, and at- tacked the village May 26th. They, likewise, were repulsed and retreated to Mobile, with the loss of thirty killed. This concluded the war between the two.
Bienville, however, at once began preparations for a new expedition against the Chickasaws. His first step was to send to France for re-enforcements. It was while waiting for the arrival of these that he built Fort St. Francis, in Arkansas, as has been mentioned. On the arrival of a squadron from France, with re-enforcements for this war, in May, 1739, Bienville sent the first convoy to Fort St. Francis, under the command of the Sieur de Moyan, and he himself followed in June and at the fort the whole army assembled, composed of marines, troops from New Orleans, militia, negroes and some neighboring Indians. Leaving a small detachment to garrison the fort, the army embarked and proceeded to a lit-
.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
tle river, which they called Maigot, now called Wolf river, at Memphis. Here Bienville landed and built a fort, which was named Fort Assumption, because he had landed on that day in the church calendar. The army remained at Fort As- sumption until April of the following year, 1740, when peace was made with the Chickasaws, and Bienville disbanded his Indian auxiliaries, and returned with his marines and regular troops to New Orleans. In doing so, both Forts Assumption and St. Francis were abandoned and pulled down, being no longer of use or service .*
This terminated Bienville's military career in Louisiana, after which he was superseded in command by Pierre De Ri- gaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil; and, in May 1743, left for France, leaving the Chickasaws masters of the situation from the Illinois country to Baton Rouge .¿ Bienville died in France, in 1768, at the age of 88 years. The white popula- tion of Louisiana at this time, 1740, is given as about five thousand.
The Marquis de Vaudreuil, coming as Bienville's succes- sor, remained Governor of Louisiana until 1753, when the Baron de Kerlerec was appointed. Kerlerec took charge February 9th, 1753, and remained at the head of affairs until 1763, when he was succeeded by D'Abbadie. D'Abbadie reached New Orleans June 29th, 1763, taking charge and remained in office until his death, February 4th, 1765. Upon his decease, M. Aubry became governor, and remained as such until the country was delivered to Spain, in 1768, serv- ing jointly with Antonio de Ulloa, the Spanish appointee, after Ulloa's arrival, in 1766. For by an act done at Fon- tainebleau, of date of November 4th, 1762, Louis XV secretly ceded Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, to the King of Spain,
(*) Dumont's Memoirs, Chap. XXXIX.
(t) "The Chickasaws," says Pickett, "have never been conquered. They could not be de- feated by DeSoto, with his Spanish army, in 1541; by Bienville, with his French troops and In- dian allies, in 1736 and 1740; by Vaudreuil and his army, in 1752, nor by the Creeks, Cherokees, Shawnees and Choctaws, who have continually waged war against them at different times." [-Hist. Coll. La., V. page 114.]
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FROM 1700 TO 1800.
which cession was accepted by the Spanish King by an act done at the Escurial, of date November 13th, of the same year. D'Abbadie was not apprised of the transfer until nearly two years after, when he received the King's letter of instructions, of date April 21st, 1764, to deliver the coun- try to the Spanish, announcing that the cession had been made on his (Louis XV's) "own will and motion." It is said that on the receipt of this intelligence, which reached him in October, 1764, D'Abbadie was so overwhelmed with grief that it brought on an illness, from the effects of which he died. This act of the King, of 1762, was confirmed in the following year in the Treaty of Paris.
In 1756 war arose in Europe, participated in by England and Spain on the one side and France on the other, which lasted seven years, and was known as "The Seven Years' War." It came to an end by a treaty, made at Paris, Feb- ruary 10th, 1763, called the "Treaty of Paris," in which France ceded to Spain all of Louisiana lying west of the Mis- sissippi river; thus, by treaty, confirming what had been ceded by the King as an individual act the year before. The Spaniards, however, delayed taking possession. Although the cession was made in November, 1762, it was not, as we have seen, until October, 1764, twenty-three months there- after, that the news of it reached New Orleans. M. Abbadie, the French Governor, remained as totally uninformed of the transfer as were the people.
Even after the news of the transfer had been received, by the arrival of the King's letter to M. Abbadie, directing him to deliver the province to the Spaniards, there was further delay in taking possession. A year passed away, with Aubry, a French Governor, at the head of affairs, and nothing was done towards taking possession. In fact, as remarked by Mr. George W. Cable,* "Louisiana was a gift which Spain
(*) In his excellent article on New Orleans, Vol. XIX, of the Report of the 10th Census.
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HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
did not covet. It had been given her only for fear it might otherwise fall into the hands of Great Britain."
This delay on the part of Spain in occupying the country gave rise to one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of Louisiana. The French inhabitants drew from it the hope that their actual transfer to Spain might be averted, and sent representatives to France to try and effect this retention by the Crown, but all to no purpose. Their hopes were dis- pelled by the arrival in New Orleans, March 5th, 1766, of Don Antonio de Ulloa, who had been appointed Gover- nor of the province. He brought with him only a small company of troops, about 80 or 90 in number, as the French Government had assured him no troops were neces- sary. But being coldly received by the inhabitants, he deferred using this small force for the purpose, and entered into an arrangement with Aubry by means of which the two governed jointly until a farther force should arrive from Spain. While matters rested in this shape, a remarkable up- rising took place among the colonists, headed by Nicholas Chauvin de La Freniere, the Attorney-General. The object of the revolt was not so much to be rid of Ulloa as it was to overthrow the Spanish rule in Louisiana, and it was even contemplated to establish the independence of the province." This was the first movement contemplating independence made by any colony in America. As a result of the uprising, Ulloa was expelled from the colony and was compelled to re- turn to Spain in October, 1768, taking his departure Oct. 31st.
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