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 8
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90
But this was all that the insurrection accomplished. The plans of the insurgents were not vigorously carried out, and their enterprise failed. Don Alexander O'Reilly was ap- pointed Governor of the Province, and was sent with a fleet of 24 ships with 2,600 troops, and 50 pieces of artillery, to take command and punish the ringleaders of the revolt. He landed at New Orleans, August 18th, 1769, and on taking charge caused La Freniére, Jean Baptiste Noyan, Pierre Cavesse,
97
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
Pierre Marquis and Joseph Milhet to be tried by court mar- tial and executed, and others to be imprisoned.
His course was considered as cruel and unjust, and he was given the name of "The Cruel O'Reilly." Upon his return to Spain in the following year, however, he was justified and up- held by the Crown. He was succeeded by Luys de Unzuga, who governed from 1770 to 1777, when Bernardo de Galvez, a gallant and dashing officer, then just 22 years of age, became Governor. This was the period of the American Revolution, and in it De Galvez gave great and important aid to the Americans. De Galvez remained at the head of affairs from 1777 to 1784 when he was succeeded by Estevan Miro, who governed at first ad interim in the absence of De Galvez, and afterwards as the regular successor, his service extending from 1785 to 1791, at which date Francisco Luys Hector, Baron De Carondelet, was appointed. He held until 1797, when he was succeeded by Manuel Gayoso de Lemos. Governor de Lemos held until his death, which occurred, from yellow fever, July 18th, 1799. After the death of De Lemos the Marquis de Casa Calvo succeeded, and was Governor about eighteen months, or until June, 1801, when he was succeeded by Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo, who was in charge until the country was delivered to the representative of France, November 30th, 1803, for the purpose of being transferred to the United States. There was no French Governor appointed between 1800, when the country was ceded to France in the Treaty of St. Ildefonso, and 1803, the year in which it was sold to the United States. In fact, even the existence of the treaty and the ownership of France in the country was kept a profound secret. The reason for this was that France and England, at that date, were on hostile terms, and the making of the treaty was kept concealed, for fear that if the English were apprised of it they would at once seize the country. 7
98
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
During the governorship of the Baron de Carondelet, he made many grants of lands in Arkansas, which have come down to our times, some of which proved to be accurate and valid, but the most of which fell through for indefiniteness, or from failure of the grantees to complete and perfect them. The most considerable of these were to Don Joseph Valliere, the Baron de Bastrop, the Marquis de Maison Rouge, to Don Carlos de Villemont, and to the Winter families and Joseph Stillwell.
That to Don Joseph Valliere, who was a captain in the 6th regiment of the Spanish army, in service in Louisiana, was made June 11th, 1793, and embraced a tract of land, on the Rio Blanco (White river), ten leagues on both banks, and bounded on the west by the Rio Cibolos. This grant was in- validated by the courts, in 1847, on a suit by the heirs to re- cover it.
To the Baron de Bastrop he granted, June 20th, 1797, a tract twelve leagues square, or more than a million of arpens, lying principally on the Ouachita, in the present State of Louisiana, but the smaller portion falling in Arkansas, on the Bayou Bartholomew, in Chicot county. De Bastrop ceded 400,000 acres of this grant lying on the Ouachita to Aaron Burr, where the latter expected to plant a colony as a nucleus for his expedition to the southwest .*
That to the Marquis de Maison Rouge was made in 1797, and was for a large tract lying along the Bayou Bartholomew and on the Ouachita river, probably where the town of Ecore Fabre arose, which has since become the city of Camden.
In the year 1795 he granted to Don Carlos de Villemont, who was the Spanish commandant at the Post Arkansas from some time prior to that year until 1803, fourteen thousand ar- pens of land, being a front on the Mississippi river of two leagues, by one league in depth, located at "Chicot Island," in
(*) After the retro-cession of Louisiana to France, in 1800, De Bastrop, who was a Prussian, became a citizen of San Antonio, Texas, and died there in 1828 or '29,
99
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
Arkansas, twenty-five leagues below the mouth of the Arkan- sas river. An arpen is eighty-five hundredths (85-100) of an acre. This grant was invalidated by the Courts for indefi- niteness in 1848, there being no such place as Chicot Island, and no place corresponding to it twenty-five leagues below the post. A town called Villemont, which was the county seat of Chicot county, was founded on it in 1823, but could not be made to prosper on account of the uncertainty of the title. It was also unluckily located, on account of the caving of the river banks, so that by the year 1840, about all there was of the town had been washed into the river. Quite ex- tensive improvements were made there. In 1829 and 1830 John C. Jones built a large frame tavern at a cost of $5,000, and a store house and dwelling.
On the 27th of June, 1797, the Baron de Carondelet granted to Elisha Winter, William Winter and Gabriel Win- ter, William Russell, Joseph Stillwell and others, one million arpens of land located at, or near, the Post of Arkansas. The Winter families and Stillwell moved to the post and set- tled in the spring of 1798. The Winters made extensive im- provements, erected permanent buildings and cultivated the land, and brought to the country sheep and other live-stock, the first that were ever brought there. Elisha Winter caused a hewn stone to be transported from Lexington, Kentucky, and set up to mark his lands. This grant was also invali- dated by the courts, in 1848, for indefiniteness in description and location.
In 1798 Governor de Lemos caused a census of Louisiana to be taken, which was completed in 1799, and in it the pop- ; ulation of the District of Arkansas was put down at 368 per- sons ; and in a census taken in 1785, the population is given at that date as 196.
In the meantime gradual settlement of the upper portion of the Province was taking place, but not so rapidly as the lower or Gulf region. As early as 1720 the ores and minerals
1 0 n
1
IO0
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
found there had begun to attract attention. Marquette, in the maps he made of his explorations of 1673, had marked "mine de fer" (iron mine) by the Ohio river and the Upper Mississippi, "mine de cuivre" (copper mine), and "charbon deterre" (coal), in the northeast and near the Great Lakes and subsequent explorations had shown his report to be correct. Up to this time the French settlements were confined ex- clusively to the east bank of the Mississippi, and were scat- tered throughout the Illinois country. One had been made at Kaskaskia at an early date, and there were a number of adjacent villages. In the year 1720 a fort was built on the east bank of the Mississippi, about ten or fifteen miles above the present town of Ste. Genevieve, which was named Fort Chartres, a considerable fortification, with ample quarters for officers and men. This fort soon became the center of power for the French settlements, which looked to it for pro- tection in case of Indian hostilities. About this date also, that is in 1719, Renault, the son of a celebrated iron founder, of France, established himself at Fort Chartres, and erected rude furnaces through the country for the smelting of lead, which he found in abundance, although dissappointed in his search for gold and silver. . In 1735, as given in Switzler's History of Missouri, or 1755, as elsewhere given, the French made their first permanent settlement in Missouri at Ste. Genevieve, the first and oldest town in the State, and by 1775 its population · was about five hundred persons. The town of St. Louis, originally a depot, for the fur trade, was founded February 15th, 1764, by a company, under Pierre Liguest Laclede. The company, Moxent, Laclede & Co., had, in 1762, obtained from the Governor-General of Louisi- ana exclusive control of the Missouri and other tribes of In- dians, as far north as the river St. Peter. The town be- came the recognized capital of that part of the Province, about the year 1765, when, in consequence of the country east of the Mississippi having been ceded to England in the treaty
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
of Paris, Louis St. Ange de Belle Rive,* the French com- mander, at Fort Chartres, surrendered that fort to the Eng- lish, and moved his small garrison of troops to St. Louis. Here, although not specially authorized to do so, he exercised the authority of civil and military Governor over that part of the Province by virtue of his position, and from the fact that the inhabitants generally gave their adhesion to him, as a wise and capable officer.
About the date of the settlement of St. Louis another settle- ment was made on the same side of the river a few miles lower down. This settlement was for a time unnamed, and as the inhabitants were principally poor persons, the St. Louisans nicknamed the place "vide poche," meaning "empty pocket." In return the inhabitants of the settlement called St. Louis "pain court'' meaning "short bread," in allusion to the fact that there was sometimes a scarcity of provisions at the place. Afterwards the name of the settlement was changed to Caronde- let, in honor of the Baron de Carondelet. It was at one time thought that this settlement would prove to be the larger town of the two, but the growth of the great city has been such as to entirely absorb Carondelet, which no longer maintains a separate existence as a city. Opposite St. Louis, on the Illi- nois side of the river, also some progress was made in settling a place called Cahoika. This was at or near where there had been an Indian village, noted on the maps of 1700 as the vil- lage of the "Caouquias."
In 1789 the town of New Madrid was founded by Col. George Morgan of Ohio, on a land grant obtained by him from the Spanish authorities.t It was located at a place called
(*) Probably a contraction of Belle Riviere.
(t) The following account of the settlement of New Madrid by Col. Morgan's party is from an old Magazine.
"An account of the settlement of New Madrid before the earthquake:
"NEW MADRID, April 14, 1789.
"Sir .- The inclemency of the season, and the precaution necessary for the advantage and security of our party and enterprise, rendered our voyage down the Ohio, a long, though not a disagreeable, one.
"We have now been in the Mississippi two months, most of which time has been taken up in visiting the lands from Cape St. Come on the north, to this place on the south; and west-
.
IOŻ
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
L'Anse de la Graise, or "the greasy bend," so called from the fact that for a long time previous the spot had been the favor-
ward to the river St. Francois, the general course of which is parallel with the Mississippi, and from twenty to thirty miles distant. Col. Morgan, with 19 men, undertook to reconnoitre the lands above, or north, of the Ohio; this gave him the earliest opportunity of producing his credentials to Don Manuel Perez, Governor of the Illinois, who treated him, and the others, with the greatest politeness. Their arrival, after their business was known, created a general joy throughout the country among all ranks of its inhabitants-even the neighboring Indians have expressed the greatest pleasure at our arrival and intention of settlement. There is not a single nation, or tribe of Indians, who claim, or pretend to claim, a foot of the land granted to Colonel Morgan. This is a grand matter in favor of our settlement. The Governor very cheerfully supplied our party with every necessary demanded by Col. Morgan, and par- ticularly with horses and guides to reconnoitre all the lands to the western limits, and from north to south in the interior country. In an undertaking of this nature it is not to be doubted but different opinions have prevailed amongst us, with respect to the most advantageous situations to establish the first settlement of farmers and planters, A considerable num- ber of reputable French families, on the American side of the Illinois, who propose to join us, wished to influence our judgments in favor of a very beautiful situation and country about 12 leagues above the Ohio. A number of American farmers, deputed from Post Vincent, and some others of our party, were delighted with the country opposite to the Ohio, one league back from the river, to which there is access by a rivulet that empties into the Mississippi about 3 miles above the Ohio. We have united in the resolution to establish our new city, whence this letter is dated, about 12 leagues below the Ohio, at a place formerly called L'Anse la Graisse, or the greasy bend, below the mouth of a river marked in Captain Hutchin's map (Sound river). Here the banks of the Mississippi for a considerable length are high, dry and pleasant, and the soil westward to the St. Francois is of best for corn, tobacco and indigo, and we verily believe that there is not an acre of poor land in a thousand square miles. The coun- try rises gradually from the river into fine, dry, pleasant and healthful grounds, superior to any place in America. The limits of our city of New Madrid are to extend 4 miles south and 2 miles west, so as to cross a beautiful living deep lake of the purest spring water, one hundred yards wide and several leagues in length, emptying itself, by a constant and rapid stream, through the center of the city. The banks of this lake, which is called St. Anne's, are high, beautiful and pleasant, the water deep, clear and sweet; the bottom, a clean sand, well stored with fish. On each side of this delightful lake streets are to be laid out, one hundred feet wide, and a road to be continued round it of the same breadth, and the trees are directed to be pre- served forever for the health and pleasure of the citizens. A street 120 feet wide, on the banks of the Mississippi, is laid out, and the trees are preserved. Twelve acres, in a central part of the city, are to be reserved, ornamented, etc., for public walks, and 40 lots, of half an acre each, are appropriated to such public uses as the citizens shall recommend, and one lot of 12 acres is to be reserved for the King's use. One city lot of half an acre and one lot of 5 acres to be a free gift to each of the six hundred first settlers. Our surveyors are now engaged in lay- ing out the city lots, and the country in farm tracts of 320 acres. We have built cabins, and a magazine for provisions, are making gardens, and we shall plow and plant one hundred acres of the best prairie land in the world with Indian corn, hemp, flax, cotton, tobacco and pota- toes. Several French gentlemen at Ste. Genevieve have offered to conduct Col. Morgan to as fine iron and lead mines as any in America, in a small day's journey from the river. One thousand are being surveyed for the choice and settlement of families who will come here next fall. After the surveys are completed, Col. Morgan and Major McCully will proceed to New York via New Orleans and Cuba, and Col. Shreve, Captain Light and Captain Taylor, with all others who conclude to return immediately for their families, will ascend the Ohio in time to leave Fort Pitt again for this place in October. Captain Hewling, and a number of single men, will plant one hundred acres of corn and other crops, and will build a mill. Not a single person of our party, consisting of seventy men, has been sick, but are all in good health and spirits on the discovery of this pleasant clime.
"We are, sir, your humble servants,
"(Signed.)
"GEORGE MCCULLY, JOHN WARD,
"JOHN DODGE, ISRAEL SHREVE, "PETER LIGHT, JOHN STEWART, JAMES RHEA.
"To Dr. John Morgan, Philadelphia."
"DAVID RANKIN,
103
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
ite camping ground of hunters who killed numbers of bears and created quite an industry by shipping the oil from that point to New Orleans by the Kaskaskia traders. Before a great while the town had a population of some hundreds, com- posed of French Canadians, Spaniards, Americans and some Negroes.
On the 20th of June, 1778, Pierre Liguest Laclede, the founder of St. Louis, on his return from a business trip to New Orleans, died at the mouth of the Arkansas river, in the 54th year of his age, and was there buried. Concerning the place of his burial, Switzler, quoting from Hon. J. F. Darby, of St. Louis, says :
"The spot where Laclede was buried is about 200 yards back from the west bank of the Mississippi river, on the second beach, so called, just above the town of Napoleon, in a deep, heavy grove of timber, in a light, sandy soil, and on that account the place became a famous graveyard for sixty or seventy years. There is no stone to distinguish one grave from another. Laclede's grave, therefore, cannot be identi- fied. No doubt, however, it was long since washed into the Mississippi river."
As the upper part of the Province had now grown to be of importance, the Spaniards, in beginning their domination, inaugurated the system of having a lieutenant-governor, to regulate its affairs, stationed at St. Louis, and with command- ants of districts or commands under him. Accordingly, dur- ing Ulloa's incumbency, in August, 1768, a Spanish officer, named Rios, was sent to take possession of St. Louis and as- sume command. He found the inhabitants there as coldly disposed to him as those of the lower part of the Province were to Ulloa, and on the 17th of July, 1769, withdrew his troops to New Orleans. Thereupon Governor O'Reilly, on taking charge, appointed Don Pedro Piernas, Lieutenant-Governor, who assumed his authority in 1771, and remained in office until May 19th, 1775, when he was succeeded by Don Fran-
104
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
cisco Crozat, under Governor Luysde Unzaga .* Crozat re- mained in office until June 14th, 1778, when he was succeeded by Don Ferdinando Leyba, serving under Governor Bernardo de Galbez. Leyba was removed from office for misconduct, and died in one month after his dismissal. He died in June, 1780, and Silvio Francisco Cartabona, a lieutenant, command- ing at New Madrid, served as acting lieutenant-governor during the interim, until September 24th, 1780, when Don Francisco Crozat was again placed at the head of affairs. In 1787 Crozat's incumbency terminated, and on the 25th of November, 1787, Don Manuel Perez succeeded him, serving under Governor Estevan Miro. Perez held until July 21st, I792, when he was succeeded by Don Lenon Trudeau, under the Baron de Carondelet, and on August 29th, 1799, Trudeau was succeeded by Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, the last Spanish lieutenant-governor.
It is hardly necessary or important to relate the various ac- tions of the commandants of the subordinate districts or com- mands, nor are there sufficient data at hand to give them fully. The incumbency of Don Henry Peyroux, as Com- mandant at New Madrid, in 1800, is one which appears in in- structions to him, concerning Spanish affairs, by Don Ramon de Lopez Y. Angula, Intendant, at New Orleans, and by Don Juan Ventura Morales; of date December Ist, 1802.
In Arkansas, the commandant at Arkansas Post, from the beginning of the Spanish domination, is not known; but in old records there are acts set forth as performed at the place by Captain Don Joseph Valliere, of dates from 1786 to 1790, from whence it is inferred that he was the commandant there at those dates. Don Carlos de Villemont was probably his successor, as he appears of record to have been commandant there from 1793 to 1803.
Concerning Spanish titles and grants made by the Spanish officers in Upper Louisiana, Mr. J. T. Scharf, in his valuable
(*) From Scharf's History of St. Louis City and County.
105
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
"History of St. Louis City and County," before referred to, says :
"All the Spanish officers, except Delassus, pursued the St. Ange method of making and recording grants or concessions of land, except that they were somewhat more formal in re- citing the official title of the granting officer.
"The record of all the grants made are contained in six small books of cap paper, with leather covers, and constitute what is commonly known as the 'Livre Terrien,' sometimes called the 'Provincial Land Book.'
"It does not appear that any surveys of grants were made until 1770, when, at the request of a number of the inhabi- tants, Lieutenant-Governor Piernas, appointed Martin Duralde (D-u-r-a-1-d-e) Surveyor of the Colony of Illinois.
"He surveyed a large number of the common field lots, as they were called, being long, narrow strips of land lying side by side, having a common front line, called the ‘traile quarre,' on which they had a front of from one to four ar- pens (the arpen being equal to one hundred and ninety-two feet, six inches-192 ft. 6 in., English measure), by a depth of forty (40) arpens, each tract being described by the desig- nation of the common field in which it was located, the num- ber of arpens front, and the depth, and the name of the ad- joining proprietors.
"It is traditional, that the reason for making the grant in that manner was that the owners of the fields might, when cultivating their respective tracts, be near to each other, for mutual protection against the Indians."
By way of a note to the above, Mr. Scharf says: "But the custom is old French. The shape dictated by the saving in fencing. Each lot holder got a lot 40 arpens long, but had only to fence two arpens, one at each end, and contributed his proportion of two fences, forty arpens long."
Mr. Scharf gives a list of the common field inclosures, with their designation by name, and continues :
06
HISTORY OF ARKANSAS.
"Each of these common fields was inclosed, and the fence kept up at the expense of the owners of the several field lots, each owner building and maintaining the fence at the front and rear ends of the lot, and each contributing his quota of the expense of building and maintaining the fences along the outer line of the two side boundaries.
"No plat of said surveys were made, at least none appear of record. The certificates of survey (by Duralde) were re- corded in Livre Terrien No. 2, and the surveys were made in the years 1770-1772.
"The town lots were never separately surveyed. They are represented upon a plat made in 1780, but the lines of that plat were not strictly followed by the United States Govern- ments' surveys ; the variations, however, did not materially affect the rights of claimants.
"There were, also, grants made as 'out lots'-that is to say, lots which were not in the town as laid out, nor in the common fields, but occupying intervening spaces between the same, or located adjoining them on the outer limits.
"A large tract of land, southwest of the town, contained 4,510.48 arpens, equal to 3,837.03 acres according to the United States surveys, was held by the inhabitants as a com- mons for pasturage and cutting wood.
"Outside of all this, there were grants of larger bodies of lands for plantations or farms, one of these being for a league square, equal to 7,056 arpens.
"It does not appear that the Government derived any rev- enue from sales of land. All the small grants were gratu- itous. Larger grants were made, some of them in considera- tion of services rendered (p. 321), and some of them to aid in the establishment of enterprises which were alleged to be for the public good.
"All the grants made by the commandants, or lieutenant- governors (as Val .- delegates), were inchoate or incomplete titles, regarded as property, and as such were held and trans-
107
FROM 1700 TO 1800.
ferred ; but by Spanish laws and regulations they required a survey, and the sanction, or the approval, of the Governor- General of the Province, at New Orleans, to make them com- plete legal titles.
"Of the large number of grants so made in Upper Louisi- ana, only thirteen (13) were completed in the manner pre- scribed by these laws, so as to vest an absolute legal title in the grantee.
"A translation of a complete grant under the Spanish law is given in 8 Howard, 314.
"It was issued on the 29th of May, 1802, by Juan Ventura Morales, Intendant ad interim, and not by the Governor- . General."
At this date the District or "Command of Arkansaw" is described as commencing on the Mississippi river at a place called Little Prairie, about fifty miles below New Madrid, and extending, on the Mississippi, down to Grand Point Cou- pee, now called Lake Providence, in Ouachita Parish, Louisi- ana, and extending back, so as to include all the waters which empty into the Mississippi from the west between these points. After the transfer of 1803, Don Carlos remained in the United States, and became a citizen thereof, and was in St. Louis as late as 1813. After his death his widow, Cath- erine Villemont, and Matilda, Carlos, Pedro, Louis, Upain, Zoe and Virginia Villemont, his heirs, sued for the confirma- tion of the grant made to him by the Baron de Carondelet, but unsuccessfully.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.