USA > Louisiana > Historical collections of Louisiana : embracing translations of many rare and valuable documents relating to the natural, civil and political history of that state > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02305 2431
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec02fren_0
4.90
HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS
OF
LOUISIANA,
V.a.
EMBRACING TRANSLATIONS OF
MANY RARE AND VALUABLE DOCUMENTS
RELATING TO THE
NATURAL, CIVIL AND POLITICAL
HISTORY OF THAT STATE.
COMPILED WITH
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES,
AND AN
INTRODUCTION,
BY
B. F. FRENCH
---
Member of the Louisiana Historical Society; of the American Association for the Advancement of Science ; Honorary Member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; Corresponding Member of the Academy of . Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, etc. etc.
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PART IL.
P . 2.
PHILADELPHIA: DANIELS AND SMITH. Nur York, G. P. PorYAM; Boston, LITTLE AND BROWN; New Orleans, B. M. NORMAN . LANDON, JOHN CHAPMAN, Paris, GALIGNANI AND CO. 51638 1850.
490
1800638
A
ENTERED according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by B. F. FRENCH,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
9380
PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY T. K. & P. G. COLLINS.
TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THIS VOLUME
IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
BY
BENJAMIN F. FRENCHJ.
32744
PREFACE.
IN preparing this volume for the press, it has been my object to clear up as much as possible, by the publication of important narra- tives, all doubts respecting the claim of Spain to the first discovery, and of France to the first settlement and exploration of the Missis- sippi River. In the sixteenth century, the name of Florida was given to all that country lying south of Virginia, and extending westward to the Spanish possessions in Mexico, including, of course, the present State of Louisiana. It was inhabited by several powerful tribes of warlike Indians, who subsequently resisted every attempt of England, France and Spain, to subjugate them. In 1512, Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus, sailed for Florida, and effected a landing near the present town of St. Augustine. He was attacked by the natives, and driven back with severe loss to his ships, mortally wounded. He returned with the wreck of his expedition to Cuba, where he shortly afterwards died.
In 1520, Vasquez de Ayllon fitted out another expedition to take possession of Florida, but he was slain by the Indians, and his fleet returned to Cuba. In 1528, Pamfilo de Narvaez sailed from Cuba with four ships and a strong military force to conquer the country. Hle arrived in the Bay of Espiritu Santo (Tampa Bay), on the 12th of April, where he landed his army. After penetrating the country · some hundreds of miles, and suffering severe loss and incredible hard- ships, he returned to the sea-coast, and embarked the miserable remnant of his army in five frail vessels for Cuba. During his voyage a severe storm arose, in which he suffered shipwreck, and only a por- tion of his army ultimately reached Mexico in 1537.
In 1539, Hernando de Soto, the companion of Pizarro in the con- quest of Peru, obtained permission of Charles the Fifth to conquer the country, and the title of governor and captain-general was con- ferred upon him. After nearly fourteen months spent in preparation, he set sail from Spain on the 6th of April, 1538, and on the .31st May, 1539, he arrived in the bay of Espiritu Santo, where he landed his army. He penetrated the interior of the country, and passed down the valley of the Coosa River. He marched from thence to Alabama river, where he fought a great battle with the Indians. Leaving Maurila, he marched northward and westward, and spent the second winter in Mississippi, where he lost a part of his army in a battle with the Chickasaws. Thence he bent his course to the Mississippi River, which he crossed in the latitude of the Chickasaw Bluffs, and
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PREFACE.
spent the next winter in the mountainous region of Arkansas. In the following spring he returned to the Mississippi River, where he died. The account of this famous expedition was written by Garcilaso de la Vega, and a gentleman of Elvas, and published in Spain some years after- wards. "It may be doubted," says Mr. Sparks, "whether either of these works can be trusted as affording genuine historical materials. They have been cited by respectable writers in default of other authorities; but they border so closely upon the regions of romance that they may as justly be ranked in this class of compositions as in that of history. This is generally conceded in regard to Garcilaso de la Vega, but his predecessor, the gentleman of Elvas, is thought to have higher claims."
Since the above was written by Mr. Sparks, another account of this expedition into Florida and Louisiana has been found in manuscript, in Spain, written by Luis Hernandez de Biedma ( facteur de sa Majesté), and presented by him to the king in 1544, which seems to have fur- nished the materials for these histories, and establishes beyond a doubt the claim of Spain to the discovery of the Mississippi River, and the extensive country lying on both sides of it. It is written in a plain and unpretending style, and gives apparently a faithful account of the countries traversed by De Soto-the manners and customs of the Indians-their towns and villages-the mountains, rivers, and val- leys-the currents, islands, and other physical features of the great Mississippi valley and river ; and finally the preparation and departure of his successor Luis de Moscoso, from the mouth of the Arkansas, until his arrival in the river of Panuco in 1543. A translation of this rare and curious manuscript, together with an autograph letter of the Adelantado de Soto is now published for the first time in this volume. After the death of Hernando de Soto, more than a century elapsed before any further attempt was made to explore the Mississippi. In 1673, M. Talon, the French governor of Canada, took measures to secure the dominion of France over all the countries lying south and west of the Canadian lakes; and, anxious to discover the sources, course, and direction of the great river which had been mentioned to the French missionaries by the Indians of the west, to flow towards the south, he sent Marquette and Joliet to explore it to the sea. They embarked in May, and proceeded down the river as far as the Arkansas, from whence they returned to Canada, and published an account of their voyage in the French language several years after. But it was left for the greatest traveler of his age, the Sieur Robert Cavalier de la Salle, to finish what they had begun. He set out from Canada in 1682, and reached its mouths on the 9th of April, and took possession of the country in the name of his sovereign, and called it Louisiana. The valuable and rare map accompanying this volume is a well-executed fac simile of the original. It aspires to a degree of accuracy that is of great importance both to the historian and anti- quarian. It preserves not only the Indian names of the lakes and rivers, but traces the routes of the early explorers, and lays down the localities of the numerous Indian tribes who once held sway over this extensive country.
CONTENTS.
An Account of the Louisiana Historical Society, 1
A Discourse on the Life, Writings, and Character of the Hon. François X. Martin, LL. D., first President of the Louisiana Historical Society, . 17
An Analytical Index of all the public documents in Paris relating to the Discovery and early Settlement of Louisiana, 43 A Translation of an original letter of Hernando de Soto on the Conquest of Florida, 91
A Translation of a recently-discovered manuscript Journal of the Expe- dition of Hernando de Soto into Florida, by Luis Hernandez de Biedma, 97
A Narrative of the Expedition of Hernando de Soto into Florida, by a Gentleman of Elvas, translated from the Portuguese by Richard Hack- hyt, in 1609,
114 A description of the English province of Carolana, by the Spaniards called Florida, and by the French la Louisiane. As also of the great and famous river Meschacebe or Mississippi, the five vast navigable lakes of fresh water, and the parts adjacent. Together with an account of the commodities of the growth and production of the said province, ly Daniel Coxe, 223
A Translation of Marquette and Joliet's account of a Voyage to Discover . 279 the Mississippi River, in 1673
in
·
LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
F
NEW ORLEANS, May 1, 1850. To B. F. FRENCH, EsQ.
DEAR SIR :-
Agreeably with your request, I hand you the follow- ing paper, showing the progress as well as origin of our Historical Society, which you are at liberty to publish in the forthcoming volume of your Historical Collections of our State.
The Society was originally established in 1836, as appears from some of its records delivered to me by its then Secretary, Louis Janin, Esq., of this city. The first President was Hon. H. Bullard. Secretaries, Mr. Harrison, a prominent young lawyer of that time. and editor of " Louisiana Condensed Reports," and Mr. Janin. Among the officers are recorded the names of Martin, Porter, Romac, Canonge, Barton; and among the members, Clapp, Gray, Eustis, McCaleb, Ingalls. Winthrop. Rost, Watts, Deblieux, Leonard, etc. The MAijers of the old Society which are preserved are very few-among them the able address of Judge Bul- lard, which you have published in the first volume of your Collections, and the Constitution. We extract this from its preamble.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
" The undersigned, citizens of Louisiana, wishing to unite their labors in investigating the history and geography of the country for- merly possessed by France and Spain, under the name of Louisiana, being assembled in New Orleans on the 15th day of January, 1836, and having agreed to associate themselves together, do adopt, &c. &c. &c."
Among old memoranda, I find a resolution to in- quire of Hon. John Dutton relative to settlement of Acadian Coast and Indian tribes; of Dr. Sibley, Bullard and Carr, about Natchitoches; of Sir William Dun- bar's representatives, about old papers, and in regard to late Historical Society at Baton Rouge; of Mr. Taylor relative to Lafourche and the little colony of Spa- niards; of Col. Skipwith about Baton Rouge Conven- tion, etc. etc.
The Society appears soon after to have fallen into decay, for some reason or other, and become almost entirely extinct.
In June, 1846, the Society was again revived by a meeting of the following gentlemen, at the State House, New Orleans.
JOHN PERKINS, J. D. B. DE BOW, E. J. FORSTALL, HON. C. GAYARRÉ, GEN. JOSEPHI WALKER, ALFRED HENNEN.
Gen. Walker was called to the chair, and J. D. B. De Bow appointed Secretary. A committee to draft Constitution, consisting of Dr. Hawkes, Alfred Hen- nen, and J. D. B. De Bow, reported the following, which was adopted.
A
CONSTITUTION
OF THE
LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
ADOPTED JULY 1, 1846.
The preservation of books, pamphlets, manuscripts, and records containing historical facts, biographical anecdotes, temporary projects, and beneficial speculations, conduces to mark the genius, delineate the manners, and trace the progress of society in the United States, and must always have a useful tendency to rescue the true history of the country from the ravages of time, and the effect of ignorance or neg- " lect. A collection of observations and descriptions in natural history and topography, together with specimens of natural and artificial curiosities, and a selection of everything which can improve and pro- mote the historical knowledge of our country, either in a physical or 1 litical view, has long been considered as a desideratum. Such is the introductory language of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the Alt association of the kind in any of the States of the Union, and in to language more forcible and comprehensive, it is conceived, can the objects of the Society we are about to organize be expressed.
ARTICLE 1. This Society shall be called the Historical Society of Louisiana.
ARTICLE II.
It shall consist of resident and honorary members, the former to be of the State of Louisiana, the latter of other States.
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
ARTICLE III.
The officers of the Society shall be a President, six Vice-Presidents, two Secretaries, whereof one shall be a recording, and the other a cor- responding Secretary, a Treasurer and Librarian elected annually, and by ballot.
ARTICLE IV.
There shall be an Executive Committee consisting of seven mem- bers appointed annually by the President, whose duty it shall be to solicit and receive donations, to recommend plans for promoting the ends of the Society, to digest and prepare business, and to execute such other duties as may be entrusted to them from time to time, re- porting the result at the regular meetings of the Society.
ARTICLE V.
The Society shall meet regularly on the first Wednesday evening of each month.
ARTICLE VI.
All resident members shall contribute for the use of the Society five dollars annually, to be paid over to the Treasurer.
ARTICLE VII.
Members shall be elected by ballot, on their names being presented to the Society, but no individual can be elected a member without re- ceiving the votes of four-fifths of those present.
ARTICLE VIII.
This Constitution shall not be altered, or amended, or abrogated, without a vote of four-fifths of the members present, previous notice of one month having been given.
An election for officers resulted in Hon. François Xavier Martin being elected the President.
J. D. B. De Bow, from the Executive Committee, re- ported the following circular letter :-
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LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
CIRCULAR OF THE LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
For the purpose of eliciting information in relation to the various subjects proper for the cognizance of Historical Associations, the fol- lowing queries are published. They will be sent to the members of the Society at large, and it is to be hoped will receive a due portion of regard. A general invitation is, however, extended to all persons who may have it in their power, in any manner, to promote the ob- jects of the association. If the Louisiana Historical Society does not publish its "Collections" as other societies have, much will have been gained by preserving them among its archives as subjects for the future historian. Letters on any and every subject interesting to the Society will be received with pleasure, and they may cither be ad- dressed to the President, to the Executive Committee, or to the Sec- retary.
HON. F. XAVIER MARTIN, President.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
E. J. FORSTALL,
ALFRED HENNEN, L. JANIN,
DR. HAWKES,
PROP. J. L. RIDDELL,
J. D. B. DE Bow.
QUERIES.
1. Time of settlement of your parish ; dates of oldest land grants; number and condition first settlers ; whence emigrating; other facts relating to settlement and history ?
2. Indian name parish ; what tribes originally; what relies or monuments of them ; if Indians still, in what condition ?
3. Biography, anecdotes, &e., of individuals distinguished in your trinity in the past for ingenuity, enterprise, literature, talents, civil or military, &c. ?
4. Topographical descriptions of your parish, mountains, rivers, ponds, animals, vegetable growth, rocks, minerals, sands, clays, chalk, flint, marble, pitcoal, pigments, medicinal and poisonous substances, &c. ?
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IHISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
5. Former and present state of cultivation in parish ; changes taking place ; introduction of cotton, sugar and rice; what lands oc- cupied and unoccupied ; quality of soil ; improvements suggested in cultivation and new growths; improvements in communication, roads, bridges, canals, &c. ; value of land; kind and qualities of timber ; density of population, capacity of raising stock, &c. ?
6. Instances of longevity and fecundity ; observations on diseases in your section ; on the weather, climate, healthy or otherwise-on the necessity of summer seats, &c. ?
7. Increase and progress of population in your parish, distinguish- ing blacks and whites ; advantages of schools and libraries enjoyed ; proportion educated ?
8. Churches or chapels in the parish ; when and by whom erected ; how supplied with clergy; how supported and attended ; oldest in- ferments, church vaults, &c. ?
9. Date, extent, consequences and other circumstances of droughts, freshets, whirlwinds, storms, lightning, hurricanes, or other remark- able physical events in your section, from remote periods-other meteorological phenomena ?
10. Literary productions emanating from your neighborhood ; your literary, scientific or art associations, if any; what manuscripts, pri- vate records, letters, journals, &c., or rare old books, interesting in their relation to the history of Louisiana, are possessed by individuals within your knowledge-state any other matters of interest ?
Judge Martin, who -has written the history of the State, and was a curious collector of old documents, stated in some of his remarks before the Society, the following, which was noted by the Secretary.
There was an old Spanish book or manuscript re- garding Louisiana, its physical history, &c., once con- sulted by him, having borrowed it from the owner, Don Seriaco de Ceraos, who died in 1815. The daughter of a physician sent out by the King of France to this city, married Judge Watts. He may have left some papers. Hon. Edward Everett was chairman of a committee of Congress to purchase the French and Spanish books collected by the Spanish
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LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
consul. Bishop Blanc might obtain from the curates of our parishes much valuable information. Sir Wil- liam Dunbar left valuable papers, information of which might be had from Mr. Robert Ogden.
In the fall of 1846, the Hon. B. F. Porter of Ala- bama delivered a public address before the Society.
In December of the same year, our venerable Pre- sident, Judge Martin, died at his residence in this city. An eulogium was pronounced over his remains by the Hon. H. A. Bullard.
The Society has received interesting letters from Ilon. Joel R. Poinsett, and Wm. Gilmore Simms, of South Carolina ; Hon. Thomas H. Benton, Missouri ; Hon. Lewis Cass, Michigan ; Hon. H. Clay, Ken- tucky; Professor Stephens, of Georgia; Mr. Green- how, of Washington, D. C. ; Judge Bry, Ouachita, &c.
Dr. Wurdeman, of South Carolina, presented the Society a few books relating to Cuba ; and Senator Johnson, of Louisiana, has regularly furnished Con- gressional and other documents.
In the summer of 1847 the Society was incorpo- rated, and Hon. H. Bullard elected President. The Secretaries, John Perkins and J. D. B. De Bow, were appointed to visit the various societies at the north. and open interchanges of documents and correspond- ence. This duty they regularly performed.
Hon. T. II. McCaleb was requested to correspond with the heirs of the late Judge Porter about docu- ments ; and Judge Bullard, with Mr. Bouligny, about his papers regarding the landing of O'Reilly.
Hon. Charles Gayarre was elected to deliver the annual address, which he did, upon the " Romance of the History of Louisiana."
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
Under the auspices of the Society, the legislature, in 1847, made an appropriation of two thousand dol- lars, to procure copies of original documents from Spain.
The agent employed was Sr. Pascual de Gayangos, and he seems to have entered upon his duties and prosecuted them with much dis- interested zeal. His labors were mainly directed to the archives in the city of Seville, whither they had been transported from the city of Madrid in 1828. Some researches were made in Madrid. The papers in both places were found to be in extreme disorder, tied up in bundles, not even labelled, and without_classification. The time allowed for examination was very small, the archives being opened only three hours in the day, for five days in the week. It is not per- mitted to make extracts, except by the officers of the establishment, and this increased the delay and the expense, as the rates were high. Besides, the offices are closed on every holiday-and sometimes for long vacations. There appears to have been a further embarrassment in the refusal of the Duke of Sotomayor to permit the examination of the papers of his father, while Minister to the United States, on the ground that he was concerned in secret correspondence for the sepa- ration of a part of the United States. Mr. Saunders made a per- sonal representation, which obtained an order that Mr. Gayangos might examine all the papers in the office of Grace and Justice, where all that relates to Louisiana is said to be, but have no copies without the consent of the Minister. Mr. Saunders, in his letter to Mr. Gayan- gos, expresses the opinion that the important secret papers had been taken away. In a subsequent letter, the agent states that he has been unable to find the secret papers relating to the correspondence of Gen. Wilkinson with the Consul of Spain.
In another letter, he speaks of having obtained proof, by their own correspondence, of the intrigue in which Wilkinson and others were concerned, to separate Kentucky, Ohio, and other States from the . Union. It seems, at this day, that men must have been crazy to en- tertain such, a notion, but nevertheless, the charge has been often made, and now appears to be susceptible of documentary evidence.
Sr. Gayangos has sent to Mr. Gayarre several bundles of important documents, derived from these sources. He has not yet had access to the Foreign Office, nor quite completed his examinations into the office of Grace and Justice --- Gracia y Justicia.
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LOUISIANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
The papers received are in the custody of the Secretary of State, and have not yet been examined
The State has purchased about a thousand pages of manuscripts (in two quarto volumes,) being prin- cipally short extracts taken from memoirs, letters, re- ports, &c., by Mr. Magne, one of the editors of the " L'Abeille," during his residence in Paris.
Mr. Forstall has also given a full and elaborate index and analysis of the documents relating to Louis- iana, in Paris.
In the summer of 1848, John Perkins, Esq., was delegated by the Society to make researches in Europe for interesting matter relative to Louisiana. What he has yet achieved will appear from the following most interesting letter.
PARIS, March 24, 1849.
SIR :- I owe you an apology for the little allusion I have hereto- fore made to the historical researches in which you feel so much in- terest. I assure you they have not been out of my mind ; but my health was so delicate for the first three months after my arrival at Paris, that I seldom left my room, except for a ride, and was never free from pain. Of course, work was out of the question. I, how- ever, through the kindness of our Consul, Mr. Walsh, made the ac- quaintance of a gentleman who, writing the history of La Salle, had occasion thoroughly to examine all the papers relating to the early settlement of our State, and I found from him that the field was much wider than I expected. Not only is the Marine Department rich in materials of historical interest to Louisiana, but there are also in the War and Foreign Departments, the archives and different . public libraries of Paris, many documents of a most interesting kind, that seem to have escaped the attention of Mr. Forstall, and even of Mr. Gayarre.
I have now, through the assistance of our Minister, Mr. Rush, and the courtesy of the gentlemen at the head of the different depart- ments, been permitted unrestricted examination of these papers, and their value cannot be exaggerated. The want of system, and the
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HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS OF LOUISIANA.
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loose manner in which they were thrown together, complained. of by Mr. Forstall, and that rendered Mr. Broadhead's researches for the State of New York so laborious, are only to a certain extent remedied. There are still mingled in large volumes papers without order of date, and some of no date, whose epoch can be assigned only by a know- ledge of the date of the events to which they refer. The present Government has, however, appointed a commission to classify and ar- range, with a view to future publication, the most important papers touching French colonial settlements in America, and it is expected that by the end of another year, there will be published all that relates particularly to Louisiana, up to the period of the discovery by sea of the mouth of the Mississippi, by D'Iberville, in 1697, and the first establishment of Louisiana, in accordance with the project of M. De Rémonville. M. Margry expects to publish his life of La Salle about the same time. These two publications will cover everything of interest up to that date. The period of sixty-six years, that extends from that time to the termination of the French rule in 1763, the epoch of the cession of Louisiana to Spain, is full of interest; and the documents derive more than merely historical interest from the minute details given of the agriculture, climate, and diseases of the new set- tlement.
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