USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 6
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These four hundred and ninety-nine men were sent under the command of Bouligny to form, on Bayou Tèche, in the Attakapas country, a settlement, which was called New Iberia. They cultivated, at first, flax and hemp, but without success, and afterward attended solely to the raising of cattle in the vast prairies of the
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GALVEZTOWN
Attakapas. Martin says that, besides grants of land, some heads of families received in rations, cattle, pecu- niary, and other aid between three and four thousand dollars.
On January 15, 1779, Galvez says he has inspected a site of high lands near the junction of the rivers Amite and Iberville, not known until now by the people of the country, and discovered by chance by the English and the Americans who had fled to the possessions of the King of Spain.3 The latter formed there a village, which they named Galveztown, and they begged that the name be not changed, as they had found a refuge there during Galvez's administration, and they wished that the name be a token of their gratitude, and mark the date of the foundation of the village. The governor, in his despatch, expresses his regret at the death of Captain Louis Andry, who perished, some said, with the whole crew of his bark in the bay of Espiritu Santo, or, according to others, was killed by the Indians. Andry, says the governor, was the only man who could make plans with exactitude, and his death embarrasses him very much with regard to Galveztown, where several families from the Canary Islands were established. Galvez mentions also a terrific storm that had raged from October 7 to October 10, 1778.4 'The sea rose as it had never been seen to do before, and the establishments at the Balize, Bayou St. John and Tigouyou were destroyed.
The people from the Canary Islands whom Galvez established in Louisiana are known as the Isleños or Is- lingues.5 The population of Galveztown in 1788 was
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'A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA
two hundred and fifty-six, according to De Bow's Review, but at present that town no longer exists. The Isleños inhabit principally St. Bernard parish, at Terre-aux- Bœufs, and on Bayou Bœuf, near Lake Borgne. Some of these people are educated and wealthy, but the great majority are poor and ignorant. A number of them live on l'Ile, between the Bois del Lacre and Lake Borgne. Few of these have houses; they reside principally in pal- metto huts and lead a very primitive life. They all speak Spanish and the Creole patois, and the children are begin- ning to learn English.
In 1779 six Capuchin friars sent by the King arrived in Louisiana. Among them was Father Antonio de Se- della, better known as Père Antoine, who died in 1829, beloved by the people of New Orleans. The year 1779 was marked by the ravages of smallpox in and around the city, and principally by the declaration of war against England. France had recognized the independence of the United States, and was at war with Great Britain. The King of Spain offered his mediation, which was not accepted by England, and he ordered his ambassador to leave London without ceremony. Letters of marque were issued against the ships and subjects of Spain, and the latter country declared war against England on May 8, 1779. On July 8 the King authorized his subjects in 'America to take part in the war. Galvez, who had acted thus far as provisional governor, received his commission as governor and intendant " on account of the merit dis- played in the provisional government of the province and granting the wishes of its inhabitants." "
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PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
On hearing of the declaration of war, Galvez imme- diately resolved to attack the English possessions in the neighborhood, and called a council of war. It was the opinion of the Council that it would be better to adopt defensive measures until reinforcements could be ob- tained from Havana; but the intrepid young governor did not accept the advice of the Council, and, says Ga- yarré, " under the pretext of preparing for defense, he proceeded with indefatigable activity to prepare for car- rying into execution his secret designs, which he intrusted only to Don Juan Antonio Gayarre, whom he appointed commissary of war for the projected expedition."7 In the mean time a violent hurricane occurred on August 18, 1779, which caused great devastation in New Orleans and along the Mississippi. The vessels that had been pre- pared for the expedition were sunk in the river, with the exception of the frigate El Volante, which its com- mander, Luis Lorenzo de Terrazas, succeeded in saving.
The governor, however, was not discouraged; he re- newed his preparations and devised an expedient, which Gayarre quotes from the supplement to the Madrid Gazette of August 29, 1780. He assembled in the pub- lic square the principal inhabitants of New Orleans, and showed them his commission as governor, which he had just received. He said that he could not take, before the cabildo, the oath to defend the province from the English until the inhabitants promised to help him. All present assented with enthusiasm. Galvez then took the oath of office, and began to collect a small fleet and an army. He succeeded in raising out of the river four of the ves-
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A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA [1779
sels that had been sunk by the hurricane, and he left New Orleans on August 27 with six hundred and seventy men, including one hundred and seventy veteran soldiers, three hundred and thirty recruits, twenty carbineers, sixty mi- litiamen, and eighty free blacks as volunteers. The artillery was placed in the vessels and was commanded by Don Julian Alvarez; the second in command was Colonel Manuel Gonzales; next came Don Estevan Mirò. Lieutenant-Colonel Don Pedro Piernas received the command of New Orleans, and to Don Martin Navarro was intrusted the civil administration of the province. Don Gilberto Guillemard was a volunteer engineer.
Galvez received on the way reinforcements of six hun- dred men and one hundred and sixty Indians. The latter and the colored men marched in the front as scouts; they were followed by the regular troops and by the militia. On September 7 Fort Bute, at Manchac, was taken by assault, Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent being the first to enter by an embrasure. Although his army had been considerably diminished on the march by sickness and fatigue, Galvez left Manchac on September 13, and ad- vanced against Baton Rouge. He saw that he could not take the fort by storm, and resolved to invest it. The garrison consisted of four hundred British soldiers and one hundred militia, commanded by Colonel Dickson. Galvez opened fire on September 21, and after a brisk cannonade, which lasted two hours and a half, the English commander proposed a capitulation. The garrison were granted the honors of war and were made prisoners. It was agreed that Fort Panmure at Natchez, and two
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1779]
CAPTURE OF BATON ROUGE
posts, one on the Amite and the other on Thompson Creek, should capitulate also. Galvez left Carlos de Grandpré in command at Baton Rouge, and returned with his army to New Orleans. His campaign had been conducted with great daring and ability and was considered glorious.
The supplement to the Madrid Gazette, January 14, 1780, quoted by Gayarré, praises highly the Louisiana militia, and adds that the Acadians were most eager to attack the English, " remembering their cruelties in the war, which obliged them to abandon their houses." The free men of color behaved also with great courage. The Spanish gunboats captured several English vessels in the lakes and in the Mississippi, and Vincent Rieux, a native of New Orleans, commander of a sloop of war, greatly distinguished himself. He heard that an English bark was expected at Manchac, and devised a plan to cap- ture it. He formed intrenchments with trees, and con- cealed his men. As soon as the English were near enough, Rieux and his men fired upon them and uttered loud shouts. The English, thinking that a large force was opposed to them, ran below deck, and Rieux and his thirteen men, all Creoles, or natives of Louisiana, made prisoners about seventy soldiers and sailors. On his re- turn to New Orleans, Galvez had only fifty soldiers to garrison the city, as he had been compelled to leave some of his men to occupy the posts conquered from the Eng- lish. New Orleans was full of friendly Indians and of English prisoners freed on parole, but no disturbances took place. Galvez's energy imposed respect upon all, and he was highly admired and greatly beloved. The
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King rewarded his exploits by appointing him a briga- dier-general.
The campaign of Galvez against Baton Rouge inspired Julien Poydras, who wrote in French a short epic poem on the heroic deeds of the governor. This work, pub- lished in New Orleans in 1779, is interesting as being the first contribution to the French literature of Louisiana, which was destined to be very creditable.
Julien Poydras was born at Nantes, in Brittany, about 1740. He served in the navy, and was made a prisoner by the English in 1760 and taken to England. He man- aged to escape after three years, and went to Santo Domingo, hidden in a merchant vessel bound for the West Indies. From Santo Domingo he passed over to Louisiana, where he arrived, it is thought, in 1768, the year of the celebrated Revolution against Spain. It must have been very sad to Julien Poydras to reach Louisiana only to see her become a Spanish province; but to a man of energy and enterprise a wide field was open in a new country admirably situated for commerce and with a soil created by the sediment which the noblest river in the world had been depositing for centuries. Poydras re- mained but one year in New Orleans, for he had under- stood what profit could be derived from a direct trade with the country parishes. He bought some merchandise and set out on foot from New Orleans. He was re- ceived everywhere with unbounded hospitality, and in a short time accumulated a large sum of money. He finally bought a plantation at Pointe Coupée, and settled there. He built later a store and cotton-gins, and de-
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JULIEN POYDRAS
1779]
rived great profits therefrom. He was a remarkable man and appears to have been created for the require- ments of his epoch, and to have known perfectly how to adapt himself to circumstances. He was exceedingly sober and frugal, very gentle in his disposition, and had the sympathies of all who knew him. He traded with all the posts in the province, and even with Nacogdoches. He provided the posts with European merchandise, and received in exchange indigo, cotton, salt meat, buffalo skins, bear's grease, and flour. Two or three times a year Poydras went to New Orleans, and it is curious to note how he traveled. The poor young peddler who, in 1769, went from house to house with his pack, had his own boat twenty years later, in which he leisurely de- scended the Mississippi. His craft, it is true, was a flatboat covered with a tent, but he had six oarsmen, a cook, and a servant, and lived in regal fashion, stopping on his way at the plantations of his friends, and being received everywhere most cordially. When he went to the Avoyelles, where he had large herds of cattle, he crossed the impetuous Atchafalaya River on a raft, hold- ing by the bridle his horse, which swam after him.
Julien Poydras was very pious and led a noble life. Although wealthy, he lived in a simple and unostenta- tious manner. His house was open to all who knocked at his door, and he gave hospitality to Louis-Philippe, in 1798, at Pointe Coupée, and is said to have furnished the exiled prince with money to continue his journey. Having passed, by many years, the allotted threescore and ten, Julien Poydras was prepared to take his de-
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A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA
parture from this world. In the beginning of June, 1824, he took to his bed, for his strength had abandoned him. Without any real illness, his life was passing away, as a flame in a lamp flickers and dies out when there is no longer any oil to feed the wick. Although extremely weak, Poydras was always desirous of standing up, " for," said he, " a man on his feet never dies." His friends would hold him up for a few minutes each day, and a smile was on his lips when he died. He bequeathed $40,000 to the Charity Hospital in New Orleans, was the founder of Poydras Asylum in the same city, and gave $30,000 to establish a school for indigent orphans in Pointe Coupée. To the parishes of West Baton Rouge and Pointe Coupée he left $30,000 each for a noble and poetic purpose. Each year the interest of the money was to be given to the young girls who were married during the year. He left the bulk of his fortune to one of his nephews, and in his will he ordered that twenty-five years after his death all his slaves should be set free. These directions, however, were unheeded. Julien Poydras was on intimate terms with Governor Claiborne and General Wilkinson, and took a great interest in public affairs. He was president of the first Legislative Council of the Territory of Orleans, delegate to Congress from 1809 to 1812, president of the Constitutional Convention of 1812, and president of the State Senate from 1812 to 1813, and again from 1820 to 1821.
Poydras's work has no great literary merit, but it is interesting as a historical document. The title of it is " La Prise du Morne du Baton Rouge par Monseigneur
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POYDRAS'S POEM
1779]
de Galvez, Chevalier pensionné de l'Ordre Royal distin- gué de Charles Trois, Brigadier des Armées de Sa Ma- jesté, Intendant, Inspecteur et Gouverneur Général de la Province de la Louisiane, etc. A la Nouvelle Orleans, chez Antoine Boudousquié, Imprimeur du Roi et du Ca- bildo. M.DCC.LXXIX." The author evidently imi- tated Boileau's celebrated epistle on the crossing of the Rhine by the cavalry of Louis XIV. In Poydras's poem the Mississippi is awakened by a thunderbolt. He asks what mortal or what god has come to disturb the sweet peace of his happy shores, where dwell his cherished plan- ters. He sends the nymph Scæsaris to find out who is the rash being that is invading his realm. The nymph goes into the camp, disguised as a mortal, and sees the hero. She returns to the god Mississippi, and describes the army and relates the story of the siege and capture of Baton Rouge. She speaks of the proud planters, intrepid mi- litia, who, with the same skilful hands that traced fur- rows, elevate bastions and parapets with a like ardor. She says the intrepid Galvez encourages all, and that, in spite of their gallant resistance, the English are obliged to surrender. The governor then addresses words of praise to his army, which replies with great acclamation. The narrative of Scæsaris to the river-god ends by a prophecy of what his banks will be under the rule of the victors. The Mississippi says:
I shall tell my waters to moderate their course, And to fertilize the place of his abode, By flowery paths let him attain glory, Let his name be written in the Temple of Memory.
on
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A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA [1780
Sing, nymphs, tritons, swell your bagpipes. Everything breathes joy in the empire of waters. I wish in his honor to institute a feast That will consecrate forever his new conquest.
After the capture in 1779 of Baton Rouge, called by the English New Richmond, Galvez left New Orleans in January, 1780, to undertake the conquest of Mobile. " A report shows that the garrison of Mobile, all told, con- sisted of two hundred and seventy-nine men, besides Mr. Gordon, the minister, who was quite active, Commissary Thomas Strother, and the surgeon's mate, probably Dr. Grant. There were seventeen negroes as officers' ser- vants, and thirty-five more were used in one way or an- other, whose owners afterward claimed compensation from the Crown. There were represented the engineers, artillery, 4th battalion of the 60th Foot, sixteen of the United Provincial Corps of Pennsylvania, and Mary- land Loyalists, fifty-two volunteers from the inhabitants (of whom fifteen deserted), and twenty-one artificers. Among the volunteers are included Captain Walker's Provincial Dragoons and Captain Rees's militia in three canoes, who arrived at a critical time." 8
Galvez sailed from the Balize on February 5, 1780, with an army of two thousand men-regulars, militia, and a few companies of free men of color. In spite of a ter- rific storm, which greatly hampered and delayed him, he landed his army on the eastern point of Mobile River. General Campbell, the English commander at Pensacola, might have destroyed the Spanish army had he attacked it with a large force in its disorganized condition. Gal-
APAIR
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FORT CHARLOTTE
1780]
vez understood this so well that he who was generally so bold thought of retreating to New Orleans by land. Campbell, however, did not appear, and Galvez erected six batteries and began to cannonade Fort Charlotte, which was commanded by Captain Durnford. The fol- lowing correspondence is interesting in that it shows the chivalric character of Galvez, Durnford's manliness, and Campbell's indecision. The first letter is written in French, and the others in English.9
CHOCTAW POINT, March 1, 1780.
SIR: If I had fewer than two thousand men under my com- mand, and if you had more than one hundred soldiers and a few sailors, I would not ask you to surrender, but the great in- equality of forces compels us-you to yield immediately, or I to make you bear all the extremities of war if a useless and uncalled-for resistance irritates the patience of my troops, too much annoyed by some accidents. To-day I am ready to grant you a regular capitulation and in accordance with circumstances ; to- morrow perhaps nothing will be left to you but the sterile re- pentance of not having accepted my proposition in favor of the unfortunates who are under your command.
I have the honor to be, Sir, Your very humble and very obedient servant, B. DE GALVEZ.
To CAPTAIN DURNFORD, Fort Charlotte, Mobile.
FORT CHARLOTTE, MOBILE, 1 March, 1780.
SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Ex- cellency's summons to surrender immediately the Fort to your Excellency's superior forces.
The differences of number, I am convinced, are greatly in your
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A HISTORY OF LOUISIANA [1780
favor, sir, but mine are much beyond your Excellency's con- ception, and was I to give up this Fort on your demand I should be regarded as a traitor to my king and country. My love for both, and my own honor, direct my heart to refuse surrendering this Fort until I am under conviction that resistance is in vain. The generosity of your Excellency's mind is well known to my brother officers and soldiers, and should it be my misfortune to be added to their number (sic), a heart full of generosity and valor will ever consider brave men fighting for their country as objects of esteem and not revenge.
I have the honor to be, etc.,
ELIAS DURNFORD.
Gov. D. B. DE GALVEZ.
MOBILE, 2d March, 1780.
SIR : Soon after I sent Land Express a flag was perceived in the wood, and I sent an officer to receive it at some distance. This, as I expected, was a summons to surrender to Don Bernardo de Galvez' superior forces-a copy of which you have inclosed with my answer thereto. The Flag was brought in Person by an old acquaintance, Colonel Bolyny [Bouligny], who sent me a polite card, wishing for the pleasure of an interview if possible, and Pro- fession of Friendship, although we were National enemies : on which I sent Mr. Barde to conduct him into the Fort with the customary ceremony, where he dined and continued until nearly five o'clock, drinking a cheerful Glass to the healths of our King and Friends.
During our conversation I found that the Report of the Ship- wreck was true; he acknowledged that they had undergone great hardships, but would not allow to have lost any men, and in- formed me that they were about 2500 men, but by trusty Indians who were sent by me into the camp in the morning, I learned that a great number were negroes and mulattoes, and they had landed no cannon. Bolyny confirmed that we had cut the cable and just hit the Row Galley, but we are certain that three nine- pounder shot hit her, and as she is gone off I suspect she is
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1780]
well mauled, for yesterday morning she was seen opposite the Choctaws on a heal (sic), and I suppose is gone to Dog River to repair the damage received from our shot. As soon as Colonel Bolyny left me I drew up my Garrison in the square, read to them Don Galvez' summons, and told them that if any man among them was afraid to stand by me, that I should open the gate and he should freely pass. This had the desired effect, and not a man moved. I then read to them my answer to the summons, on which they all joined in three cheers and then went to our necessary work like good men.
I really believe that their (the enemy's) force is greatly mag- nified.
I am,
ELIAS DURNFORD.
GENERAL CAMPBELL: Your great good news hath just arrived. I thank you, dear Sir, for the consolation it affords me. I need not say that I will defend the Fort to the last extremity. The vessels I can see from this are in the mouth of the East Pass, about two miles distant from the Fort. And the Galvez Brig is one and Pickler's Florida the other. Near to the Dog River are five ships or Pollacas, and I am informed that three or four are in Dog River, besides the Row Galley.
I am, etc., ELIAS DURNFORD.
4 o'clock afternoon.
FORT CHARLOTTE, MOBILE, 14th March, 1780.
GEN. CAMPBELL:
Sir: It is my misfortune to inform you that this morning my small but brave garrison marched down the breach, and sur- rendered themselves prisoners of war to General Bernardo de Galvez' superior arms. I write for your information, and request you will do me the favor to inform Mrs. Durnford that I am in good health, and that she ought to be under no uneasiness at my
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fate. When it is in my power to send you the capitulation and state preceding it for a few days, will do it; in the mean time I assure you, sir, that no man in the garrison hath stained the lustre of the British arms.
The number by return of killed, wounded and prisoners, 304.
I have the honor to be, etc., ELIAS DURNFORD.
Captain Durnford's " great good news " was probably the fact that Campbell had announced to him that he had sent, on March 5, to relieve Mobile the Sixtieth Regiment, and the next day the remainder of the Waldeck Regiment. Campbell himself set out from Pensacola with a force of five hundred and twenty-two men, but, as we have seen by Durnford's letter quoted above, Fort Charlotte had capitulated on March 14, 1780. Galvez granted his gallant opponent the honors of war, and agreed, says Mr. Hamilton, " to take his prisoners to a British port and land them, upon their promise not to serve against Spain or her allies for eighteen months." It was at Fort Charlotte that Willing, who had so ruthlessly devastated the Mississippi coast from Baton Rouge to Natchez, had been kept a prisoner by the English until exchanged in 1779.10
Galvez was made a major-general for his achievements at Mobile, and he resolved to drive the English entirely out of the country adjoining the province of Louisiana by making the conquest of Pensacola. The young and intrepid governor of Louisiana knew that the force under his command was insufficient for the capture of Pensa- cola, and he sent a messenger to Havana to ask for a
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PENSACOLA
1781]
. reinforcement. 'As the captain-general did not imme- diately comply with his request, he went to Havana him- self and obtained troops, artillery, and ammunition. He sailed for Pensacola on October 16, 1780, but met with a storm, which dispersed his transports and compelled him to return to Havana on November 17. We shall fol- low here Galvez's Diary of the expedition, dated Pensa- cola, May 12, 1781.11
On his returning to Havana, November 17, Galvez felt very anxious about the fate of his transports, as he did not know where they were. It appears that after being dispersed by the storm some went to Campeachy, some to the Mississippi, and some to other parts, and one was supposed to have perished. As soon as he reached Ha- vana the general asked again that troops and provisions be sent to Mobile, as the fort was in want of both and was threatened with an attack. Yielding to his entrea- ties, the council of generals ordered that ships be put in order to transport five hundred men and some provisions, and on December 6, 1780, the convoy sailed under the command of Don Joseph de Rada. It reached the mouth of the Mobile after a few days, but the captain did not wish to enter the bay, because he perceived, as he said, some change in the channel, and he sailed directly for the Balize on the river Mississippi, where he left the convoy and returned to Havana.
This circumstance, and the fact that two English frig- ates entered Mobile Bay five days later, induced Galvez, as it was not possible to renew the expedition from Ha- vana, to urge that troops be given him to reinforce the gar-
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