Brief history of the Louisiana territory, Part 8

Author: Smith, Walter Robinson
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: St. Louis, St. Louis News Co.
Number of Pages: 218


USA > Louisiana > Brief history of the Louisiana territory > Part 8


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During the early years following the transfer, two events of importance occurred in the purchased territory. The first was the unearthing of the notorious Aaron Burr conspiracy. . Burr was a grandson of the saintly Jonathan Edwards and had been conspicuous from his early years for brilliance, audacity, cunning, and ambition. He had been read out of the Republican party for trying to beat Jefferson out of the presidency and had ruined his hopes of a legitimate political career by murdering Alexander Hamilton in a duel. While yet Vice-President of the United States and presiding over the Senate with a dignity and grace never surpassed, he harbored treason in his soul and formed a gigantic conspiracy, at once alluring and bold but impossible, and set about its accomplishment with a skill and hardihood worthy of a nobler cause. His designs were shadowy but his central aim was to use the adventurers along the frontier and the discontented in Louisiana to cut off as much of the West from the Union as appeared possible and with all the territory he could slice off' the Spanish domain establish an empire where Aaron Burr would be supreme. From New York he brought a


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Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.


number of his Tammany friends and in the West Blennerhassett and Wilkinson lent their aid. Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and Governor Claiborne were unsuccessfully approached. But his tools were not perfectly selected. Wilkinson had been engaged in too many conspiracies on his own account to be caught in one where he was not chief and when failure threatened the expedi- tion he turned traitor to Burr. Contemptible and guilty as he was his energy and ability in putting down the conspiracy, aided as they were by his knowledge of Burr's plans, coupled with careful political manipulation, saved him from punishment. Burr was captured, tried, and set free, for want of convicting evidence; but he remained ever afterward a political and social outcast.


The other event of importance was the magnificent expedi- tion of Lewis and Clark. An expedition to the Pacific had been suggested by Jefferson fifteen years before and had been urged upon the American Philosophical Society with such force that a subscription was opened for such an enterprise in, 1792. In 1801 Captain Meriwether Lewis and a French botanist started out but the Frenchman was recalled and the enterprise abandoned. When in 1803 a good opportunity arose, Jefferson urged Congress to provide for the expedition which it did. Lewis was again se- lected and chose for his associate Captain William Clark, of the United States army. Lewis was a young Virginian of excellent family, possessed of a good education, sound intelligence, and a courage and tenacity of purpose which nothing could shake. He had seen military service under Anthony Wayne and was for three years President Jefferson's private secretary. His asso- ciate, William Clark, was a brother of George Rogers Clark, who had also served under Wayne, and who was a trained frontiers- man of great ability and courage. He was thoroughly familiar with Indian nature and to his skill in dealing with them much of the credit of the expedition was due. It was an excellent com- bination for they seemed to lack no quality or accomplishment which could add to the success of such an exploration.


They started up the Missouri with about twenty-five com-


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Louisiana Territory Under the United States.


panions in the spring of 1804. They toiled painfully forward against the muddy and tempestuous current and were compelled to spend the first winter among the Mandan Indians in a fort near the present site of Bismarck. In the spring they continued their voyage into Montana, left the headwaters of the Missouri, plunged into the wild canons of the Rockies, crossed the divide, and ferreted out the headwaters of the Snake river. Down this stream they floated into the Columbia, thence to its mouth where on November 15, 1805, they beheld "the waves like small moun- tains rolling out in the sea." They wintered on the Pacific and in the spring set out to retrace their journey and in September, 1806 were again in St. Louis.


This gigantic wilderness journey has scarce a parallel in the annals of history. For over two years had they wandered in an unknown world. Nearly eight thousand miles had they traveled, scarcely a league of which did not bristle with peril. They had gone without harm through the most dangerous Indian tribes showing a management of the savages which was a marvel of adroitness and humanity. They lost only one man by death and not one of their subordinates faltered. One Indian was shot by Captain Lewis when the lives of the party seemed to depend on a sudden show of vigor but as a whole the expedition forms the pleasantest and most creditable record in American frontier life. They opened a pathway of light through the great West and paved the way for the future settlement and control of the Ore- gon country.


. While Lewis and Clark were opening a pathway to the Upper Missouri and the distant Pacific an equally heroic spirit was gaining accurate knowledge of the sources of the Mississippi. General Zebulon M. Pike set out from St. Louis in August, 1805 to explore Minnesota, and the region about the headwaters of the Mississippi. The next year he made another expedition from St. Louis, crossing Missouri, thence into the present Indian Ter- ritory, northward across Kansas into Nebraska and then south- west to the Rockies. Pushing up the Arkansas he gazed upon


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Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.


the lordly peak that bears his name and measured its height. From there he went southward in the dead of winter, suffering unspeakable agonies of hunger and cold, and finally reached the Rio Grande only to be captured by the Spaniards. He was re- leased after a short time and reached the American fort at Natchitoches in July, 1807. Through the journals of these ex- plorations added to the expedition of Lewis and Clark the Amer- ican public first realized what a glorious achievement the Louis- iana Purchase had been.


As Laussat had predicted to his government the Territory of Orleans developed rapidly. A majority of the people were soon reconciled to the new government, although a number of the Spanish soldiers and leaders remained, intriguing and hoping for a retrocession until actually driven out. By 1810 there were twenty-five thousand people in New Orleans and the immediate vicinity and the population of the whole of Orleans amounted to more than seventy-five thousand. An enabling act was therefore passed by Congress to provide for erecting the Territory into a state. A convention was called which proclaimed a Constitution. The Territory then applied formally for admission into the Union under the name of Louisiana and was admitted on April 30, 1812, being the ninth anniversary of the treaty of cession.


Thus by the admission of the first state carved from that vast domain beyond the Mississippi the final disposition of the whole of it was determined. The remnant of the old Federalists had taken up the narrow constitutional view advanced by Jeffer- son when he first received the treaty of cession and denied the right of Congress to admit states except from the territory within the limits of the Union at the adoption of the Constitution. Af- ter dwelling upon this constitutional objection Josiah Quincy in a speech before the House continued passionately: "To me it appears that this measure [ for the admission of Louisiana] would justify a revolution in this country. I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of this Union are virtually dissolved; that the States which compose


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Louisiana Territory Under the United States.


it are free from their moral obligations; and that, as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation-amicably if they can, violently if they must." He was interrupted by cries of "Order ! Order !" but was later al- lowed to continue his remarks in which he outlined the fears of New England and some other parts of the East that the scepter of power would soon slip from their grasp to be wielded by deni- zens of the wilds beyond the Alleghanies and even beyond the Mississippi. This violent outburst accomplished nothing as the precedent set by the passage of the bill was final.


One more event and' the new State must drop from our record. Scarcely two years had passed when a foreign foe was again at New Orleans. While Napoleon was languishing at Elba England determined to seize the territory he had sold to keep out of her power. For two years our feeble nation, rent with political selfishness and strife, had been waging a forlorn struggle with England, attended with astounding success on the sea and indifferent success on the northern frontier. When England for a time had her hands free she sent out a magnificent armament of twenty thousand veterans, perfectly equipped and well offi- cered. Sir Edward Pakenham had charge and the landing at the mouth of the Mississippi was effected in the latter part of 1814. The Louisiana Purchase was to become a British empire in spite of Napoleon and the young republic.


But Andrew Jackson was in the way. With all his faults Jackson was the archtype of imperious energy and natural born leadership. Men obeyed him by instinct and trusted him by compulsion. Out of as heterogeneous a mob as general ever com- manded he wrought in a few short days an army that performed miracles. Behind hastily improvised breastworks of the rudest sort a droll confusion of men, arms, and equipment awaited the attack of 10,000 of Wellington's veterans. Behind the main line were only 3,200 men,-lank Tennessee and Kentucky frontiers- men, clad in brown homespun and armed with the long and deadly rifles with which they had been accustomed to pick squirrels out


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Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.


of the tallest trees ; Louisiana creoles, in gay and varied uniforms, singing the Marseillaise but loyal to the Union; unwashed pirates from the swamps of Barataria; troops of negroes, sailors, mulat- toes, and a few regulars from the American army. Every move of Pakenham was checkmated by the decision and resourcefulness of Jackson and nothing apparently remained but to storm the in- trenchments. At the head of the advancing column Pakenham fell mortally wounded. The second in command soon followed. The lines wavered, fell back, were reformed and again charged into the rain of lead and death. Again they halted, sickened, gave way. One short hour ended the carnage and Lambert, the fourth in command, led off the broken columns, put them on board ship and since that day no foreign foe has encamped upon the free soil of the United States. Two thousand British soldiers had that day perished while within the American breastworks only six men were killed and seven wounded. Jackson had won the presidency and the West had exemplified its patriotism and military prowess.


The State of Louisiana was soon followed into the Union by others. In 1812 the country north of Louisiana was organized as the Missouri Territory with a governor, appointed by the Presi- dent, a directly elected House of Representatives, and an- indi- rectly elected council of nine members. The intrepid William Clark became governor and retained the office until Missouri was admitted as a State in 1821. The admission of Missouri caused the bitterest struggle of the era which ended in the famous Mis- souri Compromise. The new State contained the most favored portion of the territory, comprising within her borders the varied resources of a self-sustaining empire, and speedily took rank as one of the large States, steadily advancing until it reached fifth place in population and wealth. St. Louis soon outstripped her elder sister, New Orleans, and has remained the leading city west of the Mississippi.


Missouri was followed in steady succession by ten other States. The tide of emigration rolled steadily westward, wave


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Louisiana Territory Under the United States.


upon wave, flooding the rich alluvial valleys, and gradually rising to the more sterile hilltops beyond. The Indians and the buffalo melted away and the wilderness crumbled before the onslaught of civilization. . Arkansas was organized into a separate Terri- tory in 1819 and admitted into the Union as a State in 1836 .. Iowa Territory was organized in 1838 and admitted into the Union in 1845. Minnesota was made a Territory in 1849 and erected into a State in 1858. The bitter Kansas-Nebraska strug- gle culminated in 1854 and Kansas became a State in 1861. Ne- braska followed in 1867. Colorado was erected into a Territory in 1861 and admitted to statehood 1876. Dakota Territory, or- ganized in 1861, was split into North and South Dakota and the two States admitted at the beginning of Harrison's administration in 1889. Montana, made a Territory in 1864, was admitted 1889. Wyoming followed these States the next year. Thus twelve States have already been carved from the huge domain and it only remains for Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory to be united into the thirteenth. Each State will then represent only a little more than one million of the original fifteen million dollars purchase money.


The riches of this stupendous acquisition are incalculable. It is now inhabited by fifteen million people (three times the population of the whole United States at the time of the pur- chase) and would support with ease twenty-five times its present number. It is "the granary of the world, the inexhaustible store- house of the base and precious metals, rich in every element of present prosperity and far rieher in every element of future opulenec." Its teeming millions will some day bring the center of population across the Mississippi, and its energy, intelligence, and ambition will make it a center of culture as well as of wealth. As it is to be the host of the world in the coming months, so will it continue to rivet the attention of the nations, when its hills and its valleys, its mines and its manufactures, its fields and its . pastures, its farms and its vineyards, give forth their storehouses to feed and clothe and warm and vitalize a needy world. The


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Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.


Anglo-Saxon race began its career of progress on the banks of the Thames; it will end that progress in the valley of the Missis- sippi. The history of the Mississippi valley is unique; its pres- ent wealth and prosperity is marvelous; its hope for the future is lost in boundless sublimity. Truly does the Louisiana Pur- chase rank third in the events of importance in United States history.


THE END.


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INDEX.


Acadia, 4. Acadians arrive in Louisiana, 45.


Adams, Henry. On Jefferson, 49, 62. On Spanish America, 54. Parallel between Toussaint and Napoleon, 57.


Adams, John, 52, 54.


Agriculture. In Upper Louisiana, 23. Lower Louisiana, 84.


Algonquin Indians. Allies of Champlain, 5.


Alquier, Citizen, 52.


Arkansas. Indians, 10. Admitted to Union, 91.


Aubrey, Spanish governor of Louisiana, 31, 33, 39, 41.


Austria, 52, 53.


Bale, Peace of, 50.


Bates, Frederick, 85.


Baton Rouge, 41, 44, 82.


Bayou Manchac, 41.


Bellerive, St. Ange de, 34, 36, 38.


Berthier, General. Signs treaty of San Ildefonso, 53.


Bienville, Explores Lower Mississippi, 17. Founds New Orleans, 20. Leaves Louisiana, 27. Character and work, 27, 28. Visits Choiseul, 31.


Biloxi. Founded, 18.


Boisbriant, Pierre. Founds Ft. Chartres, 23.


Bonaparte, Joseph, 52, 67, 68. "


Bonaparte, Lucian, 53, 68.


Bonaparte, Napoleon, 50. Plan to take Louisiana, 51, 52, 53. Breaks peace of Amiens, 65, 66. Decides to give up Louisiana, 66, 67. Bonhomme. Founded, 36.


Bourgmont. Builds Fort Orleans, 21. Crosses Kansas, 21.


Burr, Aaron. Conspiracy, 85, 86.


Cabildo. Replaces Superior Council, 33. Building the scene of transfers, 77, 78.


Cahokia. Founded, 22, 36. Captured by George Rogers Clark, 40, 85.


Calvo, Marquis de Caso, 76, 77.


Canary Islands. Immigrants from, 43.


Cape Girardeau, 84.


Capuchins, 27. Quarrel with Jesuits, 42.


(93)


.94


Index.


Carmelites, 27. Carondelet. Founded, 36.


Carondelet, Baron de, Governor of Louisiana, 45, 46.


Cartier, Jacques. Explores St. Lawrence, 4. Charles III, King of Spain, 31. Charles IV, 53, 65. Chouteau, Madame, 36. Auguste Chouteau, 36. Pierre Chouteau, 36. Champlain, Samuel de. Founds Quebec, 4.


-Choiseul. Spanish minister, 31.


Claiborne, C. C., 55. Governor of Louisiana, 77-80.


Clark, George Rogers. Captures Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 40.


Clark, William. Expedition, 86, 87. Governor of Missouri, 90. Coligny. Attempt to plant a French colony in Florida, 4.


Colorado. Admitted to Union, 91.


Coureur-de-bois. Forerunners of progress, 37.


Creole. Definition, 82. Life, 82-84.


Creve-Coeur, Fort, 12.


Crozat, Anthony. Assumes control of Louisiana, 18. Surrenders Louisi- ana, 19.


Cruzat, Don Francisco. Governor of Upper Louisiana, 39, 40, 41.


D'Abbadie, Director-general of Louisiana, 30, 35.


Dagobert, Father, 42.


Dakota. Territory divided and admitted to Union, 91.


Dauphin Island. Settlement on, 18.


De Monts. Obtains permission to plant a colony in Acadia, 4.


De Soto. Discovers the Mississippi, 3.


Duralde, Martin. French surveyor at St. Louis, 39.


Du Tisne. Explores Missouri, 21.


Federalists, 55, 72, 73, 74, 76, 88.


Florissant. Founded, 36.


Fontainebleau, Treaty of, 29.


Fort Bourbon. Founded, 21.


Fort Chartres. Founded, 23. Leaves, 36.


Reached by Laclede, 35. French garrison.


Fort Dauphin. Founded, 21.


Fort Frontenac, II.


Fort La Reine. Founded, 21.


Fort Pierre. Founded, 21.


Fort St. Charles. Founded, 21.


Foucault. Leader in Creole revolution, 32.


Francis I. Decides to send expedition to America, 4.


Franciscans, 5.


French and Indian War, 28, 29.


95


Index.


French Revolution, 26. Excitement in New Orleans, 45. Jacobin procla- mation, 45.


Frontenac. Governor of Canada, II.


Galvez, Don Bernardo de. Spanish governor at New Orleans, 43. Aids Americans in Revolution, 44. Leaves Louisiana, 45.


Godoy, Don Manuel. Spanish minister, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 55, 65.


Government. Of Canada, 6. Of Louisiana under the French, 25, 26, 27.


Of Louisiana under the Spanish, 33, 34. Of Louisiana under the United States, 80, 81. Of Missouri Territory, 90.


Green Bay. Mission Station, 6, 9, 10.


Guillemardet, Citizen. French diplomat, 51.


Harrison, William Henry, 85.


Hennepin, Louis, 11.


Howard, Benjamin, 85.


Huguenots, 5. Petition to Louis XIV, 17.


Iberville, Le Moyne de. Continues La Salle's plan, 16. Reaches mouth of Mississippi, 17. Builds Fort Biloxi, 17. Other settlements, 18. Indian Territory, 91.


Iowa. Admitted to Union, 91.


Iroquois, 4, 6.


Jackson, Andrew. Approached by Burr, 86. At New Orleans, 89, 90. Jefferson, Thomas. Inaugurated, 48. Character, 48, 49. Friendship for


France, 55. Instructions to Livingston, 61. Political manipulation, 62. Threats to Pichon, 63. Letter to Monroe, 64. Mr. Schouler on Jeffer- son's diplomacy, 65. Proposes amendment to the Constitution, 70, 71. Message regarding Louisiana, 75. Responsible for Louis and Clark ex- pedition, 86.


Jesuits, 4, 22, 23, 27. Quarrel with Capuchins, 42.


Joliet, Louis. Explores Mississippi, 9, 10.


Kansas. Admitted to Union, 91.


Kaskaskia. Founded, 22, 34, 36. Captured by George Rogers Clark, 40, 85. Kerleric, Governor of Louisiana, 28, 30.


La Boulaye. Fort, 17.


Labusciere, Joseph, 38.


Laclede, Pierre. Lands in New Orleans, 35. Founds St. Louis, 36. Death 40.


La Harpe, Benard. Visits the Nassonite Indians, 20, 21.


La Mothe Cadillac. Governor of Louisiana, 19.


Lafreniere. Leader in Creole revolution, 32.


La Salle. Education and arrival in Canada, 7. Exploration of the Ohio and the Illinois, 8, 9. Plans French Empire in Mississippi Valley, 10, 11. In France, 11, 13. Sets out for Mississippi, 12. Wilderness journey, 12,


96


Index.


13. Reaches mouth of the Mississippi, 13. In Texas, 14. Death, 14. Character and work, 15.


Laussat, Pierre Clement, 76, 77, 79. Letter regarding Louisiana, 81.


Law, John. Organized Mississippi Company, 19.


Leclerc, General. In St. Domingo, 58.


Lefebre, Judge, 38.


Le Sueuer. Explores Minnesota, 20.


Lewis, Meriwether. Governor of Missouri Territory, 85. Expedition, 86, 87.


Leybe, Fernando de. Governor of Upper Louisiana, 40, 41.


Livingston, Robert R. Sent to France, 55. Negotiations, 61, 67, 68. Joy over treaty, 69. Fears Napoleon will change his mind, 71.


Loftus, Major. Attacked by Indians, 34.


· Louis XIV. Becomes interested in New France, 6. Surrenders Louisiana to Crozat, 18. To the Miss. Co., 19.


Louis XV. Orders Louisiana to be turned over to Spanish, 30, 36.


Louisiana Fur Company, 35.


Louisiana Territory. Boundaries, 74, 75. Area, 75. Jefferson's message concerning, 75. Transferred to France, 77. To United States, 78, 79. Government, 80. Life in, 82-85. Louisiana admitted to Union, 88. Louisiana Treaty, The, 68, 69, 72, 73.


L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 56-59.


Luneville, Peace of, 52.


McMaster, John B. On the Federalists, 72, 73. On New Orleans, 82, 83. Madison, James. Threatens Pichon, 63. Refuses to treat with him, 64.


Mallet Brothers. Explore Platte River and visit Santa Fe, 21.


Marbois, Barbe, 66, 67, 68, 75.


Marquette, Jacques. Explores Mississippi, 9, 10.


Milhet, Jean. Sent to France, 31.


Mines. At Galena, 23. Potosi, 23. Mine Lamotte, 23.


Minnesota. Explored, 20. Admitted to Union, 91.


Miro, Don Estevan, 44. Governor of Louisiana, 45.


Mississippi Company. Organized, 19. Rule, 20, 22, 23, 26.


Mississippi River. Discovery, 3. Indian references to, 7. Mouth reached by La Salle, 13.


Missouri. First settlement, 23. Territory organized, 90. Admitted to Un- .ion, 90.


Monroe, James. Sent to France, 63. Conversation with Pichon, 64. Ar- rives in Paris, 67. Signs treaty, 68, 69.


. Montana. Admitted to Union, 91.


Mobile Bay. Settlement on, 18.


Montaigne. On French quarrelsomeness, 5.


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97


Index.


Morales, Don Juan Ventura. Suspends the right of deposit at New Orleans, 62, 63.


Morgan, Col. George. Founds New Madrid, 44.


Natchez. Trading station, 19, 41. Captured by Galvez, 44.


. Natchitoches, 21, 82.


Nebraska. Admitted to Union, 91.


Nemours, Dupont de, 61, 64.


New Madrid. Founded, 44, 82, 84.


New Orleans. Founded, 20. Arrival of immigrants, 22. Progress, 24. Population, 45. Scene of transfers, 33, 77, 78, 79. Description, 81-85.


Niagara, Fort, 12.


Nicollet, Jean. Explorations, 6, 7.


Oklahoma Territory, 91.


Opelausas, 82.


O'Reilly, Alexander. Governor of Louisiana, 32, 33, 39.


Orleans, Territory of, Organized, 80, 81. Admitted as Louisiana, 88.


Pakenham, Sir Edward, 89.


Paris, Treaty of, 29.


Parkman, Francis, 4, 25.


Parma, Duke of, 52.


Pichon, French charge approached by Gallatin and Madison, 63. Threat- ened by Monroe, 65. At Washington, 73.


Pickering, Timothy, 74.


Piernas, Don Pedro. Takes possession of Upper Louisiana, 39.


Pike, Zebulon M., 87, 88.


Point Coupe, 82. Port of Deposit at New Orleans, 46, 62, 63.


Population. Louisiana in 1745, 24. Upper Louisiana in 1799, 41. Louisi- ana in 1803, 45. Of New Orleans, 45. Of Louisiana, 82.


Portage des Sioux, 37.


Purchase of Louisiana, 67-69. Importance, 92.


Quebec. Founded, 4, 5.


Quincy, Josiah. Threat of secession, 88, 89.


Renault, Philip. Opens lead mines at Galena, Illinois, 23.


Republicans, 72, 73, 74.


Richelieu. Government of Canada, 6.


Roberval. Attempt to plant colony in America, 4.


Rocky Mountains. Discovery, 22. Passed by Lewis and Clark, 87. St. Charles, Missouri, 36.


St. Cyr, Gouvion, 65, 71.


Saint-Denis, Juchereau de. Establishes Natchitoches, 19.


St. Domingo. A basis of operation against Louisiana, 51. Condition in 7


98


Index.


1802, 56. Revolution, 57-60.


St. Joseph River. Fort built at mouth in 1678, 12.


St. Lawrence. Explored, 4.


St. Louis, Missouri. Founded, 34, 35. Growth, 36. Government, 38. Oc- cupied by Spaniards, 39. Attacked by Indians, 40. Population, 41, 84. Taken by Stoddard, 84. Growth, 90.


St. Louis, of the Illinois, 13. St. Louis, of Texas, 14.


Ste. Genevieve. Founded, 23. Reached by Laclede, 35.


Salcedo, Governor, 76, 77. Sault St. Marie. Mission point, 6.


Schouler, James. On Jefferson's diplomacy, 65.


Ship Island. Settled, 18.


Slavery. Slaves brought to New Orleans, 22. Black Code enacted, 27. Number in Upper Louisiana, 41.


Sterling, Captain. Takes possession of Illinois, 34.


Stevens, Edward, 57.


Stoddard, Amos, 84, 85.


Superior Council, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33, 42.


Talleyrand. French diplomat, 50. X. Y. Z. affair, 51, 52. Diplomacy, 55, 67, 68.


Tchoupitoulas, 82.


Tonty, Henry de, 11, 13, 14, 16.


Treaty of Madrid, 46, 47.


Treaty of Morfontaine, 52.


Treaty of Paris, 29, 41.


Treaty of San Ildefonso, 53, 72.


Ulloa, Antonio de. Spanish governor of Louisiana, 31, 41. Driven out, 32. Unzaga, Don Luis de. Governor of Louisiana, 41, 42, 43.


Vaudreuil, Marquis de. Governor of Louisiana, 28.


Vérendrye, Chevalier de la. Discovers upper Rocky Mountains, 21, 22.


Verendrye, Pierre la. Explores the Northwest, 21.


Vergennes, Count de, 50.


Verrazano. Explores east coast of United States, 4.


Victor, General. Prepares army to take possession of Louisiana, 76.


Vincennes, 85. Washington, George, 24, 25. Wealth of Mississippi Valley, 91, 92.


Whitworth, Lord, 65, 66.


Wilkinson, General James. Commissioner to receive Louisiana, 77, 78, 80, Governor of District of Louisiana, 85. Engaged in Burr conspiracy, 86. Willing, Captain. Obtains aid from New Orleans during revolution, +4. Wyoming. Admitted to Union, 91.


Yrujo. Spanish minister, 63, 71.


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