USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 14
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campaigns against Baton Rouge, Mobile and Pensacola in 1779-81, during the conquest of West Florida, and rose to the rank of briga- dier-general. He was for a short time acting-governor at the death of Gayoso de Lemos in 1799. Prior to that time (in 1776) he wrote a memoir entitled: "Notice of the actual state of the commerce and population of New Orleans and Spanish Louisiana, and the means of advancing that province, which is presented to his Catho- lic Majesty through his Minister of the Indies, the most illustrious Don Josef de Galvez, with the greatest respect, by Don Francisco Bouligny, Captain of the Battalion of Infantry of that Province." He died at New Orleans on Nov. 25, 1800, and of all the Spanish officers who were on duty at various times in Louisiana, none left a more honored name than Francisco Bouligny.
Bouligny, John Edmund, lawyer and member of Congress, was born at New Orleans, Feb. 25, 1824. He was a nephew of Domi- nique Bouligny ; received his eduction in the public schools : studied law and began practice in New Orleans: held several local offices before he was elected a representative from Louisiana to the 36th Congress as a National American, and was the only representative from the seceding states who did not leave his seat. His death occurred at Washington, D. C., Feb. 20, 1864.
Boullemet, Virgil, first president of the New Orleans Howard association, was born in that city in 1820, his father being a native of France. When the Howard association was organized in 1837, he was elected president, though only 17 years of age at the time. He was active in the yellow fever epidemics of that and succeeding years, and in 1853 was made a member of the board of health and chairman of several of its most important committees. Much of the subsequent good accomplished by the Howard association was due to the start given it by its boy president, whose name is still well remembered by the survivors of those early epidemics.
Boundaries .- A volume might be written on the changes in the boundaries of the French possessions in America under the name of Louisiana, from the time La Salle laid claim to all the country drained by the Mississippi in 1682 until the final adjustment in 1819. At the Louisiana Purchase exposition, held at St. Louis in 1904, the U. S. general land office had on exhibition a series of maps, showing the boundaries at various periods of history. Map. No. 1, embracing the territory claimed by La Salle, shows the eastern boundary beginning at the mouth of the river of Palms on the western coast of Florida (near what is now Sarasota bay), and extending northward by an irregular line along the watershed between the streams flowing into the Atlantic and those flowing westward into the Ohio and Mississippi or the Gulf of Mexico; the northern boundary was also an irregular line, dividing the basin of the great lakes from the Mississippi valley, and extending in a northwesterly direction from a point near the present city of Buffalo, N. Y., to the 49th parallel of north latitude ; thence along that paral- lel to the crest of the Rocky mountains; thence in a southeasterly direction, along the watershed dividing the western tributaries of
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the Mississippi from the waters of the Pacific slope, to the Gulf of Mexico, at about 92° west longitude (somewhere near Vermilion bay) ; and thence along the gulf coast to the place of beginning. The grant to Crozat in 1712 confirmed these boundaries, setting forth that the garrison established in 1699 "has kept and preserved the possession we had taken in the very year 1683, etc."
The second map shows the boundaries as adjusted by the treaties of 1762-63. In Nov., 1762, France ceded all her Louisiana posses- sions to Spain, but a few months later Spain permitted France to cede to Great Britain all that portion of Louisiana lying east of the Mississippi and north of 31º north latitude, and at the same time Spain ceded to Great Britain all east of the Mississippi and south of the 31st parallel. The boundaries of Louisiana then included only that portion of La Salle's claim lying west of the Mississippi, which was actually delivered to Spain in April, 1764. The next map shows the boundaries as they were adjusted by England, Spain and the United States at the close of the Revolutionary war, when the United States received all that portion of the original claim lying east of the Mississippi and north of the 31st parallel, and Great Britain ceded back to Spain that part lying south of that parallel. By the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain ceded back to France "the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it." As this included the cession of Great Britain of the territory south of the 31st parallel, the boundaries, as shown by the land office map after this treaty, extended eastward to the Perdido river, which now forms the western boundary of the state of Florida, and embraced in Louisiana all east of the Mississippi and south of the 31st parallel of north latitude. However, when three years later France ceded to the United States all her claims to Louisiana, using the same language that had been used in the treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain laid claim to the strip south of 31° between the Mississippi and Perdido, but the United States insisted that the disputed terri- tory was included in the cession. Stoddard, who wrote in 1812, says: "If the claims of France are sufficiently supported, Louisiana bounds thus: South on the Gulf of Mexico; west, partly on the Rio Bravo, and partly on the Mexican mountains; north and north- west, partly on the shining mountains, and partly on Canada ; east on the Mississippi from its source to the 31st degree: thence ex- tending east on the line of demarcation to the rio Perdido; thence down that river to the Gulf of Mexico."
In the meantime Congress had by an act of March 26, 1804, divided the newly acquired territory on the line of the 33rd parallel. west of the Mississippi "to the western boundary of said cession." the southern portion to be erected into a territory known as the territory of Orleans. (q. v.) In Oct., 1810. President Madison ordered the governor of Orleans territory to take possession of the region in dispute. Notwithstanding this action on the part of the president. Congress, on Feb. 20, 1811, passed an aet enabling the people of Orleans territory to form a constitution, preparatory to
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admission as a state, the provisions of the act to apply to "the in- habitants in all that part of the territory or country ceded under the name of Louisiana, by the treaty made at Paris on the 30th day of April, 1803, between the United States and France, contained within the following limits, that is to say : Beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river, including all islands to the 32nd degree north latitude; thence due north to the northernmost part of the 33rd degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the river Iberville ; and from thence along the middle of the said river and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the Gulf of Mexico: thence bounded by said gulf to the place of beginning; including all islands within three leagues of the coast."
This description did not include the territory in question, and some 400 inhabitants of West Florida, under the leadership of George Patterson, petitioned Congress for annexation to Mississippi territory. The petition was referred to a committee, of which George Poindexter was chairman, and this committee reported in favor of granting the prayer of the petitioners. But Gov. Claiborne, acting under the president's order of Oct., 1810, was in actual pos- session, and was therefore in a position to secure a compromise. Accordingly on April 14, 1812, the president approved an act annex- ing the following territory to the State of Louisiana: "Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the Mississippi; thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maure- pas and Pontchartrain to the eastern mouth of the Pearl river: thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the 31st degree of north latitude ; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning." This included the western portion of the disputed strip, the act an- nexing it to Louisiana to become effective as soon as the legislature of that state should give its formal consent. This was done by a resolution adopted on Aug. 4, 1812, and at the same time provision was made for the representation of the new territory in the state legislature. The eastern portion of the strip, extending to the Per- dido river, was subsequently divided between the states of Missis- sippi and Alabama.
As a matter of fact, at the time of the Louisiana purchase in 1803, none of the boundaries of the new acquisition was definitely deter- mined. Du Pratz, who was in Louisiana from 1718 to 1734, as an officer under the crown, published a map in 1758, showing the French Louisiana as including the whole of what was known as West Florida down the gulf coast westward to the mouth of the Rio Bravo, "laid down by the Spaniards in 25° 53' north latitude. and by the English in 26° 8' north latitude." From the mouth of the Rio Bravo the line followed that stream to a bend about 29º 25' north latitude, then diverged to the northwest on the summit of the Mexican mountains, and terminated in the 46th parallel. north lati- tude. It will be noticed that the act of Congress of March 26, 1804,
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above referred to, did not definitely fix the western boundary of the territory of Orleans, merely defining it as "the western boundary . of said cession." Had the boundary been settled on the line laid down by Du Pratz, Orleans territory. would have included prac- tically all of that part of the present State of Texas lying south of the 33rd parallel. In 1803 there was a warm dispute at New Or- leans, between the French and Spanish commissioners, relative to the western limits of Louisiana, the former contending for the Rio Bravo and the latter for the Sabine. While the controversy was in progress the province was ceded to the United States and the dis- cussion was brought to a summary end. Although the enabling act of Feb. 20, 1811, names the Sabine as the western boundary of the State of Louisiana. when admitted, that river was not fully deter- . mined as the line between the United States and the Spanish pos- sessions on the west until the treaty of 1819. The northern bound- ary, nanied in the enabling act as the 33rd parallel of north latitude. was not established until some years later. On May 19, 1828, Con- gress passed an act authorizing the president to appoint a surveyor or commissioner, or both, to act in conjunction with the constituted authorities of the State of Louisiana, "to cause to be run, and dis- tinctly marked. the line dividing the Territory of Arkansas from the State of Louisiana." By an act of Feb. 18, 1830, the general assem- bly of Louisiana authorized the governor to appoint one commis- sioner and one surveyor, "agreeably to an act of Congress, approved May 19, 1828," to run and mark the line. Thus the northern boun- dary was established. The present boundaries of Louisiana are the same as those defined by the enabling act and the act of April 14, 1812, annexing the district west of the Pearl river and south of the line of 31º north latitude. A dispute arose between Louisiana and Mississippi about the beginning of the present century over the maritime boundary. This dispute was settled by a friendly suit in the U. S. supreme court, for a full account of which see the article on Heard's administration. (See also the articles on Treaties, West Florida, Dunbar's Line and Louisiana Purchase.)
Bourg, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Terrebonne parish, situated on Bayou Chene about 10 miles southeast of Houma, the parish seat and nearest railroad station.
Boutte, a village in the central part of St. Charles parish. is situ- ated on the Southern Pacific R. R., about 5 miles south of Hahn- ville, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice. an express office, and a population of over 200.
Bovee, George E., was somewhat prominent in Louisiana political affairs during a portion of the reconstruction period. In 1868 he was elected secretary of state on the ticket with Gov. Warmoth, and by virtue of that office he became a member of what was known as the lynch returning board. In August. 1871. Warmoth removed him for alleged malfeasance in office and appointed F. J. Herron in his place, Judge Emerson of the 8th district court holding that Warmoth had the right to remove the secretary and fill the vacancy until the close of the next session of the legislature. In March,
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1872, Bovee brought suit against Herron for possession of the office. Judge Dibble decided that although Herron's commission was legal his term had expired and that Bovee was entitled to the office. This decision was affirmed by the supreme court the following December, and Warmoth, fearing that Judge Dibble would execute the writ, removed him and appointed Judge Elmore, who refused to do so. With the overthrow of the carpet-bag régime Bovee disappeared from the political arena.
Bowie, one of the principal towns of Lafourche parish, is a station on the Southern Pacific R. R., about 15 miles east of Thibodaux, the parish seat, and it is the southern terminus of a short line of railroad called the Bowie, Lafourche & Northwestern. It has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express offices, some good retail stores, and in 1900 reported a population of 1.000.
Bowles, William A., adventurer, was born in Maryland in 1761. In 1776 he enlisted in the British army and the following year, while serving as ensign in Jamaica, he was disciplined for insubordination. In his anger, he threw off his uniform, returned to Florida and there married the daughter of a Creek chief. In 1781 he led a party of Creeks to the aid of Gen. Campbell at Pensacola, which place was then being besieged by Gov. Galvez, and for his timely assistance was pardoned by the British authorities. Again he joined the Brit- ish army, but as he was not amenable to discipline he was again dismissed. He then went to New York and tried to become an actor, and about this time he won the friendship of Lord Dunmore, governor of the Bahamas, who appointed him agent of a trading house on the Chattahoochee river. Later he went to England with a delegation of Creeks, Seminoles and Cherokees, to secure the pro- tection of those tribes against the aggressions of the United States. The Spanish government instructed the governors of Louisiana and Pensacola to make efforts to bribe Bowles into an alliance with Spain, or place him under arrest. On March 12, 1792, he was brought a prisoner to Gov. Carondelet. who ordered him to be taken to Madrid. Threats and bribes alike failed to induce him to enter the Spanish service, and he was taken to the island of Manila, where for some time he was kept in close confinement. He was then ordered back to Spain, but on the way managed to effect his escape at Ascension island, and finally reached London. His next appear- ance on the western hemisphere was as a privateer on the Gulf of Mexico, where he made war on the trade of Panton, Leslie & Co., who had a trading house at Pensacola and were the agents of Spain in dealing with the Indians. Finally both Spain and the United States secretly offered the Indians a reward for the capture of Bowles. He was soon taken prisoner by the Indians. but managed to effect his escape by gnawing in two the ropes with which he was bound. After an exciting chase he was recaptured and taken to Havana, where he died a prisoner in Morro castle. Perrin du Lac speaks of Bowles as a great man and a patriot. but his greatness lay in doing reprehensible things, and his patriotism was of a ques- tionable nature, to say the least.
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Boyce, is an incorporated post town of Rapides parish, is situated . on the Red river and the Texas & Pacific R. R., about 15 miles northwest of Alexandria, the parish seat. This town was first known as Cotile Landing, and the first postoffice was established in the house of F. M. Amsden, + miles up Cotile bayou, but in 1883 it was moved to Cotile Landing. When the railroad was built through the town the name was changed to Boyce, and subsequently the postal authorities gave the office the same name, though against the wishes of a majority of the old residents of the town. The name was justified by the fact that the pioneer family of that name settled near the town, and shipped the products of their plantation from the landing. Patrick Boyce was the first merchant of Cotile Landing, and in 1882, Henry Boyce had the town surveyed. It was incor- porated in 1887, and the first meeting of the council under the char- ter occurred on May 7 of that year. The Knights of Pythias organ- ized a lodge in 1890 and the Episcopal church was established in 1883. Boyce is located in the rich Red river valley and is the supply and shipping point for a large area, as over 3,000 bales of cotton are shipped by rail or water each year. It has a bank, a money order postoffice, express. telegraph and telephone facilities and in 1900 had a population of 832. The principal industries are cotton gins. cotton presses and an oil mill.
Boyd, David French, educator, second president of the Louisiana State university-1865 to 1880 and again from 1884 to 1886-was born at Wytheville, Wythe Co., Va., Oct. 5, 1834, a son of Thomas Jefferson and Minerva Ann (French) Boyd. The first of his ances- tors in America was John Boyd, who emigrated from Ayrshire, Scotland, and settled in Prince George county, Md., in 1833. David Boyd received his education at a classical school in Staunton, Va .. and the University of Virginia, graduating at the university in 1856. He taught school for some time in Prince George county before re- moving to Louisiana, where he was appointed professor of ancient languages in the State Seminary of Learning and Military academy. near Alexandria in 1860. He enlisted as a private in the 9th La. infantry, at the outbreak of the Civil war : was rapidly advanced to the positions of captain and assistant commissary of subsistence of Gen. Richard Taylor's ("Tiger") brigade, and was acting division commissary for Gen. Early in Nov., 1862. He acted in the same capacity for Gen. Harry Hays' Louisiana brigade, but resigned on May 11. 1863, to enter the line, going to Louisiana to join the Trans- Mississippi army. He was about to accept the position of superin- tendent of the Louisiana Military academy, but as the territory had been occupied by Federal troops. Gen. Kirby Smith assigned him to duty as captain of engineers on Gen. Richard Taylor's staff, Aug. 6, 1863. He had charge of constructing Fort DeRussy, on the Red river, in Dec., 1863: was promoted and became major and chief of engineers : was captured Feb. 3. 1864, and confined in the Federal prison at Natchez. Miss., until exchanged in July. 1864. Col. Boyd joined the Confederate army in Dec., 1864, and became adjutant general, with the rank of major, in Brent's Louisiana cavalry bri-
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gade. In the autumn of 1865 he was again appointed superintendent of the Louisiana Military academy, which had been closed for two years. When the buildings were burned in Oct., 1869, he opened the school at Baton Rouge, within two weeks. It was due to Col. Boyd's personal efforts and sacrifices that the academy was kept open during the reconstruction period, and he may be considered the founder of the present Louisiana State university. All state appropriations were withheld from the academy for a number of years by the carpet-bag legislature. At this time he was appointed superintendent of the Royal Military college at Cairo, Egypt, but the abduction of the Khedive and British control there prevented his accepting the position. and he remained at the university. It was due to Col. Boyd's influence that the legislature in 1876, passed an act uniting the state university with the agricultural and mechan- ical college of New Orleans. He secured the government barracks at Baton Rouge for a home for the university, was president of the Louisiana State seminary and military academy, during 1865-80 and 1884-86, and professor in the college until his death. The Louisi- ana State university conferred the degree of LL.D. upon him in 1890. A $50,000 memorial building has been built at the Louisiana State university dedicated to his memory. He was married on Oet. 5, 1865, to Esther Gertrude, daughter of Dr. Jesse and Sarah Robert (Grimball) Wright and died at Baton Rouge, La., May 27, 1899.
Boyd, Thomas Ducket, seventh president of the Louisiana State university, (1896 -.. ), was born in Wythe county, Va., Jan. 20, 1854, a son of Thomas Jefferson. and Minerva Ann (French) Boyd, and brother of David French Boyd. (q. v.) Thomas Boyd went to the Louisiana State university at the age of fourteen and graduated with the degree of A. M. in 1872. Upon his graduation he was ap- pointed assistant professor at the university and later became com- mandant of cadets and professor of history and English language and literature. His success as a teacher was so great that he was made acting president of the institution at the first vacancy of the presidency in 1886, and offered the presidency but declined. In 1888 Col. Boyd was elected president of the Louisiana State normal school, and placed that struggling institution upon its feet, so that today it is one of the first normal schools of the South. The ability Col. Boyd displayed as organizer and administrator, at the normal school, caused him to be unanimously elected president of the Loui- siana State university in 1896. Col. Boyd received the degree of LL.D. from the Tulane University of Louisiana in 1896.
Boyer, Benjamin, M., a member of the Congressional committee appointed to investigate the New Orleans riots of 1866, was born in Montgomery county, Pa., Jan. 22. 1823. He was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in the fourth decade of the 19th century, occupied the office of district attorney of his native county from 1848 to 1850, and was a member of the 39th and 40th Con- gresses. He, with Thomas D. Elliot and Samuel Shellabarger, was made a member of the above mentioned committee to investigate the riots which followed the negro convention in the Louisiana 1
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metropolis in 1866, which convention seems to have had for its purpose the placing of the state under negro domination. Mr. Boyer's two colleagues rendered the majority report, in which the blame was placed upon the shoulders of the city and state officials, and the former rebels. Mr. Boyer made the minority report. Though he, in a large measure, blamed the incendiary speeches, revolutionary acts and threatened violence of the conventionists, he severely censured those members of Congress who were furthering the reconstruction law as being "indirectly responsible for the bloody result," but the most rigorous condemnation was directed at Gov. Wells, who he said, "lent to the conspiracy his official sanction and in the day of danger deserted his post without an effort to pre- serve the public peace.'
Bragg, Braxton, a general in the Confederate army in the war between the states, was born in Warren county, N. C., March 22, 1817, graduated fifth in the class of 1837 at the U. S. military academy and entered the army as lieutenant of artillery. He served in the Indian wars in Florida ; was then stationed at Fort Moultrie until the annexation of Texas in 1845, when he joined the army of occupation and served with distinguished gallantry in the war with Mexico, being brevetted captain for bravery in the defense of Fort Brown, major for valor at Monterey, and lieutenant-colonel for meritorious services at Buena Vista. He then served on garrison duty and on the staff of Gen. Gaines until 1856, when he resigned his commission in the army and became a planter in Lafourche parish, La. In 1859 he was appointed commissioner of public works and served in that capacity until 1861. Immediately after the pas- sage of the secession ordinance he was placed in command of the Louisiana state troops with the rank of major-general, and on March 7, 1861, was commissioned brigadier-general in the provi- sional army of the Confederate States and assigned to the command of Pensacola. Here he remained until Jan. 27, 1862, when he was given command of the department of Alabama and West Florida, having in the meantime been raised to the rank of lieutenant- general. In command of the 2nd army corps he participated in the battle of Shiloh, and after the death of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, was promoted general and assigned to the command of the Army of the Mississippi. Subsequently he succeeded Gen. Beauregard in command of the department : planned the invasion into Kentucky before the Federals were ready to receive him; captured 4,000 Fed- eral troops at Munfordville, but after the battle of Perryville fell back to Tennessee, and defeated Gen. Rosecrans in the battle of Murfreesboro. In June, 1863, he occupied Chattanooga and was in command of the Confederate forces at the battle of Chickamauga, Sept. 19-20, 1863. In Feb., 1864, he was assigned to duty at Rich- mond under the direction of President Davis, and the following November was placed in command of the army at Wilmington, and was engaged in the final movements against Gen. Sherman, includ- ing the battle of Bentonville. After the war, having lost all his property, he took up the work of a civil engineer at New Orleans,
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