USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
Capuchins .- This well known order of the Roman Catholic church is a branch of the order of Franciscan monks, which originated with Matteo di Basso, an Observantine Franciscan in the convent of Montefalco, Urbino, Italy, in 1525. They are the third of the chief branches of the Franciscans, and sought to restore the orig .- inal rigor of the institutions of St. Francis, which had been some- what relaxed by Pope Innocent IV, when he granted them the privilege of possessing property.
They have very strict discipline, are committed to absolute pov- erty and have rendered great service in the mission field. At first they did not cultivate learning, but have done so since the 17th century. In 1722, the province of Louisiana was divided into three grand ecclesiastic districts. The first, extending from the mouth of the Mississippi river to the Illinois river, was entrusted to the Cap-
·
160
LOUISIANA
uchins, who were thus among the first to administer to the spir- itual wants of the people of New Orleans. Churches and chapels were started throughout the colony, as the only places of worship up to this time had been sheltered spots in the forests marked by rude crosses. In 1824, there arrived from France two Capuchin monks to whom was intrusted the spiritual control of New Or- leans. An arrangement was made with the Jesuits (q. v.) by which the superior of that order was permitted to live in New Orleans. but could not exercise any of the ecclesiastical functions of the church without the permission of the Capuchins. Father Bruno. the superior of the Capuchins, was appointed vicar-general of New Orleans by the bishop of Quebec, in which diocese the province of Louisiana was included. He became curate and was assisted by two monks as vicars. A monastery was soon built by the members of the order resident in New Orleans, on the square below the church, now occupied by the presbytery. In 1755 a religious war- fare broke out in the colony known as the "War of the Capuchins and Jesuits," and produced great excitement in the city and colony at the time. Gayarre chronicles the events as follows: "In the agreement entered into with the India Company in 1726, the Jesuits had taken care to procure, as an apparently insignificant favor, that their superior might reside in New Orleans, on the condition that he should not discharge any ecclesiastical function there. unless it should be with the consent of the superior of the Capuchins. But when Father Dagobert. the superior of the Capuchins asked the superior of the Jesuits to give his blessing to the chapel for the hospital of the poor of the parish, the latter claimed that this gave him jurisdiction in the district. In 1764 the Capuchins were rid of their adversaries as a result of the order of expulsion against the Jesuits, issued by the French government. Gov. O'Reilly, who took possession of the province in the name of the King of Spain, issued a proclamation and instituted a number of changes, but none took place in the ecclesiastical government of Louisiana. Father Hilarie de Geneveaux was superior of the French Capuchins at the time the province became a Spanish possession, and when he refused to join the superior council in their revolt against the Spanish govern- ment he was sent out of the country. Father Dagobert became abbot in his place. received Gov. O'Reilly, and blessed the Spanish troops and colors as vicar-general of the colony. The Capuchins were also maintained in the curacies of their parishes. In 1789 six Capuchin friars arrived at New Orleans from Spain, among them the celebrated Father Antonio Sedella (q. v.), who became curate of the parish, which he served for nearly fifty years. Trouble arose between the Spanish and French friars, in which the Spanish gov- ernor became involved. The matter was referred to the court at Madrid by both parties. the governor upholding the French Capu- chins and the vicar-general the Spanish brothers, who claimed the French members of the order were not living up to the rules of the order. The government did not decide upon the question, but ad- vised the bishop and governor to compromise the disagreement as
.
1
161
LOUISIANA
would best preserve the harmony between the civil and ecclesiastic authorities in the colony." This advice was taken and the quarrel ended, the Capuchins continuing to administer to the people of New Orleans.
Cardenas, Louis Penalver y, 1st Roman Catholic bishop of the Floridas and Louisiana, was born in Havana, Cuba, April 3, 1719. He was the son of Don Diego Peñalver and Maria Louisia de Cardenas, who was of noble descent. When Louis Cardenas was very young he determined to become a priest and entered the Jesuit college of St. Ignatius at Havana. While he was a student there the pragmatic sanction of Charles III suppressed all the col- leges of the Jesuit society and expelled the Jesuits from the lands ruled by Spain. Cardenas then went to the university of St. Jerome where he received the degree of Ph. D., in 1771. Two years later the bishop of Santiago de Cuba appointed him vicar-general and while employed in the administration of that office he learned the details and difficulties of the church in the Floridas and Louisiana. This made him well fitted to take charge of the diocese when it was created in 1793. He was consecrated bishop of the diocese of the Floridas and Louisiana in Havana and took up his episcopal residence in New Orleans on July 17. 1795. Bishop Cardenas im- mediately began putting the affairs of the diocese in order, by re- quiring the priests in charge of congregations to report annually as to the temporal and spiritual welfare of their parishes. In New Orleans he was unable to found any great institutions, but was active along educational lines ; he had progressive ideas and was a great benefactor of the poor. In 1806 he was made archbishop of Guatemala and transferred to Havana, where he died on July 17, 1810.
Carencro, an incorprated town in the northern part of Lafayette parish, is situated on the Southern Pacific R. R., 6 miles north of Lafayette, the parish seat and nearest banking point. It has a money order postoffice, express office, telephone and telegraph facilities, and is the distributing point for a very large district. Its population in 1900 was 445.
Caresse, Pierre, was one of the leading merchants of New Or- leans at the time the province of Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1763. When Gov. Ulloa issued his order regarding the methods of conducting the commerce of the colony, it was Caresse who drew up the petition to the superior council, asking that body not to enforce the order, and with a body of insurgents guarded the council chamber to prevent the members from leaving it until they had rendered a favorable decision on the petition. In the Revolu- tion of 1768, he furnished food to the Acadians and was otherwise active in compassing the expulsion of Ulloa. In a letter to La- frenière he said : "This day will be the most beautiful in your life : we hope to see revive in Louisiana the orator of Rome and M. de Meaupou to uphold the rights of the nation." For his activity in the opposition to Spanish authority he was arrested by order of Gov. O'Reilly on Aug. 21. 1769, charged with being "one of the
-
162
LOUISIANA
chief and principal promoters of the conspiracy," and sentenced to death. In company with five others he was shot by Spanish sol- diers on Oct. 25, 1769. Though he died as a felon, his memory is still cherished in Louisiana as that of a man of humane instincts, courageous in his loyalty to France, and faithful to the interests of his countrymen.
Carmelites, or the order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, is a monastic order of the Roman Catholic church. It was founded on Mount Carmel, in the Holy Land, in 1157, by the Crusader Ber- thold of Calabria, but the Carmelites claim to have been instituted by the Prophet Elijah. They were compelled by the Saracens to wear a striped costume, but later their present brown habit with white cloak and scapular was adopted, and from this they received the name of "White Friars." At first they were under the rule given them by Albert, patriarch of Jerusalem in 1209, and for years- they were hermits, but were driven out of the Holy Land in 1238, by the Mohammedans. English Crusaders carried some of these recluses from Mount Carmel to England and formed the first Car- melite monastery in England, at Alnwick. Near the middle of the 13th century Louis IX on his return from the Holy Land, took a number to Paris and established them there. After their expul- sion from Mount Carmel they passed to the different countries of Europe and established themselves under the protection of the popes. The first general chapter was held at Aylesford, England, in 1245, and under the new head elected there they were changed to a mendicant order by Pope Innocent IV. in 1247, from which time they shared in the various vicissitudes of the mendicant orders. They had more or less rigid rules: were divided into several branches, one of which was distinguished by walking barefoot. The order of Carmelite nuns was instituted by the Carmelite Soreth in 1452; it is numerous in Italy and played a conspicuous part in France during the reign of Louis XV. The Carmelites came to Louisiana with other Catholic orders, during the early days of the province, and when it was divided into three ecclesiastical dis- tricts in May, 1722, the Carmelites were given charge of that dis- trict which comprehended "all the country east of the Mississippi, from the sea to the Wabash." The superior, who was also grand vicar of the order, usually resided at Mobile. Fortier, in his his- tory of Louisiana, says: "The jurisdiction of the Carmelites was added to that of the Capuchins on Dec. 19, 1722, and the former returned to France." Thus they had actual charge of a part of the province for only about 7 months. A convent of Carmelite nuns was founded at Port Tobacco in 1790, but was subsequently removed to Baltimore, and was the first established in the original territory of the United States. They exist today in many Roman Catholic countries, and wear as a distinctive dress a scapular of gray cloth. The Carmelite nuns established a convent in New Orleans about 1880, but as they are a cloistered order, their work is carried on entirely inside the walls of the convent. In the same
-
163
LOUISIANA
year 176 Carmelites were banished from France. There were 51 Carmelite fathers in the United States and Canada in 1901.
Carondelet, Baron de, 6th Spanish governor of Louisiana, was born in Flanders in 1747. His full name and title was Francisco Luis Hector, Baron de Carondelet. de Noyelles, Seigneur D'Haine St. Pierre. He was a man of ability and rose to the rank of colonel in the royal armies of Spain. On March 13, 1791, he was ap- pointed governor and intendant of the provinces of Louisiana and West Florida, being at that time governor of San Salvador, Guate- mala. He did not assume the duties of his new office until Dec. 30, 1791, when he succeeded Gov. Miro, who left for Spain the same day. On Jan. 22, 1792, Carondelet issued his Bando de buen Gobierno, dividing the city into four wards, each presided over by an alcalde de barrio, or commissary of police, who were directed to get the names of the persons occupying each house in their respective wards, newcomers to report on the day of their arrival or the day following. The alcalde de barrios were also to assume the management of the fire engines in case of conflagrations. His manifesto further provided for the lighting of the city by oil lamps, the expenses of the lamps and oil to be met by a tax of $1.1212 on each chimney in the city. He prohibited the importation of slaves from Jamaica and the French island, for fear that they might be imbued with insurrectionary spirit and cause trouble in the province ; made treaties with the Indians; recommended leniency toward the debtors of the Natchez district : issued regulations re- garding the treatment of slaves, prescribing the kind and amount of food and clothing they should have, the hours of work and the nature of their punishment ; placed New Orleans in a comparatively good state of defense; and tried in every possible way to reduce expenses. Altogether he deserves the credit of having been one of most active and energetic of the Spanish governors. In 1794 he began a canal in the rear of the city, to drain the marshes, and by connecting with the Bayou St. John open a navigable route to the sea. This canal was constructed by slave labor, which was donated by the planters, and was opened in the fall of 1795. It still bears the name of the "Carondelet canal.". When the news reached Louisiana early in 1793 that Spain had declared war against France, the French population of New Orleans became filled with hope that the province would again pass into the hands of their "beloved France." They did not break into open revolution as in 1768, but at the theatres the more enthusiastic would demand that the orchestra play the "Marseillaise," while some would even go so far as to sing the songs of the Jacobins. This condition of affairs led Carondelet to issue the order prohibiting revolutionary music and martial dances in the theatres. About this time he wrote to his home government : "By extreme vigilance and by spending sleep- less nights, by scaring some and punishing others, by banishing a number, particularly some newcomers who were debauching the people with their republican teaching, by intercepting letters and documents suspected of being incendiary, and by prevaricating with
·
164
LOUISIANA
everybody, I have done better than I had expected, as the province is now quite orderly and quiet." Carondelet renewed the negotia- tions, begun by his predecessor, for the secession of the west. (See Carondelet Intrigue.) His administration came to an end in Aug., 1797, when he was appointed president of the royal audi- ence of Quito, and was afterward viceroy of Peru. His death oc- curred in 1807. Gayarre says he was a "short-sized, plump gentle- man, somewhat choleric in his disposition, but not destitute of good nature. He was firm and prudent, with a good deal of activity and capacity for business, and he has left in Louisiana a respected and popular memory.'
Carondelet Intrigue .- In the spring of 1794, after the excitement incident to the artful schemes of Genet had somewhat subsided, Gov. Carondelet began to throw impediments in the way of the western trade, in order to aid the work of the agents he had sent into Kentucky to persuade the people there to withdraw from the United States and form an alliance with Spain, whereby the Mis- sissippi would be opened to them. Gayarre says: "The times were highly auspicious for the intrigues of Spain. Not only were the inhabitants of Kentucky and Tennessee weary of struggling against such obstacles to their commerce, and irritated against the Federal government that could not remove them, but western Pennsylvania also had been thrown into a ferment by the 'excise on distilled spirits,' giving rise to what is commonly called, in American his- tory, 'the Whisky Insurrection,' which had taken such proportions as to require the presence of an army of 12,000 troops from the Eastern States to quell it. * * England in the northwest, and Spain in the south, seemed to be united in pressing with all their weight on both flanks of the West, to break it loose from the Federal government and force it into a permanent separation. Lord Dorchester had sent from Canada, and Baron de Carondelet, from Louisiana, numerous emissaries who were emulously at work to heat and exasperate the different parties then existing in Kentucky, and to produce a state of feeling which might be favorable to their views."
Carondelet's principal agent was Thomas Power, an Englishman who had become a naturalized subject of Spain, and who had been selected because he was "intelligent, cautious, and had a natural disposition to intrigue." He repaired to Kentucky, ostensibly en- gaged in collecting material for a natural history, but really to sow the seeds of sedition and to revive the plot that had been inaugu- rated under Gov. Miro's administration. Power informed Caron- delet that the men who had been in secret correspondence with Miro-Gen. Wilkinson, Innis, Murray, Sebastian, Nicholas, and others-were inclined to resume their friendly relations with Spain, and that some of them would meet, at the mouth of the Ohio river, any Spanish officer the governor might designate. Carondelet selected Gayoso de Lemos, then governor of Natchez, who went up the river to New Madrid, from which point he sent Power to complete the arrangements for the interview. While Power was
165
LOUISIANA
.
absent on his mission, Gayoso employed the men of his escort in the crection of a small stockade fort opposite the mouth of the Ohio, to create the impression that this had been the object of his expe- dition up the river. At a place called Red Banks, Power met Judge Sebastian, who was the only one of the Kentuckians to put in an appearance, though he gave a plausible reason for the failure of the others to keep the appointment. Power was disappointed, but Sebastian explained that his colleagues had deputed him to go down and meet Gayoso, and that they would in all probability give their consent to any agreement that might be made. Accordingly Power and Sebastian went down to New Madrid, where Gayoso was waiting for them. It is not probable that Sebastian could have given the Spanish officer much honest encouragement for the sep- aration of Kentucky from the Union, as the decided victory of Gen. Wayne over the Indians the previous year had certainly demon- strated the ability of the United States to hold the territory. How- ever, negotiations were entered into for a commercial treaty, Sebas- tian contending for the admission of western products into New Orleans via the Mississippi, free of duty, while Gayoso, accord- ing to the account afterward given by Judge Innis, held out for a duty of 4 per cent. Upon the suggestion of Gayoso, Sebastian agreed to go to New Orleans and meet Gov. Carondelet. Power, Sebastian and Gayoso arrived in New Orleans early in Jan., 1796, and the commercial treaty was again considered. Sebastian seemed about to gain the main point for which he was contending-the free navigation of the Mississippi-when Carondelet informed him that a courier had just arrived from Havana with the information that a treaty had been concluded between Spain and the United States, which put an end to their negotiations. (See Treaty of Madrid.) Sebastian insisted that the governor close the deal in hand, in the hope that the treaty between the two nations might not be ratified, but without avail. He then left for Philadelphia, in company with Power, "no doubt on a mission from the Spanish governor."
Not long afterward Power again appeared in Kentucky and pre- sented to those whom he was trying to induce to espouse the cause - of Spain, the following document :
"His Excellency, the Baron de Carondelet, etc., commander-in- chief and governor of His Catholic Majesty's provinces of West Florida and Louisiana, having communications of importance em- bracing the interests of said provinces, and at the same time deeply affecting those of Kentucky and of the western country in general, to make to its inhabitants, through the medium of the influential characters in this country, and judging it, in the present uncertain and critical attitude of politics, highly imprudent and dangerous to lay them on paper. has expressly commissioned and authorized me to submit the following proposals to the consideration of Messrs. Sebastian, Nicholas, Innis and Murray, and also of such other gentlemen as may be pointed out by them, and to receive from them their sentiments and determination on the subject.
166
LOUISIANA
"First-The above mentioned gentlemen are to exert all their influence in impressing on the minds of the inhabitants of the western country, a conviction of the necessity of their withdrawing and separating themselves from the Federal Union, and forming an independent government wholly unconnected with that of the Atlantic States. To prepare and dispose the people for such an event, it will be necessary that the most popular and eloquent writers in this state should, in well-timed publications, expose, in the most striking point of view, the inconveniences and disadvan- tages that a longer connection with and dependence on the Atlantic States, must inevitably draw upon them, and the great and innu- merable difficulties in which they will probably be entangled, if they do not speedily recede from the Union ; the benefits they will certainly reap from a secession ought to be pointed out in the most forcible and powerful manner; and the danger of permitting Fed- eral troops to take possession of the posts on the Mississippi, and thus forming a cordon of fortified places around them, must be particularly expatiated upon .. In consideration of gentlemen de- voting their time and talents to this object, his Excellency, the Baron de Carondelet. will appropriate the sum of $100,000 to their use, which shall be paid in drafts on the royal treasury at New Orleans, or, if more convenient, shall be conveyed at the expense of His Catholic Majesty into this country and held at their disposal. Moreover, should such persons as shall be instrumental in pro- moting the views of His Catholic Majesty hold any public employ- ment, and in consequence of taking an active part in endeavoring to effect a secession shall lose their employment, a compensation. equal at least to the emoluments of their respective offices, shall be made to them by His Catholic Majesty. let their efforts be crowned with success. or terminate in disappointment.
"Second-Immediately after the declaration of independence, Fort Massac shall be taken possession of by the troops of the new government, which shall be furnished by His Catholic Majesty. without loss of time, with 20 field pieces, with their carriages and every necessary appendage, including powder, balls, etc., together with a number of small arms and ammunition sufficient to equip the . troops that it shall be necessary to raise. The whole to be trans- ported at his expense to the already mentioned Fort Massac. His Catholic Majesty will further supply the sum of $100.000 for the raising and maintaining of said troops, which sum shall also be conveyed to and delivered at Fort Massac.
"Third-The northern boundary of His Catholic Majesty's prov- inces of East and West Florida shall be designated by a line com- meneing on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Yazoo, extending due east to the river Confederation or Tombigbee : provided, how- ever, that all His Catholic Majesty's forts, posts or settlements on the Confederation or Tombigbee, are included on the south of such a line ; but should any of his Majesty's forts, posts or settlements fall to the north of said line, then the northern boundary of his Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida shall be designated
167
LOUISIANA
by a line beginning at the same point on the Mississippi, and drawn in such a direction as to meet the river Confederation or Tombigbee, six miles to the north of the most northern Spanish fort, post or settlement, on said river. All the lands to the north of that line shall be considered as constituting a part of the territory of the new government, saving that a small tract of land at the Chickasaw bluffs, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi, ceded to his Majesty by the Chickasaw nation in a formal treaty concluded on the spot in the year 1795, between his Excellency, Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, governor of Natchez, and Augliakabee and some other Chickasaw chiefs; which tract of land his Majesty reserves for himself. The eastern boundary of the Floridas shall be hereafter regulated.
"Fourth-His Catholic Majesty will, in case the Indian nations south of the Ohio should declare war or commence hostilities against the new government, not only join and assist it in repelling its enemies, but also, if said government shall at any future period deem it necessary to reduce said Indian nations, extend its domina- tion over them, and compel them to submit themselves to its con- stitution and laws, his Majesty will heartily concur and cooperate with the new government in the most effectual manner in attaining this desirable end.
"Fifth-His Catholic Majesty will not, either directly or indi- rectly, interfere in the framing of the constitution or laws which the new government shall think fit to adopt, nor will he, at any time, by any means whatever, attempt to lessen the independence of the said government, or endeavor to acquire an undue influence in it, but will, in the manner that shall hereinafter be stipulated by treaty, defend and support it in preserving its independence.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.