USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 54
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from the mouth and on his return superintended the completion of the fort, which was located below the "English Turn," (q. v.). His brother Bienville was placed in command with a force of 25 men. Iberville caused a cross to be erected before the fort, and at the foot of the cross a leaden plate was buried with the inscrip- tion : "D. O. M. The French first came here from Canada under M. de la Salle, 1682. From the same place under M. de Tonti, in 1685. From the sea coast under M. d'Iberville, in 1700, and planted this cross Feb. 14, 1700." The post was abandoned during Bienville's administration, in 1705. It was not until 1722, when New Orleans was established, that the principal entrance by the . southeast pass was protected by Balize Fort (q. v.).
Fort Jackson .- (See Military Reservations.)
Fort Jesup, village in the central part of Sabine parish, is about 7 miles northeast of Many, the parish seat. It was originally established as a military post by the U. S. government in 1823. The fort and buildings were erected on the high land that forms the divide between the Red and Sabine rivers, near the old "Natchi- toches and San Antonio trace," and several officers commanded here who afterwards took prominent parts in the Mexican and Civil wars. Fort Jesup became one of the most important posts on the western frontier, during the third and fourth decades of the 19th century. Jefferson Davis, Phil Sheridan, Col. Many, Capt. Bragg and other famous men were at the fort, either as com- mandants or visitors.
Shawnee Town and other trading hamlets sprang up around the military reservation and many dark tragedies occurred here during the opening years of the century. for this was practically "No Man's Land." The country was filled with desperados, and their rendezvous became famous from the Atlantic to the Pacific. When the soldiers cleared the ground for the cantonment. they found an old lime kiln which was used to make lime for all this locality for many years. Fort Jesup was an old settlement years before Many was dreamed of and the site of the parish seat still an unbroken wilderness. A Masonic lodge was chartered in March, 1850, and in 1877-78 a large Masonic hall was erected. Gen. Taylor had his headquarters where the college buildings now stand, and the well he had excavated is the water supply for the college today. Since the military post has been abolished and the railroad built to the west. Fort Jesup has lost its early im- portance and today is a village of about 75 inhabitants, with nothing remaining but the deserted cantonment to tell of its early glory.
Fort Louis de la Mobile, built by Bienville in 1702, was located 12 leagues above the present city of Mobile, on the right or west bank of the Mobile river. The headquarters of the infant colony had previously been at Fort Maurepas (q. v.) on the Bay of Biloxi, but on the occasion of Iberville's return to the colony late in 1701, Bienville was ordered to evacuate Biloxi and remove to the Mobile river. The latter took up his march for the Mobile on Jan.
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5, 1702, and on the 16th he commenced to build Fort St. Louis de . la Mobile, which continued to be the official center of the colony for the next 9 years. Then, on account of a disastrous rise in the river in the spring of 1710, which flooded the fort and all the houses in the vicinity, Bienville constructed a new fort on the present site of Mobile. This latter fort was afterward recon- structed with bastions, half-moons, deep ditches, covered way and glacis, with houses for the officers, barracks for the soldiers, and was mounted with 16 cannon. After the year 1720 the French called it Fort Conde. Speaking of the transfer of Bienville's old fort to the British after the Treaty of Paris, 1763, the historian Hamilton says: "In October, a detachment of Highlanders reached Mobile, and the proces verbal of transfer was signed by De Velle and Fezende for France, and Robert Farmar for Great Britain. The lilies were lowered, the red flag ascended to the music of bag- pipes, and Bienville's fort was renamed Fort Charlotte for the young Queen of England." The British flag continued to fly from the old fort until its capture by the Spanish Gen. Galvez, March 14, 1780. (See Galvez, Spanish Conquest, etc.).
Fort Maurepas, the seat of the first French colony in Louisiana, was established by Iberville during the month of April, 1699. It was located on the northeast shore of the Bay of Biloxi, about a league east of the present city of Biloxi, and near the present town of Ocean Springs. Iberville had expected to found his colony on the banks of the Mississippi, but found the river in flood when he ascended it in March, 1699, and was unable to find a suit- able location. He had, however, found a splendid anchorage for his ships off Ship island, and after spending a few days in explor- ing the coast east and west of their anchorage, including the Bay of St. Louis and Pascagoula bay, on Tuesday, April 7th, he and Surgères observed "an elevated place that appeared very suitable." As their provisions were now falling short, they concluded to com- menee operations at this point, which was 4 leagues northwest of the place where the ships were anchored, and could be approached at a distance of 2 leagues. They found from 7 to 8 feet of water at the entrance of the bay, and, says Iberville, "we made choice of this place, merely on account of the road, where the small vessels could go and come at all times, and where we could assist, without fear, with a portion of the crew, in building the fort which I ordered to be constructed there, whilst, in the meantime, the place most convenient for the colony can be selected at leisure." His journal continnes: "On Wednesday, the 8th, we commenced to cut away the trees preparatory for the construction of the fort. All our men worked vigorously, and at the end of the month it was finished. In the meantime the boats were actively engaged trans- porting the powder, guns, and ammunition, as well as the live stock, such as bulls, cows, hogs, fowls, turkeys, etc. * * * * The fort was made with four bastions, two of them squared logs, from two to three feet thick, placed one upon the other. with embrasures for port holes, and a ditch all around. The other two bastions
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were stockaded with heavy timbers which took four men to lift one of them. Twelve guns were mounted." When Iberville returned to France early in May he left about 100 people at the fort. M. de Sauvolle de la Villantray, lieutenant of a company and naval ensign of the frigate Le Marin, was left in command as governor : Bienville, king's lieutenant of the marine guard of the frigate La Badine, was next in command; Le Vasseur de Rous- souelle, a Canadian, was major; de Bordenac, chaplain ; M. Care, surgeon ; there were besides 2 captains, 2 cannoneers, 4 sailors, 18 filibusters, 10 mechanics, 6 masons, 13 Canadians and 20 sub- officers and soldiers who composed the garrison. This was the feeble beginning of the first white settlement on the shores of the gulf. On Dec. IS, 1701. a shallop arrived from Pensacola with the news that Iberville had again arrived in the New World, and at the same time orders were given Bienville to evacuate Biloxi, and remove to Mobile river (See Fort Louis de la Mobile). The exact location of Fort Maurepas at Old Biloxi is now a matter of conjecture, as the buildings were accidentally burned in 1719 and every trace of them has been obliterated by time.
Fort Natchitoches .- This important western frontier post of the French was established by Benard de la Harpe in Jan., 1719, and from that time a small garrison was almost continuously main- tained there. La Harpe, a French officer of distinction, had arrived at Mobile in Aug., 1718, to found a colony on the Red river. Ac- companied by some 50 people whom he had brought over to settle on his concession, he arrived in the vicinity of Natchitoches near the close of the same year, built the fort near the present town of the same name, and it constituted his base when, under instruc- tions from Gov. Bienville, he proceeded further west to explore the Texas country and ascertain the intentions of the Spaniards. The fort was the usual square, palisaded affair, and the post thus established was ever after the chief barrier against Spanish aggres- sion from Mexico and the west. Prior to this, in 1714, two strong storehouses had been constructed by Juchereau de St. Denis (q. v.) at Natchitoches during his overland journey to establish commercial relations with the Spanish colonies on the west. Friendly relations were also established at this time with the Natchitoches Indians. When St. Denis proceeded further west to the Rio Grande and Mexico, he left a part of his force behind to guard the buildings at Natchitoches. He failed to return within a reasonable time, and his men forsook the post and returned to Mobile .bay. Gov. Cadillac understood the strategic importance of the place, and shortly after despatched a sergeant and a few soldiers to occupy the buildings and guard French interests in that quarter. St. Denis proceeded via Natchitoches during his second expedition to the west in 1715, and he was also in com- mand of this important post in 1731. when the final blow was ad- ministered to the Natchez Indians, under their famous leader the Flour Chief. The post retained its military importance well down into the 19th century, as the region east and west of it was dis-
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puted territory between the French and Spanish, and later between the United States and Spain.
Fort Necessity, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Frank- lin parish, is about 6 miles west of Gilbert, the nearest railroad station, and 8 miles southwest of Winnsboro, the parish seat.
Fort Nogales .- By the Spanish-Choctaw treaty of Natchez in 1790, the boundaries of the British district of West Florida were reaffirmed on the old lines, and in addition the Choctaws ceded a site for Fort Nogales on the Walnut hills. In May, 1791, two blockhouses and a large barracks were completed, and additional works were in process of construction. David Smith, who was there in that month, reported to Gov. Blount of Tennessee, that the site of the fort was a mile and a half below the mouth of the Yazoo, on a high bluff. Besides other laborers, "about 30 United States deserters" were engaged in the work. A galley and Spanish gunboat were lying in the river close at hand. The best descrip- tion of the fort is that of Gen. Victor Collot (q. v.), who visited it in 1796 in his capacity of military spy. He wrote: "The post of Nogales, called by way of irony the Gibralter of Louisiana, is situated on the left of the river, near a deep creek, and on the summit of different eminences connected with each other and running northeast." The main work, on the south side of the creek, called the fort of the great battery, was an enclosure made on the river side by a wall of masonry 12 feet high and 4 feet thick, and on the land side a ditch 4 feet wide and 3 deep, and palisades 12 feet high. Twelve cannon were mounted in the river battery, and a blockhouse with four howitzers, placed on an eminence in the rear, was included in the quadrangle, within which were also a powder magazine, the commander's house and barracks for 200 men. On a hill across the creek was a blockhouse with 4 cannon, called Fort Sugarloaf. About a 1,000 yards behind these works, on a chain of small heights was built Fort Mount Vigie, a square earthwork, with ditch and palisades, blockhouse and 4 cannon, and 400 yards to the right and left two small block- houses, called Fort Gayoso and Fort Ignatius. The garrison of 80 men did not suffice to keep the works from decay. When An- drew Ellicott, commissioner for the United States to determine the boundary between the United States and Spain under the treaty of 1795, reached Fort Nogales with his party in Feb., 1797, his boats were greeted by the Spanish commandant, not with a salute, but with a discharge of artillery aimed to bring them to, though they were making for the landing as fast as possible. Elli- cott wrote that the "Spaniards have erected some considerable works. The post is a very important one, and capable of being made very strong." The commandant at the post during these last years of Spanish occupancy was Capt. Elias Beauregard, a French creole. When Capt. Isaac Guion, who had been commissioned by Gen. Wilkinson to take possession of the military posts previously held by the Spanish on the Mississippi, arrived at the Walnut hills on Dec. 1, 1797, he was courteously informed by Beauregard that
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he was not ready to give possession, and Guion and his men pro- ceeded down to Natchez. Fort Nogales was finally evacuated by Beauregard in March, 1798. upon four days notice previously given to Capt. Minor, the commander for the Spanish at Natchez, who in turn notified Guion. The latter took no steps to occupy the post, because his orders were that Maj. Kersey would arrive with reinforcements for that purpose. As a result the fort was not garrisoned for a time. When Beauregard left, Guion's courier was there, "besides sixteen or seventeen inhabitants, particularly. one Mr. Glass, that for their own interest would not suffer the In- dians to make depredations." The Americans changed the name of the fort to Fort McHenry, in honor of the then secretary of war, but only occupied it until the close of the 18th century.
Fort Orleans .- This early French post was established on the Missouri about 1722 and was garrisoned from New Orleans. The entire garrison was wiped out during an Indian uprising in 1725 and the post destroyed. The location of the fort is somewhat un- certain, but is believed to have been on the Missouri near the old mouth of the Grand river, in Carroll county. In 1745 Gov. Vau- dreuil estiblished some other posts on the Missouri to protect the trade in that region, and to restrain the constant lawlessness of the coureurs des bois. One of these is known to have been located at the Kansa village, near the present site of Fort Leavenworth.
Fort Pickering .- (See Chickasaw Bluffs).
Fort Prudhomme .- (See Chickasaw Bluffs).
Fort Rosalie, built where the city of Natchez, Miss., now stands, was established as a protection for the French trading post and settlement against the Natchez Indians, who had been guilty of various acts of aggression against the French and Canadians. Bien- ville had been superseded as governor by Cadillac under the Cro- zat regime, and with the title of lieutenant-governor and "Com- mandant of the Mississippi," was ordered to take two companies of infantry, place one at Natchez, the other on the Onabache, and to remove his headquarters to Natchez. (See French Coll., 1851). According to the statement of La Harpe, "Cadillac would not give him but thirty-five men; although he knew that MI. de la Loire des Ursins had brought the news that five Frenchmen had been killed by the Natchez, and he had barely escaped by the advice of a chief, who had given him the means to save his life." He ac- cordingly proceeded up the Mississippi with his little force in April, 1716. He halted at the Tonicas post, two leagues above the mouth of the Red river, and awaited the arrival of the pirougues, laden with provisions and utensils in charge of MM. de Paillou and de Richebourg. Approaching Natchez, he learned that the Indians had lately killed 2 Frenchmen and plundered 6 Canadians. and he promptly sent an interpreter to solicit provisions and to bring the calumet of peace. In the negotiations which followed with the Great Sun of the Natchez and his representatives, the ' Indians surrendered the 6 Canadians, and also brought him the heads of the chiefs responsible for the murders. The Natchez
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also agreed with Bienville to furnish posts and lumber to build a fort. The work on this fort was begun in June, under the direction of M. Paillou, who afterwards became its first commandant. The Indians supplied all the timbers, performed most of the labor on the earthworks, and the fort was finally completed by the soldiers of Bienville, who arrived in August. It was named Rosalie in honor of Madame la duchesse de Pontchartrain. The site selected for the fort was on the summit of a hill about 670 yards from the shore of the river, and about 180 feet above its surface. (His. Coll. of La., p. 84, part iii). The historian Claiborne also locates this original fort some 670 yards from the river, while Monette states that it was built at some distance from the bluffs, probably near the eastern limits of the present city of Natchez. The early
chroniclers describe it as an irregular pentagon 25 fathoms long by 15 broad, inclosed by palisades of thick plank, and without bastions. The buildings within the inclosure consisted of a stone house, magazine, houses for the officers and barracks for the sol- diers. The ditch surrounding it was partly natural and partly artificial, and in most places 19 feet from the bottom to the top of the rampart. The original fort was destroyed by the Natchez at the time of the great massacre of the French in 1729, but a new fort was soon after erected by the Chevalier de Loubois, whom Périer had sent with a small army to exterminate the Natchez. This new fort was built on the brow of the bluffs some distance from the first, and some traces of it still remain below the Natchez compress, though it was largely effaced by the great landslide. The following is a list of the commandants of Fort Rosalie as far as it is possible to ascertain them from the contemporary records: M. de Paillou; Sieur de Barnaval, who was in command during the Natchez uprising of 1723; Sieur de Liette; Sieur Broutin : de Tisenet ; M. de Merveilleux: M. de Chopart, who is commonly charged with the responsibility for the massacre of 1729; and Chevalier Baron de Cresnay, whom Loubois left in command of the new fort, completed in 1730. During the summer of 1764, a considerable detachment of British troops was conveyed to Fort Rosalie on a frigate, and the old works, which were then little more than ruins, were repaired and fitted up for a garrison. The post was rechristened Fort Panmure by the British. In 1769 the troops in British West Florida, including those at Fort Panmure, were withdrawn to St. Augustine, on orders from London. One man, John Bradley by name, received possession of Fort Panmure, charged with the duty of keeping it in order and defensible. In 1778, shortly after the Willing Expedition, says the historian- geologist Wailes, "Gov. Chester sent Col. Magellan to raise four companies of militia, and with orders to fit up Fort Panmure. The command of these troops was given to Lyman, Blomart and Mc- Intosh, who were soon ordered to Baton Rouge in consequence of the prospect of war with Spain, and a Capt. Foster, with 100 men. was left in command of Natchez." After this, it appears, occurred the conflict between Capt. Michael Jackson, whom the governor
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at Pensacola sent to take charge, with a company of royalist refuges, and Col. Anthony Hutchins and Capt. Lyman, during which the possession of the fort was contested with some blood- shed. Fort Panmure and two small posts on the Amite river and Thompson's creek were included in the capitulation of Lieut. Dickson to Gen. Galvez, at Baton Rouge, Sept. 22, 1779. The garrison, which then consisted of a company of 80 Waldeckers (Hessians), surrendered Fort Panmure without resistance, but did not finally leave the post until the succeeding October. During the revolt of 1781, the garrison under the Spanish flag was be- sieged by the Natchez district people and compelled to surrender, but the fort was soon returned to the control of the Spanishi, and so continued until the evacuation of March 30, 1798, whereupon the United States flag, that had flown for a year and a month from the camp of Ellicott or Guion hard by, was raised over the ancient works. The several Spanish commandants at the post and district of Natchez, who exercised both civil and military duties, subject to the governor-general of Louisiana, were as follows: Don Carlos de Grandpré, July 29, 1781, to Sept., 1782; Col. Estevan Miro, Sept. to Nov., 1782; Don Pedro Piernas. Nov., 1782 to June, 1783; Capt. Francisco Collel, June to Aug. 3, 1783; Lieut .- Col. Phelipe Trevino, Aug. 3, 1783, to 1785; Don Francisco Bouligny, 1785 to March 1786; Col. Grandpré, 1786 to 1792; Lieut .- Col. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, July, 1792, to July 26, 1797; Capt. Stephen Minor, July 26, 1797, to the evacuation in 1798.
Fort Saint Claude .- This post was designed as a protection to the Yazoo district, one of the nine civil and military districts into which the Province of Louisiana was divided by the French. A detacliment of 30 men, under Lieut. de la Boulaye, proceeded to the Yazoo river in 1718, and constructed the fort on an elevated situation about 10 miles from the mouth. The site chosen was on the left bank of the river, only a short distance from the village of the Yasous Indians. Writing of this fort in 1721, Father Chiar- levoix says: "I was obliged to go up it (the Yazoo river) three leagues to get to the fort, which I found all in mourning for the death of M. Bizart, who commanded here. . He had chosen a bad situation for his fort, and he was preparing, when he died, to remove it a league higher in a very fine meadow, where the air is more healthy, and where there is a village of Yasous, mixed with Curoas and Osogoulas (with) at most 200 men fit to bear arms. We live pretty well with them, but do not put too much confidence in them, on account of the connections which the Yasous have always had with the English. The fort and the land belong to a society composed of M. le Blanc, secretary of state, M. le Comte de Belle-Isle, M. le Marquis d'Asfeld, and M. le Blond, brigadier engineer. The last is in the colony with the title of director general of the company. I can see no reason why they chose the river of the Yasous for the place of their grant. There was certainly choice of better land and a better situation. It is true that it is of importance to secure this river, the source of
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which is not far from Carolina; but a fort with a good garrison, to keep under the Yasous, who are allies to the Chicachas, would be sufficient for that purpose. It is not the way to settle a colony on a solid foundation, to be always on their guard against the savages who are neighbors of the English." The fort and settle- ment at this point were destroyed by the Yasous and Curoas (the Osagoulas were absent on the chase and did not participate) on Dec. 12, 1729. They were incited thereto by their allies, the Natchez, who had just engaged in the wholesale massacre of the French in the Natchez district. The commander of the post, M. de Codere, happened to be on a visit at Fort Rosalie, and had al- ready met his fate at the hands of the Natchez Indians. The little garrison of 17 men at St. Claude, under the command of the Chevalier des Roches, were surprised and all were murdered. The Yasous had treacherously slain the good Father Souel the day before in the vicinity of the post, and they now adopted the reso- lution, says Father Petit in his Journal, "of putting a finishing stroke to their crime by the destruction of the whole French post. 'Since the Black Chief is dead,' said they, 'it is the same as if all the French were dead-let us not spare any.'"
Fort Saint Louis de Carlorette, built by Bénard de la Harpe in 1719 at the village of Natsoos, in N. lat. 33 deg. 55 min., was one of the distant barrier settlements established by the French for the twofold purpose of asserting the territorial claims of France and arresting the progress of the Spaniards. It was located on the right bank of the Red river, in what is now northeastern Texas. Both France and Spain laid claim to the region now called Texas, and Gov. Bienville was especially anxious to conserve the rights of the French in the country of the upper Red river. La Harpe, in accordance with the traditional policy of the French, cultivated friendly relations with the Indians of the region, and also sought to open trade relations with the Spanish on the west, but without avail. His rather acrimonious correspondence with the Spanish commandant at the Assinais is recounted in his manuscript journal of the first establishment of the French in Louisiana, a translation of which is to be found in Vol. III of the Historical Collections of Louisiana (1851). The upshot of the affair was that the Spanish failed to make good their threats to attack the post, and the same was maintained by the French without molestation until Louisiana fell into the hands of Spain. The chief defensive works built by La Harpe consisted of a strong log blockhouse, which served both as a protection against the Indians and the Spanish, and as a store-house for goods and merchandise. A mill was also built. the settlers cultivated wheat, corn and tobacco, and also carried on considerable trade with the Indians up and down the Red river. With the fort as a base, he explored the region to the Arkansas river, and also went up the Red as far as the base of the Rocky Mountains.
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