USA > Louisiana > Orleans Parish > New Orleans > Standard history of New Orleans, Louisiana, giving a description of the natural advantages, natural history settlement, Indians, Creoles, municipal and military history, mercantile and commercial interests, banking, transportation, etc. > Part 3
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Joseph Villere, whom O'Reilly wished also to arrest, was on his plantation on the German Coast, and was about to go to the English possessions when he received a letter from Aubry saying that he had nothing to fear from O'Reilly and that he could come to New Orleans in perfect safety. Bossu, who was a contemporary of Villeré, relates the latter's death in the following manner : "M. de Villeré, confiding in his assurance (Aubry's), descended the river to go to New Orleans. What was his surprise, when on presenting himself at the barriers, he saw himself arrested ! Sensitive to this outrage, he could not mod- erate his indignation. In a first transport, he struck the Spanish officer who commanded the post. The latter's soldiers threw themselves upon him and pierced him with bayonets. He was carried on board a frigate, which was at the port, and died a few days afterwards." Judge Martin gives a different ac- count of Villere's death, but Bossu's narrative is more likely the true one. Champagny, also a contemporary of Villeré, gives about the same account as Bossu and praises highly the patriotic Louisianian.
Let us now see what was the fate of Villere's companions. Foucault claimed that as he was acting as an officer of the King of France he was account- able only to that monarch for his actions. He was sent to France, where he was at first thrown into the Bastille, but afterwards released and given an office in the East Indies. Braud claimed that, being the official printer, he was bound to print whatever Foucault, the commissary, ordered him to print. He was discharged. The other prisoners denied the jurisdiction of O'Reilly's court and argued that they had committed no act of insubordination against Spain, as Ulloa had never exhibited his powers. The tribunal, however, condemned
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Petit to imprisonment for life, Mazant and Doucet to imprisonment for ten years, Boisblanc, Jean Milhet and Poupet to imprisonment for six years. They were all transported to Havana and imprisoned in Moro Castle. Lafrenière, Noyan, his son-in-law, and a nephew of Bienville, Caresse, Marquis and Joseph Milhet were condemned to death and ordered to be hanged. As, however, no one could be found to act as hangman, the five heroic men were shot by Spanish soldiers on October 25, 1769.
The following lines from Judge Martin's "History of Louisiana" are very important when we consider the judicial and impartial mind of the author : "Posterity, the judge of men in power, will doom this act to public execration. No necessity demanded, no policy justified it. Ulloa's conduct had provoked the measures to which the inhabitants had resorted. During nearly two years he had haunted the province as a phantom of dubious authority. The efforts of the colonists, to prevent the transfer of their natal soil to a foreign prince, orig- inated in their attachment to their own, and the Catholic King ought to have beheld in their conduct a pledge of their future devotion to himself. They had but lately seen their country severed, and a part of it added to the dominion of Great Britain; they had bewailed their separation from their friends and kin- dred; and were afterwards to be alienated, without their consent, and subjected to a foreign yoke. If the indiscretion of a few needed an apology, the common misfortune afforded it."
Judge Martin is right. Nothing can excuse O'Reilly's cruelty. Spain was powerful enough to be generous, and Charles III. would have pardoned those men, whose sole crime was to have loved liberty and France, the country which had placed the Spanish crown upon the brow of Philip V., the father of Charles III.
O'Reilly abolished the Superior Council and substituted to it a Cabildo, composed of six perpetual regidors, two ordinary alcades, an attorney-general- syndic, and a clerk. The Cabildo was presided over by the governor in person. The laws of Spain were also substituted to those of France, and O'Reilly issued a number of ordinances on subjects concerning the province of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans. He returned to Spain in the summer of 1770, leaving a name which has been handed down to posterity for execration. Aubry, who may be called O'Reilly's accomplice, perished in 1770 by shipwreck in the Gironde River.
Don Luis de Unzaga succeeded O'Reilly as governor, and his administra-
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tion was mild and paternal, as well as that of every Spanish governor after him, to the end of the Spanish Domination. The winter of 1772 was extremely severe, and in the summer following there arose a hurricane which did great havoc on the sea coast. During Unzaga's administration the War of the Ameri- can Revolution began, and the governor of Louisiana gave help to the colonists in their struggle for independence by conniving at the purchase in New Orleans of arms and ammunition for the Americans. Unzaga acted also with great wis- dom in not applying too strictly the regulations by which the trade of the in- habitants of Louisiana were confined to a few Spanish ports. He tacitly allowed some trade with the English colonists. He was a man of liberal ideas and acted with tact and moderation at the time of the celebrated quarrel between the French and Spanish Capuchins, which Gayarre has related in such an interest- ing manner in his History of Louisiana, where we learn to love good Father Dagobert.
On February 1, 1777, Don Bernardo de Galvez entered on his duties as governor, and his heroism and admirable character rendered the Spanish Domin- ation popular. Galvez was about twenty-one years old and belonged to an in- fluential family. His father was Viceroy of Mexico and his uncle President of the Council of the Indies. At the beginning of his administration more freedom was allowed the colonists in their commerce with Spain and other countries, and aid was openly given the American Revolutionists. Their agent, Oliver Pol- lock, received from Galvez about seventy thousand dollars to buy arms and am- munition. Spain declared war against Great Britain on May 8, 1779, and on July 8, 1779, the American subjects of Charles III. were authorized to take part in the war. Galvez resolved immediately to capture Baton Rouge. On August 27 he left New Orleans on his expedition. He had a small fleet, composed of one schooner and three gunboats, and an army of 1,430 men, including veterans, militiamen, eighty free men of color, recruits and 160 Indians. Galvez cap- tured Fort Manchac on the way and arrived at Baton Rouge on September 7. His army was anxious to take the fort by storm, but the Spanish governor would not risk the lives of his men uselessly and resolved to open trenches and besiege . the place. On September 21, 1779, the English commander surrendered the fort at Baton Rouge and also Fort Panmure at Natchez. During the whole campaign the creoles behaved with distinguished gallantry. The expedition of Galvez against Baton Rouge inspired Julien Poydras, who wrote an epic poem on the exploits of the heroic young governor. Poydras's poem is the earliest
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work in the French literature of Louisiana, and on that account it is very in- teresting. The author, however, is better known in our history as a statesman and a philanthropist than as a poet.
After the capture of Baton Rouge in 1779, Galvez left New Orleans in January, 1780, to undertake the conquest of Mobile. He sailed from the Balize on February 5, with an army of 2,000 men, and in spite of a terrific storm which greatly hampered and delayed him, he landed his army on the eastern point of Mobile River. General Campbell, the English commander at Pensa- cola, might have destroyed the Spanish army had he attacked them with a large force in their disorganized condition. He allowed Galvez, however, to erect six batteries and to capture Fort Charlotte before the English army appeared. The fall of Fort Charlotte, on March 14, 1780, gave Mobile to the Spanish, and Pen- sacola was now the only important town in the possession of the British in Florida.
Galvez determined to capture Pensacola, and went to Havana to obtain re- inforcements. He sailed from Havana on October 16, 1780, but lost some of his transports in a storm, and returned to Havana on November 16. He sailed again on February 28, 1781, says Judge Martin, "with a man-of-war, two frig- ates and several transports, on board of which were fourteen hundred and fifteen soldiers, a competent train of artillery and abundance of ammunition. The fleet was commanded by Don Joseph Cabro de Jrazabal."
The troops were landed on March 9 on the Island of St. Rosa, and Galvez asked Jrazabal to cross the bar with his fleet. This the commodore was unwill- ing to do, as his own ship had got aground on attempting to cross the bar. Gal- vez, therefore, resolved to cross the bar with the small fleet under his immediate command: the brig Galvezton, commanded by Rousseau, from New Orleans ; a schooner commanded by Riano, and two gunboats. The governor went on board the brig, and his small fleet crossed the bar, in spite of a brisk firing fron the English. Jrazabal allowed then his fleet to cross, and this was done with success, Galvez remaining in a boat in the midst of the firing until the last ves- sel had anchored in safety.
Fort George, which protected Pensacola, was attacked by the fleet and by the land troops from Mobile and from New Orleans. Owing to an accident, the blowing up of a magazine in one of the redoubts, a passage was opened in the fort, and the English commander capitulated on May 9, 1781. By this capitula- tion the province of West Florida was acquired by Spain. The wars of Galvez
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had been most brilliant, and did great honor to him and to the troops from Lou- isiana. The latter, by defeating the British at Baton Rouge, at Mobile and at Pensacola, aided the Americans and reallly took part in the glorious war waged for American independence.
While Galvez was distinguishing himself at Pensacola and was conquering a province for Spain, the inhabitants near Natchez raised the British standard, besieged Fort Panmure and captured it. They had counted on the defeat of Galvez at Pensacola, but when they heard of his success they feared the fate of O'Reilly's victims, and determined to emigrate to Georgia. They started with their wives and children, and after great sufferings some of them succeeded in reaching Savannah. In August, 1780, Louisiana was visited by a dreadful hurricane, and disastrous inundations took place. The inhabitants suffered also from the loss of the trade carried on by the British traders on the Mississippi, and Galvez obtained from the Spanish government important privileges for the commerce of the province. The governor, says Gayarre, "had recommended that Louisiana be granted the privilege of free trade with all the ports of Europe and America. But neither the Court of Madrid, nor the spirit of the age, was disposed to go so far."
The following extract from Judge Martin's "History of Louisiana," quoted also by Gayarré, is highly important :
"The preliminary articles of peace between Great Britain, France and Spain were signed at Paris on the twentieth of January, 1783.
"The definitive treaties between Great Britain, the United States and Spain were signed at Paris on the third day of September.
" By the first, the King of Great Britain acknowledged the independence of the United States, and recognized as their southern boundary a line to be drawn due east from a point in the river Mississippi, in the latitude of thirty-one degrees, north of the equator, to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Cata- ouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with Flint river ; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's river, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantic Ocean.
"The description of this line is important, as it became the dividing one between the possessions of Spain and the United States."
"By the eighth article it was expressly provided that the navigation of the Mississippi, from its source to the gulf, should forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States. By the sec-
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ond, Great Britain warranted the province of West Florida, and ceded that of East Florida to Spain."
The winter of 1784 was extremely severe; so much so, that on February 13, 1784, "the whole bed of the river, in front of New Orleans, was filled up with fragments of ice, the size of most of which was from twelve to thirty feet, with a thickness of two to three. This mass of ice was so compact that it formed a field of four hundred yards in width, so that all communication was interrupted for five days between the two banks of the Mississippi."
The conduct of Galvez, in the war against the British, was so highly appre- ciated in Spain that he was made lieutenant-general, and in 1785 captain-gen- eral of the Island of Cuba, of the province of Louisiana and of the two Floridas. The same year he succeeded his father as viceroy of Mexico, where he died in 1794, aged thirty-eight. Like his predecessor, Unzaga, he had married a creole lady, a native of Louisiana, of French origin. Galvez is certainly one of the most romantic and chivalric characters to be seen in the history of colonial Lou- isiana.
VI .- THE RULE OF SPAIN.
MIRO, CARONDELET, AND GAYOSO DE LEMOS.
By a census taken in 1785, we see that the population of New Orleans was 4,980 souls, and that of the whole province, 32,114. In 1785 Don Estevan Miro succeeded Galvez as provisional governor, and in 1786 he received his commis- sion of governor, civil and military, of Louisiana and West Florida. He issued then his bando de buen gobierno, which was a proclamation equivalent to the in- augural address of our American governors. He had, in 1785, received the com- mission of Juez de Residencia, or Judge of Residence, to inquire into the acts of Governor Unzaga. In the jurisprudence of Spain residence designates an inquiry into the official conduct of a functionary who is no longer in office, whether by death or otherwise.
In 1785 a number of Acadian families came to Louisiana and settled chiefly among the other Acadians who had arrived in 1765 and had established them- selves on the Mississippi, on Bayou Lafourche, and in the Attakapas country. Some of the Arcadians went to Terre-aux-Boeufs, where were the Islenos, or Ca- nary Islanders, whom Galvez had brought over in 1779.
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During Miro's administration the growing power of the United States be- gan to alarm Spain, and Navarro, the intendant, suggested that the dismember- ment of the West be attempted, and Judge Martin says that there existed in the western country no less than five parties, with the following views :
"The first was for independence of the United States, and the formation of a new republic, unconnected with them, which was to enter into a treaty with Spain.
"Another party was willing that the country should become a part of the province of Louisiana, and submit to the admission of the laws of Spain.
"A third desired a war with Spain, and the seizure of New Orleans.
"A fourth plan was to prevail on Congress, by a show of preparation for war, to extort from the cabinet of Madrid what it persisted in refusing.
"The last, as unnnatural as the second, was to solicit France to procure a retrocession of Louisiana, and extend her protection to Kentucky."
All these plans gave rise to a number of intrigues, to the end of the Spanish Domination in Louisiana, and Governor Miro and his successors were busily en- gaged in planning a policy which might check the encroachments of the already powerful Americans. The Spanish governors were wise and able statesmen, but in spite of all their efforts the Mississippi river was soon to become an American stream, from its source to its mouth.
The progress of New Orleans was checked, on March 21, 1788, by a terrible conflagration which destroyed nearly nine hundred buildings, among which were the cathedral, the convent of the Capuchins, the arsenal and the public prison. A census taken in 1788 showed a considerable increase in population in three years. New Orleans was found to have 5,388 inhabitants, and the whole province, 42,611. In 1789 the foundation of a new cathedral was laid. The church was built by the munificence of Don Andres Almonester, who was soon afterwards buried there, near the principal altar. The cathedral of 1789 was pulled down in 1850, and a new edifice was erected.
Charles III. died on December 14, 1788, and was succeeded by Charles IV., a weak and incompetent king. Soon after his accession Father Antonio de Se- della was sent by his spiritual superiors to Louisiana as a representative of the Inquisition, with the purpose of introducing this tribunal. Governor Miro, however, had the commissary of the Inquisition arrested at night, put on board a vessel and taken to Spain. Father Antonio de Sedella returned later to Lou- isiana and became a great favorite with all. "Père Antoine," as he was fondly called, will long be remembered in New Orleans.
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In 1791 an insurrection of the negroes brok out at San Domingo, and many excellent people took refuge in Louisiana. Some opened schools, and a tronpe of comedians from Cape Francois opened a theatre in New Orleans. French was almost entirely the language of the inhabitants of the colony, and the Span- ish language, Miro reported, was hardly used except in courts of justice in New Orleans. In the Spanish school there were only a few children, while in the French schools there were four hundred students. Miro's administration ended in 1791; he returned to Spain, where he became mariscal de campo, or lieuten- ant-general. He was not as brilliant as Galvez, but he was firm and gentle and highly honorable. He followed the example of Unzaga and Galvez, and married a native of Louisiana. Many of the Spanish officials were likewise conquered by the charming creole girls.
The Baron de Carondelet succeeded Miro on December 30, 1791, and was also an able official. His administration was marked by a number of internal improvements, among which may be mentioned the lighting of New Orleans and the employment of watchmen. To meet these charges, "a tax of one dollar and twelve and a half cents," says Martin, "was laid on every chimney." The new governor continued Miro's policy with regard to allowing trade between Phila- delphia and New Orleans, in spite of contrary instructions from Spain. The Spanish government finally approved this measure.
The great events of the French Revolution exerted an influence in Louisi- ana, and the colony was thrown into considerable agitation by the news of the execution of Louis XVI. on January 21, 1793. The republican spirit of the Louisianians was aroused, and sympathy with the French republic was openly manifested. Carondelet had six individuals arrested and sent to Havana, where they were imprisoned for twelve months.
In order to guard against any insurrection or any foreign attack, the gov- ernor had new fortifications erected around New Orleans. Forts, redoubts, bat- teries and palisades were erected, and deep ditches were dug. The friendship of the Indians was also secured by an offensive and defensive treaty made with the Chickasaws, the Creeks, the Talapouches, the Cherokees and the Alibamons, and twenty thousand Indians, it was thought, could be opposed, if needed, to the Americans.
On December 8, 1794, another conflagration did immense harm in New Orleans, but fortunately the new cathedral, built by Don Andres Almonester, was not destroyed. In the year 1794 "Le Moniteur de la Louisiane" was pub-
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lished; it was the first newspaper in Louisiana, and its appearance indicated that new ideas were penetrating the colony. Indeed, French Jacobins, in Phil- adelphia, circulated in Louisiana an address in which the colonists were urged to establish an independent government. At the same time the French minister to the United States, Genet, endeavored to prepare an expedition in the West against the Spanish possessions. His principal agent in Kentucky was Auguste de la Chaise, a native of Louisiana, and a man of great intrepidity and energy. Genet's schemes, however, were frustrated by Washington, and Carondelet began again to intrigue for the separation of the West from the United States.
The year 1794 was marked by the cultivation of the sugar cane by Etienne de Boré, whose plantation was about six miles above New Orleans. The sugar cane was introduced by the Jesuits in 1751, and Mendez and Solis, of Terre-aux- Boeufs, were the first to cultivate it on a large scale. They made syrup from the juice and a liquor called taffia. The indigo plant was attacked by an insect, and the chief crop of the colonists failed. Etienne de Boré resolved to undertake to cultivate the cane and to manufacture sugar. His friends and relatives at- tempted to dissuade him from his enterprise, but he persevered, and in 1795 he made a crop of sugar which brought twelve thousand dollars. Bore's success was a great event, and the sugar cane was afterwards cultivated extensively in Louisiana.
The Baron de Carondelet conceived the plain of digging a navigable canal in the rear of the city, communicating with Bayou St. John, and with the help of the inhabitants the canal was completed in 1796. The Cabildo named it "Canal Carondelet," in honor of the energetic governor.
On October 20, 1795, a treaty was signed between the United States and Spain, and Monette mentions the most important articles in his "History of the Valley of the Mississippi" as follows :
"The second article stipulates that the future boundary between the United States and the Floridas shall be the thirty-first parallel of north latitude, from the Mississippi eastward to the Chattahoochy river ; thence along a line running due east, from the mouth of Flint river to the head of St. Mary's river, and thence down the middle of that river to the Atlantic Ocean. The fourth article stipulates that the middle of the Mississippi river shall be the western boundary of the United States from its source to the intersection of the said line of demar- cation. The King of Spain also stipulates that the whole width of said river, from its source to the sea, shall be free to the people of the United States."
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On October 13, 1795, there happened a curious incident in Louisiana : a French privateer, "La Parisienne," captured the Balize and hield it until Oc- tober 21, 1795. In the year 1796 Carondelet succeeded in having the city of New Orleans lighted and patrolled. He had eighty lamps placed in the streets and formed a police force of thirteen serenos or watchmen. It seems that his project mentioned above had not yet been realized.
In 1796 the French general, Collot, visited the colony, but Carondelet had him arrested. He treated him with great politeness in New Orleans, and sent him to the Balize, where the general was glad to embark for Philadelphia, after a stay of nearly two months at the mouth of the Mississippi.
In 1797 Carondelet was appointed president of the Royal Audience of Quito, and left Louisiana, which he had governed with great ability. During his administration in 1794, says Judge Martin, "the Pope divided the bishopric of Havana, and the provinces of Louisiana, East and West Florida were erected into a distinct one. Don Louis de Penalvert, provisor and vicar-general of the Bishop of Havana, was called to the new see, and established his cathedral in New Orleans."
The Baron de Carondelet was succeeded by Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos on August 1, 1797. In 1798 the Duke of Orleans visited New Orleans with his brothers, the Duke of Montpensier and the Count of Beaujolais. These princes were then in exile, and no one could have predicted that the Duke of Orleans, who was a fugitive from his country in 1798, would become King Louis Philippe in 1830.
Governor Gayoso de Lemos died on July 25, 1799. The military adminis- tration was assumed by Col. Francisco Bouligny, and the civil and political ad- ministration by Don Jose Maria Vidal. The Spanish governors of Louisiana, after Gayoso de Lemos, were Casa Calvo, from 1799 to 1801, and Salcedo, from 1801 to 1803. We shall now relate how France took back Louisiana from Spain, and how Napoleon sold the colony to the United States.
VII .- THE TREATY OF ST. ILDEPHONSO, AND THE CESSION TO THE UNITED STATES.
We have just said that Casa Calvo was governor of Louisiana in 1800. In that year a great event was preparing for the colony, and Bonaparte was the man who was to bring it about. After his glorious campaigns of 1796 and 1797 he
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had gone to Egypt, and, in spite of the destruction of his fleet at Aboukir, he had won great victories, and had returned to France in 1799. On the 18th Brumaire (November 9, 1799), he overthrew the Directory and established the Consulate. The first consul accomplished even greater exploits than General Bonaparte, and his campaign of 1800 is really wonderful. He collected a large army and threw it suddenly over the Alps into Italy, and at Marengo, on June 18, 1800, he crushed the Austrian army. Peace with Austria soon followed the battle of Ma- rengo, and there was a fair prospect of making peace with England. The First Consul wished then to revive the colonial empire of France, and he thought of Louisiana, which had been ceded to Spain by Louis XV. On October 1, 1800, by the treaty of St. Ildephonso, the King of Spain, Charles IV., retroceded Louisiana to France on condition that the Duchy of Tuscany be given to the Duke of Parma, who would receive the title of King of Etruria. The duke was the son-in-law of Charles IV., and the Spanish Bourbon, for a selfish purpose, returned to France the gift made to Charles III. by the French Bourbon, Louis XV., the most selfish and corrupt of Kings. The treaty was kept secret, as peace had not yet been signed with England.
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