USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 14
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
Claiborne now rose, and offered to the people of Louisiana his congratulations on the event which placed them beyond the reach of chance. He assured them the United States received them as brothers, and would hasten to extend to them a participation . in the invaluable rights forming the basis of their unexampled prosperity, and in the meanwhile the people would be protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion-their commerce fa- vored, and their agriculture encouraged. He re- commended to them to promote political informa- tion in the province, and guide the rising genera- tion in the paths of republican œeconomy and vir- tuc.
'The tri-coloured made room for the striped banner, under repeated peals of artillery and mus- ketry.
A group of citizens of the United States, who stood on a corner of the square, waved their hats, in token of respect for their country's flag, and a few of them greeted it with their voices. No emo- tion was manifested by any other part of the crowd.
200
CHAPTER
[1803
The colonists did not appear conscious that they were reaching the Latium sedes ubi fata quietas ostendunt.
Archives-Gazettes,
.
1803]
THE ELEVENTH.
201
CHAPTER XI.
,
A view of the province at the cession-Bounda- · ries -- Civil division --- Lands --- Population -- Indians-Officers-Clergy-Paper securities- Taxes -- Duties -- Expenditures -- Imports- Exports-Shipping.
When the French enjoyed the undisturbed pos- session of Louisiana, its extent, in their opinion, had scarcely any bounds to the north-west; and its limits were ill defined any where, except on the sea coast. As its sovereign claimed all the neighbouring coun- try, which was totally without inhabitants, or occu- pied by savage enemies, a demarcation of its limits was impossible, even if it had been desirable. During the Spanish government, a dispute with Great Britain, respecting Nootka Sound and her discove- ries in that quarter, was terminated by a recognition of her right to New-Albion, the boundary of which to the south being agreed on, became the northern one of California, which, prolonged eastwardly to a certain point, was to mark the extent of New-Albion in that direction. Where New-Albion ended, Louisi- ana was said to begin.
On the bayou des Lauriers (Laurel creek) six miles S. W. by S. from the town of Natchitoches, on Red river, and fifteen miles from the Adayes, where the road to Nacogdoches crosses the bayou, the French had placed leaden plates, on a tree on each VOL. II. 20
1
1
202 1
CHAPTER
[1803
side of the road, with an inscription expressing that the spot was the boundary between the French and Spanish dominions, withont indicating the continua- tion of the line on either side. Similar plates were also fixed at Yatassees, a village of the Nadoca - Indians, fifty leagues N. W. of Natchitoches.
The boundary line, from bayou des Lauriers to the sca, was never run, and cach party claimed much more than the other was willing to allow. The Spaniards contended that the line was to be run due south, in which case it would strike the sea near the river Carcassou.
. The eastern boundary of Louisiana, as far as the thirty-first degree, and the northern on the eastern side of the Mississippi, which separated the territo- ries of Spain and the United States, were fixed by a treaty-the first in the middle of the stream, and the latter at the thirty-first degree of northern lati- tude. But the province of Louisiana did not extend far beyond the Mississippi below Iberville, and was separated from West-Florida by a line drawn through the middle of that stream, and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea.
Before the peace of 1763, the French recognised no other boundary of Louisiana, to the north, than the southern line of Canada.
To the east, the rio Perdido was recognised as affording the beginning of the boundary line, but the direction in which it ran, from the mouth or source of the stream, never engaged the attention of France or Spain.
The province of Louisiana, and that of West- Florida, were laid off into the following divisions: . Pensacola, Mobile, the land between the Balize and
-
151
203
THE ELEVENTH.
1803]
New-Orleans, the city, and the land on both sides of lake Pontchartrain, the first and second German coasts, Cabahanosse, La-Fourche, Venezuela, Iber- : ville, Galvez-town, Baton-Rouge, Pointe-Coupee, Atakapas, Opelousas, Avoyelles, Rapides, Natchi- toches, Arkansas, and the Illinois, in each of which there was a commandant.
In the Illinois, there was a commandant-general at St. Louis, to whom were subordinate those of New-Madrid, St. Genevieve, New-Bourbon, St. Charles, and St. Andrew.
Baton-Rouge had been made a government, in favour of Don Carlos de Grandpre, who had been appointed governor of Natchez, on Gayoso being promoted to that of the two provinces. The districts of Manchac, Thompson-Creek, and .Feliciana, or Bayou-Sarah, made part of it.
Chapitoula and Terre-aux-Bœufs had once sepa- rate commandants, but of late they made part of the district of the city ..
All the lands, on both sides of the Mississippi, from fifty miles below the city to Baton-Rouge, had been granted, to the depth of forty arpents or one mile and a half, which is the depth of all original grants. Some had double, and others treble grants, that is to say, a depth of eighty or one hundred and twenty arpents. A few grants extended as far as the sea, or a lake behind them. In the other parts of the country, the people being generally settled on the banks of a river or creek, had a front of from six to forty arpents, and the grant generally expressed a depth of forty arpents.
:
The ungranted lands on the island of Orleans, and on the opposite bank of the river, were supposed to be unfit for cultivation; but a considerable portion
-
1
204
:1 . . CHAPTER
[1803
might be drained. There are, 'in this part of the country, valuable cypress swamps belonging to the public.
It was supposed that all the land free from inun- dation, from the Balize to Manchac, as far back as the swamps, were fit for the cultivation of the cane. Above Manchac, it was supposed the cane would be affected by the cold, and its produce uncertain. The culture of the cane was not attended to elsewhere.
The buildings, fortifications, and fixed property of the public, were chiefly in New-Orleans. 'They consisted of
Two very extensive brick stores,. one being one hundred and sixty, the other one hundred and twenty : feet in length; each about thirty feet in width, one story high, with a large loft, and covered with shin- gles.
A government house, out houses and gardens, on a lot of about two hundred and twenty feet in front, with a depth of three hundred and thirty-six.
A military hospital.
A powder magazine, on the opposite bank of the Mississippi.
An ill constructed custom-house of wood, almost in ruins.
Extensive barracks, calculated to accommodate · nearly fifteen hundred men.
Five ill constructed redoubts, with a covered way, pallisade, and ditch.
A large lot, adjoining the king's stores, used as a park of artillery, in which were a few sheds.
A town house, market-house, assembly room, and prison.
A cathedral and presbytery, to which a square of ground, well built on, was attached.
205
THE ELEVENTH.
: - 1803]
A charity hospital, with a few houses, yielding to it a revenue of about fifteen hundred dollars a year.
No authentic census of the inhabitants of the pro- vince, since that of 1788, is extant; but one made for the department of state, by the consul of the United States at New-Orleans, from the best docu- ments he could procure, in 1803, presents the fol- lowing result:
In the city of New-Orleans, 8,056
From the Balize to the city,
2,38S
At Terre-aux-Bœufs, 661
Bayou St. John and Gentilly,
489
Barataria, 101
Tchoupitoulas,
7,444
Parish of St. Charles,
2,421
St. John the Baptist,1,950
St. James,
2,200
Lafourche.
1,094
Interior,
2,061
Valenzuela,
1,057
Iberville,
1,300
Galvez-town,
247
Baton-Rouge,
1,513
Pointe-Coupee,
2,150
Atakapas,
1,447
Opelousas,
2,451
Washita,
361
Avoyelles,
432
Rapides,
753
Natchitoches,
1,631
Arkansas,
368
Illinois, St. Louis, &c.
6,028
Mobile,
810
Pensacola,
401 --- 49,173
206
CHAPTER [1803
On the left bank of the Mississippi, about seventy- five miles above New-Orleans, were the remains of the Oumas (Red inen) not exceeding sixty persons. There were no other Indians settled on this side of the river, in Louisiana or West-Florida; although wandering parties of the Choctaws and Creeks were often rambling over the country.
On the right side of the Mississippi, above the 'settlement of Pointe-Coupee, were the remains of the Tunica nation, not exceeding fifty or sixty per- sons.
On the left side of bayou Plaquemine, about twelve miles from the Mississippi, were two villages of the Chilimackas, consisting of about twenty ca- bins; each village had about sixty persons.
In the lower part of bayou Teche, at the distance of thirty-six miles from the sea, was another village of the Chitimachas, in which were about one hun- dred persons.
The nation of the Atakapas (Man-caters) was nearly extinct. They had a village on bayou Ver- million, in which were about one hundred and twen- ty persons. Wandering families were scattered through the district, and a number of females were domiciliated among the planters.
The Choctaws, Biloxes, and Pascagoulas, had villages on bayou Crocodile and bayou Bœuf, in the parish of Rapides.
The Alibamons had a village of about one hun- dred persons, on the bayou Courtableau in the district of Opelousas.
Several small villages of the Cunhates were dis- persed on the banks of the Meritao and Carcasu rivers. There were in them about three hundred and fifty of these Indians.
.
207
THE ELEVENTH.
1803]
At the Avoyelles, there was a village of the Choc- taws, or Red-men, at the distance of about sixty miles from the Mississippi, and another on the lake of the Avoyelles. These two villages had not more than one hundred persons.
At the Rapids, twenty miles higher up, was a vil- lage of the Chactas, which had about one hundred persons; and six miles farther, was a village of the Biloxes of the same size.
At the river aux Cannes was another village of the same nation, of about fifty persons.
'The males of all these villages were frequently employed as boatmen.
About two hundred and fifty miles from the town of Natchitoches, on Red river, was the nation of the Cadodaquious, called, by abreviation, Cados. They could raise five hundred warriors.
Four or five hundred families of the Choctaws were dispersed in the district of Washita, and the whole nation would have moved to the west side of the Mississippi, had they not been prevented by the Spaniards, and the Indians in their alliance there, who had suffered much from the aggressions of the Choctaws.
Between Red river and that of the Arkansas, were a few Indian families, the remains of tribes almost extinct. The nation that gave its name to the last river, was reduced to about two hundred and fifty warriors. They had three large villages on the river; the first was at the distance of forty miles from the Mississippi ; the others at the distance of nine and eighteen miles from the stream.
On the river St. Francis, and on the right bank of the Mississippi, near New-Madrid and Cape Girar- deau, were wandering families, who had emigrated
908
CHAPTER [1803
from the Delaware, Shawancse, Miamis, Cherokees, and Chickasaws-in all about five hundred families. They were at times troublesome to the boats de- scending the Mississippi, plundering them, and even committing murders. They had been attracted to this part of the country several years before the cession, when the views of the government of Louisiana were hostile to the United States.
The scarcity of game to the east of the Mississippi, had lately induced a number of Cherokees, Chicka- saws, and Choctaws, to frequent the country to the west, where game was still abundant. Some of them had contracted marriages with Arkansa women, and many others were inclined to incorporate themselves in that nation. Their number was unknown, but - supposed to be considerable.
On the river des Moines, which falls into the Mississippi from the west, were the Ayoas, a nation that formerly dwelt on the Missouri. 'They had two hundred warriors. Its numbers had lately been much reduced by the small pox.
Higher up, and about nine hundred miles above St. Louis, on the banks of the Mississippi, were the Sacs and Renards, who together had about five hundred warriors. They traded with St. Louis and Michilimackinac, and had always been peaceable and friendly.
The nations on the Missouri were cruel, treach- erous, and insolent.
The officers of the province were;
A governor, invested with civil and military au- thority.
An intendant, charged with the revenue, granting of land, and admiralty matters.
1
209
THE ELEVENTHI.
1803]
An auditor of war.
An assessor of the intendance.
(The same individual often acted in both these capacities.)
A secretary of the government, and one of the intendant. .
A treasurer and a comptroller.
A surveyor-general.
A store-keeper. .
A purveyor, who made purchases for the king.
Three notaries, who acted as auctioneers, and whose offices were the repositories for law proceed- ings and deeds.
An interpreter of the French and English lan- guages, and one for the Indians.
A harbour master.
A marine officer.
A physician to the military hospital-surgeon, and apothecary.
Another to the charity hospital-surgeon, and apothecary.
A collector, treasurer,guarda mayor, notary, two head clerks, and about twenty inferior officers, in the custom-house.
Besides these, there was a cabildo in New-Or- leans, composed of two ordinary alcades, twelve regidors, an attorney-general syndic and clerk; four alcades de barrio, and a number of syndics, or officers of police.
In the country, there was a commandant in each parish, who had a number of syndics under him.
In a communication to the department of state, in 1803, the consul of the United States at New-Or- leans, says: " the auditors of war, and assessors of government and intendancy, have always been cor- VOL. II. 27
210
CHAPTER [1803
rupt; and to them only may be attributed the mal- administration of justice, as the governor and other judges, who are unacquainted with law, seldom dare to act contrary to the opinions they give. Hence, when the auditor, or assessor, was bribed, suitors had to complain of delays and infamous decisions. All the officers plunder, when the opportunity offers; they are all venal. A bargain can be made with the governor, intendant, judge, or collector, down to . the constable; and if ever an officer be displeased at an offer of money, it is not at the offer or offerer, but because imperious circumstances compel him to refuse ; and the offerer acquires a degree of favour which encourages hin to make a second offer, when a better opportunity is presented."
The duties at the custom-house, in the year pre- ceding the cession, amounted to $117,515.
The imposts paid in Louisiana, were,
1. A duty of six per cent. on the transfer of ship- ping. It was exacted on the sum the parties declared, which seldom exceeded one half the real, as no oath was required.
, 2. A duty on legacies or inheritances of collateral relatives, when exceeding the value of two thousand dollars, and of four per ceat. when the legatee or heir was not a relation of the deceased.
3. A tax on all civil employments, the salary of . which exceeded three hundred dollars a year, called " media annata, amounting to one half of the first year's salary, payable, in some cases, in two yearly instalments, and in others in four. The first incum- bent of a newly created office was exempt from this
- , tax.
.
211
1803]
. THE ELEVENTH.
4. Seven dollars, deducted from twenty, paid for pilotage by, every vessel entering or leaving the Mis- sissippi; but the treasury provided boats, and paid the wages of pilots and sailors employed at the Ba- lize. The remainder of the twenty dollars was distributed as follows: four dollars to the head pilot, four to the pilot who boarded the vessel, and five to the crew of the boat who brought him.
5. A tax of forty dollars on licenses to sell spiri- tuous liquors.
6. A tax on saleable offices, as those of regidors. clerk of the cabildo, and notaries.
Exclusive of paper money, emissions of which were made in the carly part of the Spanish govern- ment, there existed, at all times, a debt due by the government, for expences incurred, for supplies furnished to the troops, and the king's stores and salaries of officers and workmen, for which liberan- zas, or certificates, were regularly issued, of which there was afloat, at the cession, a sum of, from four hundred and fifty to five hundred thousand dollars. They bore no interest, and were commonly to le. bought at a discount of from 25 to 50 per cent. At the change of government, the discount was thirty. This depreciation was not the result of a want of confidence, or any apprehension that the certificates would not be paid, but from the value of money and . the scarcity of it in the market.
With the view of removing from circulation a part of those liberanzas which inundated the mar- ket, the intendant, on the fifteenth of July, 1802, announced that he would furnish bills, or cartas de paga, on the treasury of the army, or that of the marine, at Havana, and receive one half of the amount in liberansas issued in New-Orleans, and .
-
.
212
CHAPTER
[1803
the other in cash ; under the condition that, in regard to the cartas de page on the treasurer of the army, should there not be, at their presentation, funds ap- propriated to the province of Louisiana, the holder should wait until the arrival of such funds. By this morsure a considerable part of the liberanzas were withdrawn from circulation.
The church of Louisiana was under the direction of a bishop and two canons, New-Orleans having been erected into a bishoprick in 1792, the first incumbent of which, Don Luis de Penalvert, was promoted in 1801 to the archbishoprick of Guatima- la. A successor had been appointed to him, but he never came to the province. The reverend Thomas Haslett, one of the canons, died a short time before the cession, and had not been replaced.
The province, for ceclesiastical purposes, was divided into twenty-one parishes; four of which were without a church, and as many more without a priest, so that the whole clergy did not consist of more than nineteen individuals. There was a chap- lain to the convent, one to the troops, and one in each of the hospitals; and the curate of New-Orleans had three assistants.
The bishop had a salary of four thousand dollars, charged on some bishopricks in Mexico and Hava- na. The canons received a salary of six hundred dollars; and those of the curates and chaplains were from three hundred and sixty to seven hundred and twenty dollars, paid out of the treasury. They besides received fees for masses, marriages, and burials.
The king, besides, paid a salary of one hundred and eighty dollars a year to each of the sacristans.of most of the parishes, and a sum of one hundred dol-
213
THE ELEVENTH.
1803]
lars a year to the cathedral, and twenty-four dollars to cach parish, for bread, winc, and wax lights.
The cathedral church owned a square in the city, the rent of the houses of which, and the hire of the pews, with the sum paid by the king, constituted its revenue. The other churches derived one from the hire of pews. 1
Besides the cathedral, there were two chapels in New-Orleans, in which divine service was regularly performed-that of the convent, and that of the cha- rity-hospital.
There were but eleven nuns in the convent. They attended to the education of young persons of their sex; receiving pay from the wealthy, and" educating a few poor girls gratuitously.
The catholic religion was the only one of which the rites were allowed to be publicly performed. None were compelled to attend its service. In pub- lic, respect was expected for the ceremonies of that church; but every one was permitted, at home, to worship his maker as he deemed proper.
RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES of the . Province, during the year 1802. RECEIPTS. Common Branches.
Balance of last year, $51,932 27
Invalids, 5,959 13
Sale of effects from the artillery store, 630 38
Dnes rec'd from ships entering the Balize, 3,210 30 Payments to the treasury of debts due it, 16,021 75 Sale of effects from the king's store, 2,005 G2 Sums received from the custom-house, 130,721 88 Rent of tenements belonging to the king, 336
Rations, deducted from the soldier's pay, 31,998 75
1
214 CHAPTER [1803
Hospital fees, likewise deducted,
5,177 88
Loans to the treasury, · 14,106
Sale of waste lands,
188 50
Duty of media annata on said lands,
5 50
Cash received from Vera-Cruz, 402,258
Returns for supplies to the navy, 20,000
Cash rec'd for drafts on other treasuries, 49,512 88
3 75
Prirate Funds.
Balance of the year before, 30,880 51
· Ditto of accounts,
217 63
·Media annata of officers,
1226 26
Donation, 121
Funds not the king's property.
Balance of the year before, 53,775 62
Monte Pio of surgeons, 167
Ditto of military officers, 1619 25
Deposits, 19,361 50
Monte Pio of officers of civil employments, 311 13
Ditto of offices. 1209 76
$813,043 37
EXPENDITURES. Common Branches. >
Expences' of people condemned to public works, 6,971 63
Ordinary ditto of the city,
3,614 50
Ditto of fortifications, 4,210 25
Returns of loans made to the treasury,
42,015 63
Buildings, 6,152 88
Extraordinary expences,
6,679 50
Maintenance of prisoners of war, 821-37
Ditto, of poor confined for their rations, 519 75
Supplies to the navy, 8,814 88
Ditto, to other treasuries.
10,316 13
Returns of overcharge to the treasury,
1803]
THE ELEVENTH. 1
215
Pay to the people employed in the galleys, 21,922 62 Expences for the chapel service, 526 25
Hospital expences, 27,716 2
Indian ditto, 25,418 26
Salaries of officers and people employed in the different offices of the revenue, , 46,307
Expences of the general store, &c. 108,620 75
Ditto for the galleys, 4,004 38
Return of duties, 1,512 63
Allowances for table to officers, 5,367 88
Rations, 1446 63
Civil and military salaries, 9,293 26
General expences of revenue department, 19,523
Remittances to other treasuries, 74,000
Salaries to Indians , 4,85l
Ditto to invalids, 540 50
Pay of the regular troops,
186,387 14
Allowances to professional corps, 158 26
Pay of the militia, 12,701 13
Office expences,
1,138 50
Department of artillery and workmen,
5,211 37 300
Half pay to officers retired,
Employed in the custom-house,
7,386 26
Pensións,
2,328
House rent,
1,068
Salaries of persons employed in forming settlements, 1,320
Ditto of officers and sergeants in half pay, 2,902
Ditto of French omigrant officers, 744
Premiums to soldiers for services,
4,811 26
Convesances of dispatches, 230 37
Purchase of naval stores for Vera-Cruz, 9,153 63
Passage money of' soldiers and criminals, 166
Expences of demarcation of limits, 7,5 10
Returns of sundries from the treasury, 2,100
Secret expences, 2,000
216 [Isos CHAPTER
Ditto, military, 25 75
Sums charged to the treasurer, not rec'd, 4,184 01
Private Funds.
Balance of accounts, 49 75
Expences of justice, Funds not king's property.
10 .
Deposits, 6,682 76
Monte Pio of officers, 399 89
Military do. 4,553 SS
Office of do. 957 39
Balance in the treasury,
136,671 13
$813,018 38
The foregoing statement shews that the expences actually paid in cash in all the year 1802, including those of the ramos agenos, &c. or funds not royal property, amounted to seven hundred and six thou- sand. three hundred and seventy-four dollars and fourteen cents, to which if we add the salaries and pay due to many officers of the revenue department, and crew of the squadron of galleys, the extraordi- nary expences caused by the different expeditions, particularly those which are renewed to the post of . Apalaches, for its defence against the attacks of the adventurer Bowles and his party among the Creeks; the amount of' bills drawn on the royal chests by the king's storekeeper of Ilinois, New-Madrid, Baton- Rouge, Plaquemines, Apalaches, Mobile, and other posts, which not being yet present are unpaid, it will appear that the quota (or situado) of this province, reduced to five hundred and thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and sixty-nine dollars and fifty-six cents, is exceeded, by extraordinary expences, up- .wards of three hundred thousand dollars, notwith- standing there are 820 men wanting to complete the
-
-
1803] ·
THE ELEVENTH. 217
regiment on the war footing, and independent of the suis received for duties at the custo'n-house, and many considerable savings in the establishment, which have taken place since it was formed in 1785, and the causes of said expences, and considerable debt incurred by this treasury, are those mentioned in the foregoing statement.
It is likewise remarked that the royal chests owe 255,518 dollars to the fund of deposits, 48,372 dol- lars and 31 cents to that of tobacco, 60,000 dollars to the fixed regiment and other corps, 12,000 to the public deposit, 1000 to the pious fund of the cabins of female orphans, and 337,760 dollars and 37 cents in certificates of credit, which, for want of cash, have been issued in payment to the public, without com- prehending what may be owing in Pensacola, as this office has no knowledge of its means and resources.
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.