USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 17
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. Don Dio Premiro, Bishop of Montelrey, in the province of New Leon, whose diocese included, be- sides that province, those of San Andero, Coaguilla, and 'Texas, being on a pastoral visit to Nagodoches, came to the town of Nathitoches, where he spent a week. He was treated with great respect by the inhabitants.
'The deputation from the territory of Orleans was not successful in their application to congress: that body passed a law, on the second of March, author- izing the president of the United States to establish within that territory a government similar to that of the Mississippi territory, in conformity with the or-
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dinance of the old congress in 1787, except so far as relates to the descent and distribution of the estates of persons dying intestate. and the prohibition of slavery. Provision was m ; de for the admission of the inhabi- tants into the Union. on the same footing as otherstates, as soon as the population of the territory amounted to sixty thousand seuls.
. The bill-became an act, in the shape in which it was introduced, notwithstanding the strenuous efforts of the deputation for the introduction of three amend- ments, to which they attached great importance. The first was, that the governor should be chosen by the president of the United States, out of two indivi- duals, selected by the people: the second, that an equity jurisdiction should be given to the superior court : the last, a clause allowing the inhabitants permission to purchase slaves in the United States.
. An act was also passed for the confirmation of in- choate ti:les to land, and for grants to occupants of tracts, cultivated before the 20th of December, 1803, with the permission of the local authorities.
The legislative council held its sessions in New- Orleans, on the twentieth of June. Annual sessions of the superior court were directed to be holden in each county, except Concordia and Washita. Pro- vision was made for the relief of insolvent debtors, and the improvement of the inland navigation. A court of probates was established. The council ad- journed early in July.
'Towards the middle of the following month, Lieu- tenant Pike, set out from St. Louis, on an explor- ing party to the sources of the Mississippi, in a large keel boat. He had with him a serjeant, two corpo- rals and seventeen privates.
Burr. the late Vice President of the United States. this year made an excursion in the western states.
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The expedition, under the orders of Capt. Lewis, reached the extreme navigable point on the Missouri, on the seventeenth of August, in latitude 43, 20, at the distance, according to his computation. of two thousand five hundred and seventy-five miles from the Mississippi. On the twenty-sixth, they began their march, and reached Flat river, a stream flow- ing into the Columbia river, at the distance of three hundred and forty miles from the spot, on which they had landed on the Missouri. The gap of the Rocky Mountains, which they crossed, was at the distance of sixty-eight miles from the Missouri. Their route was, for one hundred and forty miles, over high · mountains, nearly half of which were covered with · snow, eight or ten feet deep; in the latter part of the . way, the route was very fine.
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At the distance of four hundred and sixty-two miles from the place, where they embarked, the tide became sensible, and one hundred and seventy-eight miles further, they reached the Ocean. on the seventh of November, in latitude 46, 15. and longitude 124, 57, from Greenock, and at the distance, according to their computation, of three thousand five hundred and fifty-four miles from the Mississippi.
.The width of Columbia river was, at its month, one hundred and fifty yards; its utmost five hundred, and its least eighteen.
The officers of Spain had protracted their stay, in New-Orleans, for several months, beyond the time limited by the treaty, until the American govern- ment, distrustful of such an unreasonable delay, had actually forced their departure; the Marquis de Casa Calvo, did not depart till the summer, when he made an excursion through the provinces of Spain, in the neighborhood of the United States, as far as Chihuahua. After their departure, the Spanish
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troops which had remained in New-Orleans, left it for Pensacola.
By a Pope's bull of the first of September, the spiritual administration of the diocess of Louisiana. was committed to bishop Carrol of Baltimore.
The few Spaniards, that remained in the territory and many of the creoles, were unwilling to believe the country was really lost to its former master, and the opinion was cherished among them, that the United States held Louisiana, in trust, during the war. On the east and the west, the Spaniards were still in great relative force. Many parties were hov- cring on the frontiers, provoking vexations contests about limits, occasionally violating, with armed force, and even with outrage, the unequivocal and undis- turbed territories of the Union.
In the night of the twenty-third of September, a party of armed men from Baton Rouge came to Pinckneyville, in the Mississippi territory, and forcibly seized three brothers of the name of Kemper, who, having taken an active part in the insurrection at Bayou Sarah, in the preceding year, had sought re- refuge beyond the line of demarcation. The party returned with their prisoners, as far as Bayou Tu- nica, where, after much ill treatment, they were put on board of a boat for Baton rouge As they came to a part of the river where it makes a la ge bend, they were discovered by a negro man, who crossi.ig a narrow neck, reached Point Coupee, where he gave information to Lieutenant Wilson of the artillery, who without loss of time manned a boat, and soon after met the one, in which the Kempers were, he made himself master of and brought her to Point Coupre, where they were liberated, and their captors lodged in prison.
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On the Mobile, the American trade was incessant- ly harrassed with searches and obstructions, and at times, subjected to heavy exactions.
From Nacogdoches, the American settlements, near the Sabine and on Red River, were occasionally me- naced and disturbed. From the Sabine to New-Or- leans, the country was absolutely open to an invader. There was but one place of strength, besides New- Orleans; Baton Rouge in a settlement, still occupied by the Spaniards, although within the territory claim- ed by the United States.
By a treaty concluded at Tellico, on the seventh of October, the Cherokee Indians agreed that, as the . mail of the United States was ordered to be carried from Knoxville to New-Orleans through the Chero- kee, Choctaw and Creek countries, the citizens of the United States should have, as far as it goes through their country, the free and unmolested use of a road leading from Tellico to Tombigbee.
By a convention between the United States and the Creeks, at Washington City, on the fourteenth of No- vember, these Indians agreed that the United States should forever thereafter have a right to a horse path through the Creck country, from the Ocmulgee to the Mobile river, and their citizens should, at all times, have a right to pass peaceably on said path. The Indians promised to have boats kept at the several creeks for the transportation of travellers, their horses and baggage, and houses of entertainment, at suitable places along said path, for the entertainment of tra- vellers.
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New form of government .- Officers .- Meeting of the house of representatives .- Bishop of Baltimore .- Vicar general .- Return of the Marquis of Casa Calvo. -Encroachment of the Spaniards in the west .- Major Porter - Don Simon de Cordero .--- Don Antonio de Herrera .-- First territorial legislature, under the new government .- Secretary at war's orders to Wilkinson .- Pike's expedition up the Missouri-Claiborne goes to Natchitoches .- His communication to Herrera .-- Cushing sent to Natchitoches .- Wilkinson arrives therc .- His com- munication to Cordero .- First rumours of Burr's movements .- Wilkinson marches towards the Sabinc .- The president sends a confidential agent to the western states .- Proclamation .-- Wilkinson enters into arrange- ments with Cordero and Herrera, and sends the troops to New-Orleans .- He proceeds to Natchez .- Burling sent to Mexico .- Wilkinson goes down to New Orleans .- He fortifies that city .- Sends an officer to Jamaica .- Meeting of the merchants .- Arrest of Bollman, Swartout. and Ogden .- Writs of habeas corpus .- The prisoners shipped to the United States .- Judge Workman .- Second session of the legislature .-- Arrest of Adair, Workman, Kerr, and Bradford - . Burr arrested at Natchez, is bound over, escapes and is retaken .- Burling returns from Mexico and Swann from Jamaica.
THE new form of government, provided by the late act of congress for the territory of Orleans, differ-
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ed principally from the former, in the clection of the house of representatives immediately, and a legislative council mediately, by the people.
The governor, secretary and judges of the superior courts were to be appointed by the president of the United States, with the advice and consent of the senate; the first of these officers for three, and the second for four years, unless sooner removed by the president of the United States. The judges held their offices during good behaviour.
The legislative council was composed of five, and the house of representatives of twenty-five members.
The members of the legislative council were chosen by the president, with the advice and consent of the senate, out of ten individuals, selected by the house of representatives of the territory. Their period of ser- vice was five years, unless sooner removed by the president of the United States. The only qualifica- tion required from them was a freehold estate, in five hundred acres of land.
The members of the house of representatives were elected for two years. Citizenship of one of the United States for three years, and a residence in the territory, or three years residence in the territory, were required from the elected, and, in either case, a fee simple estate in two hundred acres of land. The qualifications of the electors, were citizenship of the United States, and a residence in the territory, or two years residence in the territory.
The salaries of the officers above mentioned were the same as under the preceding form of government.
All other officers were to be appointed by the governor.
The act of congress had a bill of rights.
The people of Louisiana complained, that in this
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form, as in the preceding, their lives and property were, in some degree, at the disposal of a single indi- vidual, from whose decision there was no appeal ; the law declaring any one of the judges of the superior court a quorum.
Claiborne had been appointed governor, Graham secretary, and Prevost, Sprigg and Mathews judges of the superior court.
The house of representatives met on the fourth of November, for the purpose of nominating to the pre- sident of the United States ten individuals, out of whom he was to choose a legislative council. Their choice fell on Bellechasse, Bouligny, the chevalier d'Ennemours, Derbigny, Destrehan, Gurley, Jones, Macarty, Sauvé, and Villere.
The bishop of Baltimore made choice, on the twenty-ninth of December, of Olivier, the chaplain of the nunnery in New-Orleans, for his vicar general in the territory.
The marquis de Casa Calvo reached Natchitoches. on his return from the neighboring Spanish provinces. on the first day of the new year. He was visited by ma- jor Porter, who commanded the small garrison at that post, and by hisofficers; but he was not permitted to enter the fort. He tarried but three days, and proceeded to Pensacola, by the way of Baton Rouge.
A short time afterwards, a small detachment from the garrison of Nacogdoches came to establish a new post, at the Adayes, on the road from Nacogdoches to Natchitoches, within fourteen miles from the latter place: and accounts were received, that don Antonio Cordero, governor of the province of Texas, had marched from San Antonio, with a body of six hun- dred regulars, some militia, a few Indians and a con-
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siderable number of horses, mules and cattle. Hc had stopped on the banks of the river Trinity, where he had been joined by don Simon Herrera, the com- mandant of Montelrey, in the province of New Leon, who had been sent with a reinforcement by don Nemesio Salcedo, the captain general of the internal provinces.
Porter received, on the twenty-fourth of January,. orders from the department of war, to require from the commanding officer at Nacogdoches, assurance that there should be no further inroads, nor acts of violence, committed by the forces of Spain, on the castern side of the river Sabine, and in case the assu- rance was refused or disregarded, to be on the alert for the protection of the citizens of the United States, pursuing their lawful concerns, westward of the Mis- sissippi. Hle was instructed to send patrols through the country, eastward of the Sabine, which was con- sidered as part of the territory of the United States, especially, when armed meu, not under the authority of the United States, attempted to cross that stream: to repel invasion, by pursuing and arresting invaders; avoiding, however, the spilling of blood, when this could be done without it. He was directed to deliver any Spanish subject, thus arrested, to the commanding officer, at Nacogdoches, if he would give assurances to have them punished, but, otherwise, to deal with them as Claiborne would advise. It was recommend- ed to him, in patrolling the country around the settle- ment of Bayou Pierre, which was within the territory of the United States, but of which no possession had yet been taken, not to disturb the inhabitants, unless an aggression made it necessary to take possession of the settlement and send the garrison to Nacogdoches.
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In case the commandant of the latter post gave the assurance required from him, any peaceable inter- course between it and the settlement on Bayou Pierre was not to be objected to; but if the assurance was refused, all intercourse between the two places was to be prohibited.
Porter, accordingly, sent lieutenant Piatt, with a corresponding message to Nacogdoches. Don Ne- bastian Rodriguez, to whom it was delivered, answer- ed that no encroachment had been intended, nor any violence offered, by any part of his garrison, except so far as was necessary to prevent a contraband trade and the exportation of horses. He added, duty for- bade him to give the assurance required, and he had ordered his parties to patrol as far as arrojo hondo.
On Piatt's return, Porter sent captain Turner. with sixty inen, to remove the Spanish force from the post they had lately occupied at the Adayes, near Natchitoches. This was effected without difficulty, on the fifth of February, and Turner went to patrol the country, as far as the Sabine.
In the meanwhile, don Sebastian had sent an officer of his garrison to the settlement of Bayou Pierre. to remind the inhabitants of the allegiance they owed to the catholic king, and the obligation they were. under to join his standard, whenever called upon by any of his officers. He gave them assurances, that Red river would soon be the boundary between the territory of Spain and that of the United States.
Cordero had sent a large reinforcement to Nacog- doches: Porter had not two hundred men, under his orders, on Red river. In a letter to the secretary of war, of the fifteenth of February, he stated the great disaffection of the people around him: nineteen of
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whom, out of twenty, preferred the government of Spain to that of the United States. He attributed this disposition to the intrigues of the marquis de Casa Calvo, who had assured the inhabitants, on his way, that the period was not very distant, when his sove- reign would resume possession of the country.
The first territorial legislature, under the new form of government, met in New-Orleans, on the twenty- fifth of January: the members of the legislative coun- cil, cappointed by the president of the United States, were Bellechasse, Destrehan, Macarty, Sauvé and Jones.
The session lasted for upwards of five months. Among the most important acts is a black code, or statute regulating the police of slaves. Provision was made for establishing schools in the several counties. for regulating the rights and duties of masters, appren- tices and indented servants, and for the improvement of the navigation of the canal of Lafourche and the bayou Plaquemines.
The attempt of the former legislative council to pro- cure a civil and criminal code for the territory, having failed, two professional gentlemen were employed to prepare a civil code, and directed to take the former laws of the country as the basis of their work.
- The assemblage of several bodies of Spanish troops on the eastern boundary of the province of Texas, rendering the reinforcement of the military posts, in the lower part of the Mississippi necessary, orders had been transmitted from the department of war, as early as the fourth of March, to Wilkinson, who was then at St. Louis, to make the necessary arrangements for the removal of all the troops in his neighbourhood. (except one company) to fort Adams: and four days after he was directed to order colonel Cushing, with
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three companies, and four field pieces, to proceed to Natchitoches, without stopping at fort Adams, and to send the rest of the forces down the river, under the orders of lieutenant colonel Kingsbury. On the sixth of May, Wilkinson received orders to repair to the territory of Orleans, or its vicinity, take the con- mand of the regular forces in that quarter, and of such volunteer bodies and militia as might turn out for the defence of the country, and, by all means in his power, to repel any invasion of the territory of the United States.
The secretary of war recommended, that the carliest opportunities should be taken to give to the governors of the provinces of Texas and West Florida, a clear view of the principles on which the government of the United States was acting, viz: that, while negociations were pending, the military posts of neither party should be advanced: that whatever opinion might be entertained with regard to the boundaries of Louisiana, no military measure should be pursued on either side; and it might be depended upon, that none would be resorted to, on the part of the United States, unless the officers of the Catholic king should attempt a change in the existing order of things: that the actual. quiet possession by the United States of the country, east of the Sabine, should be insisted upon, (with the trifling exception of the settlement of Bayou Pierre): and any attempt, on the part of Spain to occupy any new post east of the Sabine, would be viewed by the United States, as an invasion of their territorial rights, and resisted as such.
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Mississippi, and a considerable number of recruits were sent down the Ohio, and by sea, to fill the companies in that quarter.
Cushing reached Natchitoches on the first of June. . The attention of government was not, however, en- grossed by these military preparations. Lieutenant Pike was sent, towards the middle of July, up the Missouri, with lieutenant Wilkinson, a son of the general, a surgeon, a sergeant, two corporals, six- teen privates and an interpreter. The object of this expedition was to escort several chiefs of the Osage and Pawnee nations, who, with a number of women and children, were returning from a visit to the presi- dent of the United States, with their presents and baggage. These Indians, fifty-one in number, had
! been redeemed from captivity among the Potomato- mies, and were to be restored to their friends at the Osage towns.
Although the escorting of these Indians was the first object to which Pike's attention was directed, it was not the principal one: it was next to be turned to the accomplishment of a permanent peace between the Osages and Kanses: a third object was his effect- ing an interview with the Yanetons, Tetans and Comanches, in order to establish a good understand- ing among these tribes.
It being an object of much interest with the presi- dent of the United States to ascertain the direction, extension and navigation of the Arkansas and Red rivers, Pike was instructed to go to the head of these streams, and to detach a party, with a few Indians, to descend the first stream, to take the courses and distances, observe the soil, tribes, &c. and note the creeks or bayous falling into the river; this party was,
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on reaching the Mississippi, to make the best of its way to fort Adams and wait for further orders.
Pike was next to proceed with the rest of the party to the head of Red river, making particular remarks on the geographical structure, natural history and population of the country: he was furnished with instruments to ascertain the variation of the magnetic needle and the latitude of every remarkable point: to observe the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites, and the periods of immersions and emersions, in order that, afterwards, by a resort to particular tables, the longi- tude of the places of observation might be ascertained. He was directed to descend Red river to Natchitoches.
On the rise of the legislature, Claiborne had ordered parts of the militia of the counties of Opelousas and Rapides, to Natchitoches. On his arrival at the latter place, towards the end of August, he found, that the Spanish force, on the eastern boundary of the province of Texas, was divided into two main bodies: Cordero was at Nacogdoches, with the one, the other was encamped on the western bank of the Sabine, under Herrera. He was informed that, an armed Spanish party had lately gone to the Caddo village, within the territory of the United States, in which that flag was displayed, and had cut down its staff, menacing the peace and tranquility of these Indians, in case they persisted in acknowledging any dependence on the government of the United States, or in keeping up an intercourse with their citizens: that three of the latter, Shaw, Irwin and Brewster, had been apprehended by a Spanish patrol, within twelve miles of Natchi- toches, and forcibly carried to Nacogdoches; and that several slaves, the property of citizens of the United States, had escaped from the service of their
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masters to the latter place, where they had found an asylum.
On the twenty-sixth, he despatched Hopkins, the adjutant general of the territory of Orleans, to Herre- ra, to make representations to that officer, of the insults offered to the government of the United States last winter, by a Spanish patrol, who had compelled the exploring party under Freeman, who was ascending Red River, to retrogade, and, also, in relation to the recent outrages. Herrera informed Claiborne that he had transmitted his communication to Salcedo, the captain general-that the exploring party had, as- cended Red River far above the limits of the United States, and the officer who commanded the patrol, that met him, had discharged his duty in insisting on the party's descending the river, till they reached the boundary line --- that the Caddo village was within the acknowledged territory of Spain, and these Indians had been notified that, if they chose to live under the protection of the United States, they should remove to some part of the territory of their new friends, and, if they chose to continue to dwell in their village, they should take down the flag of the United States -- that having chosen the last alternative, and being more tardy in lowering the flag, than appeared reason- able, it had been done by the Spaniards-that Shaw and his companions were found twice, on different days, observing the position and movements of the troops under Herrera, and did not agree in the mo- tives assigned by them for encroaching on the king's dominions, and finally avowed their intention of set- tling in the province; whereupon they had been sent under an escort to San Antonio-finally, that the de- tention of a number of slaves from Louisiana, at Na-
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cogdoches, was a matter now under the consideration of the captain general.
Wilkinson reached Natchez on the sixth of Sep- tember. At this place, he made arrangements with the executive of the Mississippi territory, for holding its militia in readiness. He sent an order to New- Orleans for stationing four galleys on Lake Ponchar- train and the rigolets, and for reinforcing the detach- ment of Point Coupee to seventy-five men ; a number which he deemed sufficient, with some militia, to take Grandpre and his garrison, at Baton Rouge, on this first order; and he instructed the commanding officer on the Tombigbee to prepare with his garrison, and two hundred militia, to invest Mobile, while another body of militia should be sent to make a feint on Pen- sacola, in order to prevent succour being sent from thence to Mobile.
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