USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume II > Part 5
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fleet were incapable of affording any aid; every ac- count which they had given of the soundings having proved erroneous; adding that their ships had near- ly all lost their rudders on the eleventh, and express- ing their belief that, if they had proceeded any fur- ther, they should have found prompt and effectual manœuvres impossible. They observed also, that they had all along feared, that the artillery of the fort could reach the channel; but they had now the melancholy certainty that it commanded, not only the channel over the bar, but even the island of St. Rosa. There being, in the fort, twenty-four poun- ders, the balls of which would rake, fore and aft, any vessel that should attempt to cross the bar, and the direction of the channel was such, that they were obliged to present their sides, poop and prow to the enemy's guns; that the channel was, besides, so narrow, that the first ship that got aground would obstruct the passage, and the rapidi- ty of the current preventing any quick manœuvre, the ships would run foul of each other before they could turn, even if that were.possible. They came to the conclusion that, as the general deemed the crossing of the bar an object of vast importance to the king's service, the commo lore should send one or two officers, attended by three or four pilots, to sound the channel as far as Point Siguenza, during the night; a fire being made on that point, in order to ascertain the direction in which a vessel might be most easily managed ; after which, a second trial might be made.
Irazabal expressed his individual opinion, that any attempt to attack the British by water would be fruit- less, and recommended that the land force should be immediately employed in the reduction of the fort.
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Galvez thought he discovered, in the commodore and the captains of the armed ships, a reluctance to co-operate with him in any measure, of which they imagined he would exclusively reap the glory in case of success, and that they were disposed to impede, rather than to aid his plans. He replied to Irazabal, that the loss of a ship or two, from which all on board could easily be saved, was not to be put in com- parison with that of the . whole fleet and the trans- ports, to which they were exposed in case of a storm, and which would entirely prevent the success of their undertaking. After having requested that the cap- tains should again be called together to reconsider their former report, he determined to attempt, with the naval means of which he had the immediate com- mand, what he could not obtain from the commo- dorc.
Accordingly, the brig Galvezton, commanded by Rousseau, which had lately arrived with ordnance from New-Orleans, cast anchor near the bar; and the captain, having sounded the channel as far as Point Siguenza, during the night between the fif- teenth and sixteenth, he next morning reported there was water enough in the shallowest part of the channel for the largest ship in the fleet, with her full load.
'The captains of the armed ships met on board of the commodore's ship, and having reconsidered their" report of the fourteenth, declared they could not do any thing but refer the general to it.
Don Joseph de Espeleta had arrived on the six- teenth, with the force from Mobile and the militia from the neighbourhood, and on the seventeenth, Don Estevan Miro came from New-Orleans with the Louisiana forces. They all landed on the western side of Rio Perdido,
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Convinced, now, there was no means of inducing Irazabal to make a second attempt to bring the fleet and convoy over the bar, Galvez, from the experience he had on his way to Mobile in the spring, and from Havana in the fall of the preceding year, of the dan- ger he incurred by remaining longer exposed to a storm, directed the brig Galvezton, a schooner just arrived from New-Orleans, under the order of Riano, and two gun boats, which constituted all the naval force under his immediate command, to pre- pare for crossing the bar: in the hope that their suc- cess might induce the officers of the royal navy to follow them. Towards noon, Rousseau, with his brig, the schooner, and gun boats, cast anchor near the bar, and at half past two, Galvez went on board of the brig, directed a pendant to be displayed on her main mast, a salute to be fired, and sail to be set. The fort immediately began a brisk cannonade, prin- cipally directed upon the brig, on board of which it was apparent the general was embarked. Neither the brig, schooner, nor gun boats received any injury, except in their sails and rigging; and Galvez landed at the bottom of the bay, on the island of St. Rosa. under a salute, and amid the acclamations of his men.
His success determined Irazabal to send the fleet and convoy over the bar, except his own ship, which, in the meanwhile, had been reladen for her return to Havana. 'This was effected on the next day. The frigates led the way, and the convoy followed. The fort kept a brisk fire for upwards of an hour, until the hindmost vessel was out of its reach. 'The shipping received some injury, but no individual was hurt. Galvez had advanced in a boat, and remained in the midst of the convoy until the last vessel anchored.
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At four o'clock, he made an effort, with two of his aids, to cross the bar, in order to go and confer with Espeleta and Miro, and devise with them a plan of at- tack; but the violence of the wind compelled him to desist, and he reached the camp at midnight.
In the morning of the twentieth, he sent one of his aids to goneral Campbell with a message, in . which he informed him that, when the British came to Havana in 1762, their commander intimated to the captain-general of the Catholic king, that if any of the king's edifices, ships, or other property were des- troyed, the Spaniards would be treated with all the rigour and severity of the laws of war; that the inti- mation was now made to the general and whoever it might concern, and under the same terms.
At night, the British sat fire to a guard-house on the beach; and Galvez sent Riano's schooner, with the launch of the brig Galvezton, which, for a while, kept up a brisk fire of grape shot on the beach.
A British officer came to the camp, carly on the following day, with a message from Campbell, stating thatan enemy's threats could only be considered as a stratagem of war, and expressing his hope that, in the defence of Pensacola, he should resort to no measure not justified by the usages of war. He made his acknowledgment for the frank intimation he had received, and gave assurance that his con- duet would be regulated by that of the Spanish com- mander, with regard to certain propositions he had to make, in conjunction with the governor of West Florida.
At noon. an aid of Campbell, accompanied by lientenant-colonel Dickson, who had been taken the preceding year at Baton Rouge, and liberated on his parol, came in a boat bearing a flag of truce. and
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delivered to Galvez letters from Campbell and gov- ernor Chester.
'The first expressed his conviction that humanity required, as much as possible, the exemption of inno- cent individuals from the disasters necessarily inci- dent to war; and added, that the garrison of Pensa- cola was unable to resist the force brought against it, without the total destruction of the town, and the consequent ruin of its inhabitants; and he expressed his desire that the town and garrison should be pre- served for the victor-a desire, he said, which arose from the hope he entertained that the efforts of the troops he commanded would be crowned with suc- cess. He concluded by proposing that the town should be preserved, without receiving any unneces- sary injury from either party, during the siege of the redoubt of the marine and Fort George, within which he meant to contend for the preservation of the pro- vince for the British crown, under the stipulation that the town of Pensacola should not be used, bv either army, for the purpose either of protecting itself or annoying its adversary; but remain the safe asy- lum of women, children, the aged and infirm. He added that, in case his proposition was rejected, and the Spaniards sought a shelter in Pensacola, it would become his duty immediately to destroy it.
The governor proposed that some Spanish prison- ers in his possession should be liberated on their pa- rol, on the assurance of Galvez, that they should not be employed in the military or civil service of the Catholic king, during the war, unless they were sooner exchanged.
Galvez gave orders that his men should be drawn out under arms, in order that the messengers of Campbell and Chester might report what kind and
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number of troops were under his command. These gentlemen were afterwards dismissed with a verbal message, importing that Galvez was prevented by indisposition from preparing a written answer, and that one would be sent on the next day.
During the night, the British sai fire to a few houses near Fort St. George.
In his reply, on the twenty-second, Galvez stated that what he had seen, since the departure of Camp- bell's aid and lieutenant-colonel Dickson, convinced him that those who sent them had no other object but procrastination, and he was ashamed of his own credulity and their attempt to deceive him; that he would listen to ho proposition but that of a surrender ; and the conflagration of Pensacola, so long as it was not attributable to any fault of his, would be contem- plated with as much indifference as the burning of its incendiarics!
Campbell rejoined, that the haughty style assumed by the Spanish chief, far from its intended effect, would have that of exciting the utmost opposition to the ambitious views of Spain; that the officer com- manding at Fort George had done nothing but his duty, in destroying a few houses near it, which af- forded protection to the enemy; and that if the inva- ders sought to avail themselves of Pensacola, by seeking an asylum there, it would be immediately destroyed.
Campbell now retreated into the fort with all the force under his orders, and the Spaniards lost no time in opening a land communication between the bay and the town, and erecting their works on both sides of the British fortifications. They were provid- ed with a good train of artillery.
The attack was not, however, commenced until the
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beginning of April. From the fleet in front, and the batteries ou either side, the British were exposed to a tremendous fire, and their men often driven from their guns. But, they having for a long time anticipated a siege, the fortifications were in excellent repair, and their supply of ammunition and provisions abundant; so that the Spaniards made but little im- pression. A lower battery, which the British hastily erected, and on which they jut heavy camion, soon enabled them to drive the ships on the opposite side of the bay. Galvez was unable to annoy his enemy by the side batteries, and for a while reduced to com- parative inaction. At last, a lucky accident, in the beginning of May, favoured his enterprise. The magazine, in one of the advanced redoubts, took fire from a shell and blew up. The works were com- pletely destroyed by the explosion, and a free pas- sage opened. Galvez immediately sent Espeleta, with a strong detachment, to occupy the middle ground, in which they were protected by the ruins of the redoubt; and soon after, he sent four field pieces, with which a brisk fire was begun. At this moment a white flag was hoisted in Fort George, and an officer came out to propose a capitula- tion.
The terms of it were soon agreed on, and it was signed on the ninth of May. The whole pro- vince of West Florida was surrendered to Spain, with the garrison, which consisted of upwards of eight hundred men. They were allowed the honors of war, and to retain their baggage and private property, and were transported to their sovereign's dominions, under a stipulation that they should not serve against Spain or her allies, until duly ex- changed.
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Don Arthur O'Neil, an Irish officer in the ser- vice of Spain, was left in command at Pensacola.
Archives-Gazettes-Stoddard-Marshal.
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THE FOURTH.
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The garrison driven out of fort Panmure .- Dis- tress of the inhabitants .- Hurricane .- Exces- sice flood .- Battle of Guilford-Surrender of the British army at York .- Galvez's promotion,- Father Cyrilio .- Don Esteran Miro .- Com- mercial regulations .- Preliminary articies .- Don Joseph de Espcicta,-Treaty of peace.
An incident occurred during the siege of Pensa- cola, which was very near involving some of the British near Natchez in serious difficulties. General Lyman, who, we have seen, had, with some of his adherents in Connecticut, obtained grants of land in the neighbourhood of fort Panmure, and formed agricultural establishments in 1775, was now dead, and his followers had seen, with considerable regret the British force, that protected them, driven from th fort, and replaced by Spanish soldiers. During th siege, on the rumour of the approach of a fleet, whi- had been mistaken for a British one, they consider) the success of their sovereign's cause in West Floi da so certain, that they determined on giving him i evidence of their loyalty, by dislodging the Spaniarc. from the fort, Having engaged most of the other inhabitants of the district in their plan, and secured the co-operation of a number of the neighbouring Indians, they raised, on the twenty-second of April the British standard, in view, but beyond the reachi the guns, of the fort. During the night, they.er- proached the fort, brought some artillery to bearom-
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it, but a heavy fire from the guns of the fort soon compelled them to retire.
On the twenty-fourth, the Spaniards fired on, and destroyed a house, at small distance, behind which the insurgents had taken shelter: but the latter hav- ing procured a field piece, approached and fired on the fort, wounding a corporal, who died on the next day. During the night, the firing was contiucd, with some intervals.
The commandant of the fort, sent, on the twenty-eighth, one of his officers to the insurgents, to represent to them the danger to which they expos- ed themselves, by a rebellion against their lawful sovereign-recommending to them to deliver up their leaders and disperse; and promising that if they did so, the royal clemency should be extended to them. . They promised to send an answer the next day. Ac- cordingly, in the morning, a planter came to the fort with a letter from McIntosh, one of the most respec- table inhabitants of the district, informing him that what the messenger would say could be relied on. This man, on being questioned, said the fort was un- ermined, and would be blown up the following day. ere was a deep valley, at a very short distance 'n the fort, at which the Spaniards had noticed a siderable number of persons, during the preced- days, a circumstance which gave some credit to .e story.
On the twenty-ninth, the men, according to the re- port of the commandant, being exhausted with fa- tigue and watching, and the ammunition and provi- ons nearly consumed, he surrendered the fort, on ing permitted to march with his garrison to Baton
e evacuation of fort Panmure, by the Spaniards,
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was soon followed by the report that the rumour of the approach of a British fleet was unfounded, and af- terwards by that of Galvez's success at Pensacola.
'Those who had taken an active part in this short revolution, among whom were most of the settlers from Connecticut, fearful of meeting the fate of O'Reilly's victims at New-Orleans, determined on making the best of their way to Savannah, in Geor- gia, how the nearest post occupied by the British- altho' they had to cross an immense wilderness, in- habited by hostile Indians.
The contest between Great Britain, (the subjects of which they were, ) and the American States, ren- dering a direct course dangerous, they were obliged to enter North Carolina, descend below the Alatama- ha, and cross again the state of Georgia, to Savannah, on its northern limit. In the performance of this circuitous journey, they were employed one hundred and thirty-one days.
The caravan was numerous, and included women and children, some of the latter at the breast. All were mounted on horseback; but the ruggedness of the ground induced such as were able to walk, to travel most of the way on foot. The country is in- tersected by numerous, and often broad and deep water courses; steep and lofty mountains obstructed their course; and impervious marshes often required them to make long and tedious circuits. The Choc- taws, through whose country and along whose bor- der their journey lay to a great extent, having espous- ed the cause of the Spaniards, were their enemies: and from an Indian foe, no stratagem, no speed, no distance can insure safety. Famine also threatened them, in their best circumstances: often they suffer- ed intensely from thirst; and discase, at times, com- VOL. II. 9
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pelled those who were well to halt for the recovery of the sick.
They separated into two companies, on reaching the state of Georgia: one was taken by the Ameri- cans; the other crossed the Alatamaha, and journey- ed to its mouth, where they constructed a raft, on which they crossed with their horses, and finally reached the town of Savannah in the latter part of October.
On the twenty-fourth of August, Louisiana was desolated by a hurricane. This year, the Mississippi rose to a greater height than was remembered by the oldest inhabitants. In the Attakapas and Ope- lousas, the inundation was extreme. The few spots which the water did not reach, were covered with deer.
The affairs of the United States had a very gloomy aspect at the commencement of this year, and a bril- liant one towards its conclusion. The new year found the British in possession of the states of Geor- gia and.South Carolina; and Lord Cornwallis, who had invaded that of North Carolina, and driven Ge- neral Green into Virginia, gained a considerable ad- vantage over the latter on his return into North Caro- lina, at the battle of Guilford. The American army was now reduced to a deplorable weakness; and the remnant of it, which still existed, was unpaid, un- clothed, and often unfed. Under the pressure of these complicated sufferings, a considerable portion of the soldiers had been in open revolt; and it was not easy to say, with confidence, how long the patri- otism of the residue would support them, under such trying circumstances.
The enemies of America exulted, and her friends
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desponded. In this inauspicious state of her affairs, congress relaxed, for an instant, the firmness which had uniformly characterised that body, and manifest- ed a disposition to sacrifice remote interests, though of great future magnitude, for immediate advantages, aufd instructed their minister at Madrid to relinquish, should it be absolutely necessary, the claim of the United States to the navigation of the Mississippi, below the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and a free port on its banks. The minister, finding him- self obliged to comply with the instructions, bad the firmbess to add, the offer to renounce the claim was made with a view of procuring, at once, the recogni- tion of the independence of the United States, and a treaty of alliance and commerce; and if these objects were not immediately attained, congress would con- sider themselves at liberty to insist on their claim thereafter. The cabinet of Madrid did not, howey- er, think proper to negotiate at this period, and the United States afterwards availed themselves of the prudent and spirited conduct of their minis- ter.
Lord Cornwallis had marched from Guilford court-house to Wilmington, where he staid until the. twenty-fifth of April, when he marched to Yorktown, in Virginia. He was afterwards invested by the al- lied forces of the United States and France, supported by a French fleet commanded by the Count de Grasse, to whom he surrendered on the nineteenth of October.
Galvez's success at Pensacola was rewarded by a commission of lieutenant-general of the king's ar- mies, the cross ofa knight pensioner of the royal and distinguished order of Charles the third, and he
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· was appointed captain-general of the provinces of Louisiana and Florida.
Father Cyrillo, of Barcelona, was made a bishop "in partibus ingjidelium," and received the canoni- cal institution of the see of Tricaly, a town in Greece. He was given as coadjutor to Don Santiago Joseph de Estaveria, who still occupied the see of Cuba, and was directed to exercise his episcopal functions in Louisiana.
The Spanish cabinet had directed Galvez to at- tempt, after the surrender of Pensacola, the capture of the Bahama islands; but a simultaneous attack on the island of Jamaica, by the combined forces of Spain and France, being contemplated, Don Juan Manuel de Cagigal was employed in the former service, and Galvez sailed for Hispaniola, where the combined forces were to assemble, with the view of taking the command of those of Spain.
On the departure of the captain-general, the gov- ernment of the province was provisionally vested in Don Estevan Miro, colonel of the roval armies.
Cagigal sailed from Havana, in the spring, with three regiments and a large train of artillery ; and on the twenty-eighth of May, 1782, the captain-general of the Bahama islands (John Maxwell) signed a ca- pitulation, by which they were surrendered to the arms of the Catholic king.
The war, and the capture of the British forts on the Mississippi, had deprived the planters of Louisi- ana of the great advantage they derived from the illicit trade carried on by British traders. On the representation of Galvez, considerable privileges were granted to the commerce of the province, on the twenty-second of January, by a schedule which was published in New-Orleans in the spring.
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In the preamble of this document, the king states that his royal solicitude and wishes have always been to secure to his vassals the utmost felicity, and to en- able them to enjoy the advantages of a free trade; that he had never lost sight of so important an object in the regulations he had made for the commerce of his vast dominions in the Indies-firmly persuaded that the protection of trade and industry has a great influence on the wealth and prosperity of a nation. His majesty then adds, that the province of Louisiana has particularly merited his royal avention, since its annexation to his dominions. His paternal love for its inhabitants had induced him to give them repeated proofs that a change of government had not diminish- ed their happiness. But notwithstanding the favours and exemptions he had been pleased to grant to them, on several occasions, particularly by the regulations of the commerce of the Indies, made on the twenty- eighth day of October, 1778, experience had shown that the advantages he had contemplated were not realised; and the trade in peltries, of that province, with the numerous nations of Indians who surround it, and the articles of exportation to Europe, which the country produces, demanded new regulations. Accordingly, and with the view of rewarding the zeal and fidelity of the colonists, during the late cam- paigns for the recovery of the territories lately pos- sessed by Great Britain, on the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, the following favours and privileges are granted to the province of Louisiana.
1. Permission is given, during a period of ten years, to be computed from the day on which peace may be proclaimed, to all vessels of the king's subjects in the province of Louisiana, bound to New-Orleans or Pensacola, to sail directly with their cargoes from
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any of the ports of France, in which a Spanish consul resides, and to return thereto with peltries or the produce of Louisiana or West Florida, (except spe- cie, the exportation of which, in this way, is abso- lutely forbidden) under the express condition that a detailed invoice of all the merchandise on board, signed by the consul, shall be delivered by him, in a sealed cover, to the captain, to be presented by the latter at the custom-house of the place of destination.
2. In case of urgent necessity in the colony, the existence of which necessity is to be certified by the governor and intendant, permission is given to the colonists, to resort to any port in the French West India islands.
3. To encourage the commerce of the province to the ports of the peninsula to which it is allowed, per- mission is given to export, from New-Orleans and Pensacola, anyspecies of merchandise directly impor- ted there from Spain, to be landed in any port with- in the king's American dominions, to which trade is allowed, paying only the duty with which such mer- chandise would have been charged on its exportation from the peninsula, according to the regulation of the twelfth of October, 1778; but the exportation of foreign merchandise imported into Louisiana, is for- bidden.
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