USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. I > Part 30
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The first successful manufacture of sugar on an extensive scale in Louisiana was effected in 1795 by Etienne D'Boré. His crop sold for twelve thousand dollars, a large sum in those days. It is related that many persons interested in the success of the experi- ment gathered to witness the sugar granulate, and that, when they saw that it did without a doubt, a great shout of joy arose, and Boré was overwhelmed with congratulations. By 1800 there were sixty sugar plantations in Louisiana, with an annual product of four million pounds of sugar.
The treaty of 1795 between Spain and the United States, by which the latter was conceded the ownership of the Natchez dis- trict, the right to navigate the Mississippi, and the privilege of deposit at New Orleans for three years, did much to quiet the western people and to advance their prosperity and that of the Louisianians. By 1795 the population of the province had become so large that it was found necessary to appoint six additional regidors. So strict were the rules adopted, that almost every subject was constituted a spy in the interest of the Spanish gov- ernment. Carondelet evidently believed, and he certainly prac- ticed, that "eternal vigilance is the price of safety."
The revolution of France drove many royalists to Louisiana.
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among others being Marquis de Maison Rouge, Baron de Bas- trop and Jacques Ceran de Lassus de St. Vrain. Maison Rouge was granted thirty thousand acres, St. Vrain ten thousand square arpens (nearly five-sixths of an English acre), and De Bastrop twelve square leagues on the Ouichita in Louisiana. But the con- ditions under which the grants were made were never complied with, and hence a full title did not pass to the grantees. 'These grants were accompanied by terms of great liberality to individual families. In 1796 still greater inducements were offered. Fami- lies were given farms at little more than the cost of the office fees and the surveys. Farms of eight hundred acres were obtained for about forty-one dollars. The object of this liberality was hur- riedly to furnish Louisiana, particularly the Missouri region, with a sufficient population, loyal to Spain, to resist any probable attack of the Canadians or the Americans. The Spanish fort opposite the month of the Ohio, built by D'Lemos, was made a port of entry, at which all American vessels were required to land to declare their cargoes. This step was taken to prevent the entrance of contraband into Louisiana. The fort was also established to. serve as an outpost to check any movement of the British down the river.
In 1795 a conspiracy of the blacks to massacre the white inhab- itants at New Orleans and vicinity, was crushed, and twenty- three of them were hung along the Mississippi from Pointe Coupée to New Orleans and thirty-one were severely whipped. The next year Carondelet renewed the Spanish attempts to sep- arate the western people from the rest of the United States; and, in order that no time might be lost, he retained the forts in the Natchez district, upon the order of the Spanish cabinet, regard- less of the fact that such a step was a violation of the treaty of 1795. He rightly reasoned that, if Louisiana was to be attacked either by the Canadians, or by the Americans, the possession of those forts would give him an immense advantage at the com- mencement of hostilities. Elaborate plans were laid by Carondelet and the western people, at the head of whom was Wilkinson again, to divide the Union and attach the western portion to Loui- siana. Thus everything was thought to be ready when Spain declared war against Great Britain on the 7th of October, 1796. Carondelet still held the forts of the Natchez district, employed every resource to gain the adherence of the western people, put his fighting strength in the best possible condition, and grimly waited for the advance of the Canadians gathered on the St. Law - rence, or for the appearance of a British fleet at the mouth of the
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Mississippi. He knew that one hostile act by the United States would annul the treaty of 1795 and justify Spain in retaining possession of the forts of the Natchez district. But the United States neither countenanced a hostile act of its own against Spain, nor permitted the Canadians to march across its territory to attack Louisiana ; and hence, in 1798, the forts at Natchez, Walnut Hills and Chickasaw Bluffs were evacuated. The only other impor- tant event prior to the cession of the province to the United States was the interdiction of the deposits at New Orleans in 1802, under the orders, probably, of the French Republic, designed to test the spirit of the western people. The design was fully accomplished.
The reign of Louisiana by Spain was unwise and without fore- sight. Had the ports freely been opened to all countries, though with some disadvantages to the Americans, and had the Protest- ants been permitted to practice their religion without serious opposition, the province would have been so densely populated by 1790, that no fear whatever need have been felt by the Spanish officials from either the United States or Great Britain. The only precaution necessary would have been to hold a large stand- ing army in readiness throughout the province to check at its incipiency any manifestation of independence. But the inherent blindness of Spain, and her extraordinary religious intolerance, caused her to lose this invaluable possession.
The policy of commercial exclusion, to which Spain adhered so rigidly, was deemed unwise by her own statesmen, but was insisted on by her "Council of the Indies.", At the date of the treaty of Utrecht, M. Mesnager, then one of the greatest states- men in Europe, favored the free trade of the Spanish-American colonies. He said, "It would be advantageous even to the inter- ests of that monarchy (Spain), to secure to all the nations of Europe the commerce of the New World." It seems also that the King of Spain was not averse to such a policy .* But this project was overruled by the Royal and Supreme Council of the Indies, which recognized no colonial prosperity not founded upon an exclusive monopoly. There can be no doubt that the restrictions placed upon the trade of Louisiana Province by both France and Spain, had much to do with the misery of the colonists and the lack of prosperity of the colony for so many years. The moment the restrictions relaxed, the colony bounded forward to a siir- prising degree, only again to be repressed by the exactions of the monopoly. "From 1778, a royal ordinance had allowed a trade
* Negotiations for the Succession of Spain: By M. Colbert de Torey.
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between the colonies and the principal ports and places of the mother country. The success of this experiment surpassed every one's expectation, and yet the eyes of the Spanish ministers were not opened. Intercourse with the colonies was more rigorously than ever forbidden to foreigners. The severity had degenerated into an absolute despotism, when, in 1785, internal commotions announced dispositions tending to a general insurrection of the aborigines and even of the colonists."t The rebellion which was crushed by O'Reilly in 1769 was the first step to cast off the yoke of commercial despotisin.
It was the Royal Council of the Indies that thwarted the designs of Count D'Aranda to form three great Spanish-American states ; that body would thereby have lost its powers and its influence. D'Aranda had foreseen from the commencement of the American revolution the probability of the spread of independent principles to the possessions of Spain in America ; and it was largely through his advice and instrumentality that Spain evaded the persistent requests of the American revolutionists to join them against Great Britain. The rising of the Mexican Indians against Spain in 1778 was an imitation of the example of the American revo- hitionists. It was clear to the leading statesmen of both France and Spain that every concession to their American colonists meant aid and encouragement to revolution. Every enactment for the prosperity of the Spanish-American colonies weakened Spain and strengthened independent principles. This was well known, . and furnishes the reason for the tenacity with which Spain clung to her policy of restriction and exclusion. She thus made extray- agant claims to territory at the close of the revolution. She even demanded in 1788, as a consideration of the grant to the free navigation of the Mississippi, "that it should only take effect in case they ( the western people) determined to form an empire distinct from that of the Atlantic States. This overture, in which the intention of destroying the federal union so indiscreetly appeared, was not even taken into consideration (by the United States )."+
There is no doubt that, in the first instance, France attempted to avail herself of the revolution of the British American colonies to regain her former possessions in the St. Lawrence and the Mis- sissippi basins. Previous to the treaty between the colonies and France, the Count de Vergennes, in 1778, attempted to re-estab- lish the claims of France in America on the grounds of priority of discovery, and suggested in a projet to the English court a
t History of Louisiana: Marbois.
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"practicable means to reconcile the pretensions of the English and French as to the limits of their North American possessions," requiring the renunciation by England of Canada and every por- tion of ancient Louisiana. But Great Britain refused to agree to the projet for two reasons : I. She expected to conquer the colonies and thus retain both Canada and that portion of Loui- siana east of the Mississippi; and 2, She would rather see the colonies independent than see them fall into the hands of her ancient enemy-France. Thus, unable to regain her American colonies by intrigue, France, incensed still more by this refusal and realizing that the battle of Saratoga rendered it fairly certain that the colonies would succeed, agreed to the treaty of mutual hostility against England .*
* History of Louisiana: Marbois.
30I
THE EXPEDITION OF LEWIS AND CLARK.
CHAPTER IX
The Expedition of Lewis and Clark
S TRANGE as it may seem, the expedition of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri river, across the Rocky mountains, and down the valley of the Columbia river to the Pacific, was projected before the territory west of the Mississippi was ceded to the United States, but not before it was known to President Jefferson that the expedition would be permitted to proceed. The schedule of instructions to Captain Lewis was prepared in April, 1803 ; while the cession to the United States was not signed by Bonaparte until the last day of the same month and year, and could not, therefore, have been known to Jefferson, who wrote the instructions. They were signed by the President June 20, 1803, about ten days before he learned that the cession to the United States had been signed at Paris.
The instructions recite that "the object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, and such principal streams of it as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado, or any other river, may offer the most direct and practicable water communi- cation across the continent, for the purpose of commerce." Owing to the fact that Louisiana was not in possession of the United States at the time the instructions were drafted, it became necessary to procure passports for the party from the rightful sovereignty, France, and from both Spain and Great Britain to insure proper reception by their agents and traders scattered throughout the territory. Jefferson became aware of the cession about the Ist of July, and five days later Capt. Meriwether Lewis, whom the President had selected to command the expedition, left Washington for Pittsburg, where a portion of the men were to be secured and suitable equipment was to be provided. Various
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delays occurred, until the season was so far advanced as to render it inadvisable to start before the spring of 1804.
It was determined by the President to associate two com- manders of the expedition, and accordingly Capt. William Clark was chosen, and given co-ordinate powers with Captain Lewis. Both men were members of well-known and prominent families of that period. Captain Lewis was a Virginian, and his great uncle had married a sister of George Washington. Captain Clark was the younger brother of George Rogers Clark, who had wrested the western country from Great Britain near the close of the Revolution. Both Lewis and Clark had already distin- guished themselves in the army, and a better selection of leaders for such an important expedition could scarcely have been made. To the highest qualities of leadership, they added broad compre- hension, unwavering persistence, wonderful endurance, and a dauntless courage that knew no fear nor recognized no failure. Every citizen of the United States became at once intensely inter- ested in the results, and waited anxiously for the return of the expedition. Particularly were the results vitally interesting to the western people, who prayed that a practical water-way to the Pacific might be discovered.
Captain Clark joined the expedition at Louisville, and all arrived in St. Louis in December, 1803. Until the Spanish com- mandant should receive official intelligence from his government of the cession to the United States, he requested the expedition to remain on the east side of the Mississippi ; and therefore winter encampment was chosen at the month of Wood river, beyond his jurisdiction. The start was made May 14, 1804, the expedition consisting of nine Kentuckians, two experienced French boatmen, fourteen soldiers, one interpreter, one hunter and a colored serv- ant ; and in addition a corporal, six soldiers and nine boatmen, who were instructed to assist the expedition as far as the Mandan country. There was taken along a considerable quantity of clothing, implements, ammunition and Indian presents, such as richly-laced coats and pants, medals, flags, scalping-knives, toma- hawks, beads, pigments, handkerchiefs, looking-glasses, etc. They embarked in three boats-one a keel-boat, fifty-five feet long, bearing one large sail and arranged for twenty-two oars- men, having a deck provided with cabin and forecastle, and protected amidships by lockers and by a breastwork that could be raised in case of attack. In addition there were two pirogues of six and seven oars respectively. Two horses were ridden along the bank, designed to bring in the game killed, upon which it was planned the expedition would largely subsist. Full provision
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was made for a complete record of all noteworthy discoveries and occurrences.
It should be borne in mind that the principal cause of the intense interest in the expedition was the wish to learn the secrets hidden in the unknown western country. Previous to this time, only fugitive and contradictory accounts of the upper Missouri territory had reached the ears of the Americans. Now, all that country was theirs; and they wished to learn how true were the fabulous tales of lofty mountains, fertile plains, arid deserts, splendid water-courses, wild animals, savage tribes and rich min- erals, which had come down to them from the French and Spanish voyageurs, traders and trappers, and which were so shadowy that little dependence had ever been placed in their accuracy. All the vast territory was now at last to be opened to the enterprise of the Americans ; and Lewis and Clark were dis- patched to take the first step in the primeval darkness of the wilderness.
They reached the town of St. Charles on May 15, passed Osage Woman river on May 23, and on June I reached the mouth of the Osage river. On the 10th they arrived at the two Chariton rivers. Everything of note was duly recorded. On the 26th the mouth of Kansas river was reached, and on June 21 they arrived at the Platte of Nebraska. Passing up the Missouri, they encamped at what is now Council Bluffs, where later a council was held with the chiefs of the neighboring tribes. Another council was held farther up the river on August 3, with the Otoes and the Mis- souris. A council was held with the Omahas on the 18th and 19th. Continuing to ascend, they held a council with the Sioux August 30. Teton river was reached September 24, and the next day a council was held with the most powerful band of the Sioux. At its conclusion they tried to prevent the advance of the expedi- tion, and a bloody conflict was narrowly averted. The expedi- tion continued to ascend. Cheyenne river was reached October I. Four days later an old, deserted village of the Arickarees was reached. On the 8th Grand river was passed. The next day a council was held with the Arickarees. Unlike almost every other tribe, they refused to drink whisky, and questioned the friendship of the whites who offered it to them. They had never seen a negro until they saw York, the servant of Captain Clark. They examined him with astonishment, and tried to rub out his color with their fingers wet with spit. They considered it a great honor to serve him.
No sooner had the news of the arrival of the Americans been circulated among the Mandans, than the numerous villages for
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several miles around sent their informal delegations to see and to greet the strangers. Mr. McCracken and another agent of the Northwest Company were among the Mandans to buy buffalo robes, furs and horses. The boats proceeded along the stream, followed by many of the Indians, who trudged along the shore. Camp was finally spread on the west side. The two Captains visited the villages, and were received with lavish protestations of friendship. In return the entire population of the village came with the Americans to their camp, where they were shown the various curiosities, such as the air-gun, an iron corn-mill, etc. At both places the pipe of perpetual peace was smoked. From an adjacent Ahnahaway village came Jesseaume, another French :
trader, to visit the arrivals.
All were assembled in a general council at the American camp on the 29th-Mandans, Minnetarees and Ahnahaways. In order to impress the savages as much as possible, the soldiers were paraded under arms and the swivel was fired. Under the sail of the boat, which had been spread to ward off the cold wind, the usual speeches were delivered, and afterward the presents were distributed. All promised peace with the Arickarees and obedi- ence to the laws of the United States. Captain Lewis asked the Mandans to return the goods that had recently been taken from the two Frenchmen previously mentioned, and they promised to comply. Of all the presents given on this occasion, the Indians prized the corn-mill highest. The principal chiefs present were . Big White, or Sha-ha-ka; Little Raven, or Ka-go-ha-mi; Big Man, or Oh-hee-naw, an adopted Cheyenne ; Coal, or Sho-ta-haw- ro-ra ; Black Cat, or Po-cap-sa-he; Raven Man Chief, or Ka-go- no-mok-she; White Buffalo Robe Unfolded, or Te-tuck-o-pin- re-ha; Black Moccasin, or Omp-se-ha-ra; Red Shield, or E-a-pa-no-pa; Neighing Horse, or Min-nis-sur-ra-ree; Okd Woman at a Distance, or Lo-can-go-ti-ha ; Little Fox, or Oh-haw ; Big Thief, or Mah-no-tah; Tail of the Calumet Bird, or Mah-se- ras-sa; Two Tailed Calumet Bird, or Wan-ke-ras-sa; Cherry on a Bush, or Cal-tah-co-ta; and Wolf Man Chief, or Ah-rat-tan-a- mock-she. Presents were sent to the chiefs who were absent.
While at this village the Americans witnessed a prairie fire that started, no one knew how, and traveled so fast that several of the Indians were burned to death and their lodges destroyed. Others were dreadfully scorched and had narrow escapes from death : one little savage was saved by his mother, who spread over him a green buffalo robe. It having been determined to pass the winter near the Mandan villages ; Captain Clark was sent up the . river to locate a suitable site ; but soon returned, not finding suffi-
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cient timber. A site was finally selected on the east side a short distance below their camp, where there was an abundance of tim- ber and good water. The men were at once set to work cutting down trees and shaping logs for the rude structures. In the meantime the Mandans were visited and their good will was secured. Much of the stolen property of the two Frenchmen was returned to them. The head chief of the Mandans promised to visit his "great father" at Washington, but wanted to be pro- tected from the lower Sioux, with whom they were at war. Large quantities of corn were obtained from the Indians for presents and services. The agents of the Northwest Company were strictly cautioned against stirring the Indians to make war cither on each other or on the Americans. The Mandans declared that the Arickarees were the aggressors in the trouble between the two nations. While the log houses were being built, many Indians came to watch the proceedings. As soon as they were ready for occupancy, the traders in the vicinity came to live with the Americans.
By the 8th of November, the log cabins were well advanced toward completion. At this time large flocks of wild geese, brants, ducks and other water fowl passed southward high in the air. On November 13th the boat was unloaded, its contents were placed in one of the cabins, and all day the snow fell heavily, leaving a white mantle of great beauty on the landscape. About this time the Mandans were visited by parties of Assiniboines and Kriste- naux (Krees) from the country around Lake Winnipeg. The two Frenchmen mentioned above, caught twenty beavers in one day on the river and its small branches. It had become quite cold, and much ice began to run in the river. Part of the men- the best hunters -- were kept out constantly to supply the fort with fresh meat. On November 16th, the log huts, though still unfin- ished, were occupied by the soldiers. It was observed that in the intercourse between the Indians, the Mandans were treated by the Assiniboines as the Arickarees were treated by the Sioux, i. e., as partly under subjection. The hunters who had been out for several days, returned on the 19th with thirty-two deer, eleven elks, and five buffaloes. The meat was preserved for future use.
The following day the log cabins were fully completed and were wholly occupied, and the place was formally named Fort Mandan. There were two rows of huts or sheds "forming an angle where they joined each other, each row containing four rooms of fourteen square feet and seven feet high, with plank ceilings, and the roof slanting so as to form a loft above the
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rooms, the highest part of which is eighteen feet from the ground ; the backs of the huts formed a wall of that height, and opposite the angle the place of the wall was supplied by picket- ing ; in the arca were the rooms for. stores and provisions." The latitude of the fort was found to be 47 degrees, 21 minutes and 47 seconds, and the distance from the mouth of the Missouri one thousand six hundred miles. At this time the implacable Sioux seemed bent on war with the Mandans : they abused some of the Arickarees for exhibiting friendship for the Mandans and the Americans. Within the fort, Captains Lewis and Clark felt safe from any numbers of Indians likely to be brought against them; but it was realized that the savages might starve them out by driving off the game or by attacking the hunters. In the immediate vicinity of the fort, were five villages of the Mandans, Minnetarees and Ahnahaways. As soon as the Americans were well settled in their new quarters, almost daily conferences were keld with the Indians, and every effort was made to gain their permanent good will. But all attempts to secure the friendship of the Sioux were repulsed. Evidently that arrogant tribe needed a sound threshing. On the 27th, seven traders of the Northwest Company arrived from the Assiniboine country. When one of their interpreters covertly circulated among the Indians damaging stories concerning the Americans, they were informed by Captain Clark that a repetition of such conduct would lead to their expul- sion from the Mandan country. Among the Mandan chiefs not previously mentioned was Horned Weasel, or Mah-pah-pa-pa-ra- pas-sa-too.
During the last few days of November, snow fell to the depth of thirteen inches on the level, and the mercury dropped to about zero. Mr. Laroche, the leader of the traders from the Assini- boin, was told that under no circumstances should British medals or flags be given to the Indians ; whereupon he replied that he had no such intentions. About this time, several of the Mandans having been killed by the Sioux, Captain Clark, with a force of twenty-three soldiers, visited the former, and volunteered to assist them in punishing the latter. This course was adopted to con- vince the Mandans that the friendship of the Americans had been promised in good faith, as well as to punish the Sioux. The Mandans were greatly pleased at this act, because they had been told by the Arickarees that the Americans intended to join the Sioux against them. The complete confidence of the Mandans. was secured, but they pointed to the fact that the cold weather . and the deep snow were an effectnal bar to a war expedition to the Sionx territory.
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