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 5
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The erpedition of Don Diego D'Peñalosa, which left Santa Fe in March, 1662, in search of Quivira, consisted of about eighty Spanish dragoons, half a dozen priests, 1,000 Indians on foot, thirty-six carts loaded with supplies, eight hundred horses and three hundred mules. The expedition appears to have reached the same Quivira that was visited by Coronado. Some writers insist that there were several Quiviras. The facts will ever remain in doubt and be the subject of dispute. It seems that
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Quivira was more or less mythical. The savages, in order to get rid of the pestiferous Spaniards, who were despoiling them of everything they possessed, promptly and gladly pointed onward, when asked to locate Quivira. It was anywhere that would get rid of the robbers. His precise route is unknown. Other expe- ditions from New Mexico to what afterward became the Louisiana Purchase were doubtless made. There are records to prove that, in 1599, Juan D'Onate, with a band of adherents, marched eastward in pursuit of riches. Capt. Don Juan Domin- guez in 1684 visited Quivira, wherever it may have been.
Doubtless, the extravagant stories of gold in the regions of the west and southwest were founded upon fact. The semi-civilized people of Mexico, for centuries before America was discovered by Europeans, had inhabited all the western country far up along the Pacific coast, and had slowly accumulated from year to year much of the free, surface, or placer gold, worth in the aggregate, no doubt, many millions of dollars, all of which had gradually sought the more populous towns, to be converted into ornaments and vessels for the native rulers. These stories were realities to the natives; but, after the conquest of Mexico and Peru, the bewildered Spaniards greedily drank the golden tales, enlarged from their own desires and vivid imaginations, and in mysterious pictures of fancy they turned the western country, particularly the unknown portions, into populous lands, burdened with the accumulated gold of many centuries. The results of the con- quests of Mexico and Peru and the true tales of the Indians, must account for the ready belief of the Spaniards in the existence of large quantities of gold in Arizona.and New Mexico; and also account for the fanciful vision of the "Seven Cities of Cibola," and of "Quivira."
When the Spaniards under D'Garay beached their boats at the mouth of the Mississippi for the purpose of cleaning and repair- ing them, the natives met the new-comers with pleasant words and smiles, accompanied with gifts of all they had to bestow. Here the Spaniards remained for forty days, taking all the natives had in the way of pearls and provisions, and giving in exchange beads, hawk's-hells and other useless trinkets and trifles. But the Indians were satisfied-were, in fact, pleased to be permitted to render any service to the Spaniards in their power, without recompense. While here the Spaniards went in parties up the river to the distance of fifteen miles, observing as many as forty villages on both sides of the river-only temporary villages of
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canes, robes, etc .; because the annual overflow of the river pre- vented the erection of permanent structures. There is no evi- dence to show that the Spaniards misused the Indians, or that the latter were displeased with their visitors. It may be set down, therefore, that the first visit of the Spaniards to the modern Louis- , iana Purchase was one of peace and friendly barter with the natives, but through no fault of the Spaniards. They simply were not given an opportunity of showing the material of which they were made. But the fact that no unpleasant incident occurred is worthy of note.
The experiences of Cabeza de Vaca with the natives of what is now the state of Texas are especially worthy of being remembered. After suffering incredibly from hardships put upon him by the natives who had previously been abused by the Span- iards, he finally marched toward the north where no whiteman had ever been, and a new heaven and a new earth opened before him. He was everywhere regarded, much to his astonishinent, as a superior being. In other words, when he left the regions where the cruelties of the Spaniards had alienated the friendship of the Indians, and reached regions where their barbarities were unknown and unfelt as yet, he began to be treated more like a god than a human being. He had no sooner advanced into the interior, than he was received by the natives with a pomp, cere- mony and distinction that surprised yet delighted him beyond measure. The simple and confiding natives thought him a mes- senger from God, and deemed it a mark of extreme distinction to be permitted to touch his garments, to render him menial serv- ice, and to lug his contraptions through forests and marshes, rain and shine, cold and heat, across pleasant valleys and over barren mountain divides. This was an agreeable change which De Vaca and his wondering companions were careful not to dis- courage or restrain. Their journey westward through Texas was a continual ovation ; they were feasted, carried over streams and fairly worshipped by every nation they met. In return they modestly posed as special messengers from God, sent to the world to befriend the humble natives and to bless their belongings and them. Thus everything they touched was deemed consecrated and was ever afterward regarded as sacred-until other Spaniards had dispelled the fantastic vision.
But a change was destined to come over the spirit of their dreams. The poor Querechos of Kansas or Texas, whose goods De Vaca and his comrades had blessed in 1536, could scarcely
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believe their eyes when the Spaniards under Coronado in 1542 cruelly appropriated not only those robes, but all others they could lay their hands on. During their trip through Texas to the Rio Grande, De Vaca and his companions met with nothing but surprising hospitality and homage, simply because they treated the Indians with a kindness and consideration that com- pletely won their hearts. They used no particular arts to accom- plish this result. The instincts of the Indians recognized the apparent superiority of the Spaniards, and in the absence of ill- usage and in the presence of kindly offices, spontaneously raised them to the height of gods. There was no mystery about it. The same causes would produce again the same effects. Kind- ness and wise offices would again kindle the light of love and homage. Thus runs the way of the human heart. First under D'Garay and second under De Vaca, the mystic chords of benev- olent disinterestedness opened a pathway to the willing subserv- iency of the natives. Was the religion of Christ as exemplified by the Spanish priests equal to the splendid task of rekindling this glorious light of love and homage?
When De Soto crossed the Mississippi, the caciques of Cas- quin, Capalia and Akansea tendered him their services, houses, provisions and women-shared with his soldiers everything they had; nay, denied themselves that the strangers might be com- fortable and happy. The object of the Spaniards was unknown to the natives-their cruel past was a blank, so the greetings were friendly. But the Spaniards began at once to impoverish the country, desecrate the native temples, scorn their simple yet sincere religious and other ceremonies, debauch their women, make slaves of the people; but even yet the natives regarded the newcomers so highly that they continued friendly and sub- servient. At Capaha the Spaniards encountered war, because they went there to wage war. From this time forward the sav- ages sullenly submitted to the Spaniards rather than rendered them homage and honor. The nobility of the caciques, shown in all their doings, shines in sparkling contrast to the diabolical designs of the Spaniards. In every respect the savage was nobler than the civilized. The savage was more civilized and the clv- ilized more savage. The splendid dignity and magnificent hos- pitality of Casquin and Capaha were the wonderment of the brazen and treacherous representatives of Aragon and Castile.
The inhabitants of Quiguate received the Spaniards with sus- picion, because stories of their abuses had preceded them. They
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met the same reception at Colima, for the same reason. These towns were all close together. Farther away, at Caligoa and Palisema they were well received ; but did not tarry long, because the poor natives liad little the visitors required or wanted. At Cayas they found the Indians friendly ; but at Tulla they encoun- tered war, because the story of their evil deeds had preceded them. At Guipana, Anoixi and Catamaya they were welcomed and supplied with immense quantities of maize and other provi- sion, for which they gave little or nothing. Where they were unknown, they were invariably received with friendliness and distinction and offered all the natives had; but just as invariably they left the natives their enemy, because of the outrageous wrongs they committed. Think a moment what it meant to the natives to be compelled to support such an army for months at a time, under penalty of being cut to pieces,-five hundred vora- cious men, several hundred head of horses and as many swine- all swine in fact; fully as many more camp-followers-poor natives impressed at the point of the sword to do menial duty, and deliberately run through their bodies if they shirked or refused.
In the rich province of Atiamque this hungry and merciless army remained all winter, consuming thie stores, debauching the people, desecrating every sacred object they possessed, and forc- ing many of them to do menial duty in the Spanish camp. Recol- lect, that all these villages were in the modern Louisiana and Arkansas, a land the sun kissed with sunshine, and blessed with shimmering harvests of golden grain, as well as of golden mines. Not finding the latter, the Castillian nobles consumed all they could of the former. In the spring, at Ayayes, Tutelpinco, Tianto, Nilco-and Guachoya, the Spaniards were warmly received and given practical possession of the provinces. At the latter place De Soto died. He could have been spared from earth long before and no vigorous complaint been raised. He had left a trail of devastation, cruelty, wickedness and murder which no prayers nor pens can wipe ont. But after he had been called hence, the same tale of friendly reception by the natives may be told of his successor, Moscoso, in the wearisome journey to Texas and return, across the central part of modern Louisiana. Kind treatment encountered the friendship and submission of the natives. Kind words and simple gifts brought guides and provisions ; swords and bullets brought war clubs and poisoned arrows. Was there ever better ground for the seeds of Chris-
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tianity? If there was merit in the cross carried by the Spanish priests, here was the opportunity for its glorious exemplification on this miserable little earth. But the cross was in ignorant and unclean hands; the simple beauty of the Nazarene's teachings never glorified the steps of De Soto's army ; the beatitudes were forgotten by the grandees who burned for the possession of gold and great riches; the sincere religious ceremonials of the natives that recognized a supreme being, were unfeelingly spurned instead of adroitly turned in the direction of truth and divinity. While the priests were chanting mass, the troopers were cutting throats in the nearest thickets. The butcheries were a poor fulfillment of the boundless promises of the priests. The untutored mind of the savage unbecomingly associated the atrocity with the relig- ion. The good seed had been sown with too many tares. Hence the priests made no proselytes in Akansea of the Louisiana Pur- chase. The savages preferred the religion of the perpetual sun and of the emerald plains spread out forever.
From the moment the army of De Soto landed on the coast of Florida to that when his whipped and slinking survivors hurriedly reached the mouth of the Mississippi on their way to Mexico, it is probable that not one of the participants gave a solitary glance at that object of the expedition which provided for the establishment of a permanent colony. The army, composed almost wholly of the pride of Spain, gave to colonization not the glimmer of a thought. They were in pursuit of riches and fame- and they received both with a vengeance. The sober and steady life of a colonist-the cultivation of the soil, the harvesting of grain, the rearing of cattle-was beneath the nobles who shone in De Soto's army.
The Spanish ministry realized the great importance of found- ing colonies to hold the lands discovered ; but the army of De Soto was wholly unsuited for this object. What a splendid opportun- ity Spain had ! A magnificent new empire was hers for the price of a few colonies. This pleasing truth was recognized by the Spanish court, be it said to their credit. But the conquest of Mexico had turned every brain to fire and every heart to stone. Unscrupulous adventurers, instead of agriculturalists and arti- sans, sought the new shores. "Conquest !" was the cry. The ring of gold was the slogan that swept throughout the Moresque corridors of Spain; and by that heartless and bloody battle-call she lost the fairest land the sun ever shone upon. The tremen- dous effort expended by the army of De Soto would have saved
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the whole Mississippi valley to Spain, had it been applied prop- erly to the formation of happy colonial homes on the banks of the great river.
If the expedition of De Soto was valueless to Spain, that of Coronado was both valueless and villainous. While both were ostensibly designed for the establishment of colonies in the coun- tries invaded, the real object was the pursuit of gold and other forms of riches. Both were aimed at the heart of the modern Louisiana Purchase-at the gold and silver which had actually been seen by the natives in Colorado, Montana and the Black Hills. The avowed object of the expedition of Coronado was the conquest and subjugation of the famous "Seven Cities of Cibola," in order that the golden stream might be turned into the exhausted coffers of the Spanish crown. The bloody yet golden promises prompted the ready acquiescence of the "Most Catholic Monarch" in the nefarious expedition. But the ministry hoped that the expedition would likewise accomplish the establishment of colonies in the conquered country. Again, as in the case of De Soto's army, the forces of Coronado were composed of court favorites, the self-constituted dilettante exquisites, who had sprung up, like mushrooms in a manure heap, from the ashes of the Aztec ruins and from the crimes of unforgivable murders. No thought was given to colonization. The purpose was mostly murder, and the priests were taken along to grant absolution to the butchered natives. Perhaps, also, the confessional might be prostituted to compel the expiring savages to reveal the hiding places of their gold and precious stones. The denial of the chiefs of Tiguex that they had golden bracelets was met by binding them in chains and flinging them into prison. The candor of the Querechos in exhibiting their many valuable robes-their only acquired wealth-was met by the heartless appropriation of the whole lot. Everywhere the Indians were compelled to support the army. If a levy were not forthcoming, murder was com- mitted, and the priests were hurriedly called to dangle the cross before the fading eyes of the bleeding wretches. If ever there was hell upon earth, it followed the swish of the Spanish swords of Coronado's army in the beautiful valley of the Rio Grande. If ever civilized man should flush with shame, he should do so at the mention of the name of Coronado.
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No wonder that such a nation went down "to chaos and old night." No wonder the gilt of the cavalier looked pale and poor when compared with the gleaming plow of the hardy and honest
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colonist. But the sacrifice was made. Spain had not the splen- did prevision to claim and possess the land now peopled with millions and golden with the triumphs of man and the glories of God. Her wretched civilization failed to comprehend the won- derful wealth of the sun, the rain, the soil, the forests with their whispering lullabies and the streams with their melodious laugh- ter. So she surrendered without regret a realm, bursting with the blossoms of beauty, an empire of possibilities, which the kind years, through the grace of God, have transformed into castellated homes more substantial than dreams of gold.
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CHAPTER II
French Explorations and Discoveries
T' THE most surprising fact in connection with the formation and growth of the colonies in North America, is the vast extent of time that was permitted to elapse from the dis- covery of San Salvador by Columbus to the establishment of permanent settlements by the principal European nations. It was more than a hundred years before Jamestown was founded by the English. France did better in the valley of the St. Law- rence; and Spain also did better, or worse, in Florida and in Mexico. It is safe to say that could the statesmen of the six- teenth century have looked ahead to the beginning of the twen- tieth century and have seen this marvelous country as it is today, they not only would have exhausted every national resource they possessed to colonize the whole country, but from time to time would have taken every means to prevent the colonies from attaining their independence. Even after the wonderful natural resources of this country had become well known to Europeans, attempts at settlement were strangely lukewarm and the wishes of the colonists were unfeelingly disregarded. The ill-treatment of the Atlantic colonies by Great Britain was a piece of stupen- dous folly, which only the imbecile George III would have been guilty of. The oppression of the Louisiana colonists by the monopolies of Crozat and the Western Company, under sover- eign sanction, was no less unwise, nor less destructive of French ascendency in America. For more than a century and a half Spain refused to take Louisiana or Texas as a gift. All three countries-Spain, Great Britain and France-looked first for gold, second for other colonial profits, third for means of out- witting one another, and fourth for an agricultural empire. At
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all times the colonies must be oppressed for the benefit of the crowns. International jealousy and individual enterprise and adventure had more to do in settling the ownership to North . America than any other factors. It will be well to note what France did toward the settlement of the present Louisiana Pur- chase.
The grant to Sir Robert Heath by the English crown in 1627 embraced the Carolina coast from the thirty-first to the thirty- sixth parallels of latitude and extended westward to the South Sea. Later this patent was sold to Lord Maltravers and by him to Doctor Daniel Coxe, who, it is claimed in some quarters, sent Colonel Welch to explore the country, and who, the English main- tained, traversed the region from Charleston to the Mississippi river. But it has been doubted on good grounds whether such a journey was made. The rights of Doctor Coxe passed to his son, who, in order to make something of value out of his estate, published a journal which he claimed had been kept by com- panions of Colonel Welch, and prepared a map of the colony in 1722, showing the route claimed to have been traversed by that officer, and further showing English factories and settlements in the wilderness of modern Alabama and Mississippi. It has been presumed that this map and this journal were prepared, to use a modern phrase, "for advertising purposes." The younger Coxe anxiously wanted settlers for his colony, and made great efforts to secure them. It was claimed that the English sent their ves- sels, commanded by Colonel Wood, up the Mississippi as early as 1648, and again in 1676, that he spent nearly ten years in exploring the Mississippi and its branches, and that explorers from Virginia crossed the Alleghanies and penetrated the upper Ohio river valley in 1654 and in 1664. It was claimed that in 1670 a vessel commanded by Captain Bolt navigated the Mis- sissippi in the interests of England .* But these claims are usu- ally disregarded by historians. It is not probable that Colonel Welch made the alleged journey to the Mississippi river. It is not likely that he ever saw any portion of the Louisiana Purchase.
When the charter of Hudson's Bay Company was granted in 1670, Charles the II and his minister were themselves uncertain of their boundaries in Canada. As early as 1630 the French Beaver Company secured a portion of the territory afterward claimed by Hudson's Bay Company. Owing to the uncer-
* Jeffery's Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America. London, 1760.
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tainty of their limits, the English ministry, therefore, inserted a proviso in .the charter of Hudson's Bay Company, exclud- ing therefrom "all the lands, territories, 'etc., at that time possessed by any other Christian prince or state." It later became known that long before the English traders had ventured far from Hudson Bay, the French voyageurs and explorers had penetrated as far west as the Saskatchewan river, and were in communication with all the intervening tribes of Indians. The rights of France and England in the vicinity of Hudson Bay were still undefined at the time of the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, as is shown by an article therein which provides that the country occupied there previously by France, but retaken by England, should be restored to the former. "It is not possi- ble to conceive a more distinct and national acknowledgment that those countries did not belong to the crown of England at the time they were taken in the peace preceding the war, nor a for- tiori at an earlier period." Thus it is clear that the territory granted to Hudson's Bay Company in 1670 could not have included any of the territory rightfully belonging to France. The treaty of Ryswick provided for the appointment of com- missioners on both sides "to examine and determine the rights and pretensions which either of the said kings hath to the places situated on Hudson Bay ;" but such a commission seems never to have acted. But even upon the supposition that Hudson's Bay Company's charter embraced the territory claimed by the French, the treaty of Ryswick annulled the company's rights in that quarter by ceding to France all the English territory there. In other words "the country granted by Charles HI to Hudson's Bay Company was definitely and unreservedly made over to France." From the treaty of Ryswick in 1697 to the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, nearly all of the territory around Hudson Bay remained in the possession of France. At the latter date all of Hudson Bay passed to England for the first time.
But what did the Hudson Bay country include? All the ter- ritory draining into that bay, including the basins of the Albany, Souris, Assiniboine and Saskatchewan rivers and Red River of the North. Thus a considerable portion of the modern Minne- sota and North Dakota and a small portion of Montana belonged to the basin of Hudson Bay. Inasmuch as that portion of the basin now within the United States could not have been granted, owing to the above reasons, to the Hudson's Bay Company in 1670, the grant made at a later day to Lord Selkirk could not have been valid. In 1811 he was granted a tract of sixteen thou-
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sand square miles in the valley of the Red River of the North, and he extended his limits into the present boundaries of the United States. In fact, he selected the most valuable land in the whole northwest. In 1818, when the forty-ninth parallel was established as the boundary between Canada and the United States, England deliberately divided the grant of Hudson's Bay Company to Lord Selkirk, throwing a portion of the same within the boundaries of the United States without consulting that com- pany ; nor did the latter make any complaint, nor ask for com- pensation for the loss. Lord Selkirk was a member of Hudson's Bay Company, and became a strong factor in that organization at certain periods of its distress, taking a large block of its stock. When the Northwest Fur Company appeared on the scene at a later day asking for a division of the spoils, it was bitterly opposed by Hudson's Bay Company; they finally united. Fear- ing too great an invasion of their territory, the Company from the very start opposed all attempts to discover a "northwest pass- age." It was publicly charged that Captain Middleton, who was sent in 1740 to find such a passage, received a bribe of $25,000 from Hudson's Bay Company, either to give up the exploration or to conceal what he should find .*
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