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. III > Part 2
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LOUISIANA, EARLY EVENTS.
not be questioned, a new selection was necessary. Later, six dif- ferent surveys of 1,000 acres cach were rejected because the sur- veyor did not comply with the law by stating that there were no improvements on the tracts.
In many respects the most prominent persons in Orleans terri- tory were the commissioners appointed to decide on the merits of the French, Spanish and other claims. It was in their power either "to commit great wrong or to set up great right." The territory was divided into two land districts, and land offices were established at New Orleans and Opelousas. The president was authorized to appoint two commissioners for each district, who were to act in conjunction with the receiver of their district, thus constituting a commission of three members for each district. 'The two commissions were authorized to convene on or before December 1, 1805, and were given vast powers to enable them to sift the merits of the claims to the bottom. They could summon witnesses, administer oaths, hear evidence, demand public records and adjourn to some other place if they thought best. At first . the labors of the commissions were confined to claims prior to the treaty of San Ildefonso, October 1, 1800; but later subsequent claims were placed under their adjudication. Under the act of April 21, 1806, the back grants or claims came under their inspec- tion. At this time also they were required to adjust claims which were actually occupied and cultivated by settlers on Decem- ber 23, 1803, the day the province was actually transferred to the United States in the famous Cabildo at New Orleans. The com- missioners were paid two thousand dollars each, or six dollars per day ; their clerks one thousand five hundred dollars per year ; their translators six hundred dollars per year, and the govern- ment agent, an attorney appointed to prosecute fraudulent claims, one thousand five hundred dollars per year.
The act of congress of April 21, 1806, authorized the president to offer for sale the lands of the Western district of Orleans ter- ritory, except sections 16, an entire township reserved for a semi- nary of learning, certain salt springs and the territory contiguous thereto. This public sale was to be continued for three weeks and no longer. About this time the secretary of the treasury was authorized to survey the gulf coast of Louisiana from the mouth of the Mississippi to Vermillion Bay and farther at his discretion, but the cost was not to exceed five thousand dollars. The act of March 3, 1807, confirmed New Orleans' claim to all the common within six hundred yards of the fortifications.
The tract between the Sabine and the Hondo, called for many
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years the "neutral strip," was under the jurisdiction of Nacog. coches while Louisiana was a province of Spain. It also contin- ued so while Louisiana belonged to France, because the strip was claimed by Spain as a part of the province of Texas. Even after the truce between Generals Wilkinson and Herrera in 1806, Spain still continued to exercise her jurisdiction over the strip to the extent of the land grants at least. The right of the United States to the strip was not definitely settled until 1819, at which time the national boundary was fixed in the Sabine river. During all this time Spain continued to exercise a sort of jurisdiction over the strip. All of the land entries made under Spain were entered at Nacogdoches; but in 1812, when that point. was threatened by Guthrie and McGee at the head of a troop of revolutionists, Don Jose Montero, the commandant and about everything else there, fearing the capture of the place, took all the archives and decamped, passing westward to San Antonio. What became of the land and other records concerning the "neutral strip" is unknown, but they are supposed to have been destroyed by Mon- tero or other royalists to keep them from falling into the hands of the Mexican rebels. The destruction of these records made it necessary for the United States commissioners to examine all the titles of the "neutral strip." All were thus placed on a new and permanent basis.
In May, 1805, James Trimble and Francis Vacher were appointed by the president commissioners for the Western district, and Benjamin Sebastian and John Coburn, commissioners for the Eastern district. At the same time also Jolin B. C. Lucas and Clement B. Penrose were appointed commissioners for the terri- tory of Louisiana (now Missouri), and at the same time seem to have had jurisdiction over a portion of Orleans territory, prob- ably over the northern part. Joshua Lewis seems to have taken the place of one of the above men June 28, 1805. On January 17, 1806, John Thompson was appointed register for the Western district, and John W. Gurley, for the Eastern district. On April 4, 1807, Richard Cocke succeeded Thompson as register for the Western district. In April, 1807, William Spriggs became commissioner for the Eastern district, and in March, 1808, Will- iam Garrard became commissioner for the same district. In April, 1808, Benedict Van Pradelles succeeded as register for the Eastern district. Robert B. Robertson succeeded as commis- sioner of the Eastern district in April, 1808. Later land officers were as follows: Philip Grymes register of the Eastern district in February, 1809; Levin Wailes register of Orleans district in
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LOUISIANA, EARLY EVENTS.
April, 1810; Gideon Fitz commissioner of the Western district May, 1810; William Crawford commissioner of the Eastern dis- trict June, 1812; James O. Crosby commissioner of the Eastern district June, 1812; Leroy Posey receiver of the Eastern district January, 1813; William Garrard receiver of the Western district January, 1813; Columbus Lawson register for the Eastern district January, 1813; Samuel H. Harper register of the Eastern district February, 1815; Alfred Lorrainer receiver of the Eastern district April, 1816; Daniel I. Sutton register of the Eastern district March, 1817; Henry Bry receiver at Ouachita in 1821.
At the session of congress of 1825-26 a bill for the establish- ment of an independent land district for Louisiana with a separate surveyor-general was "pigeon-holed" and not acted upon by that body. The records do not show the cause or reason of this neglect : the interests of Louisiana certainly demanded such a change. However, the year 1831 saw the passage of such a law. This was a great relief from the deputy surveyors of previous years, because many abuses were at once corrected. The first surveyor-general of Louisiana seems to have resided at Donald- sonville. The Eastern land district was early divided into several districts-that at St. Helena was afterward (1837) changed to Greensburg. The first public sale of land in the New Orleans district occurred January, 1821; the first in the Ouachita (or Northern or Monroe district) occurred in November, 1822; the first in the Opelousas district took place in December, 1818; the first in the Greensburg (St. Helena) district occurred in Novem- ber, 1829. On July 26, 1838, the Northwestern land district was created withi land office at Natchitoches.
Owing to the fact that the early surveys of Orleans territory under the French and the Spanish governments were conducted on different lines from those of the United States, it became neces- sary, in many instances, to vary the plans of the United States surveys adjoining the former French and' Spanish settlements. Nearly all the early claims were along the water-courses, upon which a frontage was deemed all-important: no attention had been paid to meridians or parallels of latitude. But all surveys of the United States were based upon such lines, and therefore it was necessary to adjust the discrepancies between the two sys- tems. In all other cases the surveys were made to conform to the system of the United States. All the navigable waters of Louisi- ana province were declared to be public highways.
By the treaty of 1818 with the Quapaw Indians, the United States acquired in Louisiana about 2,492,000 acres, all in the
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northern part. In 1825 all of the Indians of Louisiana were hunt- ers, as distinguished from those who had partly assumed the cus- toms of the white race and had begun to cultivate the soil. The statement is made in the report of the commissioner of the land office, that there was no information in the possession of the department as to the land claimed by the various tribes. But the following is given as the membership of the resident tribes at that date :
Biloxis 55, Apalachees 45, Pascagoulas III, Addees 27, Yattas- sees 36, Coushattees 180, Caddoes 450, Delawares 51, Choctaws 178, Shawanese 110, Natchitoches 25, Quapaws 8, and Pianke- shaws 27, total 1303.
The tract acquired from the Quapaws in 1818 was bounded as follows: Beginning at the mouth of the Arkansas river, the boundary passed up that stream to the Canadian and thence up the latter to its head, "thence south to Big Red river and down the middle of that river to the Big Raft, thence a direct line so as to strike the Mississippi river thirty leagues in a straight line below the mouth of Arkansas river." There was excepted from this grant the following reservation: "Beginning at a point on the Arkansas river opposite the present Post of Arkansas and running thence a due southwest course to the Washita river, thence up that river to the Saline fork, and up the Saline fork to a point from whence a due north course would strike the Arkan- sas river at Little Rock, and thence down the right bank of the Arkansas to the place of beginning." The consideration for the grant was four thousand dollars in goods at once, and one thou- sand dollars for goods annually thereafter. The above reserve was ceded at Harrington's November 15, 1824. For it the United States agreed to pay to each of the four principal chiefs five hun- dred dollars, and to the tribe four thousand dollars annually in goods and merchandise and one thousand dollars in specie annu- ally for eleven years, in addition to the previous annuity. . The Quapaws agreed to join the Caddoes and become a part of that tribe. The government agreed to pay seven thousand five hun- dred dollars which the tribe owed to a trader named James Scull, and further agreed that about a dozen half-breed Quapaws should have small reservations along the Arkansas river. On May 13, 1833, the Quapaws were granted a tract of one hundred and fifty sections west of Missouri.
After acquiring Louisiana from France in 1803, it was the set- tled policy of the United States to consider West Florida as a part of such purchase; however, complete possession was not obtained
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LOUISIANA, EARLY EVENTS.
until 1812 and 1813. The act of April, 1812, revived the powers vested in the surveyor-general south of Tennessee over the lands of Louisiana, which powers had devolved upon the principal deputy surveyors appointed under the act of April, 1806; but supreme authority over the surveys still 'remained with the presi- dent under the act of March, 1803. The act of February, 1811, formed three land districts of Louisiana: 1. The Eastern with the office at New Orleans; 2. The Western with the office at Opelousas ; 3. The Northern with the office where the president should designate (Ouachita was named). The Western district did not extend south of Red river, nor the Northern district south of that stream. The act of February, 1811, provided that five per cent of the net proceeds of the sale of public lands in Louisi- ana should be applied to the construction of roads and levees as the legislature of the territory might direct. Subsequent events proved this to have been an important provision.
It may be said generally that the land laws of the Northwest territory were applied to Louisiana from the start. In 1820 the claim of the Ursuline Nuns of New Orleans to a small tract of about four squares bounded by Levee, Ursuline, Royal and Gar- rison streets, less certain contingencies, was confirmed by the United States upon recommendation of William Wirt, attorney- general. The acts of 1814 and 1816 permitted actual residents to file preemption claims to what were called back lands, i. e., tracts back of the ones they owned and occupied on some water- course. Subsequently, important amendments to these laws were made, particularly one of June, 1832, "to authorize the inhabitants of the state of Louisiana to enter the back lands." Strange as it may seem, the Opelousas and other districts committed the singu- lar blunder of presuming that the law of June, 1832, had a pros- pective as well as a retroactive effect. It was clear that the language did not permit such a construction ; but it was necessary for the land office sharply to put a stop to these innovations. The preemption laws permitted residents to enter lands elsewhere in the district, in case their back lands had been previously entered by others. The tracts thus entered became known as "floating rights," and where the source of innumerable frauds, even chil. dren, hired hands, and fictitious persons being employed to make the entries. The special law of June 19, 1834, did much to correct this abuse by preventing speculation in the "floats." The act of congress of April 5, 1809, directed the acting surveyor-general of Louisiana to lay out in the Western district a considerable tract for the "Alibama" Indians. The tract was not to exceed 2,500:
.
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acres, and was to be vested in them for fifty years. They were prohibited from selling the land, and should they remove from it or abandon it they were to lose it. In September, 1810, Thomas Freeman was appointed surveyor-general for the lands of the United States south of the Tennessee; he began the survey of the back tracts of Louisiana under the act of March 3, 1811.
The Houma claim attracted attention in Louisiana for many years. Maurice Conway and Alexander Latil, with the consent of the Spanish governor-general of the province, purchased of the Houma Indians, at a date not stated, a considerable tract of land on the east side of the Mississippi near or at the spot where for- merly stood the old villages of the tribe. Having purchased Latil's interest, Conway, in September, 1776, asked the Spanish authori- ties to put him in possession of his grant. Apparently, his claim was about forty arpents frontage on the Mississippi and about a Spanish league in depth, or about two and four-tenths miles. As the cypress trees had been cleared back for more than a league on this tract, as the tract was yet without fences, and as the sole dependence for such fences was upon such cypress trees, Conway, in September, 1776, asked' that his grant might be extended back far enough to reach the woods, in order that he could procure fencing on his own land. Governor Unzaga accordingly directed Capt. Lewis Andry to put Conway in possession of the tract claimed and of enough more to enable him to secure the required cypress timber, provided that by doing so he should not interfere . with or injure the interests of others. In October, 1776, Andry went up the Mississippi about twenty-two Spanish leagues to where the claim was situated, and having secured the assistance of the commandant there, Lewis Judice, and the latter having summoned the Houma chief, Calabe, who had been one of the chiefs to make the original grant, they proceeded to point out the tract and mark its boundaries. Andry found the tract to occupy ninety-six arpents on the Mississippi, "opening one hundred and twenty degrees toward its rear, owing to its situation in the bottom of the bend." Andry having found that a grant in the rear would not interfere with the interests of others, recommended that the request of Conway be complied with, whereupon, in June, 1777, Governor Galvez, who had succeeded Unzaga, extended the grant back from the river, but failed to fix a limit to the extension; in fact, left the grant in such condition that an indefinite extension could be claimed. And this was actually what occurred under subsequent claimants, until over 100,000 acres were added to the
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LOUISIANA, EARLY EVENTS.
original tract. For many years congress was called upon to settle the claims under this extraordinary grant.
The act of March 2, 1805, provided for ascertaining and adjust- ing the titles and claims to land' within the territory of Orleans. All claims of persons who were actual residents on October 1, 1800, and who, prior to that date, had obtained from France or Spain while they had possession of the province any duly regis- tered warrant or order of survey for lands lying therein, to which the Indian title had been extinguished and upon which such per- · sons had lived, were confirmed to them, provided they were the heads of families and over twenty-one years old, and provided further that the terms of the grants had been fulfilled. Actual occupation and improvement of a tract, even without a warrant of registry, were declared sufficient to constitute a good title. The lands were to be surveyed and divided similar to those in the ter- ritory northwest of the river Ohio and above the mouth of the river Kentucky. Provisions for the survey of the tract for Gen- eral Lafayette were made by this act. Congress appropriated the sum of fifty thousand dollars to carry into effect the various stipu- lations of this law. That body afterward made important changes. in these provisions . (see acts of February and April 21, 1806).
In 1803 many scattered bands of Indians resided in what is modern Louisiana. The Attakapas, who had become nearly extinct, resided on bayou Vermillion, and a few others were scat- tered through that district. They probably did not exceed one hundred and fifty persons. Two villages of the Chietimachas, embracing about one hundred and twenty persons, stood on the left bank of bayou Plaquemine about a dozen miles from the Mis- sissippi, and another village of the same tribe of about one hundred souls, was on lower bayou Teche, thirty-five or forty miles from the Gulf. On bayou Courtableau was a village of about one hundred Alabamos; a few others were in the same district of Opelousas. In Rapids parish were villages of the Biloxis, Choctaws and Pas- cagoulas aggregating from two to three hundred persons, their principal villages standing on bayous Boeuf and Crocodile. There were two other villages of the Choctaws at the Avoyelles and on the lake of the same name, both having from eighty to one hun- dred souls. Other villages of the same tribe were at the Rapides and on the Washita, there being in the district of the latter name more than one thousand persons. Several villages of the Cun- hates, numbering in all about three hundred persons, stood on the Calcasieu river and its branches. At the Rapides was a village
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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
of about one hundred Biloxis, and on bayou Canes was another half as large. A few Cadodaquins were in the northwestern part About seventy persons of the Tunica nation lived on the Mississ- ippi above Pointe Conpec. 'A small village of the Houmas stood on the left bank of the Mississippi not far from Baton Rouge. Wandering bands of Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws and others roamed over the territory.
On July 1, 1835, the Caddo Indians at their agency in Louisiana ceded to the United States the following tract : "Bounded on the west by the north and south line which separates the United States from Mexico, between the Sabine and Red rivers wherever the same shall be defined and acknowledged to be by the two Govern- ments; on the north and east by the Red river from the point where the said United States boundary line shall intersect the said Red river, whether it be on the Territory of Arkansas or the state of Louisiana, following the meanders of said river down to its junction with the Pascagoula bayou; on the south by the said Pascagoula bayou to its junction with the bayou Pierre; by said bayou to its junction with bayou Wallace; by said bayou and Lake Wallace to the mouthi of the Cypress bayou; thence up said bayou to the point of its intersection with the first mentioned north and south line, following the meanders of the said water- courses ; but if the said Cypress hayou be not clearly definable so far, then from a point which shall be definable by a line due west till it intersect the said first mentioned north and south line be the contents of land within said boundary more or less." For this cession the United States agreed to pay the tribe thirty thou- sand dollars in horses and goods immediately ; an annuity of ten thousand dollars for four years, and ten thousand dollars to be paid in cash within one year from September 1, 1835. Jehiel Brooks was the commissioner on the part of the United States. At the request of the Indians certain reservations were given to Francis Grappe and his three sons, Jacques, Dominique and Bel- thazar and to Larkin Edwards.
By act of March 3, 1807, congress paid to Oliver Pollock, former commercial agent of the United States at New Orleans, a large sum of money to recompense him for various services and losses. By act of the same date, Lewis and Clark and their men were given large tracts west of the Mississippi, the leaders receiv- ing 1,000 acres each, and all receiving double pay in addition. By proclamation of July 2, 1807, President Jefferson ordered the innediate departure of all armed British vessels from the ports
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of the United States. This order seriously interfered with the conunerce of New Orleans, but was rendered necessary by the outrageous acts of the British men-of-war.
The pre-emption act of April 12, 1814, was ordered extended to Howard county, Missouri territory, by act of March 3, 1819, that county having been established by the territory January 23, 1816, and afterward becoming a part of Arkansas. Under the proclamation of the president to take possession of West Florida, October 27, 1810, Governor Claiborne assumed the same jurisdic- tion over it as over the rest of Orleans territory. The president's proclamation of June 29, 1814, authorized the disregard of the British blockade along the gulf coast. Americans were directed to befriend the vessels of neutral powers, but to show no favors to those of the British. At the earnest request of the Spanish minister, President Madison cautioned the inhabitants of Louis- iana from invading the dominions of Spain to the southwest. By act of February 27, 1815, congress thanked General Jackson and his men for their good conduct in driving out the enemy and par- ticularly for the victory of January 8, 1815; a gold medal for General Jackson was ordered struck.
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CHAPTER II
The Territory of Orleans
O N NOVEMBER 28, 1803, in the United States senate, an important motion "that a committee of five members be appointed to prepare a form or forms of government for the territory of Louisiana" was laid on the table. It was taken up again on December 5 and passed, and the following members were appointed as such committee: John Breckenridge (chair- man), Robert Wright, James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin, and John Quincy Adams. This committee reported a long bill on December 30, which was read and ordered to a second reading. Four days later it passed the second reading. 'There was so much novelty and lack of precedent in the step about to be taken, that the senate proceeded to examine the bill in all its aspects and to amend it in many important respects after protracted debate. O11 January 16, 1804, a motion to amend by adding the following words to Section IV, "The Legislative Council, a majority of the whole number concurring therein, shall have power to elect by ballot a delegate to Congress, who shall have a seat in the House of Representatives and shall have the right of debating, but not of voting," was lost by a vote of 12 yeas to 18 nays. A motion to amend by wholly striking out Section IV of the bill was lost, yeas 12, nays 18. This section related to the joint legislative powers of the governor and the legislative council. On January 17, a motion to amend the section relating to the compulsory employment of a jury "in all criminal prosecutions which are ·
capital" by striking out the words "which are capital" was lost, yeas 11, nays 16. A week later another amendment to Section IV was lost by 14 nays and 14 yeas. On January 26, a motion to
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LOUISIANA, THE TERRITORY OF ORLEANS.
amend section VIII by prohibiting the importation of slaves from without the United States was carried by 21 yeas and 6 nays. Four days later an amendment restricting slavery and providing for the gradual manuniission of the slaves was lost, yeas II, nays 17. On the same day another amendment on the same subject passed, yeas 21, nays 7. On January 31, an attempt to modify still far- ther the introduction of slaves was lost, yeas 13, nays 15, but a month later the introduction of slaves into Louisiana was confined to the other states. An amendment extending the proposed jury service in Louisiana was carried on February 7 by 20 yeas to 7 nays. On February 10, a long amendment providing for the elec- tion of a house of representatives as well as for a legislative council was lost, yeas 5, nays 19. On the same day the senate ordered its secretary to subscribe for a copy of "The Plan and View of Louisi- ana" by T. L. Buquet de Woiseri and directed that the same be hung in the senate chamber. Three days later an amendment proposing to have the legislative council elected by the people instead of having them appointed by the president, was lost by 13 to 13. Numerous other amendments were proposed, and sev- eral were adopted. On February 17, an amendment to strike out the provision which stipulated that no slave should be introduced except by a bona fide settler upon his removal to the state, was lost by 9 yeas to 19 nays; and an amendment that all slaves taken to Louisiana in violation of this act should thereby become free was lost, II yeas to 17 nays. An amendment to prohibit the introduction of slaves from a state that should import them was lost, 8 yeas to 18 nays. Finally, after more than twenty amend- ments had been acted upon, the senate, on the 18th of February, passed the bill as amended by 20 yeas to 5 nays. The yeas were : Messrs. Anderson, Armstrong, Baldwin, Bradley, Breckenridge, Broan, Cocke, Condit, Ellery, Franklin, Jackson, Logan, Maclay, Nicholas, Potter, John Smith, Samuel Smith, Sumter, Venable and Wright ; the nays were: Messrs. Adams, Hillhouse, Olcott, Plumer and Stone. Olcott and Plumer were from New Hamp- shire, Adams, from Massachusetts, Hillhouse, from Connecticut and David Stone, from North Carolina. This fight in the senate to restrict slavery appears to have been one of the most stubborn and hotly contested of the many early congressional battles against that institution; but all that the opponents of slavery succeeded in accomplishing was to restrict the importation. The bill was entitled "An act erecting Louisiana into two territories and making provision for the temporary government thereof."
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