USA > Missouri > A history of Missouri from the earliest explorations and settlements until the admission of the state into the union, Volume I > Part 37
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42 A discovery of a route to the Pacific then seems to have greatly occupied the minds of the Spanish officials of Louisiana, and Trudeau in a letter to Caron- delet says that an old man who had gone to the sources of "the Misuri," at a distance from it had seen "a large river whose current flows toward the west." --- General Archives of the Indies, Seville, Letter of Trudeau to Carondelet, dated May 31, 1794.
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Two years afterward, in 1796, while Todd was at New Orleans arranging his accounts with his correspondents there, and giving orders for the shipments necessary for his traffic, he was attacked by yellow fever before he was in town fifteen days, and died within five days. His death was a mortal blow to the Spanish Com- pany, to which he had advanced some eighty thousand dollars in goods adapted to the Indian trade. This company was authorized to erect forts, to arm one hundred men, all to be under orders of the governor of Louisiana, and for this service it was to receive ten thousand dollars annually with which to pay the men enlisted to protect the forts and country on the Missouri. But when, in Decem- ber, 1796, Clamorgan, director of the company, requested payment of this sum, Morales in the year following refused to pay, suggesting various objections, and the amount never was paid.
To make Louisiana independent of the supply of American flour shipped down the Ohio, Carondelet, in 1793, entered into a contract with Don Juan Baptiste Tardiveau and Don Pedro Audrain "to purchase annually from them six thousand barrels of flour and the necessary biscuit," advancing the firm nine thousand dollars to build mills at New Madrid and Ste. Genevieve. The firm also undertook to bring at once about one hundred French families from Gallipolis into upper Louisiana. To promote this emigration Carondelet also advanced the sum of $2,500. The French royalists settled at Gallipolis, he says, in a private letter to Gardoqui, were much dis- satisfied; they had been disappointed, for this settlement would have been very flourishing if the United States had afforded "all the pro- tection which those settlers expected from the brilliant offers with which they were hallucinated," that only those who had embarked considerable sums of money there remained. He says that the poorest settlers had already abandoned the country, for they were tired of the government, the deceits and selfish conduct "of their neighbors the Americans," and disgusted at the same time with the difference of language, religion and customs, and that, having heard of the advantages of Louisiana, they had sent DeLassus as a repre- sentative to reconnoiter the country. He thought that if this emi- gration could be turned into Louisiana, it would "form an epoch in the annals of the province and of western America," counteracting the increasing settlements of the Americans in the west part of the United States. The mills to be erected would give a market to the
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grain which these new settlers would raise, and as soon as they were in operation they would provide lower Louisiana and the capital, Havana, and the islands of the Gulf, with flour and biscuit "of superior quality and at a very low price." 43
Trudeau remained lieutenant-governor of upper Louisiana until 1799, when Don Carlos de Lassus was transferred to St. Louis from New Madrid. Shortly before he was superseded, Trudeau wrote that the only possible means of increasing the population of the colony was from the United States, which "alone can supply a great number of families. The voyage from Nueva Orleans is too great and costly - Canada also needs population." His hope, therefore, was to attract the French and German colonists of the United States and form a settlement near the mouth of the Ohio. The Americans who have settled in the past year "have behaved well," he reports. During the administration of Trudeau the regular gar- rison of St. Louis never exceeded fifty men. 44
In 1799 the loyal "vassals" of upper Louisiana were asked to make a patriotic contribution to aid Spain in the war she was then prosecuting. Several thousand dollars were contributed by the people. Nouvelle Bourbon, no doubt owing to the energetic efforts of De Luziere, contributed five hundred and sixty-five and a half piastres ; the Indians even sent two deputies to Nouvelle Bourbon, one called Le Corbeau (i. e., Crow) and the other Le Grande Con- sidere(i. e., the Great One) to tender the proceeds in furs of a special hunt - Sieur Hypolite Bolon, the interpreter for the "savage tribes of this canton," having advised these Indians of the necessities "of their good and respectable father, the king of Spain." This offer was accepted with due ceremony, and "a procès-verbal drawn up" signed by said Bolon and also Sieur Louis Tonnelien and Camille de Lassus as witnesses. In looking over these contributors we find that Juan Trezay contributes two months' pay, and incidentally learn that he holds the office of "postman," presumably the only "postman" at that time in all this region. The military men of Louisiana contributed also: thus Santiago St. Vrain de Lassus gave forty dollars, Santiago Mackay, "captain of the Costa," fifty pesos
43 See General Archives of Indies, Seville. Full correspondence and contracts. Estante 86. Cajon 7. Legajo 16.
44 Trudeau's Report. General Archives of the Indies, Seville, dated January 115, 1798.
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RUMORS"OF ATTACK
fuertes from his future pay, Eugenio Alvarez the same amount, and Nicholas Le Compte, gunsmith among the Indians, five pesos from his future pay. The people of St. Louis contributed seven hundred and sixty-two piastres to this fund. 45
At that time the Spaniards greatly feared that the Americans would seize St. Louis and New Madrid, a large American force having been concentrated on the frontiers of Louisiana. Accordingly DeLassus gave Captain McCoy, in command of the galiot "La Activa" at New Madrid, instructions to report in detail the number of United States troops which "passed down the river," also what to do in "case he should hear of a rupture between the United States and Spain," an event which seems to have been considered highly probable by the Spanish authorities. The formation of new settle- ments on the west bank of the Mississippi was also greatly favored by Caso-Calva, "to oppose the continual projects of the Americans." 46
In 1800 DeLassus advised the governor-general of Louisiana of a rumor prevailing that the English were organizing an expedition in Canada with the Indians under Langlade to attack upper Louisi- ana. To resist such an invasion, DeLassus made every preparation. In St. Louis, especially, DeLassus writes, the people made ready to resist this English attack, and great reliance was placed at New Orleans in the "valor of the lieutenant-governor, seven hundred and eighty-six good militiamen, and the many Indians who can be mustered in the eleven villages under his command."
On the upper Missouri river, where the Spanish Commercial Company then enjoyed the exclusive trade, a number of traders of St. Louis in 1799, anxious to enjoy also the privileges of that trade, but having acquired no shares in the company, presented a memorial to the governor-general, asking that this monopoly might be abro- gated. They argued that "the trade in peltries, the sole and only resource which for a long time has supported the commerce of this country, being forbidden to the greater part of the citizens, must necessarily involve the ruin of the merchants, who cannot hope to make a return to the metropolis, since they are deprived of the only commodity which they could introduce there." 47 This monopoly,
45 Letter of DeLassus to De Lemos, dated September 18, 1799 - contain- ing list of contributors.
46 Letter dated January 3, 1799, to the Marquis de Caso-Calva from Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, General Archives of the Indies, Seville.
47 This memorial was signed by Manuel Lisa, Charles Sanguinet, Gregoire
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
the memorialists say, has greatly diminished the fur trade and para- lyzed commerce, and the petitioners urge that if this fur trade were left free there would be an abundance of business and a greater con- sumption of merchandise. Finally, they pray that this trade monop- oly be abolished, and "general freedom of commerce" restored. In a caustic reply the petitioners are reminded that this company, from the shares of which they were not excluded, has suffered losses on the upper Missouri every year; that four complete expeditions of the company were plundered by the Indians at the instigation of the English, and that if the company should cease its operations the English would soon overrun the country again, a disaster from which the efforts of the company had delivered them; that in 1796 Sieur Evans, as agent of the company, "while on his expedition to find the Western Sea," caused the English to lower their flag among the "Mandanes," and expelled them from a fort they had built with the aid of the savage tribes. For these reasons the exclusive trade privi- lege of this fur company, on the upper Missouri, was not abrogated by the Spanish authorities. 48
But the Spanish dominion in Louisiana now rapidly drew to a close. In 1801 rumors of the cession of the country to France began to circulate in the province. These rumors evidently reached St. Louis, and DeLassus, in anticipation of the transfer of the country, which he no doubt knew was about to take place, made numerous and large land grants, many of which were afterward questioned and contested. The burning of the house and murder of David Trotter, a settler of the New Madrid district, by five Mascoux Indians also furnished opportunity to call out the military forces of
Sarpy, G. F. Robideaux, Patrick Lee, F. M. Benoist, Andre L'Andreville, Jacinto Egliz, Antoine Reilhe, J. Montan, Emilio Yosti, Guillaume Herbert dit Car- bonneau de Caspiche, Joseph Marie, Antoine Reynal, Francois Valois, Gabriel Proulx, G. R. Spencer, Mackey Wherry, W. La Croix, - Prieur, J. Baptiste Monier, Antoine Janis.
48 General Archives of the Indies, Seville, Papers Coming from Cuba. See also report of Trudeau, January, 1799, General Archives of the Indies, Se- ville. The first expedition was sent out under Juan Bautista Truteau in 1794, the year in which the company was formed. He was forced to return by the Sioux, and wintered among the Poncas, who consumed most of his goods; in the spring following went up as far as the Platte, where he awaited reinforce- ments and more goods, but this second expedition was mismanaged. In 1795 the company sent out Mackay with more goods, but his supply, too, was mostly absorbed by presents. It was while he was waiting for reinforcements and goods that he sent Evans up the river when he took possession of a fort built by the English merchants of Montreal.
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EXPEDITION TO NEW MADRID
upper Louisiana during the last days of the Spanish domination. These Indians had been captured by a detachment of the Cape Girardeau militia, and were imprisoned at New Madrid awaiting punishment. Evidently with a view of ascertaining the efficiency of the military establishment of the upper country, the governor-general ordered this expedition organized ostensibly to punish these Indians. Accordingly, the militia companies of Ste. Genevieve, Plattin creek, New Bourbon, and Cape Girardeau, as well as the three companies of New Madrid, were ordered out with great formality in November, 1802. This warlike display was the great event of the day. Almost daily, special couriers were sent from St. Louis to the different settle- ments with instructions. Lists of all persons in each settlement, of military age, and who possessed arms and horses, were made out and transmitted to the lieutenant-governor. All communications were written with great precision, and invariably closed with the phrase, "God have you in his holy keeping," in true Spanish manner. Under command of Lieutenant-Governor DeLassus, the expedition started, at first composed of the Ste. Genevieve and New Bourbon companies, on the march to New Madrid December 13th, arriving at Cape Gir- ardeau December 17th, where it was joined by the Cape Girardeau company. On the 20th, the force arrived at New Madrid, where the infantry and cavalry companies of the post joined it. Don Francois Vallè was second in command of the expedition. Don Louis Lori- mier was the captain of the Cape Girardeau company; Don Joseph Pratte, captain of the Ste. Genevieve company ; Don Francois Vallè, Jr., captain of the Plattin company ; Don Camille DeLassus, captain of the New Bourbon company and aid-de-camp, and Don William Strader, standard-bearer. Every movement of this expedition was directed with as much punctiliousness as if an army corps was on the march. At a council held at New Madrid under order of the gov- ernor-general of Louisiana, to try these prisoners, one of these five Indians, Tewanayé, was duly sentenced to be executed, and this with the consent and approval and in the presence of the principal chiefs of his band, Agypousetchy and Kaskaloua. Every step was taken with great care. After the council, it was ordered that the shackles of Tewanayé be taken off by the blacksmith, and that the four other prisoners should be placed on a gallery to witness the execution ; that the adjutant should "place himself at the head of the regiment of Louisiana," and march opposite the stand, where the sentence
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should be read to Tewanayé by "Don Pierre Antoine Laforge, ad- jutant of the militia of this post, public writer, and appointed in that capacity for the instruction of the said prisoner;" that the sentence should be interpreted to him by the interpreter, and that the prisoner should be conducted to the place appointed, and shot to death by the detail from the garrison selected for that purpose. The other four prisoners were then ordered with due ceremony to have their shackles removed, and "to be restored to the chief, Agypousetchy of the Mascoux nation." 49 And this sentence, DeLassus afterward reported to Governor Stoddard, was "put in execution," with the con- sent of the Indians, "without bitterness," the Indian chiefs admitting "in full council that it was but an act of well merited justice." On January 6, 1803, the militia began their march home, but before DeLassus departed from New Madrid, he made provision for the better organization of the militia of that post, ordering that this militia "innovation or not," should assemble on Sunday, once every fifteen days, to be drilled; that a failure to attend should be punished with eight days' imprisonment, and that for the second offense, this pun- ishment should be doubled, and if such a militiaman should again be derelict it was ordered that the culprit should be required "to settle up his affairs within a reasonable time and leave the country." The commandant of New Madrid was also required to administer the oath of allegiance to all new-comers before making them a concession of land. In case of alarm of an attack, the New Madrid cavalry was expected to patrol the country, and if it seemed that a premed- itated irruption was made, and the enemy appeared in great numbers, a special dispatch, should be sent to Don Louis Lorimier for reinforcements. DeLassus criticized the manner in which the batteries were arranged in Fort Celeste, and ordered the cannon to be so placed as "to be enabled to fire in case of necessity on the four fronts." From all this, it is quite apparent that this mili- tary demonstration was not made simply to punish the Indians, but to more effectually organize the military forces of upper Louisiana, so as to be prepared to resist an invasion of the country.
Yet a few months, and the standard of Spain will be lowered forever in the Louisianas.
4º Billon's Annals of St. Louis, p. 328, for the full report.
CHAPTER XI.
Ste. Genevieve, First permanent Settlement, Located in "Big Common Field" -Village probably founded about 1730-Village known as "Misere" -Report to Virginia in 1742 refers to village-Rocheblave Commandant in 1766-Vallé first Spanish Commandant-Various sales and judicial proceedings-Salt works on the Saline-First Notaries-Cartabona second Spanish Commandant-Succeeded by Henry Peyroux de la Coudreniere, a man of literary attainments-Succeeded by Don Francesco Vallé, fils, and he by Jean Baptiste Vallé-Caving of river bank in front of old village in 1780-New town located at its present site-The great overflow of 1785 -Louis Viviat-The estate of Louis Lambert dit Lafleur-First settlers of the new town-Immigration of French inhabitants after the conquest of Illinois by Clark-Effort of Spanish officials to attract such settlers-The village a military post during the Spanish government-Story of a "Graft" in Spanish Times-Business and Industries of the inhabitants-Austin in Ste. Genevieve in 1797-Indian village near town-Extent of jurisdiction of the Commandant of Ste. Genevieve-Foundation of Nouvelle Bourbon -De Luziere Commandant and extent of his jurisdiction-History of De Luziere-Settlers of Nouvelle Bourbon-Mine à Breton discovered by Azor-History of Azor-Settlers at Mine à Breton-Grant of Moses Austin at Mine à Breton-Story of Moses Austin's immigration to Upper Louisiana -De Selle Syndic at Mine à Breton-Americans settle Bellevue Valley in 1798-Settlements on "Big River"-The Murphy settlement-The Cook settlement-Settlement of St. Michael, now Fredericktown-First settlers at "Old Mine"-Settlements on the Joachin and the Pattin and names of settlers-Settlements in Bois Brule Bottom-Names of settlers-Settlements on the St. Cosme, the Aux Vasse, the Brazeau and Establishment Creeks and at other points-Various mines located-The Fenwick Settlement on Apple Creek.
The old village of Ste. Genevieve - "le vieux village de Ste. Genevieve" - was the first permanent settlement in upper Louisiana. This old village was situated some three miles below the present site of Ste. Genevieve, in what is known as the "Big Common Field" (le grand champ), near the Mississippi. The place where the village stood has long since been washed away by the restless river. What is known as the "Ste. Genevieve Common Field" or "Big Field," antedated, undoubtedly, the village. From a grant of Chevalier Makarty, Commandant of Fort de Chartres in 1752, to one Francois Rivard, it appears that one Chaponga 1 then cultivated a part of
1 Jean Baptiste Gouier dit Champagne in 1742 in the parish of Ste. Anne, adjacent to Fort de Chartres. Residents in the Big Field of Ste. Genevieve were then doubtless also considered as living within the parish of Ste. Anne, and hence it is probable that this Chaponga may be this Jean Baptiste Gouier dit Champagne. He was a blacksmith.
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
what is now the "Big Field," and that this particular land must have been near the village is also evident from the fact that the peti- tion of Rivard sets out that in case the land he asks for is granted him he will set aside a portion of it for a church at the place indicated by Mons. Saucier. In the same year, Toussaint Geneaux (Hunaud) also prays Mons. Benoist de St. Claire, captain of the marines at Kaskaskia, to make him a grant near his brother above "the Saline" and bordering on one side on Dorlac's land, evidently the name of another early settler and cultivator of the "Big Field." 2
In 1881 an old stone well, standing like a chimney or tower, the last vestige of the old village, was discovered accidentally amid trees and brush, at a point where the river bank had recently caved. On one of the stones at the top of this well were found, distinctly cut, the figures "1732." 3 It is certain that when this well was dug and walled up this place was on the outskirts of the old village, and that the village itself must have been established before the date carved on this stone. But no precise data are now available, and no old records of that period exist, the village of Ste. Genevieve at that early date being under the jurisdiction of the French officers residing either at Fort de Chartres or at Kaskaskia. In that peace- ful time the settlers had no controversies of sufficient importance to be permanently embodied in either the judicial or military records. Trudeau, however, says in his report of 1798 that the old village was settled "for more than sixty years,"4 thus giving confirming evidence that the village was settled at least as early as 1732. Pitt- man, who wrote in 1767, says "the first settlers of this village (Ste. Genevieve) removed about 28 years ago from Cascasquias." 5
In 1825 one Julien Ratte dit Labriere,6 under oath, said that he was 56 years old, that he was born in the old village, and that when he was a boy he knew a very old man living at the old village who
2 See Guibourd Papers, Missouri Historical Society Archives, for copies of these petitions.
3 History of Southeast Missouri, p. 241.
4 Archives of the Indies, Seville. Trudeau's Report of January 15, 1798; in papers from Cuba.
5 Pittman's Mississippi Settlements, p. 95.
6 Born in old Ste. Genevieve in 1769, was on the Gabourie in 1798, and on the headwaters of the Saline he secured a concession at a place called "La Rocher à Casetourneau" for a "vacherie," but never lived there. He is the Labriere who was one of the principal witnesses before Theodore Hunt, Recorder of land titles, for the settlers and claimants of the village of Ste. Gen- evieve; American State Papers, 5 Public Lands, p. 761.
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FORT JOACHIM
was then reputed the first settler there, and that his name was Baptiste La Rose (or Jean Baptiste); but Labriere's statement really adds no certainty as to the date when the old village was established, although he rescues the name of the first settler from oblivion. According to Labriere's first recollection when a boy, there were fifty or sixty cabins in the old village, all built after La Rose settled there. La Rose afterward moved to the new village, and died at the age of one hundred and three years.7
A distinct reference to a French settlement on the west side of the Mississippi, in 1742, is made in a report to the government of Virginia, cited in a note of a translation of DuPratz, stating that John Howard, Sallee, and others who were sent from Virginia to view the countries on the Mississippi were made prisoners by the French, "who came from a settlement they had on an island in the Mississippi a little above the Ohio, where they made salt, lead, and went from there to New Orleans in a fleet of boats and canoes guarded by a large armed schooner." 8
From the Catholic church register of Ste. Genevive it appears that during the French dominion in 1759 a fort known as Fort Joachim was located at the old village. Andrew De Guire was then captain of the militia, succeeding Joseph Baron whose widow he married in that year. His son Jean Baptiste De Guire married her daughter Cecile Baron. This Jean Baptiste died in 1781.
The oldest document relating to the old village is a bill of sale for a house and lot, made by Laurent Gabourie, in December, 1754, and whereby he transferred this property to Jean Baptiste St. Jeme (Beauvais). This paper several years ago was in the possession of Mrs. Menard, since deceased,9 but who now has it I have not been able to ascertain. Incidentally this document makes it certain that the old village was well established at that time, and settled for some time anterior. Datchurut and Viviat were then merchant traders in the old village, and perhaps there were others.10
7 2 Hunt's Minutes, p. 206, Missouri Historical Society Archives.
$ History of Louisiana, Du Pratz, vol. i., p. 105 (London Edition, 1763).
9 History of Southeast Missouri, p. 241.
10 Among other residents of the old village, in 1772, were Antonio Aubouchon, Alexandre Deselle, (Duclos) died in 1775, Nicolas Boyer, Francesco Laluman- diere, Jean Baptiste Lasource, Andres De Guire, Francesco Ronyre, (Rompre) Esteban Lalande, Luis Trudeau, Enrique Carpantier, Francesco Joyane, (Janis),
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HISTORY OF MISSOURI
In 1766, Phillip Rocheblave was commandant of the post of Ste. Genevieve, and remained in command until the Spanish authorities assumed jurisdiction in 1769,11 when he was removed by order of O'Reilly. At this time the village had a company of militia which was commanded by a Mons. Valet (Vallè).12 Rui, in 1769, writes Gover- nor O'Reilly that the town was composed of fifty-five or sixty citizens, and "located on the shore of the Mississippi" 13; and Piernas says that the site of the village, which he says was then known as "Misera," is "flat and swampy, especially during the inundation of the river," but that it is surrounded by "extensive fields and meadows suitable for all kinds of crops." Piernas estimated the population at six hundred. The houses were separated and scattered, and hence the village appeared larger than it really was.14 For a time after the treaty of 1762, Joseph Labusciere,15 "Attorney for the vacant Luis Potier, Monsieur Ratte, Jos. Luise, Pedro Aubouchon, Juan Portier, Juan Baptiste Lalande, Hypolite Robert, Juan B. Pratte, Miguel Placit, Luis Bolduc, Auguste Chatal, Andres Vian, Juan B. Laroche, Pedro Roy, and others, whose names are, however, so misspelled in the Spanish report that I cannot identify them .- Report of Piernas, dated January 4, 1773, in General Archives of the Indies, Seville.
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