Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska, Part 6

Author: Alden Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1402

USA > Nebraska > Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska > Part 6

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By the conquest of Canada by the British in 1760 the province of Louisiana alone remained to France, but even this she was not in a position to hold. On November 3, 1762, she ceded it to Spain, shorn, however, of its eastern half, which fell to the English as stated. The entire region of the Missouri river, including all that now forms Ne- braska, was thereafter for thirty-seven years Spanish territory. But Spain did not at once take possession of this territory. On February 15, 1764, Laclede's Company established itself on the present site of the city of St. Louis, where he founded that city. A few years later a company of Spanish troops took possession of St. Louis in the name of the king of Spain, and in 1770 French possession was at an end in so much of upper Louisiana as lay west of the Mississippi, for in that year a lieutenant governor arrived at St. Louis and extended his authority over the whole region.

In 1783 Great Britain, by a definite treaty of peace signed September 3, relinquished all claim and ceded to the United States all territory east of the Mississippi river to the Atlantic ocean from a line along the great lakes on the north, south- ward to the thirty-first parallel and southern bor- der of Georgia. This was the treaty of Aix la Cha- pelle which terminated the revolutionary war. At the same time the British government ceded to Spain all the Floridas which she had taken east of Louisiana and south of the southern limits of the united colonies just freed. It will therefore be seen that as yet the territory now constituting the state of Nebraska was no part of the United States, but remained a possession of Spain and the home of savage nations, visited only by the vagrant trader to traffic in furs with the different tribes. These traders were mostly Frenchmen. Sometimes they would have houses and remain stationary for one, two or even more years, but sooner or later they all departed from the coun- try.

At an early period after the conclusion of peace, the people of the United States began to demand the free navigation of the Mississippi river. The Spanish power holding one bank en- tirely, and both part of its course, assumed that

they had exclusive use of it, and demanded heavy tolls on all imports south of the mouth of the Ohio. This was a vexed question at the time, and came at one period near disrupting the country, the intrigues of Miro and Carondelet, the Span- ish governors, tending to the separation of the western colonies from the eastern. All these questions were quieted by the treaty of Madrid, October 20, 1795, by which the free navigation of the river was assured and the use of New Orleans as a port of entry or deposit granted. October 16, 1802, these rights were revoked by Morales, then intendent of Louisiana, but this action was lot acquiesced in by the governor. Indignation ran high in the United States at that time over the matter. To effectually secure the rights of the United States in the navigation and commerce of the Mississippi, President Thomas Jefferson in January, 1803, sent a message to the senate of the United States, nominating Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe ministers to the court of France, with full authority to conclude a treaty to that end. Previous to this all the Louisianas had passed back into the possession of France. By a treaty made between the republic of France and Spain, the latter power had agreed to furnish a monthly war contribution to France, as she was unable to furnish soldiers for a common war. This debt not being paid, accumulated until pov- erty stricken or favorite-ridden Spain could not pay. At the same time the first consul, Bona- parte, had constructed out of some fragments of Italy remaining in his hands, the kingdom of Eturia. Now Spain proposed that she would, on the cancellation of the debt due by her and the gift of the kingdom of Eturia to the deposed prince of Parma, son-in-law of the king of Spain, make over to France her province of Louisiana. This was acceded to, and by the hands of the chief magistrate the new monarchs were crowned in Paris and sent to their new government, and by the treaty signed at Madrid, March 21, 1801, France received back the immense tract of terri- tory then known as Louisiana. Thus Nebraska was again French territory.

The newly accredited ministers of the United States arrived in Paris at a critical time. The hollow peace which followed the treaty of Amiens between England and France was strained to its utmost. Napoleon, with the admirable foresight which governed all his military measures, saw that this vast colony across the seas would be lost to him if war should break out between France and England. He took measures accordingly. Summoning M. Marbois, the secretary of finance, he broached the idea of selling to the Americans the whole province of Louisiana. In this he was governed by several motives. He felt he was making a friend of the American people and casting a bone of contention between them and the English government, and he also procured money with which to carry on the war. M. Mar- bois sent for the ministers and proposed the mat-

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

ter. Messrs. Monroe and Livingston were neither of them dismayed at their want of powers to make any such treaty, entered into the stipula- tion, subject of course to the ratification of their government. By the terms of this paper France ceded to the United States the whole province of Louisiana, for which she was to receive the sum of fifteen million dollars, and the United States assumed also the payment of certain claims against the French government. These latter were by merchants and ship owners who had suf- fered loss by the seizure of their vessels and car- goes by the Directory, a former government in France. The original price, which was paid through banking houses in Amsterdam, and the "spoliation claims" above mentioned, brought the price of Louisiana up to $27,267,621.98, as officially stated. This treaty was signed April 30, 1803. Much opposition developed in the United States to the ratification of the treaty, New England being particularly bitter against it. The far-seeing statesmen of that day alone ap- preciated the vast importance of the territory so cheaply purchased. The administration was bit- terly attacked by the federalists, and it was claimed that all kinds of danger to the republic would grow out of the confirmation of the treaty. Sober common sense, however, prevailed, and the treaty was confirmed. In December of the same year the province was officially delivered to the commissioners appointed to receive it, Governor Claiborne of Mississippi and General James Wil- kinson of the United States army. It is related that these latter were just in time, as a British fleet was approaching New Orleans to take pos- session when the stars and stripes were being hoisted over it.

By these means the United States became pos- sessed of a territory extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the forty-ninth parallel of north lati- tude, and from the banks of the Mississippi to the crest of the Rocky mountains. If the treaty, which was confirmed through the personal influ- ence of President Jefferson had miscar- ried, our now grand republic would have been bounded on the west by the "Father of Waters," and the vast empire lying west of it, now a valua- ble part of the United States, would have been in the possession of a foreign power. To that act of Livingston and Monroe in transcending their powers, the personal influence and wisdom of President Jefferson, and the acquiescence of the senate and the people in an act only after it had been done, is due the fact that Nebraska is now a part of the federal union.

At that time the territory since known by the name of the Louisiana purchase included what is now the states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota (or the greater part of it), North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. It also in- cluded Indian Territory and Oklahoma.

The full text of the treaty of cession between

the United States of America and the French Re- public is as follows :

The President of the United States of America and the First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, desiring to remove all sources of misunderstanding relative to the objects of dis- cussion mentioned in the second and fifth articles of the convention of the 8th Vendemaire, an 9 (30 Sep- tember, 1800), relative to the rights claimed by the United States, in virtue of the treaty concluded at Madrid, the 27th of October, 1795, between his Cath- olic Majesty and the said United States, and willing to strengthen the union and friendship which at the time of the said convention was happily re-estab- lished between the two nations, have respectfully named their plenipotentiaries, towit: the President of the United States of America, by and with the ad- vice and consent of the Senate of the said States, Robert R. Livingston, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, and James Monroe, Minister Plen- ipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of the said States, near the government of the French Republic; and the First Consul, in the name of the French peo- ple, the French citizen Barbe Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury, who after having respectively exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the fol- lowing articles:

Article I. Whereas, By the article the third of the treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, the 9th Vendemaire an 9, (1st October, 1800), between the First Consul of the French Republic and his Catholic Majesty, it was agreed as follows: "His Catholic Majesty pro- mises and engages on his part to retrocede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and stipulations herein relative to his royal highness, the Duke of Parma, the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same ex- tent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and it had when France possessed it; and such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States;" and

Whereas, In pursuance of the treaty, and particu- larly of the third article, the French Republic has an incontestible title to the domain and the possession of the said territory; the First Consul of the French Republic desiring to give to the United States a strong proof of his friendship, doth hereby cede to the United States, in the name of the French Republic, forever, and in full sovereignty, the said territory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner as they have been acquired by the French Republic in virtue of the above-mentioned treaty, con- cluded with his Catholic Majesty.

Article II. In the cession made by the preceding article, are included the adjacent islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public buildings, fortifications, barracks and other edifices which are not private property. The archives, papers and documents relative to the domain and sovereignty of Louisiana and its depencies, will be left in the possession of the Commissioners of the United States, and copies will be afterwards given in due form to the magistrates and municipal officers of such of the said papers and documents as may be necessary to them.

Article III. The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal consitution, to the en- joyment of all the rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and protected in the free en- joyment of their liberty, property and the religion which they profess.

Article IV. There shall be sent, by the Government of France, a Commissary to Louisiana, to the end that he do every act necessary, as well to receive from the

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

officers of his Catholic Majesty the said country and its dependencies in the name of the French Republic, if it has not been already done, as to transmit it in the name of the French Republic to the Commissary or agent of the United States.

Article V. Immediately after the ratification of the present treaty by the President of the United States, and in case that of the first consul shall have been pre- viously obtained, the Commissary of the French Re- pubic shall remit all the military posts of New Or- leans and other parts of the ceded territory, to the Commissary or Commissaries named by the President to take possession; the troops, whether of France or Spain, who may be there, shall cease to occupy any military post from the time of taking possession, and shall be embarked as soon as possible, in the course of three months after the ratifications of this treaty.

Article VI. The United States promises to execute such treaties and articles as may have been agreed be- tween Spain and the tribes and nations of Indians, until by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations, other suitable articles shall have been agreed upon.

Article VII. As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France and the United States to en- courage the communication of both nations, for a limited time, in the country ceded by the present treaty, until general arrangements relative to the commerce of both nations may be agreed on, it has been agreed between the contracting parties, that the French ships coming directly from France or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce of manu- factures of France or her salu colonies, and the ships of Spain coming directly from Spain or any of her colonies, loaded only with the produce or manufac- tures of Spain or her colonies, shall be admitted dur- ing the space of twelve years, in the ports of New Orleans, and all other legal ports of entry within the ceded territory, in the same manner as the ships of the United States, coming directly from France or Spain or any of their colonies, without being subject to any other or greater duty on merchandise, or other or greater tonnage than those paid by the citizens of the United States.

During the space of time above-mentioned, no other nation shall have a right to the same privi- leges in the ports of the ceded territory; the twelve years shall commence three months after the exchange of ratifications, if it shall take place in France, or three months after it shall have been notified at Paris to the French Government, if it shall take place in the United States. It is, however, well understood, that the object of the above article is to favor the manufacturers, commerce, freight and navigation of France and Spain, so far as relates to the importa- tions that the French and Spanish shall make into the said ports of the United States, without in any sort affecting the regulations that the United States may make concerning the exportation of the produce and merchandise of the United States, or any right they may have to make such regulations.

Article VIII. In future, and forever after the ex- piration of the twelve years, the ships of France shall be treated upon the footing of the most favored na- tions in the ports above mentioned.

Article IX. The particular conventions, signed this day by the respective Ministers, having for its object to provide for the payment of debts due to the citi- zens of the United States by the French Republic, prior to the 30th of September, 1800 (8th Vende- maire, 9), is approved, and to have its execution in the same manner as if it had been inserted in the present treaty, and it shall be ratified in the same form and in the same time, so that the one shall not be ratified distinct from the other.

Another particular convention, signed at the same date as the present treaty, relative to a definite rule

between the contracting parties, is in like manner ap- proved, and will be ratified in the same form and in the same time, and jointly.

Article X. The present treaty shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratification shall be ex- changed in the space of six months after the date of the signature by the Ministers Plenipotentiary, or sooner if possible. In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed these articles in the French and English languages, declaring, nevertheless, that the present treaty was originally agreed to in the French language; and have thereunto set their seals.

Done at Paris, the tenth day of Floreal, in the eleventh year of the French Republic, and the 30th April, 1803.

ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON, [L.S.] JAMES MONROE, [L.S.]

BARBE MARBOIS, [L.S.]

An act was passed by congress October 31, 1803, which authorized the president of the United States to take possession of Louisiana and form a temporary government thereof. By this act the government was vested in such manner as the president of the United States might direct. But the authority of the general government real- ly dates from March 10, 1804, on which date Amos Stoddard assumed the duties of governor of Upper Louisiana. On the 26th of that month congress erected Louisiana into the territory of Orleans and the district of Louisiana. The divi- sion line was the southern boundary of Mississippi territory and the thirty-third degree of latitude. So Nebraska was then a part of the district of Louisiana, the latter being all of the French ces- sion west of the Mississippi river except the pres- ent state of Louisiana. The government of this large district was committed to the officers of the territory of Indiana.

The Lewis and Clark expedition was the next move directed toward exploring and improving the newly-acquired territory. This expedition was planned by the president in the summer of 1803 for the purpose of discovering the courses and sources of the Missouri and the most conven- ient water communication thence to the Pacific ocean. Capt. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, both army officers, were given command. The party started in May, 1804, and consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, fourteen soldiers of the United States army who volunteered their services, two French watermen, an interpreter and hunter, and a colored servant of Capt .. Clark. In addition to these, who were enlisted for the whole expedition, a corporal and six soldiers, also nine watermen, were engaged to accompany the expedition as far as the Mandan nation in order to assist in carrying the stores or repelling an at- tack. This expedition embarked in three boats up the Missouri river. On May 25 they reached LaCharrette, a little settlement of seven houses on the Missouri river, about fifty miles above its mouth in what is now the state of Missouri. This was the last settlement of white people on the Missouri river. From this point onward there was no civilization. Continuing up the river the expedition reached and encamped on a large

COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY, REMINISCENCE AND BIOGRAPHY.

island of sand on the north side of the Missouri, immediately opposite the mouth of the river Nemeha, on the evening of July 11. As the party proceeded from this point northwest to the mouth of the Niobrara they explored much of what is now the eastern boundary of Nebraska. An ac- count of what they saw is of especial interest in this connection. We therefore give their daily journal until the Platte was reached :

"Thursday, 12 (July, 1804). We remained here today for the purpose of refreshing the party and making lunar observations. The Nemaha empties itself into the Missouri from the south, and is eighty yards wide at its confluence, which is in latitude thirty-nine degrees, fifty-five min- utes and fifty-six seconds. Capt. Clark ascended it in the pirogue about two miles to the mouth of a small creek on the lower side. On going ashore he found in the level plain several artificial mounds or graves, and on the adjoining hills others of a larger size. This appearance indicates sufficiently the former population of this country, the mounds being certainly intended as tombs, the Indians of the Missouri still preserving the custom of interring the dead on high ground. From the top of the highest mound a delightful prospect presented itself-the level and extensive meadows watered by the Nemahaw and enliv- ened by the few trees and shrubs skirting the borders of the river and its tributary streams, the lowland of the Missouri covered with undulating grass nearly five feet high gradually rising into a second plain, where rich weeds and flowers are interspersed with copses of the Osage pli. Further back are seen small groves of trees and abundance of grapes, the wild cherry of the Mis- souri resembling our own but larger and growing on a small bush, and the choke cherry which we observed for the first time. Some of the grapes gathered today are nearly ripe. On the south of the Nemahaw and about a quarter of a mile fro n its mouth is a cliff of freestone in which are var- ious inscriptions and marks made by the Indians. The sand island on which we are encamped is covered with two species of willow, broad and narrow leaf.

"July 13. We proceeded at sunrise with a fair wind from the south, and at two miles passed the mouth. of a small river on the north called Big Torkio. A channel from the bed of the Missouri once ran into this river and formed an island called St. Joseph's, but the channel is now filled up and the island is added to the northern shore. Further on to the south is situated an extensive plain covered with a grass resembling timothy in its general appearance, except the seed, which is like flax-seed, and also a number of grape vines. At twelve miles we passed an island on the north, above which is a large sandbar covered with wil- lows, and at twenty and a half miles stopped on a large sandbar in the middle of the river, opposite a high, handsome prairie, which extends to the hills four or five miles distant, though near the

bank the land is low and subject to be overflowed. This day was exceedingly fine and pleasant, a storm of wind last night from the north-northeast having cooled the air.

"July 14. We had some hard showers of rain before 7 o'clock, when we set out. We had just reached the end of the sand island and seen the opposite banks fall in and so lined with timber that we could not approach it without danger, when a sudden squall from the northeast struck the boat on the starboard quarter, and would have certainly dashed her to pieces on the sand island if the party had not leaped into the river, and with the aid of the anchor and cable kept her off, the waves dashing over her for the space of forty minutes, after which the river became al- most instantly calm and smooth. The two pirogues were ahead in a situation nearly similar, but fortunately no damage was done to the boats or the loading. The wind having shifted to the southeast, we came at a distance of two miles to an island on the north. One mile above, on the same side of the river, is a small factory, where a merchant of St. Louis traded with the Otoes and Pawnees two years ago. Near this is an extensive lowland, part of which is overflowed occasionally. The rest is rich and well timbered. The wind again changed to the northwest by north. At seven and a half miles we reached the lower point of a large island on the north side. A small dis- tance above this point is a river called by the Maha (now Omaha) Indians, the Nishnabatona. This is a considerable creek, nearly as large as the Mine river, and runs parallel to the Missouri the greater part of its course, being fifty yards wide at its mouth. In the prairies or glades we saw wild timothy, lambsquarter, huckleberries, and on the edge of the river summer grapes, plums and gooseberries. We also saw today for the first time some elk, at which some of the party shot, but at too great a distance. We encamped on the north side of the island, a little above Nishnaba- tona, having made nine miles. The river fell a little.

"July 15. A thick fog prevented our leaving the encampment before 7. At about four miles we reached the extremity of the large island, and crossing to the south (side of the Missouri) at the distance of seven miles, arrived at the Little Nemaha, a small river from the south, forty yards wide a little above its mouth, but contracting as do almost all the water emptying into the Mis- souri at its confluence. At nine and three-quar- ters miles we encamped on a woody point on the south. Along the southern bank is a rich lowland covered with peavine and rich weeds and watered by small streams rising in the adjoining prairies. They, too, are rich, and though with abundance of grass, have no timber except what grows near the water. Interspersed through both are grape vines, plums of two kinds, two species of wild cherry, hazelnuts and gooseberries. On the south there is one unbroken plain; on the north

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Compendium of history, reminiscence, and biography of Nebraska : containing a history of the state of Nebraska also a compendium of reminiscence and biography containing biographical sketches of hundreds of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of Nebraska, Part 6

Author: Alden Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1402

Author: Alden Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Alden Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1402