The early exploration of Louisiana

Front matter

The Early Exploration of Louis i a n a

"By Isaac Josltn Cox, <Ph. <D.

Instructor in History, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Preface

Chapter I. — The Title and Its Definition. Chapter II. — Preparing to Expore the Missouri. Chapter III. — Lewis and Clark on the Missouri. Chapter IV. — Jefferson's Plan for Exploring Louisiana. Chapter V. — The Hunter-Dunbar Expedition up the Washita. Chapter VI. — A Leader and a Passport for the Red River Expedition.

Chapter VTL— Spanish Expeditions Along the Louisiana Border.

Chapter VIII. — The Bid for the Support of the Red River Indians.

Chapter IX. — Freeman's Red River Expedition. Chapter X. — Pike on the Upper Mississippi. Chapter XL — Wilkinson, Pike, and the Southwest. Chapter XII.— Opening the Santa Fe Trail.

Chapter XIII. — Pike on the Mexican Border. Chapter XIV. — The Diplomatic Correspondence of Louisiana Exploration.

Chapter XV. — Summary and Conclusion.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

MAPS.

( 1 ) Map to Illustrate General Exploration of Louisiana.

Frontispiece.

(2) Map of the Washita and Lower Red River.

Facing Chapter V.

PREFACE.

The work of which this present monograph is a result represents but one essential part of an extensive study of the frontiers of the Louisiana Purchase, during- the years from its acquisition to its delimitation, following the Treaty of 1819. As in so many similar cases, I approached the subject with a view to make a study of the whole of the period above mentioned ; but with the accumulation of material I was obliged to contract the field until the work assumed the present form and title. Despite the multitude of individual studies and general publications called forth by the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, I believe that the following monograph will justify its appearance as a fairly exhaustive survey of some unfamiliar phases occurring in our expansion to the westward.

In approaching the subject of Louisiana Exporation, even from the restricted standpoint assumed, I have found it impossible to avoid extended treatment of the work of Lewis and Clark and of Pike ; but, in view of the voluminous monographs devoted to these great pathfinders, I have endeavored to make this treatment a grouping of essential facts and an emphasis upon certain phases of their work, rather than a detailed resume of their undertakings. With reference to the minor expeditions, of which the details are little known, I have adopted a somewhat different course, but in both cases I have attempted to suggest broad lines of national policy, rather than insignificant, though interesting details of frontier exploration.

In studying the careers of the three great explorers just mentioned, I have derived immense advantage from the previous labors of the late Dr. Elliot Coues and Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites — an advantage to which my footnotes abundantly attest. In the study of Lewis and Clark I have unfortunately had opportunity to use only the first five volumes of the "Original Journals," which are now appearing under the editorship of Dr. Thwaites. For the Hunter-Dunbar expeditions I have had the use, not merely of the recently printed Dunbar ''Journal/' but also of the manuscript journal of Dr. George Hunter, now in possession of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia. Through the kindness of the Secretary, Dr. I. Minis Plays, I was permitted to examine it.

One of the principal features of the present study is the view, as I believe, now first afforded, of the Spanish side of Louisiana exploration. Two important manuscript sources have been used, the Bexar Archives and the New Mexico Archives. The latter collection is now housed in the Library of Congress, where it is readily accessible to students. The former collection is much more extensive, but because of its location and unorganized condition has heretofore been little known. It is now in possession of the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, and is being classified under the direction of Professor George P. Garrison. At present, however, it is impossible to make more exact citations than are used in this work. Although I have personally worked upon this collection, most of the material herein used was furnished by my friend and co-worker, Dr. Walter Flavius McCaleb, who has thus emphasized his friendship and interest in historical production.

In addition to these two important collections, I have likewise made use of the Claiborne Correspondence, six volumes of manuscripts in the Bureau of Library and Rolls of the State Department; the Wilkinson Papers, through the courtesy of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Historical Society; and the Jefferson Papers, now in the Library of Congress. To a limited extent only, because the various expeditions provoked comparatively little diplomatic correspondence, I have also profited by an examination of the files of the Bureau of Indexes and Archives in the State Department. I have also made use of certain material from the Archivo General of the City of Mexico, a valuable collection almost unknown to the historical world. The bibliography, as well as the footnotes, will make mention of other minor manuscript sources.

It is hardly necessary to mention the long list of libraries, both public and private, from which, during the past two years, I have received courteous attention and valuable aid. It is but just to acknowledge the personal interest of Professor J. B. McMaster and the timely suggestions and assistance of Professor H. V. Ames — both of the University of Pennsylvania. From Professor i

Merrick Whitcomb, of the University of Cincinnati, I have received innumerable courtesies in preparing the work for the University Press. To my pupil and friend, F. J. Goldenberg, I am indebted for the maps, adapted from those accompanying Pike's Account of an Expedition.

ISAAC JOSLIN COX.

University of Cincinnati, January 16, 1906.

Chapter I. The Title And Its Definition

The title of this monograph, "The Early Exploration of Louisiana," calls for a concise interpretation of its time limit and its geographical setting. Our first task, then, will be to discuss briefly these essential points.

The name "Louisiana" has been applied to an uncertain territorial claim, to an equally ill-defined colonial jurisdiction, to the •argest territorial acquisition of the United States, to a territory comprising the greater portion of this acquisition, and finally to a State of die American Union. In its widest extent it embraced nearly a third of the North American contient; in its most restricted use — that which is current at the present day-— it embraces a relatively small fraction of our Union. Naturally such a term requires a careful definition, both as to place and time, in order to be carefully understood. At the outset it may eliminate confusion to state that the wrriter intends to confine his present study to the years 1803 to 1807, inclusive, and that he will accordingly use the term "Louisiana" with the signification that it ordinarily bore during that period. For the most part, the people of that day regarded the name as applicable to the whole of our great purchase from France. It is true that, in 1804, the portion comprising almost all of the present State of Louisiana was set apart as a separate territory, under the name of Orleans, while the rest of the purchase retained the original name. But this division, for political purposes merely, did not for many years destroy the unified view with which President and people regarded our great acquisition.

The name "Louisiana,*' then, will be used to designate the whole of that vast territorial expanse acquired from Napoleon in 1803; but even a statement apparently so simple as this does not remove every difficulty of definition. Statesmen and historians from Jefferson's day to the present time have never agreed concerning the exact limits of the Louisiana Purchase. Although it is not scientific to adopt an arbitrary interpretation without stating the reasons that have led to it ; yet, as the limits of this study will not permit such a detailed statement, while clearness requires rigid definition of the terms used, the writer ventures to give his opinion in a negative and somewhat arbitrary form. According to his interpretation, the ''Louisiana Purchase" does not include Texas, West. Florida, or any territory west of the Continental Divide.1

The history of Spanish, French, and English settlements and explorations for some two and a half centuries previous to our acquisition supports this interpretation. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the vast region drained by the Mississippi formed part of that uncertain domain which Spain claimed as "Florida." From the southeast discoverers of this nation had approached and crossed this mighty river, while from the southwest others had reached some of its important tributaries; but there was no effective occupation of any portion of the great central valley. Finally, in the midst of this native wilderness, deserted by the inefficient Spaniards, appeared the intrepid La Salle, and aroused them, in a measure, from their lethargy. But it was too late to preserve intact the region that sloth had been content to leave to native barbarism. From the north La Salle pressed the wedge of French occupation, thrusting Florida apart from the base of effective support on the mainland, and destroying the cherished plan of making the Mexican Gulf a closed sea. This event marks the first step in that continental expansion which finally deprived Spain of her colonies and divided her territories among the nations.

The early years of the eighteenth century beheld the French firmly established upon the Gulf coast and in control of the Mississippi River. Within three decades their colonial officials had settled the problem of neighborhood with their Spanish rivals. In the east, the Perdido, a small stream midway between Mobile and Pensacola, was observed by the local authorities as the limit of their respective jurisdictions. In the west, the Arroyo Hondo, an unimportant bayou west of Natchitoches, answered the same purpose. Neither of the home governments formally ratified the

1. See map, Frontispiece.

work of its subordinates, nor did this local delimitation affect, in any measure, the vast interior watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries. By 1720, the French had begun to advance up the Missouri. This movement provoked the Spaniards to send from New Mexico a counter expedition, which met an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Pawnees.2 This repulse left the French in undisputed control of the fur trade of the lower Missouri.

Before another score of years elapsed these adventurous fur traders passed to the upper course of the Missouri, in the vicinity of the Mandan Indians ; and breaking a new pathway to the southwest, they penetrated from the Missouri and Platte to Santa Fe.:>> These incursions, however, were in no way adequately followed up ; so that at the close of the French regime in Louisiana, neither they nor the Spaniards had effectually occupied the interior, while near the Gulf coast a few straggling settlements formed all that was tangible of two uncertain colonial jurisdictions, separated by tentative lines of little legal or diplomatic significance.

When in 1763, Spain and England divided the bulk of the American continent, the former obtained the major portion of what the French had claimed as Louisiana. This acquisition the Spanish crown regarded as separate from the rest of its colonial dominions in America, and proceeded to treat it as such. Its evident purpose was to use the new territory as a buffer between its English neighbors and the more important interior provinces of Mexico. Accordingly, during this period, we find that those Spanish writers who treat the subject at all, emphasize the former local barriers, which, in their estimation, still continued to separate Spanish and French Creoles. 4

For a few years the westward tide of English migration attracted but little notice and called forth but few warnings; but when, with the waning of- the century, the English tide became an Anglo-American flood, a far different problem confronted the lethargic Spanish officials. In the north the stream of British

2. Historia 43, Opusculo I, Par. 15, 55, Archivo General, Mexico City; Bandelier, A. F., Papers of the Archaelogical Institute of America, V, 179-206.

4. Cf. Historia 43, Opusculo I, Par. 30; Ibid, Document LXXIII, Par. 18, 19.

fur traders, pushing steadily to the west and southwest, by 1790 rendered the control of strategic positions on the Pacific a matter of international importance. The work of these same traders upon the headwaters of the Mississippi and of the Missouri was much less noticeable, but it served to present another problem to the new possessor of Louisiana, when that province finally passed into American hands. The Spaniards made some futile attempts to control the fur trade, and the allegiance of the natives as well, along the middle course of the Missouri and its tributaries; but even in this region, before the close of the century, British industry was beginning to obtain a foothold. At this period, then, from a British base in the north and a Spanish base in the south and southwest, there emanated two opposing currents of influence that passed from one Indian tribe to another until finally they met near the head waters of the Missouri. Here the first representatives of a third and finally controlling factor — the American — encountered them on their journey to the Pacific.

Meanwhile, the stream of American migration that was beginning to sweep through Louisiana and to threaten Texas, by way of the Red and Washita Rivers, became more disquieting to Spanish officials, because less understood and harder to control. The leading spirits of this movement became managers of plantations, owners of cattle ranches, horse-traders, and Indian factors, and in many other ways urged the development of the natural resources of the country. But the suspicious Spaniards saw in them only the first tide of an American invasion, destined ultimately to sweep over all Mexico.5 It is to be confessed that in the actions of Philip Nolan, the chief representative of this movement and a protege of General James Wilkinson, of unsavory reputation, there was abundant justification for the fears of these Mexican officials. Oddly enough Jefferson, Wilkinson, and Dunbar, who later figure so prominently in the following pages, first approach the subject of Louisiana exploration through this early pioneer, Nolan. ,;

So it happened that when in 1803, Jefferson at length began.

5. Gayarre\ History of Louisiana, III, 183, 407, 408.

6. Wilkinson, Memoirs II, App. II, passim. Some interesting letters concerning- Nolan are printed in Texas Historical Ouarterly, VII. 308-317.

in a fairly adequate manner, the subject of trans-Mississippi exploration, the outskirts of the great district of Louisiana had been lightly fringed by Spanish, French, and English influences. But of the great interior there existed no definite knowledge; and it was into this interior that he was privileged to send the first expeditions for the scientific exploration of Louisiana — a Louisiana very slightly limited, as we have already stated, by two and a half centuries of ineffectual colonial influence.

The time element of our subject next requires some explanation. What definite period is meant by the term "Early Exploration"? It was not until January, 1803, that a plan for western discovery under government auspices promised any degree of success. It was in July, 1807, that Pike returned from his famous Mexican tour. The intervening three and a half years, then, comprise the period of this study — the period during which Lewis and Clark, Pike. Hunter and Dunbar, Freeman, and Sibley recorded their names in the annals of Louisiana exploration. This was the period not only of "early" exploration, but of the most important work in that field, so far as the government was concerned. With one important exception, it was the only time for two decades after the purchase that the government encouraged direct public exploration at its own expense within its new acquisition. Between 1807 and 1820 practically all western exploration, merely for its own sake, was done by individual scientists or fur traders; and the former were in most cases dependent upon the latter for their opportunities.

Thus the brief period selected for this study embraces nearly all government effort at exploration, before our treaty with Spain gave a definite western limit to our new acquisition. It is needless to say that this fact gives the period a certain additional unity, if such were necessary to justify its selection.

The personal element in this early exploration requires a somewhat detailed treatment. To say that Jefferson's name is indissolubly linked with the Louisiana Purchase is but to repeat a historical truism. His connection with the famous Lewis and Clark expedition is almost equally well known ; although the comparatively slight connection in the beginning between this expedition and the Purchase is but just beginning to be poularly understood. Jefferson's connection with Pike's exploits, though remote, has at least been pointed out by interested students. Very few, even the latter, know of his intimate connection with the txplorations of Hunter and Dunbar, of Sibley, and of Freeman, on the Washita and Red Rivers; or of the importance in the President's mind of the work of these men, and of the part their efforts were to play in his far reaching but never realized plan of exploration.

If it is not necessary to give here a detailed summary of Jefferson's connection with Louisiana exploration, it is needful to differentiate the work of the men who, in a partial degree at least, performed this task. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were engag"ed to explore a route from the Mississippi to the Pacific coast. All plans were formed and instructions given before the official tidings of the purchase reached Jefferson. Louisiana exploration, as such, formed with them only a secondary task. Dr. John Sibley, of North Carolina, migrated to Louisiana early in 1803, and while the country was still a Spanish possession, made a personal investigation of the Red River as far as the vicinity of Natchitoches, for the purpose of selecting a suitable spot to locate as a ranchman. After the transfer he received an appointment as Surgeon's mate in the army, and later as Indian agent ; and as public official, turned into government channels the information he had gained for private ends.

William Dunbar, George Hunter, and Thomas Freeman participated in Jefferson's special plan for the exploration of Louisiana — a plan directly conceived by the President and urged by him and his supporters for the express purpose of learning about our new territorial acquisition. Although this plan was apparently the least successful of all in point of view of actual achievement, yet this is not to be regarded as a reflection upon the. originator or his agents. Finally, there are the two expeditions of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a young lieutenant acting as the agent of the notorious James Wilkinson. The latter as commander in chief of the American army was immediately responsible for Pike's work: but in important details it was in accord with Jefferson's general scheme, and the latter virtually assumed the position as sponsor for it.

Among the important explorers of this period, then, there will be found but three who were directly authorized by the President for the express purpose of exploring Louisiana, and these three are by no means the leading members of the group. Nevertheless, the efforts of all contributed to the same end, and the aggregate of information acquired was considerable, and at the time, of the utmost importance. It is interesting to see how these expeditions, differing so greatly in plan and in personnel, were all used by Jefferson to serve his particular purpose. It is this genius for the utilization of the efforts of divers men and of differing occasions, for the gathering of scientific grapes from the thorns of apparently fruitless explorations, that constituted the great service of the President, and made both the conception of the plan and its inadequate but well-advertised realization his peculiar work.

Furthermore, each man who was engaged in this task of frontier exploration knew that while actually working in his particular field the President had an intense personal interest in him, and would read with avidity each scrap of information that he furnished. This interest, which never flagged until the published results were given to the world, identified the President with the individual explorer, and in a double measure with the sum total of the exporation for the period.

It was but natural that work undertaken under such varying auspices should fail to produce the thorough results at first expected. Nevertheless, in addition to the geographical and kindred knowledge acquired, in addition to the impression — all too uncertain — made upon the Indians visited, these various expeditions pointed out the three main currents of American migration to the westward. Lewis and Clark may be regarded as the originators of the Missouri-Columbia trail which afterward became the more important Missouri-California pathway. Pike emphasized, although he did not point out, the Santa Fe trail — the second important highway to the far Southwest. The others participated in the opening flow of that human torrent which was later to sweep over Texas; whose first tiny filibustering rivulets were to be dissipated in inhospitable deserts, but whose later currents were to swell to a flood sweeping the whole Southwest irresistibly towards annexation. It was something to have defined these three great currents of western migration, and this was one important accomplishment of early Louisiana exploration.

CHAPTER IT.

PREPARING TO EXPLORE THE MISSOURI.

Although intimately associated with the Louisiana Purchase, the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition owed its existence to motives of a far different source. Its inception was due to Jefferson's zeal in the pursuit of scientific studies, and its realization to an important change in the Indian trading policy of the national government. Thus science and commerce, philosophical speculation and practical business joined hands in promoting this, the most important and most successful exploration in our country's history.

Jefferson early became interested in the exploration of the northwest coast of America. On December 4, 1783, he wrote to George Rogers Clark,1 suggesting the overland route from the Mississippi to the Pacific as a field for his ambition, with a view to forestall possible British rivalry. Three years later, while Minister to France, he impressed upon John Ledyard2 the possibility of opening communication with the Missouri from the Pacific, and that adventurous Connecticut traveler almost spanned the eastern continent before Catharine II. igominiously forced him him to retrace his steps from Kamtchatka. As a member of Washington's cabinet, Jefferson was the official supporter, in behalf of the American Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, of Andre Michaux's scheme to visit the Missouri and the Oregon (Columbia), and issued instructions to the French botanist3 that greatly resemble those given ten years later to Lewis. Michaux, however, was turned from his purpose to assist in the intrigues of Genet for the invasion of the Spanish colonies ; and with the recall of that French Minister passed to other fields of exploration.

For a decade Jefferson allowed his scheme to slumber, but did not forget it. At last the opportunity came to voice his interest

1. Thwaites, Rocky Mountain Exploratio?i, 68.

2. Ford, Writings of Jefferson, I, 94-96.

in the great northwest, in the confidential message of January 18, 1803. 4 The immediate occasion for the expression of his views was the act to continue government trading houses among the Indians. Because of its policy in furnishing goods to the natives at actual cost, the government was supposedly a competitor of private individuals.5 Jefferson suggested that if Congress voted to continue the policy, the attention of these might profitably be turned to the Missouri, then monopolized by British traders. He diplomatically pointed out that to inaugurate this policy with success, a small force must be sent to make a thorough exploration of the country as far as the Pacific, and to form treaties with the Indian tribes along the route. By utilizing enlisted men an appropriation of $2,500 would cover the expense of the expedition, and the title "An act for the purpose of extending the commerce of the United States" would screen its purpose from public notice. The fact that the nation '(Spain) claiming the territory would regard it is a literary pursuit, might save it from her jealousy, even if the decadent state of her interests in that quarter did not render her opinion a matter of indifference.

Congress having authorized the expedition agreeably to Jefferson's wishes, he gratified the boyhood ambition of his private secretary, Meriwether Lewis, by making him its guiding spirit.6 The months that followed were busy ones for the young explorer. In April7 he was at Harper's Ferry; Virginia, to superintend the construction of a special iron frame boat and the manufacture of arms for his party ; later he went to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and received from Andrew Ellicott. the surveyor of the southern boundary of the United States, special instruction in the handling of astronomical instruments. At the same time he took steps to gather recruits from the various western posts, and to engage a guide in Cincinnati. May and June he passed in Philadelphia, in

5. In reality, because of its necessary "cash" policy, the government was almost a negligible factor in the Indian trade.

6. Iyewis at the age of 19 had asked for the position planned for Michaux.

7. For the movements of I^ewis until he reached camp at Wood River, cf. Coues, History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition 1, XXII- XXV, Note 7. Also Jefferson Papers, Series 1, Vol. 10; Series 2, Vol. 51.

consultation with the eminent physicians, Rush, Barton and Wister (to whom he showed the first draft of his instructions regarding the scientific details of his work) , and in collecting maps and other geographical data. The industry and foresight that Lewis displayed in his preparations, and the success that crowned his undertaking, afford abundant justification for the confidence the President reposed in him and for the eulogium he subsequently wrote.8

It will be observed that Jefferson proposed this exploration in a message penned before Monroe set sail for Europe to assist Livingston and Pinckney in obtaining the Floridas and the Island of New Orleans — not the whole of Louisiana. Such an extensive purchase was far from the President's view, although Livingston at Paris, at this very time, was suggesting to Talleyrand9 that France should cede to the United States all that country above the Arkansas River, as a barrier betnween Louisiana and Canada. The first draft of the instructions to Lewis was composed in April when Monroe had barely reached Paris; and the final copy was signed and delivered to the explorer on June 20, before anthentic news of the transfer arrived. Thus in motive and essential preparation the expedition had nothing whatever to do with the Louisiana Purchase.

An expedition so conceived must be managed with considerable secrecy and deception. Not only did the act conveying the appropriation bear a misleading title, in order to avoid public attention (and the "public" referred to the American people as well as to British fur traders) ; but the prejudices of the Spaniards, the actual possessors of the territory — so far as it was then occupied — were to be met by assurances of the purely "literary" character of the expedition. This "literary" subterfuge apparently satisfied the representative of Great Britain, whose traders were in a position to oppose most successfully the progress of the party up the Missouri, and of Napoleon, then the legal owner of the territory ; but it signally failed to quiet the jealous fears of Casa Yrujo, the Spanish Minister at Washington, of Casa Calvo, the boundary

8. Coues, Lewis and Clark, I, XXI and XXII.

9. L,iving-ston to Talleyrand, Jan. 10, 1803, American State Papers, For. Rel., II, 531.

commissioner at New Orleans, of Salcedo, the Captain-General of the Internal Provinces, or of the Madrid Government itself.10 Lewis bore passports from the British and French ministers, but none from the Spanish. It is true this only forced him to pass the winter of 1803-04 upon soil already in our possession, but it boded ill for any other American expedition that should come within striking- distance of the tottering but resolute Spanish colonial oower.

Lewis parted from Jefferson at Washington on July 5th, just after the news of the transfer of Louisiana arrived. This permitted him to throw off the cloak of deception under which the real purpose of the expedition had been concealed,11 and to hope for assistance from our new citizens in Louisiana. He now could increase his force above the ten or twelve men first suggested, and could enter openly into trade relations with the Indians ; for in the language of the President, "their late fathers, the Spaniards," had "agreed to withdraw all their troops from all the waters in the country of the Mississippi and Missouri and to surrender all subjects, posts and lands." He added that "henceforward we become their fathers and friends, and that we shall endeavor that they shall have no cause to lament the change."12

From Washingon Lewis forwarded to his friend, William Clark, the frank offer to share with him the hardships and honors of his journev. With a sense of added importance and responsibility resting upon him as the first official explorer of the new national domain, he passed rapidly over the mountains to Pittsburg, where until the last of August, he alternately persuaded and threatened the drunken and inefficient workmen who delayed the completion of his boat. Evidently disappointed in not receiving Clark's reply here, on the 26th of July, he wrote Jefferson recom-

11. Lewis had written of the real object of the expedition under the injunction of secrecy, to a certain John Conner (or Connor) of Cincinnati, who was eng-aged as a guide, but whose eng-agement was afterward cancelled. Under Jefferson's advice he generally gave out the idea that he was to explore the upper Mississippi. Wheeler, The Trail of Lewis and Clark, I, 32; Jefferson Papers, Ser. 2, Vol. 51, Nos. 97, 104.