History of Louisiana, from its first discovery and settlement to the present time

CHAPTER II. Disjcovery of the Mississippi 21

CHAPTER m.

Settlement of Florida 31

CHAPTER rV.

Expedition of Joliet and Marquette. — Hennepin. — La Salle 40

CHAPTER V.

Expedition of Iberville. — Mississippi Company.— Foundation of New-Orleans by Bienville 55

CHAPTER VI.

Indian Tribes 73

CHAPTER Vn.

War of the Natchez 85

CHAPTER VIII.

Surrender of the Charter of the Mississippi Company. — War of the Chickasaws.- Interior affairs 95

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Diflferences between France and England. — General Washington. — Nova Scotia. — Fort Duquesne. — Loss of Canada. — Suppression of the Order of Jesuits .... Page 106

CHAPTER X.

Louisiana ceded to Spain 121

CHAPTER XL

Conduct of O'Reilly. — Villere. — Acts of the Spanish Government 131

CHAPTER XII.

Galvez.— War with England.— Mira.— St. Domingo . . 145

CHAPTER XIII.

Carondelet. — Fortification of New-Orleans. — Sugar Manufactory. — French Emigrants. — Treaty between the United States and Spain. — Gayoso de Lemos 158

CHAPTER XIV.

Transfer of Louisiana to the United States . . . 167

CHAPTER XV.

Territorial Government of Louisiania. — Laws . . . 177

CHAPTER XVI.

Spain. — Conspiracy of Burr. — General Wilkinson. — Refugees from Cuba. — Taking of Baton Rouge. — Louisiana made a State. — Constitution. — Steamboats .... 196

CHAPTER XVII.

War with England.— Battle of New-Orleans . . .213

CONTENTS. Xi

CHAPTER XVIII.

Prosperity of Louisiana.— Bank of Louisiana. — Laws.— Florida. — Mouth of the Mississippi.— Lafayette.— General Jackson elected President.— National Bank.— Cholera . . 232

CHAPTER XIX.

Tariff.— Speculation.— Lotteries.— Banks.— Madame Lalaurie. —New-Orleans Divided.— Stoppage of Specie Payments 248

CHAPTER XX.

Project of Albert Hoa. — Appropriations. — Great Flood. — Improvements in Louisiana.— State of Society.— Conclusion 259

CHAPTER I.

Discovery of Canada.

Louisiana having been formerly connected vritli Canada and the northern parts of America while they were under the dominion of France, it seems proper to take some notice of the early settlements in those extensive countries. In 1504, within seven years of the discovery of the Continent, the mariners of Brittany resorted to Newfoundland for the purpose of fishing. The island of Cape Breton received its name from them; and in France they were generally regarded as the discoverers of the country, though it could not be denied that the Cabots had first visited it.

In 1506, Denys, a citizen of Honfleur, made a map of the Gulf of St. Lawrence ; plans of colonization were formed ; and two years afterward Aubert brought to France some of the natives of Canada ; but it was not until 1524 that any decisive step was taken. Francis I. then B employed Verazzani, a Florentine, to explore these new regions. He set sail with a single vessel in the month of January, and made the land at a point as yet unseen by any European, in the latitude of Wilmington. Not finding a convenient harbour, he ran down far to the south ; and thence returning northward, cast anchor on the coast of North Carolina. After this he visited the harbours of New- York and Newport, sailed along the whole coast of New-England to Nova Scotia, and returned to France in July. His narrative of this navigation furnishes the earliest original account now extant of the coast of the United States, and gave to France such claim to the country as dl^dvery cOuld cOlrfer. The remainder of Verazzani's career is involved in obscurity. Historians, however, for the most part agree that he embarked on another expedition; but whether in the service of France is unknown. The disastrous battle of Pavia had just taken place, in which Francis, as he himself said, had lost everything but honour ; and for many years America was left to the Breton and Norman fishermen, who continued to carry on a successful trade.

At length Chabot, admiral of France, interested Francis in a design to colonize the country,

VOYAGES OF CARTIER. 15

and Jacques Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, was intrusted with the command of the expedition. His several voyages were of great importance as they directed the attention of France to the region of the St. Lawrence. He arrived with two ships on the coast of Newfoundland, and, after almost circunmavigating the island, turned to the south, and, crossing the gulf, entered a bay, which he called Des Chaleurs, from the intense heat which then prevailed. Finding no passage to the west, he sailed along the coast as far as the smaller inlet of Gaspe, and on a point of land at its entrance raised on a lofty cross a shield bearing the lilies of France, with an appropriate inscription. Thenceforth the soil was to be considered as part of the dominions of the French king. Cartier next discovered the great river of Canada, and sailed up its channel till he could discern the land on either side. After a short and successful voyage he returned to France.

The following year a new commission was issued ; and Cartier again arrived on the coast of Newfoundland. Passing to the west of that island on St. Lawrence's day, he gave to the noble gulf into which he entered the name of that martyr, and which w^as afterward extended to the B

J 6 HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.

whole river. Sailing to the north of Anticosti, they commenced ascending that majestic stream. The Indians, who were of the Algonquin race, received them in the most hospitable manner; and Cartier, leaving his ship, proceeded in a boat to the island of Hochelaga, where was their principal settlement. The town lay at the foot of a hill, ascending which, he was so delighted with the prospect from its summit that he called it Mont Real : the name by which the island itself has since been known. He also gathered from the natives some indistinct accounts of the surrounding country, and, having formally taken possession of it in the name of the French king, returned to his ship, passed the w^inter there, and in the spring sailed for France. His description of the region bordering on the St. Lawrence afforded no encouragement to the plan of establishing a colony there ; the severity of the climate terrified the inhabitants even of the north of France ; and the honest navigator held out no promises either of silver, or gold, or precious stones. Yet the advantages to be derived from occupying the country were not to be neglected ; and in 1540, Francis de la Roque, lord of Roberval, a nobleman of Picardy, obtained a liberal charter for this object. The assistance of

UNSUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION OF ROBERVAL. 17

Cartier could not be dispensed with, and he accordingly received a similar commission ; but they neither acted in concert nor sailed together. Cartier, again ascending the St. Lawrence, built a fort near the site of Quebec; and after wintering there, he set sail to return to France just as Roberval arrived with re-enforcements. The latter, unaided by Cartier, could do no more than verify the previous discoveries; and after remaining about a year, he abandoned his brilliant enterprise, which terminated without any permanent results.

France being at this time plunged in civil war, was not in a situation to undertake farther discoveries, though some French Protestants attempted a settlement in Florida, the melancholy fate of which will be hereafter related. It w^as not till the reign of Henry IV. that the purpose of founding a French empire in America was vigorously renewed. In 1598, a charter no less ample than that given to Roberval was issued to the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of Brittany ; but his enterprise failed. A monopoly of the fur-trade was next granted to M. Chauvin in 1600. He made two profitable voyages, but death prevented him from accom- B2 plishing- his principal object of establishing a colony.

In 1603 a company of merchants was formed at Rouen by the governor of Dieppe, and Samuel Champlain, a skilful mariner, and a man of science, was appointed to command the expedition fitted out by them. The account he afterward gave of his voyage, shows that he had accurately observed the character of the savage tribes and the geography of the country. Quebec (which, in the Algonquin language, signifies a strait) was selected as the most advantageous site for a fort.

Champlain returned to France just before a most extensive patent was granted to De Monts, conferring on him the sovereignty of Acadia, the country from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of latitude, that is, from Philadelphia to a point north of Montreal ; a monopoly of the lucrative fur-trade ; and an exclusive right to convey the soil, control trade, admit emigrants, &c. Vagabonds, idlers, banished men, and reckless characters of every description, were invited to join in forming a colony, and those who could be induced to embark in the enterprise sailed in two ships for Nova Scotia. The excellent harbour, since called Annapolis, difficult of access, but

SETTLEMENT OF PORT ROYAL. 19

possessing a small navigable river abounding in fish and bordered by beautiful meadows, was selected by Pontrincourt, one of the leaders of the expedition, who solicited a grant of it, and naming it Port Royal, determined to remain there. The other division of the company made their first attempt at a settlement on the island of St. Croix, at the mouth of the river of the same name. This river was subsequently adopted as a part of the northeastern boundary of the United States ; and a question arising as to which stream was the true St. Croix, the remains of the fortifications erected by De Monts assisted in deciding it. The island was, however, so ill suited to the purposes of the colony, that it was abandoned in the following spring, and the whole company removed to Port Royal

With the view of making a settlement in a milder climate, De Monts explored and claimed the rivers, coasts, and bays of New-England, at least as far as Cape Cod ; but the hostility of the savages, and other difficulties, caused him to delay, and finally to abandon his purpose. Thus the first permanent French settlement made on the continent of America was at Port Royal, in 1605 'j for it was not until 1608, after the remonstrances of the French merchants had procured a revocation of the patent granted to De Monts, that a company formed at Dieppe and St. Malo, founded Quebec. This latter undertaking was accomplished by Champlain, who aimed not at the profits of trade, but the glory of founding a state. Rude cottages were erected ; a few fields were cleared, and a few gardens planted. The next year, this daring adventurer, accompanied only by two Europeans, joined a mixed party of Hurons from Montreal and Algonquins from Quebec, in an expedition against the Iroquois, or Five Nations, in the country now forming the northwestern part of New- York. He ascended the River Sorel, and explored the lake within our Republic which bears his name, and which will perpetuate his memory to the latest period of time. Champlain succeeded in fully establishing the authority of his nation on the banks of the St. Lawrence. He was the father of New-France, and his remains he buried in the land he subdued and colonized.

JUAN PONCE DE LEON. " 21

CHAPTER II.

Discovery of the Mississippi.

About the same time that the discoveries ot Cartier were opening to the enterprise of the French vast territories in Canada, the Spaniards, at the other extremity of the northern continent, were attempting to effect a settlement in Florida, which was first visited by Juan Ponce de Leon in 1512. A gallant soldier, and one of the companions of Columbus in his second voyage, he had been appointed governor of Hispaniola, but was removed from that post on account of his severity. He then turned his thoughts to the Continent of America, where, according to an Indian tradition, among other wonders, there was a fountain whose waters conferred the boon of perpetual youth. Although Ponce was in the decline of life, his ambition and love of enterprise were unabated : no wonder, then, he should have implicitly believed a tale which had gained credence from the wisest men in Spain, or that he should have been eager to renew his youthful vigour, and at the same time advance his fortunes, by visiting the miraculous fountain. Accordingly, he fitted out three ships at his own expense, and on Easter Sunday, called by the Spaniards Pascua Florida, he reached the soughtfor land, to which, from the day ^vhen it was discovered, and its profusion of flowers, he gave the name of Florida. Ponce landed in the latitude of thirty degrees and eight minutes, a few miles north of where St. Augustine now stands. The determined hostility of the Indians obliged him, however, to postpone his search for the fountain of youth ; and after reconnoitring with great danger the eastern coast, he returned to Spain, and was rewarded with the government of the country.

1521. — Some years elapsed before he could complete his preparations for taking possession of his province ; and when he at last returned, his company were attacked by the Indians with so much fury that they were forced to retreat to their ships, and Ponce himself received a wound from an Indian arrow, of which he soon after died. Thus terminated his dream of riches and of renovated youth : but Spain acquired a new channel for her commerce through the Gulf of Florida, and a new territory of unknown extent.

HERNANDEZ DE SOTO. 23

Several other expeditions were sent out, but they were generally unsuccessful, and afforded but little information that could be relied on in regard to the countries bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the parties had penetrated into the interior, where they encountered great hardships ; and on their return they related the most wonderful tales of what they had met with and heard, persisting in the assertion that Florida was the richest country in the w^orld.

1537. — Hernandez de Soto had gained both fame and fortune by military service in the conquest of Peru, in which he had distinguished himself no less by conduct than valour. But his ambition was still unsatisfied; and he solicited from Charles V. permission to conquer Florida at his own cost. The monarch readily granted to the renowned commander the government of Cuba, wdth unlimited authority over the immense unexplored territory included under the name of Florida.

As soon as the projected expedition was announced in Spain, the eagerness to join it brought forward many more adventurers than could be received. De Soto selected six hundred youngmen, the very flower of Spain, and many who had sold houses and lands to equip themselves for the enterprise were obliged to remain unwillingly at home.

1538. — Everything being ready, the splendid fleet set sail for Cuba. Leaving his wife there, with a considerable addition to the number of his companions De Soto started to accomplish his projected conquest, and in the month of May, 1539, arrived in the Bay of Esperitu Santo. Landing his soldiers and horses, of which latter there were about three hundred, he sent most of his vessels back to the Havana. At the head of a more formidable force than had been employed in the subjection of Mexico or Peru, he now set forward to acquire for himself unbounded wealth and power, and to convert the ignorant heathen I'D Christianity. Twelve priests accompanied the army for the purpose of inculcating, amid scenes of blood and carnage, the mild and peaceful doctrines of the Christian faith.

The wanderings of the first summer brought ^.he adventurers to the country of the Apalachians, east of the Flint River, not far from the head ^i the Bay of Apalachee. Their march was attended by nothing but danger and disappointment. Two Indian captives, on w^hom they had depended as guides, deserted them; others led them purposely astray ; and no wealth was found

BATTLE WITH THE INDIAISS. 25

to recompense them for their toils. Thus the summer passed fruitlessly away without realizing a single advantage. The next spring, however, they resumed their march, led by an Indian, who treacherously flattered them with hopes of gold. They must have passed through Georgia and the country of the Cherokees ; but though gold is now found in parts of this region, their search proved unavailing ; and after wandering much as they had done the year before, they descended the valley of the Tombeckbee, and arrived at a considerable town on the Alabama, called Mobile. The Spaniards attempting to make themselves masters of the place, the savages resisted with the utmost fury, and the most bloody battle ever known in Indian warfare ensued. Two thousand five hundred of the latter are said to have been destroyed, part in battle, and part in the flames of their burning houses. The Spaniards, who were indebted to their cavalry for the victory, lost but eighteen men and twelve horses, though a great number of both were severely wounded, and their baggage was consumed in the conflagration. The bay into which the united waters of the two rivers fall still retains the Indian name.

Meanwhile ships had arrived from Cuba ; but C

De Soto, unwilling that his failure should be known, resolved to send no tidings of the expedition until he should have made some important discoveries.

1541. — De Soto now directed his course to the north, his troops having been reduced bysickness and warfare to five hundred men. They passed the winter in the country of the Chickasaws, in the upper part of the state of Mississippi, still disappointed in their hopes of wealth, and continually harassed by the Indians, whom they provoked by their injustice and cruelty.

De Soto was not yet discouraged ; and, resisting the entreaties of his followers to abandon a fruitless pursuit, he started afresh on his enterprise in the spring. He now took a westerly direction ; and, after making his way with great difficulty through forests and marshes, he at length came in view of the Mississippi. We may imagine the astonishment of the Spaniards at beholding this magnificent river, more than a mile in width, rolling on in its rapid course, and bearing on its bosom enormous trees, rooted up in its passage through the dense forests. The yellowish colour of the turbid water, so unlike the silver streams of Spain, must have added to their wonder. The magnolia, cotton-wood, sas-

DISCOVERY OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 27

safras, and cypress, with long moss depending from their branches, and a multitude of shrubs and flowers, all differing from those of Europe, completed the strangeness and novelty of the picture. Even the fish were of a new species 5 and one of them, the spade fish {Platirosto Edentula), now so rare that it is seldom found even in the museums, is accurately described by one of the adventurers.

1542. — A party sent to explore the regions to the north, reported them to be almost a desert. De Soto, therefore, turned to the northwest, and advanced in the direction of the White River to the distance of about two hundred miles from the Mississippi. Still neither gold nor precious stones were found ; and, turnnig to the south, they arrived among the Tunicas, at the Salt Springs, near the head of the Washita, where they wintered. They were now among a peaceful agricultural people ; but, as experience had not taught them either mildness or forbearance, they soon quarrelled with the natives, and lost many of their men. Disease and fatigue contributed still farther to thin their ranks, until De Soto at length determined to retrace his course to the ocean. After many difficulties, he succeeded in getting back to the Mississippi, by descending the Red River ; but there he was attacked by a fever. Feehng that his last moments were approaching, he summoned his officers around him, and naming Muscoso de Alvarado for his successor, he recommended to the rest submission to the chief he had chosen, a strict maintenance of disciphne, and, above all, perseverance in their enterprise. The next day, in May, 1542, and at the age of forty-two, he expired in the arms of his almoner, exactly three years from the time of his first landing in Florida. His body was placed in a coffin loaded with cannon balls, and sunk in the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Red River. He was the first European to behold that magnificent river, and scarcely had he discovered it ere he slept beneath its waters.

This romantic expedition has been rendered still more so by Garcilasso de la Vega, in his History of the Conquest of Florida. He mentions a number of Indian tribes, few of which are now in existence, and which he represents as having attained a much higher civihzation than any of the native races are found to possess at the present day, living in well-built houses, surrounded by cultivated fields, wearing linen embroidery and pearls, and having made no small proficiency in music, with many other particulars still more extravagant. Although recent discoveries seem to indicate the existence, at some remote period, of a more civilized people than any the early colonists found here, we can by no means admit the exaggerations of De la Vega, which are even contradicted by the more authentic accounts of the followers of De Soto.

Alvarado resolved on leading his forces to New-Spain without delay. Some few determined spirits w^ould indeed have preferred dying in the wilderness to the mortification of returning with baffled hopes ; but their leader did not share in this feeling, and they set out with the design of proceeding across the country to Mexico. On arriving at the Red River, they found it so swollen that it was impossible to pass it ; and, after roaming about without making any progress during the summer, determined to retrace their steps to the Mississippi, and follow its course to the sea. They reached it in December, a few leagues above the mouth of the Red River ; when, exhausted by toil, want, and sickness, it was with the greatest difficulty, in their enfeebled condition, that they managed to build seven frail vessels, in which the poor remains of this once formidable expedition embarked. An C2

Indian fleet of gayly-painted canoes followed and harassed them. The weather being calm, the Spaniards passed slowly down, and the Indians overtaking them, let fly a shower of arrows, and hastily retreated, to avoid the fire of their muskets. In their wretched state, destitute of food, and many of them wounded, it is probable the whole party would have fallen into the hands of the savages had not a favourable breeze sprung up and carried them out of danger. In seventeen days they reached the Gulf of Mexico. To those who now navigate the Mississippi, where the experienced eye can scarcely discern a passage at times among the snags, it must appear almost a miracle that the slight vessels of the Spaniards were not dashed in pieces long before they gained the sea.

These adventurers were the first to discover that the waters of this great river, so vast is their volume, retain their freshness for some miles after they enter the sea. The party followed the direction of the coast, and, afte>r fifty days, arrived at the River Panuco, from whence they were enabled to return to Spain in September, 1543. Thus ended an expedition which, disastrous as it was, gave to the Spaniards the honour of discovering the Mississippi ; and which;

RIBAULT VISITS FLORIDA. 31

with a more energetic people, might have led to important results. But though, under the name of Florida, Spain claimed the whole coast of North America, the ill success of this enterprise, and of another undertaken by Louis Cancello, a Dominican missionary, in 1547, in which he perished by the hands of the savages, discouraged any farther attempts, and the country remained neglected for a series of years.

CHAPTER III. Settlement of Florida

1562. — The next attempt to settle Florida v/as made for the purpose of establishing a colony of Calvinists. Coligny planned this expedition in order to provide a refuge for the Huguenots, and intrusted the command of it to John Ribault, of Dieppe, a brave man, a good seaman, and a firm Protestant. He made the land in the neighbourhood of St. Augustine, discovered the river now called St. John's, and gave to it the name of May. It is the St. Mateo of the Spaniards. At length they came to Port Royal entrance, afford- C ing a magnificent harbour. Leaving a party on Lemon Island, consisting of twenty-six men, to keep possession of the country, and erecting a fort there, which he named Carolana, in honour of Charles IX., Pubault determined to return to France for supplies. On arriving there, however, he found the country distracted with civil war ; and, being unable to obtain the necessary succour for the colonists, they attempted to return home. They were taken by a small English vessel on their way, the feeblest of them landed on the coast of France, and the others carried to England. Thus disastrously terminated the first attempt of France to establish a colony in Florida, not far from the southern border of South Carolina.

1564. — After the treacherous peace concluded by Charles IX. with the Huguenots, Coligny renewed his solicitations for the settlement of Florida. The king granted him three ships for the purpose ; and Laudonniere, a man of intelligence, who had accompanied the former expedition, was appointed to conduct the present. Emigrants were easily induced to embark for a region where, according to rumour, the deliciousness of the cli» mate leno^thened to twice its usual term the life of man ; and where treasures were to be found by

SETTLEMENT AT THE RIVER MAY. 33

all who sought them. A voyage of sixty days by the way of the Canaries and Antilles, brought the fleet to the American coast. They avoided Port Royal harbour, associated as it was with recollections of misery, and, after some examination of the country, planted themselves on the banks of the River May. Here they joined in a hymn of thanksgiving, and, gathering courage from devotion, prepared to engage in the toils necessary to provide for their subsistence and safety. Their first care was to erect a fort, to which they also gave the name of Carolana. The natives received them with kindness 3 and had not the colonists been chiefly men of dissolute character, all might have been well. But some of them quitting the settlement under pretence of escaping from famine, entered upon a career of piracy against the Spaniards, which was soon, however, avenged ; their vessel was taken ; and a few of them escaping in a boat, sought shelter at Carolana, where Laudonniere sentenced the ringleaders to death.

Meanwhilie the scarcity increased, and they had forfeited the friendship of the natives ; the winter passed without tidings from France, and, in despair, they resolved to construct some brigantines and return to Europe. Just at that time,

Sir John Hawkins, the slave-trader, arrived with a cargo of Africans. He furnished them liberally with provisions, and giving them a vessel from his own fleet, they were on the point of embarking, when they discovered approaching sails. It was Ribault returning to assume the command, bringing with him supplies of every kind, emigrants with their families, garden seeds, implements of husbandry, and domestic animals. The French rejoiced in the prospect of acquiring for themselves a peaceful and secure home; and Calvinism seemed about to be permanently established in the inviting regions of Florida.

1565. — But Spain had never relinquished her claim to that territory. Philip II., therefore, determined on its conquest and colonization, and a bold commander, named Pedro Melendez Aviles, long accustomed to scenes of blood, undertook to accomplish his sovereign's wishes. He promised that in the following May he would invade Florida with five hundred men, raised and supported at his own cost ; and that within three years he would complete its subjugation, explore its rivers, examine its coasts and harbours, settle a colony of at least five hundred persons, of whom one hundred should be married men, and introduce twelve ecclesiastics, besides four Jesuits : and he

EXPEDITION OF MELENDEZ. 35

farther stipulated that he would import all kinds of domestic animals. The bigoted Philip had no scruples respecting slavery, and Melendez also agreed to bring five hundred men slaves into the country to cultivate the sugar-cane, which was intended to be the principal staple.

The king, in turn, granted various commercial privileges to the adventurers, conferring on Melendez the office of governor for life, with the right of naming his son-in-law as his successor, an estate of twenty-five leagues in the immediate vicinity of the settlement, a salary of two thousand ducats chargeable on the revenues of the province, and a fifteenth part of all royal perquisites.

1565. — In the mean time news reached Spain that the Huguenots had made a settlement in Florida, and that Ribault was preparing to sail with re-enforcements. A cry was raised that the heretics must be destroyed, the enthusiasm of fanaticism was kindled, and Melendez readily obtained all the forces he required. It was on the day which the authority of Rome has consecrated to the memory of one of the sons of Africa, a most venerated father of the Church, that he came in sight of Florida. After sailing along the coast for four days, uncertain where the French were established, he landed on the fifth, and obtained accounts of them from the Indians. To the beautiful harbour and river which he there discovered he gave, in commemoration of the saint on whose anniversary he first saw land, the name of St. Augustine.