LOUISIANA, STATE OF, was first visited
by La Salle, who discovered the mouth of the Mississippi (1691), and
took possession of the country in the name of Louis, King of France.
Settlements were soon afterwards formed. In 1712 Louis XIV. named the
region Louisiana, in honor of himself, and granted it to M. Crozat. The
territory was granted to " The Western Company " in 1717. The French
remained in possession until 1762, when they ceded it to Spain. In 1800
it was retroceded to France, and in 1803 it was bought from the latter
by the United States for $15,000,000 by the Louisiana Purchase. The
American flag was first raised in New Orleans on Dec. 20, 1803.
In
1804 the territory was divided into two governments—namely, "Territory
of Orleans " and " District of Louisiana." The former entered the Union
as the State of Louisiana April 8, 1812, and the name of the latter was
changed, June 4, 1812, to Missouri. At the close of 1814 Louisiana was
invaded by British troops, but they were speedily driven away.
Louisiana in the Civil War
As
soon as the election of
Mr. Lincoln was known, the governor of Louisiana took measures
looking to the secession of the State from the Union. A convention
assembled, Jan. 8, 1861, and on the 26th passed an ordinance of
secession. The public property of the national government was seized by
the State authorities. In the spring of 1862 an expedition under
General Butler and
Admiral Farragut captured all the defenses on the Mississippi below
New Orleans, and took possession of the city. The State became the
theatre of stormy events during the Civil War.
On
Dec. 4, 1862, two congressional districts, under the control of National
troops, were permitted to elect delegates to Congress, and Benjamin F.
Flanders and Michael Hahn were chosen and took their seats. Local courts
were organized under military rule, and in November, 1862, a provisional
court for the State was organized by the President. In April, 1863, he
appointed judges of the Supreme Court. Late in 1863 an election of State
officers was held in a portion of Louisiana. Michael Hahn was elected
governor and inaugurated March 4, 1864, and on the 15th was made
military governor likewise. In April a convention adopted a constitution
abolishing slavery and providing for the education of both races, which
was ratified in September, when five Congressmen (Unionists) were
chosen. The legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the
national Constitution, but the Senators and Representatives of Louisiana
were not admitted to seats in Congress, and the State was placed under
military rule in 1867, Louisiana and Texas constituting one military
district. Early in 1868 a convention in New Orleans formed a State
constitution, which was ratified on April 17 and 18, and Henry C.
Warmouth (Republican) was elected governor. By act of Congress, June 25,
1868, Louisiana delegates were admitted to seats in that body. Soon
afterwards the State legislature ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to
the national Constitution and chose United States Senators. The
Fifteenth Amendment was ratified by the same body March 1, 1869.
In
1903 the State had an assessed property valuation of $336,118,348; and,
March 1, 1904, a total bonded debt of $11,108,300, a floating debt of
$1,139,778, and an unrecognized debt of $3,953,000. The population in
1890 was 1,118,587; in 1900, 1,381,625.
History
of the Louisiana Purchase
In
October, 1698, King William sent three ships to take possession of the
Mississippi River, and prepare for planting a colony of French
Protestants on its borders. Nothing came of it. In the same month
Iberville and others sailed for the same river, and planted the seeds of
French dominion there.
The
first settlement in Louisiana was made at Biloxi (now in Mississippi) in
1699. In 1702 there were settlements begun on Dauphin Island and at
Mobile, now in Alabama. The French government, wishing to promote more
rapid settlements in that region, granted (1712) the whole province,
with a monopoly of trade, to Anthony Crozat, a wealthy French merchant,
who expected large profits from mines and trade with
Mexico.
Crozat contracted to send ships from France, with goods and emigrants,
every year; and he was entitled to import a cargo of negro slaves
annually. The French government also agreed to pay $10,000 a year for
the civil and military establishments. Crozat established a
trading-house on the site of Montgomery, on the Alabama River, and
another at Natchitoches, on the Red River. Fort Rosalie was built on the
site of Natchez, about which a town soon grew up, the oldest on the
lower Mississippi. Crozat made ineffectual attempts to open a trade with
Mexico, and the intercourse by sea was prohibited after the war. After
five years of large outlay and small returns, Crozat resigned his patent
(1717) ; but other speculators soon filled his place. The Mississippi
Company (see LAW, JOHN) was granted the monopoly of all trade with
Louisiana for twenty-five years. They attempted to introduce 6,000 white
people and half as many negroes, and private individuals to whom grants
of land had been made also sent out colonists. Law, having 12 square
miles of land in Arkansas, undertook to settle the domain with 1,500
Germans. The Mississippi Company resigned Louisiana to the crown in
1732.
On
Oct. 21, 1764, the King of, France gave orders to his director-general
and commandant for Louisiana to deliver up to the King of Spain all the
French possessions in North America not already ceded to Great Britain.
These orders were given in consequence of an act passed at Fontainebleau
on Nov. 3, 1762, by which the French King ceded to the King of Spain,
and to his successors, " the whole country known as Louisiana, together
with New Orleans, and the island on which the said city is situated,"
and of another act passed at the Escurial on Nov. 13, in the same year,
by which his Catholic Majesty accepted that cession.
When
Bonaparte became actual ruler of France as First Consul he felt an
ardent desire to reestablish the colonial empire of his country, and
with that view he obtained from Spain (1800) the retrocession of
Louisiana. Bonaparte had formed a plan for taking immediate possession
of New Orleans by an armed expedition. Livingston, the American minister
in France, advised his government of this expedition, and declared that
it would not only oppress American commerce on the Mississippi, but that
attempts would be made to seize Natchez and to carry out the plan of
Genet and his successors in corrupting the Western people and
dismembering the Union. Before the letter of Livingston had been
received, the Spanish intendant at New Orleans, as if anticipating the
wishes of Bonaparte, had issued a proclamation interdicting the
privilege secured to the Americans by the treaty of 1795 of depositing
merchandise at New Orleans. This interruption of their commerce on the
great river produced a great commotion in the West. It was in this
excited state of the public mind that the Seventh Congress assembled
(Dec. 7, 1802) for its second session, and the state of affairs in the
Southwest occupied their earnest attention.
President Jefferson, alive
to the interests, independence, and power of his country, wrote an able
letter to Livingston, suggesting that France might be willing to cede a
portion of Louisiana especially the island of New Orleans, to the United
States, and thus remove all cause for irritation between the two
governments.
Negotiations with this end in view were speedily made by Mr. Livingston,
assisted by Mr. Monroe. Their instructions asked for the cession of the
island of New Orleans and the Floridas, and that the Mississippi should
be divided by a line that should put the city of New Orleans within the
territory of the United States, thus securing the
free navigation of
that river. To the surprise of the American minister, it was announced
by Marbois, Bonaparte's representative, that he would treat for the sale
of the whole of Louisiana. Bonaparte had already experienced serious
difficulties in the way of securing French colonial dominion, especially
in the West Indies. He also needed troops at home and money to carry on
the war with England, rather than far-off territory held by a doubtful
tenure. " Irresolution and deliberation," said the First Consul to
Marbois, " are no longer in season. I renounce Louisiana. It is not only
New Orleans that I will cede; it is the whole colony, without any
reservation. I know the price of what I abandon, and I have sufficiently
proved the importance that I attach to this province, since my first
diplomatic act with Spain had for its object the recovery of it. I
renounce it with the greatest regret. To attempt to retain it would be
folly. I direct you to negotiate this affair with the envoys of the
United States." In less than a fortnight after the beginning of
negotiations in France, a treaty was signed (April 30, 1803) by Robert
R. Livingston and James Monroe on the part of the United States, and
Barbe Marbois on the part of France, by which the United States came
into possession of a vast, and to some extent undefined, domain,
containing a mixed free population of 85,000 white people and 40,000
negro slaves, for the sum of $15,000,000. Livingston and Marbois had
been personal acquaintances for about a quarter of a century. " We have
lived long," said Livingston to Marbois, as he arose after signing the
treaty, "but this is the noblest work of our whole lives. The treaty
which we have just signed has not been obtained by art or force; equally
advantageous to the two contracting parties, it will change vast
solitudes into flourishing districts. From this day the United States
take their place among the powers of the first rank; the English lose
all exclusive influence in the affairs of America." With equally
prophetic vision, Bonaparte said to Marbois, a few days after the
negotiation was signed, " I would that France should enjoy this
unexpected capital [75,000,000 francs], that it may be employed in works
beneficial to her marine." The invasion of England, and the prostration
of her maritime superiority, was then Bonaparte's pet project. " This
accession of territory," he continued, exultingly, " strengthens forever
the power of the United States, and I have just given to England a
maritime rival that will sooner or later humble her pride." The
centennial of the Louisiana Purchase is to be commemorated by a fair to
be held in ST. LOUIS in 1903.
The
Battle of New Orleans
The
Americans claimed that the boundary between Louisiana and Mexico was the
Rio Grande, while the Spaniards limited the territory acquired from
France to a narrow strip along the western bank of the Mississippi. Both
sides had hitherto regarded the Sabine as a sort of provisional
boundary; but the Spanish commander in Texas crossed that river with a
body of irregular cavalry, in 1805, and occupied the settlement at Bayou
Pierre, on the Red River, a few miles above Natchitoches, the
westernmost American military station. It was deemed necessary to repel
this aggression, and orders were sent to General Wilkinson, at St.
Louis, then commander-in-chief of the American army and governor of the
District of Louisiana, to reinforce, from posts in his territory, the
500 regulars in the Orleans Territory, and himself to take the command,
to drive back the Spaniards. Wilkinson went to the Sabine, and made a
peaceful arrangement that stopped the invasion. It was at this crisis
that Burr's mysterious enterprise was undertaken. See BURR, AARON.
When Jackson returned to Mobile, Nov. 11, 1814, after driving the
British from Pensacola, he received messages from New Orleans urging him
to hasten to the defence of that city. The government officials did not
give credit to Lafitte's revelations (see LAFITTE, JEAN), but the people
did; and they held a large meeting in New Orleans (Sept. 16), where they
were eloquently addressed by EDWARD LIVINGSTON, who urged the
inhabitants to make speedy preparations for repelling invasion. They
appointed a committee of safety, composed of distinguished citizens of
New Orleans, of which Livingston was chairman. Governor Claiborne, who
also believed Lafitte's story, sent copies of the British papers to
Jackson, then at Mobile. Then the latter issued a vigorous
counter-proclamation, and proceeded to break up the nest of motley
enemies at Pensacola. Finally, there were such omens of a speedy
invasion of Louisiana that appeals to Jackson were repeated, and he left
Mobile for New Orleans on Nov. 21. The patriotic governor had called the
legislature together as early as Oct. 5, but there was neither union,
harmony, nor confidence. The people, alarmed, complained of the
legislature; that body complained of the governor; and Claiborne
complained of both the legislature and the people. Money and credit were
equally wanting, and ammunition was very scarce. There was no effective
naval force in the adjacent waters ; and only two small militia
regiments and a weak battalion of uniformed volunteers, commanded by
Major Plauche, a gallant Creole, composed the military force for
repelling invasion or defending the city. In every aspect the situation
was most gloomy when Jackson arrived. His advent was hailed with joy. "
Jackson's come! Jackson's come!" went from lip to lip. He did not rest
for a moment. He at once organized the feeble military force in the
city; took measures for obstructing the large bayous, whose waters
formed convenient communication between the city and the Gulf of Mexico;
and proceeded to inspect and strengthen the fortifications in the
vicinity, and to erect new ones. Fort St. Philip, below the city, was
his main reliance for preventing a passage of the British ships. The
expected invaders soon appeared. In fifty vessels of all sizes 7,000
land troops were borne over the Gulf of Mexico from the island of
Jamaica in the direction of New Orleans, and sighted the northern coast
of the Gulf, a little east of Lake Borgne, on Dec, 9. Music, (laneing,
theatrical performances, and hilarity of every kind had been indulged in
during the voyage, every man feeling that the conquest of Louisiana
would be an easy task. The wives of many officers were with them,
anticipating great pleasure in the western world. Believing the
Americans to be profoundly ignorant of the expedition, they anchored at
the entrance to Lake Borgne, and prepared small vessels for the
transportation of troops over the shallow waters, to take New Orleans by
surprise. They did not dream of the fatal revelations of Lafitte. Two
gunboats, sent out towards Mobile Bay to catch intelligence of the
coming armament, discovered the great fleet Dec. 10, and hastened to
report the fact to Lieut. Thomas Ap Catesby Jones, in command of a small
flotilla at the entrance of Lake Borgne, to prevent the British from
landing troops. Jones's flotilla was encountered by the British (much to
their astonishment) on the 13th. The British fleet was under the command
of Admiral Cochrane, and many of the troops were those which had been
engaged in the invasion of Maryland. It would not do to attempt to land
troops while the waters of the lake were patrolled by American gunboats,
and so Cochrane sent sixty barges, nearly all carrying a carronade in
the bow, and with six oars on each side, and all well filled with armed
volunteers from the fleet, to capture or destroy Jones's flotilla. The
latter was composed of an armed sloop (the flag-ship), a tender, and
five gunboats, with an aggregate of twenty-three guns and 182 men. The
British barges contained 1,200 men. On the morning of Dec. 14 an
encounter took place, which the little flotilla sustained against
overwhelming numbers for about an hour, when it was compelled to
surrender. The British had now complete control of Lake Borgne. The
transports, filled with troops, entered, and the latter were conveyed in
barges to Pea Island, where General Keane organized his forces for
future operations. Learning from some Spanish residents of New Orleans
that there was a bayou navigable for large barges to within a short
distance of the Mississippi River, just below New Orleans, Cochrane sent
a party to explore it. They followed this bayou (the Bienvenu) and a
canal across Villere's plantation, and when they reported favorably
about one-third of the troops were taken through these watercourses. At
the head of the bayou the active Lieutenant-Colonel Thorn-ton, with a
detachment, surrounded the house of General Villere, the commandant of a
division of Louisiana militia, and made him prisoner; but he soon
escaped, and, hastening to New Orleans, gave warning of the invasion to
General Jackson. General Keane, a gallant Irish officer, the
commander-in-chief of the British land-forces, was with this advance
party, with several of his officers, and felt confident that the
invasion was unknown at New Orleans. The British formed a camp at
Villere's (Dec. 23), within sight of the Mississippi, and prepared to
move forward. The invaders were now within 9 miles of New Orleans. A
proclamation, printed in the Spanish and French languages, and signed by
General Keane and Admiral Cochrane, was sent forward by a negro to be
distributed among the inhabitants. It read as follows: " Louisianians!
remain quietly in your houses; your slaves shall be preserved to you,
and your property shall be respected. We make war only against
Americans." While all this work of invasion was going on, Jackson had
been busy at New Orleans preparing to roll it back. He had heard of the
capture of the gunboats on the 15th, and he called upon Generals Coffee,
Carroll, and Thomas to hasten to New Orleans with time Tennessee and
Kentucky troops. They came as speedily as possible. Coffee came first,
and Carroll arrived on Dec. 22. A troop of horse under Major Hinds,
raised in Louisiana, came at the same time. General Villere, soon after
his capture, escaped, crossed the Mississippi, rode up its right bank on
a fleet horse to a point opposite New Orleans, crossed over, and gave
Jackson such full information of the position of the invaders that he
marched with quite a large body of troops on the afternoon of the 23d to
meet the intruders. The armed schooner Carolina, Captain Henley, moved
down the Mississippi in the evening to within musket-shot distance of
the centre of the British camp at Villere's. At half-past seven o'clock
she opened a tremendous fire upon them, killing and wounding at least
100 men. The British extinguished their camp-fires, and hurled rockets
and bullets upon the Carolina, with little effect. The schooner soon
drove the British from their camp in great confusion. Meanwhile Jackson
had pressed forward with his troops in the darkness in two columns, and,
falling upon the bewildered invaders, soon achieved a victory which he
dared not follow up in the gloom, and fell back. The astonished Britons
were soon cheered by the arrival of reinforcements, and the advent of
Gen. Edward Pakenham, one of Wellington's veterans, who took the chief
command. After careful preparation, and getting his soldiers well in
hand, he led them towards New Orleans. He was met by Jackson with a
force behind intrenchments about halfway between the city and Villere's,
and a severe battle ensued, in which the Americans were victorious.
Immediately afterwards the British withdrew to their ships and departed.
See JACKSON, ANDREW; NEW ORLEANS.
Louisiana Secession
In
the legislature of Louisiana, assembled at Baton Rouge in special
session, Dec. 10, 1860, the Union sentiment was powerful, yet not
sufficiently so to arrest mischief to the commonwealth. An effort was
made to submit the question of " Convention or No Convention " to the
people, but it failed, and an election of delegates to a convention was
ordered to be held on Jan. 8, the anniversary of Jackson's victory at
New Orleans. On that occasion the popular vote was small, but it was of
such a complexion that the Confederates were hopeful. The convention met
at Baton Rouge, Jan. 23. The legislature had convened there on the 21st.
The number of delegates in the convention was 130. Ex-Gov. Alexander
Mouton was chosen president, and J. Thomas Wheat, secretary.
Commissioners from South Carolina and Alabama were there, and were
invited to seats in the convention; and they made vehement speeches in
favor of secession. A committee of fifteen was appointed to draft an
ordinance of secession. It reported on the 24th by their chairman, John
Perkins, Jr., and the ordinance then submitted was adopted on the 26th
by a vote of 113 against 17. Its phraseology bore the same general
features as the ordinances passed by other States. Though a State
purchased from France by the national government, the convention
declared that Louisiana "resumed the
rights and powers heretofore delegated to the government Of the United
States of America," its creator. At the conclusion of the balloting the
president said: " In virtue of the vote just announced, I now declare
the connection between the State of Louisiana and the federal Union
dissolved, and she is a free, sovereign, and independent power." The
convention, alarmed at the planting of cannon at Vicksburg by the
Mississippians, resolved unanimously that they recognized the right of a
"free navigation of the Mississippi River and its tributaries by all
friendly States bordering thereon "; also " the right of egress and
ingress of the mouths of the Mississippi by all friendly states and
powers." A motion to submit the ordinance to the people for
consideration was lost.
Prompted by advice from John Slidell and Judah P. Benjamin, then sitting
as members of the United States Senate, the governor of Louisiana
(Moore) sent expeditions from New Orleans to seize Forts Jackson and St.
Philip on the Mississippi, below the city, then in charge of Major
Beauregard; also Fort Pike, on
Lake Pontchartrain, and the arsenal at Baton Rouge. A part of
General Palfrey's division went down the river in a steam-vessel, and on
the evening of Jan. 10, 1861, the commander of Fort St. Philip (Dart)
surrendered it; but the commander of Fort Jackson (Sergeant Smith),
which surrendered, gave up the keys under protest. State troops seized
Fort Livingston, on Grand Terre Island, Barataria Bay, at the same time,
and on the 20th the unfinished fort on Ship Island was seized and held
by the Confederates. Troops left New Orleans, 300 in number, under
Colonel Walton, on the evening of Dec. 9, in a steam- vessel, and on the
following evening arrived at Baton Rouge to seize the arsenal, then in
command of Major Haskin. He was compelled to surrender it on the 11th.
By this act the Confederates were put in possession of 50,000 smallarms,
four howitzers, twenty pieces of heavy ordnance, two field-batteries,
300 barrels of gunpowder, and a large quantity of other munitions of
war. A part of this property Governor Moore turned over to Governor
Pettus, of Mississippi. The barracks below New Orleans were seized on
the 11th. They were used for a marine hospital. The United States
collector at New Orleans was required to remove the 216 patients from
the barracks immediately, as the State wanted the building for the
gathering Confederates. The collector (Hatch) remonstrated, and they
were allowed to remain. The authorities of Louisiana also seized the
national mint and the
custom-house there, with all the precious metals they contained in
coin and bullion, and by order of the State convention this treasure,
amounting to $536,000, was placed in the State coffers. Soon after this,
a draft for $300,000 was received by the sub-treasurer at New Orleans,
which that fiscal officer refused to pay, saying, " The money in my
custody is no longer the property of the United States, but of the
republic of Louisiana." |