THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE

AMERICAN OCCUPATION

T H E

LOUISIANA PURCHASEAND THE EXPLORATION

EARLY HISTORY AND

BUILDING OF

THE WEST

BY

RIPLEY HITCHCOCK

With Illustrations

and Maps

BOSTON, U.S.A.

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS

1903

COPYRIGHT, 1903

B Y RIPLEY HITCHCOCK

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE

By Ripley Hitchcock

As Published in 1903

Trade Paperback ISBN: 1-58218-236-1 Hardcover ISBN: 1-58218-237-X

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T O

M. W. H.

INTRODUCTION

In the year 1803 the United States bought

from France the greater part of our countrylying between the Mississippi River and theRocky Mountains. The area acquired con-tained nearly a million square miles. This“Louis iana Purchase” has been cal led an

event “worthy to rank with the Declara-tion of Independence and the formation ofthe Constitution.”

The price of the empire which we gained in1803 was $15,000,000. This seems a large

amount even in this day of the easy handling

of millions, but the taxable wealth of the Lou-isiana territory to-day is more than four hun-dred times the purchase money. In whole orin part fourteen states and territories havebeen formed in the area which was bought,and there are over fifteen million people withinits borders.

v

vi INTRODUCTION

Next came the French, descending from the

north and holding Louisiana until their poweron this continent was broken at the fall ofQuebec in 1759. Four years la ter Franceceded Louisiana to Spain. After our Revolu-tion England yielded us a boundary on theGreat Lakes, the Mississippi, and the thirty-first degree. She promised also the free navi-gation of the Mississippi. But this promiseSpain, holding the river’s mouth, refused tosanction, and as American pioneers pressed

These are impressive facts and they invite

questions as to what the Louisiana territorywas and how we happened to secure it. Theanswers tell a curious story, full of happen-ings so strange that they have the quality ofromance. In the sixteenth century the Span-iards, first of white men to penetrate Louisi-ana, might have occupied and perhaps haveheld it for at least two centuries and a half,but they were lured away by the gold and sil-

ver of Mexico and South America. Later therewere disasters near home, and always there wastheir own incapacity in colonization.

INTRODUCTION vii

westward across the Alleghenies and soughtthe natural route to a market afforded by thewater ways, this refusal became a matter ofsupreme moment.

There followed a critical period in the his-

tory of the West. In 1790 the possibility ofa war between England and Spain led Pitt toconsider a seizure of New Orleans. A littlelater France, always regretting the loss of Lou-isiana, employed the French minister Genet

to use the discontent of our frontiersmen asa means of wresting Louisiana and Floridafrom Spain. Later stil l France’s efforts to

regain Louisiana became successful under thepowerful guidance of Napoleon. His planswere laid for occupation. They were checked

by the negro revolt in San Domingo and theprospect of war with England.

Meantime the West was ablaze, and Presi-dent Jefferson sent Monroe as commissionert o P a r i s t o s e c u r e N e w O r l e a n s a n d t h eFloridas and make clear the way to the sea.The instructions of Monroe and Livingston

were l imi ted to a s t r ip of seacoas t . But

viii INTRODUCTION

What was bought was for the most part

a wilderness. How this wilderness was ex-plored is to ld in the second par t of th isvolume in an abridged version of the journalsof Lewis and Clark, the classical explorers ofthe West.

This outline of the first great American

expedition into the far West and across the

continent is followed by sketches of the jour-neys of Pike, Colton, Hunt, Wyeth, PrinceMaximilian of Wied, Bonneville, Frémont,

and others,—soldiers, traders, scientists,makers of the old trails, and pioneers of

the greatest of river routes, the Missouri-Mississippi. This third division of the story

naturally includes the American fur trade, aswell as the trails and water routes of theWest. These explorers, trappers, and traders

made the early American history of Louisiana,

Napo leon changed h i s mind . He o f f e r ed

them the whole vast area of Louisiana, andthus suddenly and unexpectedly we acquiredLouisiana from France even before possessionhad formally passed to France from Spain.

INTRODUCTION ix

but long before them were the eras of Span-iards like Coronado, and Frenchmen like FatherMarquette, La Salle, and the Verendryes.

The waning of the fur trade’s supremacytoward the middle of the nineteenth centurywas followed by discoveries of mineral wealth,by the pressure of settlement, by railroadbuilding, by the cattle industry, and by otherfactors in the earlier building of the Westwhich are sketched in the fourth part of thisnarrative. With the later political organiza-tion and giant growth of the old Louisianaterritory within comparatively recent years

this history deals only in a summary of facts.Since the purpose of this book is to afford

a continuous and very simple narrative, ithas not seemed necessary or wise to enter atlength into the diplomatic and political his-tory of the purchase of Louisiana. That storymay be read in the first and second volumesof Henry Adams’s “History of the UnitedStates of America” and in McMaster’s “His-tory of the People of the United States.” TheFrench side of the history is emphasized in

x INTRODUCTION

Dr. J. K. Hosmer’s popular “History of theLouisiana Purchase.” Many other referenceswill be found throughout this volume.

There seems to be no single book whichtells the story of the West succinctly andincludes the work of the Spanish and Frenchpioneers, and also accounts of the variousphases of American exploration and of thetypical figures and aspects of the Westernformative periods. It is hoped that this vol-ume, in spite of its modest character, mayafford a certain comprehensiveness which willbe of convenience and of value to students ofthe earlier history of the West between theMississippi and the mountains.

I desire to express my sense of obligationto my friends, Professor John Bach McMasterand George Parker Winship, Esq., for theirkindness in reading portions of the proofs.I wish also to acknowledge the aid of Mr.Percy Waller of the Lenox Library, NewYork, in reading the proofs and in preparingthe index.

R. H.

CONTENTS

P A R T I

DISCOVERY AND ACQUISITION

T H E S P A N I S H A N D F R E N C H P E R I O D S A N D T H E

PURCHASE

C H A P T E R I . TH E S P A N I S H D I S C O V E R I E S

P A G E

3

What the Louisiana Purchase was. Early Spanishexplorers. Discovery of the Mississippi. Pineda,Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, De Soto, and Docampo.The Spaniards first in the field. Their weakness incolonization.

C H A P T E R I I . TH E F R E N C H I N L O U I S I A N A 21

Nicollet’s early expeditions. Saint Lusson claimsthe West for France. Marquette and Joliet explorethe upper Mississippi. La Salle descends to themouth. The French claim to Louisiana. Tonty andother pioneers. The founders of New Orleans. Thesearch for a way to the western ocean. Le Sueurand other explorers. The Verendryes see the RockyMountains.

xi

xii CONTENTS

P A G E

C H A P T E R I I I . TH E F R E N C H I N T H E E I G H T E E N T H

C E N T U R Y 34

The founding of New Orleans. Extent of Frenchpossessions. The beginnings of St. Louis. The gate-way of Louis iana . Downfal l of French power .Louisiana ceded to Spain. American and Englishexplorations. Oregon not included in Louisiana.

C H A P T E R I V . TH E A M E R I C A N W E S T W A R D M O V E-M E N T 45

Advancing beyond the Alleghenies. Settlementrather than exploration or exploitation. Experiencesof the pioneers. Their way to the sea blocked bySpanish control of the mouth of the Mississippi.How the Spaniards ruled New Orleans.

C H A P T E R V . LO U I S I A N A ’ S C R I T I C A L P E R I O D 54

France tries to regain the West. Genet’s intrigues.Attitude of England and Spain. Napoleon’s designs.Talleyrand’s plans for a colonial empire. Louisianaceded to France. Napoleon’s plans checked by Tous-saint’s rebellion in San Domingo.

C H A P T E R V I . LO U I S I A N A A N A C T I V E I S S U E 64

The East slow to see the facts. Foresight of Wash-ington, Jefferson, and Hamilton. A critical period.Spanish exactions. The river closed. Popular agita-tion. The West ready for war. Jefferson resolves tobuy New Orleans and the Floridas. Monroe appointedcommissioner. Livingston’s work in Paris. Talley-rand’s startling proposition. How Napoleon made hispurpose known. A family quarrel in a bath-room.

CONTENTS xiii

C H A P T E R V I I . TH E P U R C H A S E A R R A N G E D 76

P A G E

Closing the bargain. The terms of payment. Whatwas bought. Questions as to West Florida. The newsin the United States. Federalist opposition. Debatesover the right to buy and rule foreign territory. Thetreaty ratified. Provisions for government.

C H A P T E R V I I I . TR A N S F E R T O T H E U N I T E D S T A T E S 8 6

Louisiana still in Spain’s hands. Delivery to France.Cession by France to the United States. A countrywithout government. Congress gives the Presidentpower. Importance of the precedents. The territorydivided. A last foreign invasion.

P A R T I I

THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

C H A P T E R I X . EX P L O R I N G L O U I S I A N A 97

An unknown interior. Jefferson’s early interestin exploration. Ledyard’s vain attempt. Jeffersonselects Lewis and Clark. Who they were. Their in-structions. The uncertainty as to their route.

C H A P T E R X . PR E P A R I N G F O R T H E J O U R N E Y 106

An uninformed Spaniard. A company of pickedmen. Some curious supplies. The journal of theexpedition.

C H A P T E R X I . ST A R T I N G F O R T H E W I L D E R N E S 111

Trappers and Indians. Across Missouri. The firstsight of buffalo. Turning northward. A council withthe Indians near Council Bluffs. An odd way of fish-ing. A country full of game.

xiv CONTENTSP A G E

C H A P T E R X I I . IN S O U T H D A K O T A 120

A haunted mountain. Among the Sioux. A curiousfraternity. Some new animals. Trouble with theTetons. The first meeting with the grizzly bear.Reaching the Arikara Indians. The approach of coldweather.

C HAPTER XIII. AT THE V I L L A G E S 128

The winter camp. Hunting the buffalo. The journeyonward. Finding the Yellowstone River. Adventureswith grizzly bears. Hunting in Montana.

C H A P T E R X I V . AC R O S S M O N T A N A 137

Discovery of the Musselshell. The first glimpse ofthe Rockies. A buffalo charges the camp. A narrowescape. At the Great Falls of the Missouri. A difficultportage. Reaching the Three Forks of the Missouri.In an unknown country.

C H A P T E R X V . TH R O U G H T H E R O C K I E S T O T H E

P A C I F I C 146

Ascending the Jefferson. Reaching the Great Divide.Some friendly Indians. Sacajawea meets old acquaint-ances. Hardship and disappointments. Strugglingacross the mountains. Among the Nez Percés. Ontoward the sea. Passing the cataracts of the Columbia.The first glimpse of the sea.

C H A P T E R X V I . ON T H E P A C I F I C S L O P E

The winter camp. Peculiarities of the Clatsop Indians.A scarcity of supplies. Turning homeward. Sur-mounting the cascades. Journeying by land. Trouble-some Indians. Living on dog flesh. A search for theirhorses. Indian cooking. Suffering of the explorers.

159

CONTENTS xvP A G E

C H A P T E R X V I I . AC R O S S T H E M O U N T A I N S

A rough mountain road. Dividing the party. Anadventure with a grizzly. Fighting with Indians. Anaccident to Captain Lewis. His indomitable courage.Passing the Great Falls of the Missouri. Lewis over-takes captain Clark.

C H A P T E R X V I I I . CA P T A I N C L A R K’ S A D V E N T U R E S 178

Crossing the Yellowstone. The last glimpse of theRockies. Buffalo and bears. Reaching the Missouri.Attacked by mosquitoes. Pryor loses the horses.Bitten by a wolf. The whole party reunited.

C H A P T E R X I X . ON T H E W A Y H O M E

At the Mandan villages again. Big White accom-panies the explorers. Colter remains in the wilder-ness. His subsequent discovery of Yellowstone Park.Parting with the faithful squaw. Descending theriver. The arrival at St. Louis. The news in Wash-ington. The later life of Lewis and Clark.

P A R T I I I

THE EXPLORATION OF THE WEST

C H A P T E R X X . PI K E’ S E X P L O R A T I O N S

Ascending the Mississippi. A second expeditionwestward. Hostile Spanish influence. Into Colorado.The first glimpse of Pike’s Peak. On the upperArkansas. Disappointment and privation. In Spanishterritory. Captured by the Spaniards. Pike’s returnand death.

171

185

199

xvi CONTENTS

P A G E

C H A P T E R X X I . RO U T E S O F E X P L O R A T I O N 208

The great water ways. Importance of the Missouri.The Santa Fé, Overland, and Oregon trails. The furtrade the chief industry. Its effect on exploration.

C H A P T E R X X I I . TY P I C A L P A T H F I N D E R S 226

Trade seeking the Northwest. Hunt and the “over-land Astorians.” Ashley and Wyeth. Bonneville’sjourneys. Explorations by Frémont.

P A R T I V

THE BUILDING OF THE WEST

C H A P T E R X X I I I . A FO R M A T I V E P E R I O D 241

Influences of the westward movement. A time ofexpansion. Development of the Mississippi Valley.Inf luences upon upper Louis iana . Types of themiddle per iod . The so ld ier ’s work in the West .Labors of missionaries. Whitman’s journey and itsreal purpose.

C H A P T E R X X I V . TH E C O M I N G O F I N D U S T R I E S 255

The search for mineral wealth. Louisiana ignoredfor California. Later developments. The day of the“pony express.” The great cattle industry. Open-ing of the interior by the first transcontinental railroad.

C H A P T E R X X V . PE R M A N E N T O C C U P A T I O N 270

The Free Soil issue. Kansas and Nebraska. Dis-tribution of public lands. Louisiana in the CivilWar. A glance at later development. Political andeconomic consequence of the old Louisiana Purchase.

CONTENTS xviiP A G E

A P P E N D I X I 287

Treaty of Purchase between the United States andthe French Republic.

A Convention between the United States of Americaand the French Republic 293

A P P E N D I X I I . TH E L O U I S I A N A P U R C H A S E O F T o -D A Y 296

Its vast area. Statistical summary of the states andterritories formed from the Purchase. Fifteen mil-lions of people. Wealth four hundred times the pur-chase money. The empire which we gained.

L O U I S I A N A 296

M ONTANA 323

N E B R A S K A 325

N O R T H D A K O T A 328

O K L A H O M A 330

S O U T H D A K O T A 333

W Y O M I N G 335

IO W A 309

K A N S A S 312

M I N N E S O T A 316

M ISSOURI 320

C O L O R A D O 303

I N D I A N T E R R I T O R Y 307

A R K A N S A S 300

I N D E X 339

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

xix

4046

Facing 4 64750

MontcalmGeorge Rogers ClarkGeorge Rogers Clark’s Expedition to capture Vincennes

in 1779Anthony WayneA Flatboat on the Ohio

American Occupation FrontispieceExpansion Map of the United States F a c i n g 3“Hunch-backed Cow” F a c i n g 8Pueblo of the Zuñi Indians Facing 1 0De Soto’s First View of the Mississippi River 13De Soto’s Expedition (1539–1542) 15Old Spanish Gateway at St. Augustine 17Spanish Explorations 19La Salle 23Louis XIV, King of France 25Autograph of Jolliet 26Father Marquette (from Trentenove’s statue in the Capitol

at Washington) Facing 2 6La Salle at the Mouth of the Mississippi 28Autograph of Tonty 29Map of the Verendryes’ Route Facing 3 2Autograph of Le Moyne d’Iberville 35Autograph of Bienville 36Autograph of John Law 36New Orleans in 1719 37The Royal Flag of France 39

P A G E

x x ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPSP A G E

Autograph of Genet 55Autograph of Talleyrand 57Autograph of Toussaint L’Ouverture 61

Alexander Hamilton 65Livingston’s Autograph 67James Monroe 68

Napoleon as First Consul Facing 72Thomas Jefferson 81Wilkinson’s Autograph 88The Cabildo, or City Hall Facing 88

Claiborne’s Autograph 89Andrew Jackson riding along the Lines after the Battle of

New Orleans 92Bad Lands of Dakota 98Meriwether Lewis (from the drawing by St. Merain) Facing 100William Clark Facing 104

Washington One Hundred Years ago 107French Fort at Saint Louis Facing 108In the Days of the Buffalo Hunter 115

Totem of the Sioux 121Calumet, or Pipe of Peace 122Stone Hatchet 124Nature’s Fortifications (from the plan drawn by Lewis and

Clark) Facing 126A Mandan Hut 128Mandan Indians using “Bull Boats” made of Buffalo

Hide Facing 130Interior of Deserted Mandan Hut 131Map of Lewis and Clark Pass 148Mouth of the Columbia River (from the plan drawn by

Lewis and Clark) Facing 160Multnomah Falls Facing 164Meriwether Lewis Facing 174A Mandan Chief Facing 186Pike’s Peak Trail at Minnehaha Falls 205

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS xxiP A G E

Zebulon M. Pike Facing 206Emigrant Train crossing the Plains 209Pike’s Peak from Pike’s Peak Avenue, Colorado Springs

Whitman’s Journey to save his MissionFacing 210

252Sutter’s Mill Facing 256Indians attacking the “Overland Mail” 258A “Pony Express” Rider 260Completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad Facing 268

L O U I S I A N A

P ART I

DISCOVERY AND ACQUISITION

THE SPANISH AND FRENCH PERIODSAND

THE PURCHASE

C H A P T E R I

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS

What the Louisiana Purchase was. Early Spanish explorers.Discovery of the Mississippi. Pineda, Cabeza de Vaca,Coronado, De Soto, and Docampo. The Spaniards first inthe field. Their weakness in colonization.

At the opening of the year 1803 the terri-tory of the United States was bounded onthe west by the Mississippi River.¹ In Aprilof that year a treaty was signed in Paris bywhich nearly a million square miles west ofthe Mississippi, stretching from the mouth ofthe river to British America, was purchasedfrom France for $15,000,000, and the totalarea of our country was more than doubled.This great event is known in history as the

¹On the south the boundary was the thirty-first parallelof latitude from the Mississippi to the Apalachicola, downthe middle of that river to the Flint, thence to the head ofSt. Marys River, and down the latter to the sea.

3

4 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

Louisiana Purchase. By this treaty, whichwas signed by Robert R. Livingston and JamesMonroe representing the United States, and

Barbé-Marbois representing the Republic ofFrance, Napoleon Bonaparte—then the FirstConsul of France and afterward Emperor—

ceded to the Uni ted Sta tes the ter r i torywhich now contains Louisiana, Arkansas,Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, SouthDakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming,

Indian Territory, and parts of Colorado andOklahoma.¹

¹Much attention has been given by historians to the ques-tion whether or not Texas was or should have been includedin the Louisiana Purchase. Henry Adams and ProfessorEdward Channing are among the more conspicuous advo-cates of Texas as a part of Louisiana, and Professor A. C.McLaughlin declares that France “had good ground forclaiming the Texas country perhaps even to the Rio Grande.”Schouler and H. H. Bancroft take a contrary view, and thethesis that Texas was not a part of the Louisiana Purchase isably maintained in an interesting monograph by ProfessorJohn R. Ficklen. This discussion is not essential to thepresent narrative, since the United States, after claiming theterritory as far west not only as the Rio Bravo but even tothe Rio Grande, yielded the point in 1819, when by treatywith Spain the Floridas were acquired and Texas abandoned.

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS

It is easy now to see that this great addi-tion to our country was of incalculable impor-tance. At the time, however, the significanceof the purchase, which has been called a turn-ing point in our history, was not realized. Wecan understand the situation better by showingwhat had been learned up to 1803 of the vastregion which Jefferson and Napoleon added tothe United States.

It is sometimes said that the Louisiana ter-ritory was unexplored. In one sense this istrue, but we shall find that as a matter of factmany white men had penetrated this wilder-ness. The first were Spaniards who followedafter Columbus. The purpose of Columbus,and, for a time, of others after him, was tofind a water way to Cathay, or China, and theSpice Islands by the westward route, and tosecure their rich trade. The extent of Amer-ica was so little understood that much time wasspent in trying to find a passage through oraround our continent. Cipango, as Japan wascalled, was supposed to lie much farther east;indeed, in some old maps it seems included

5

6 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

within our boundaries. It was the Spanishpioneer explorers of the sixteenth century whofirst penetrated western North America anddiscovered the vast extent of our country.

It was in a search for this water route tothe west that, in 1519, Don Diego Velasquez,the Spanish governor of Cuba, sent out fourcaravels commanded by Don Alonzo Alvarezde Pineda. The little fleet finally sailed west-ward across the Gulf of Mexico until Pinedamet Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, and hisfollowers, who claimed that territory. Thepoint of chief interest to us is that on his returnPineda found the mouth of a great river, whichhe explored for a few leagues and named theRio de Espiritu Santo. This was the Missis-sippi. We may think of Pineda, therefore, asthe first white man to approach the confinesof the territory known later as Louisiana.

A few years later, in 1527, another Spaniardreached Louisiana, and the story of this man,Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca,¹ is of peculiar

¹The “Relation” of Cabeza de Vaca’s journey, by him-self, was first published at Zamora, Spain, in 1542. The

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 7

first edition of Buckingham Smith’s translation appearedin 1851, and the last, after his death, in 1871. While thetranslator’s notes cannot be accepted implicitly in the lightof later research, this translation holds a place of peculiardistinction in our early history as the first presentation inEnglish of a most important source of historical knowledge.

historical interest. He was treasurer of anexpedition sent from Spain to Florida. Withhis comrades he struggled across Florida to theGulf, and then, sorely tried by their hardships,they built rude boats as best they could. Theirhorses were killed for food. The manes andtails and some vegetable fibers were twistedinto ropes; rough tools and nails were wroughtout of stirrups and spurs, and shirts were piecedtogether for sails. Finally, the unhappy fugi-tives put to sea in five boats. They wereignorant of the waters and the coast, but theyhoped to reach the Spanish settlements inMexico. After a time they passed the mouthof the Mississippi, and then their boats wereshattered by storms, and only fifteen men livedto be cast upon an island west of the mouth ofthe Mississippi, which they aptly termed “TheIsle of Misfortunes.”

8 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

Of this remnant all but four were slain

by the Indians. Cabeza de Vaca himself wastaken captive. For six terrible years he washeld by his savage masters, who dwelt in east-ern Texas and western Louisiana. Sometimes

he was forced to act as a “medicine man.”Again he was sent out as a trader, makinglong journeys as far north as the Red Rivercountry, where, it is believed, he was the firstwhite man to see the “hunch-backed cows,” asthe older Spanish writers termed the buffalo.Finally, at some point west of the Sabine Riverin Texas, he was reunited to his three sur-viving comrades. They succeeded in escapingfrom their captors, and by using the rites of“medicine men,” with which they mingled“earnest prayers to the true God,” they pre-served themselves from harm at the hands ofother Indians.

Slowly and painfully they toiled westwardacross Texas, hoping to reach the Spaniards inMexico. They seem to have crossed the RioPecos near its junction with the Rio Grande, andthen crossing the latter river to have journeyed

T H E B UFFALO

(From Thevet’s “Les Singularitez de la France Antarctique,” Antwerp,1558. Winsor considers this one of the earliest, if not the

earliest, picture of the buffalo.)

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 9

through the Mexican states of Chihuahua andSonora. Turning southward they finally, in

May, 1536, reached Culiacan in Sinaloa, thenorthern outpost of Spanish settlement. Overtwo thousand miles were traversed by thesefugitives in this flight, which restored themto their countrymen eight years after their ill-starred expedition landed in Florida.

With the exception of their passage by themouth of the Mississippi and some wanderingsin Louisiana and to the north, they had hadlittle to do with the actual territory of thePurchase,¹ but the stories which these survivorsbrought back made others eager to explorethe mysterious interior of the New World.

One story which appealed particularly tothe imaginations of the Spaniards was a talewhich Cabeza de Vaca had heard of the SevenCities of Cibola, to the north, which were de-scribed as full of treasures. In search of thesecities a fearless priest, Fray Marcos de Nizza,started from Sinaloa in 1539, taking with himone of Cabeza de Vaca’s companions, a negro

¹That is, of course, eliminating Texas.

10 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

named Estevanico. He found no treasures, buthe reached the “cities,” which are believed tohave been the pueblos or villages of the ZuñiIndians near the present Zuñi village in west-ern New Mexico.

When he returned and reported that he hadactually seen certain strange towns to thenorth, there was a stir among the Spaniards,always tireless in the quest for treasure. Theviceroy of Mexico, Mendoza, promptly organ-ized an expedition under the command ofCoronado, governor of New Galicia, to takepossession of this rich country. He started in1540, captured the Zuñi villages and winteredin New Mexico, where he heard a marveloustale which brought destruction to many of theearly treasure seekers. This was the legend ofQuivira, a wonderful city of gold. Lured bythis golden myth, Coronado crossed Indian Ter-ritory and pressed on to northeastern Kansas.¹

¹General Simpson believed that Coronado reached a pointsomewhere in the eastern half of the border country of Kan-sas and Nebraska. Bandelier placed the main seat of theQuiviras “in northeastern Kansas, beyond the ArkansasRiver and more than 100 miles northeast of Great Bend.”

PUEBLO OF THE ZUNI INDIANS

(From a photograph)

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 11

He found a tribe of Indians called the Qui-viras, but they had no gold and knew of none,and he was forced to make his painful wayback empty-handed. This wonderful journeyof Coronado may be called the first greatexploration within the Louisiana territory.

It is most fortunate that narratives of thisremarkable expedition have come down to us.The best of these was written by Castañeda,who is supposed to have been a well-educatedprivate soldier in Coronado’s army.¹

A journey far longer and more perilousthan that of Coronado originated in the devo-tion of the brave priest Fray Juan de Padilla,who was with Coronado, and returned to min-ister to the Quiviras accompanied only by onesoldier, Andrés Docampo, and two boys, Lucasand Sebastian. The good priest was slain innortheastern Kansas. Docampo and the boys

¹A translation of this narrative follows Mr. GeorgeParker Winship’s critical discussion of the Coronado expe-dition published in the Report of the Bureau of Ethnologyfor 1892–1893. “The Spanish Pioneers,” by C. F. Lummis,offers a vivid sketch of early Spanish exploration and con-quest throughout the Western Hemisphere.

12 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

wandered over the plains for nine heart-break-

ing years, sometimes prisoners, sometimesfugitives, finally reaching the Mexican town ofTampico on the Gulf. Their journeyings musthave covered thousands of miles of Louisianaterritory, but no records have been preserved.¹

At the same time that Coronado was leadinghis soldiers eastward, another Spanish officerwas struggling from Florida towards the west.This was the famous Fernando de Soto, gov-ernor of Cuba, who was commissioned to conquerthe unknown territory on the Gulf of Mexicowhich had been granted to Narvaez by a royalpatent. De Soto sailed from Havana in 1539and, landing his force of nearly six hundredmen in Florida, fought his bloody way throughGeorgia and Alabama and on to the Mississippi,which he crossed at Chickasaw Bluff. Thiswas in 1541, and De Soto was the first whiteman to see the Mississippi except at its mouth.²

¹See “The Spanish Pioneers,” by C. F. Lummis.²There has been much historical discussion as to the dis-

covery of the Mississippi, and the question of the claims ofPineda in 1519, of Cabeza de Vaca, who crossed one of itsmouths in 1528, and of De Soto, has been argued at length

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 13

After crossing the great river De Soto marchednorthward to Little Prairie, led by the vague

D E S O T O’S F I R S T V IEW OF THE M ISSISSIPPI R I V E R

tales of gold which so often lured the Spaniardsto an evil fate. He sent out expeditions, one

by Rye in the Hakluyt Society’s “Discovery and Conquestof Florida,” 1851. See Winsor’s “Narrative and CriticalHistory of America,” Vol. II, pp. 289-292.

14 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

of which marched eight days to the north-west and reached the open prairies. It seemsprobable that De Soto approached the Mis-souri River, although he learned nothing of it.

At this very time, in the summer of 1541,De Soto and his starving followers must havebeen so near Coronado’s army that an Indianrunner could have carried a message from oneto the other in a few days. Indeed, Coronado

heard of these white men and sent a messenger,who failed in his errand. Thus, in the firsthalf of the sixteenth century two Spaniards,one starting from Tampa Bay in Florida andthe other from the Gulf of California, practi-

cally completed a journey across the continent.¹De Soto’s wanderings on the west bank of

the Mississippi are of interest here chieflybecause he entered the Louisiana territory.He met with little save disaster, and after abitter winter passed on a branch of the Missis-sippi, which seems to have been the Washita,he started southward with the remnants of

¹Winsor’s “Narrative and Critical History of America,”

Vol. II, p. 292.

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 15

his force. At the mouth of the Red River, onMay 21, 1542, the baffled “conqueror” died.Surrounded as his survivors were by hostileIndians, they dared not leave his body in agrave lest the Indians should discover it; so

this proud Spanish warrior found his last rest-ing place beneath the waters of the Mississippi.

The survivors, led by Luis de Moscoço, atfirst undertook to go westward in the hope ofreaching their countrymen in New Spain, andsome chroniclers have credited them with so

16 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

long a journey across the plains that theycame within s ight of the mountains . Buttheir attempts to reach their friends in Mexicoyielded no results, and they made their pain-ful way back to the Mississippi. There theybuilt boats and descended the river. Theyskirted the coast of Texas, and in September,1543, the wretched remnants of De Soto’s onceproud expedition reached Tampico.

Pineda had found the mouth of the Rio deEspiritu Santo, but De Soto is justly remem-bered as the true discoverer of the Mississippi.On this discovery was based an early claim toLouisiana. But the story of the Spaniards inNorth America was very different from theirrecord in the south, where Cortes had gainedan empire by his conquest of Mexico (1519–

1521), and Pizarro another in Peru (1531–1534). The early expeditions of the Span-

iards within the present territory of the UnitedStates represented even larger possibilities,as they were the first comers in this new land.

Pineda, Coronado, De Soto, and other Span-iards made their journeys in the first half

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 17

of the sixteenth century, and the oldest townin the United States, St. Augustine, Florida,was founded by the Spaniards in 1565. TheSpaniards had sailed by the shores of Virginialong before Raleigh had dreamed of settlement.

O L D S PANISH G ATEWAY AT S T. AUGUSTINE

It was not until 1605 that the French onthe north founded Port Royal, now Annapolis,N. S., which was followed by Quebec in 1608.It was not until 1607 that the English foundedJamestown, in Virginia, and not until 1620that the Pilgrims made their way to Plym-outh. Thus in the struggle for a continent

18 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

the Spaniards had a l l the advantages ofpr ior i ty , and they might have held NorthAmerica. But Spanish discovery was not ac-companied by the qualities which have wroughtout a very different history for Anglo-Saxonexpansion, and there were other obstacles.

Louisiana lay open to Spain in the six-teenth century, but the Spaniards, like otherEuropeans of their time, held to the “Bulliontheory,”—that the precious metals were theonly form of wealth,—and the gold and silverof Mexico and South America blinded them

to the opportunities awaiting them in thedevelopment of the Mississippi valley. Fur-thermore, after 1570 Spain’s energies wereabsorbed in attempts to suppress Protestant-ism in Europe and to crush the revol t ing

N e t h e r l a n d s . ¹ I n 1 5 8 8 S p a i n ’ s m a r i t i m epower was crippled by England’s destructionof the Invincible Armada.

All this checked a career in the New Worldwhich, continuing as it began, might have

¹See “The Discovery of America,” by John Fiske, par-ticularly Chapter XII.

THE SPANISH DISCOVERERS 19

meant a warfare against heretics in Virginiaand New England like that which stained theearly annals of Florida. It might have meantalso an assured grasp of the Mississippi and

S PANISH E XPLORATIONS

Louisiana. But Spain’s distraction and exhaus-tion gave a clear field for the English settlerson the eastern seaboard, and also for the Frenchwho came from the north to explore the Missis-sippi and claim the interior of our country.

The seventeenth century found Spain sus-picious and uneasy, but for the most part

20 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

inactive as regards Louisiana. In the earlyeighteenth century, about 1716, a Spanishexpedition moved eastward from Santa Féto check the French by establishing a mili-tary post in the upper Mississippi valley, butit came to a disastrous end. So far as theLouisiana territory is concerned the brilliantbeginnings of Spain suffered an ingloriouslapse. We owe to De Vaca, Coronado, and

De Soto the amplest knowledge which thesixteenth century afforded of the interior ofNorth America, but the Spanish desire forconquest and gold rather than real coloni-zation and development proved impotent inthe end.

Many years la ter than the Spaniards—not unt i l the seventeenth century—camethe French, adventurous, impelled by prideof country, desirous of territory and of trade,but like the Spaniards lacking the colonizingpower of the race which finally dominatedLouisiana.

C H A P T E R I I

THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA

Nicollet’s early expeditions. Saint Lusson claims the West forFrance. Marquette and Joliet explore the upper Missis-sippi. La Salle descends to the mouth. The French claimto Louisiana. Tonty and other pioneers. The founders ofNew Orleans. The search for a way to the western ocean.Le Sueur and other explorers. The Verendryes see theRocky Mountains.

It was nearly a century after the disastrousend of De Soto’s journey and the return ofCoronado’s expedition before the first repre-

sentative of the New France, which was press-ing up the St. Lawrence, reached a tributaryof the Mississippi. This was Jean Nicollet,a French interpreter of Three Rivers, whosejourney westward as far as Green Bay and theWisconsin River about 1634¹ was due to tales

of a strange people, who, it was held, mightbe the Chinese. This Oriental myth, which

¹As to the question of date see Winsor, Vol. IV, p. 304.21

22 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

persisted so long, was not shattered by Nicol-let’s discovery that these “Orientals” werereally Winnebago Indians. He returned be-lieving that the Wisconsin River, which heclaimed¹ to have reached and descended fora distance, had borne him within three days’journey of the sea.

Tales of the great river, the “Mesipi” of

the Sioux, were brought back by adventurousFrench traders and priests in the years that

followed Nicollet’s quest. “Through whatregions did it flow?” In Parkman’s eloquentwords, “Whither would it lead them,—to theSouth Sea or the Sea of Virginia, to Mexico,Japan or China? The problem was soon to

be solved and the mystery revealed.”Of the gallant French explorers who first

penetrated the interior of our country, one ofthe bravest and deservedly most famous wasRobert Cavelier, born at Rouen in 1643 and

¹C. W. Butterfield’s “History of Discovery by JeanNicollet,” etc. (Cincinnati, 1881), indicates that Nicolletdid not descend the Wisconsin. He was, however, thefirst white man to reach Green Bay.

THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA 23

best known as La Salle. At the age of twenty-three he came to Canada. He became seigniorof an estate near Montreal, but ambition, loveof adventure, an ardor for discovery and con-quest soon led

him to the ex-ploration of theunknown West.It seems certainthat in 1669 he

journeyed fromLake Erie to ab r a n c h o f t h eO h i o a n d d e -scended at leasta s f a r a s t h efalls at Louis-

L A SA L L E

ville. But a more glorious journey or dis-covery was yet to come.

A t n e a r l y t h e s a m e t i m e J e a n T a l o n ,intendant of Canada, was making the firstformal move in the great game which wasto checkmate England and Spain by a Frenchcontrol of the interior that would confine

24 LOUISIANA PURCHASE

England to the eastern seaboard and hold the

Spaniards at bay in the south and southwest.It was with this in view that in 1670 heordered Daumont de Saint Lusson to LakeSuperior to take possession of the interior.

It was early in May that the French soldiers

and priests assembled on a hill near the footof the Sault Sainte Marie, surrounded by

wondering Indians, who watched them raisea cross and place beside it a post bearing the

arms of France. All the known country ofthe Great Lakes, all the contiguous countries

discovered and undiscovered, “bounded on theone side by the seas of the North and of theWest, and on the other by the South Sea,”

were claimed by Saint Lusson, sword in hand,as the possessions of “the most High, Mightyand Redoubted Monarch, Louis, Fourteenth ofthat name, Most Christian King of France andof Navarre.”

Such was the proud claim of France cover-ing the valley of the Mississippi and the coun-try to the west; but of the geography of muchof the western territory the French had little

THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA 25

more knowledge than the Spaniards in 1493when the bull of Pope Alexander VI dividedthe Western World between the Spaniards

and Portuguese.

Of the manyFrench soldiers,priests, traders,and adventurersassociated withthe early historyof the Louisianat e r r i t o r y , t h emost famous areF a t h e r M a r -quet te and theLa Sal le whomwe have met atthe outset of hisca ree r . I t was

L OUIS XIV, KING OF F R A N C E

in 1673, sixty-five years after Samuel deChamplain founded Quebec, that Louis Joliet,an agent of Count Frontenac, governor ofNew France, or Canada, and Father Marquette,a Jesuit priest of singular devoutness and

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