LOUISIANA TERRITORY. 



567 



Genevicve, the post of Arkansas, Nacliitoches on 

 Rod river, Natchez on the Mississippi, were rallying 

 points of the rural population in this immense region, 

 who had adopted, in some degree, the manners of 

 the Indian hunters, while New Orleans and Mobile 

 had become places of considerable commerce. The 

 French claimed all the country west of the Alle- 

 ghanies, and had established a chain of communica- 

 tion from New Orleans to Quebec, which they 

 meditated to strengthen by a line of fortified posts. 

 The British, who claimed the country from the 

 Atlantic to the St Lawrence, found themselves thus 

 exposed to be shut in, upon the eastern slope of the 

 Alleghanies. The French occupied and fortified the 

 important position at the head of the Ohio, to which 

 they gave the name of fort du Quesne. The British 

 general Braddock failed in his attack on this post, 

 but the war terminated in the complete humiliation 

 of France, who, by the peace of 1 763, was obliged 

 to cede Canada, and all her possessions east of the 

 Mississippi, to Britain. The preceding year (No- 

 vember, 1762), she had ceded all her possessions 

 west of that river, with the island of Orleans, to 

 Spain, and the name of Louisiana now became 

 limited to this part of the valley. In the war of the 

 American revolution, Spain conquered Florida from 

 the British, and, by the peace of 1783, that province 

 was ceded to the Spaniards, while all the country 

 between Florida and the St Lawrence, and the ocean 

 and the Mississippi, was acknowledged as an inde- 

 pendent state. (See United States, Kentucky, Ten- 

 nessee, Ohio, &c.) The navigation of the Missis- 

 sippi soon became a source of difficulty between 

 Spain and the United States. After much delay, 

 the treaty of 1 795 was concluded between the two 

 powers, by which a line of boundary was agreed 

 on, and the free navigation of the river secured to 

 the United States. In 1798, the Spanish posts, to 

 the north of 31, were evacuated, but Spanish ships 

 committed depredations on the American commerce, 

 and refused to allow the navigation of the Missis- 

 sippi, and the right of deposit at New Orleans, which 

 had been secured by treaties. A force was accord- 

 ingly prepared on the Ohio, by the government of 

 the United States, in 1799, intended to descend the 

 Mississippi, and seize New Orleans. A change of 

 administration was followed by the disbanding of 

 these troops, but representations were made to Spain 

 against the violation of the treaty, with a demand of 

 redress, which was answered by the declaration that 

 Louisiana had been ceded to France. The French 

 force destined for the occupation of the country was 

 blockaded in the Dutch ports by the British, and the 

 first consul ceded Louisiana to the United States for 

 the sum of 15,000,000 dollars, or about 3,875,000, 

 by a treaty dated April 13, 1803. (See the secret 

 history of this treaty in the Histoire de la Louisiana, 

 by Barbe-Marbois, Paris, 1829.) The country passed 

 peaceably into the possession of the United States, 

 and measures were immediately taken for organizing 

 its government, and examining its unknown regions. 

 It was divided into the territorial governments ot 

 Orleans, which, in 1812, was admitted into the union 

 as an independent state under the name of Louisiana 

 (see Louisiana, State of), and of Louisiana, after- 

 wards changed to Missouri. See Missouri State, and 

 Missouri Territory. 



The first national expedition was planned by presi- 

 dent Jefferson, and placed under the command of 

 captain Lewis, and lieutenant Clarke (afterwards 

 governor of Missouri), with instructions to ascend the 

 Missouri, cross the rocky mountains, and descend, 

 by the Columbia, to the Pacific ocean. They began 

 the longest river voyage since the lime of Orellana, 

 May 14, 1804. Having wintered at fort Mandan, 



they continued their voyage next spring, and, after 

 a course of 3000 miles arrived at the fountain-head 

 of the Missouri. Fifty days were occupied in cross- 

 ing the mountains by a difficult road ; but shorter 

 and more easy passages have since been discovered. 

 Descending the Columbia to its mouth, they reached 

 the Pacific ocean, at a distance of 4134 miles from 

 their starting-point. They returned by a somewhat 

 shorter route of 3550 miles, having been the first who 

 had crossed the North American continent, from the 

 Mississippi to the Pacific. (See Lewis and Clarke's 

 Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, Phila- 

 delphia, 1814.) About the same time, lieutenant 

 (afterwards major) Pike was sent to explore the 

 Mississippi, and, on his return from that expedition, 

 to survey the country lying between the Rocky 

 mountains and the Mississippi, and examine the 

 sources of the Arkansas, and Red rivers. Having 

 arrived at the head of the former, and suffered much 

 from cold and hunger, on account of the elevated 

 situation of the country, he reached a large river, 

 which he supposed to be the Red river, but which 

 proved to be the Del Norte. He had unconsciously 

 entered the Spanish territories with his party, when 

 they were arrested by Spanish soldiers, and carried 

 almost without clothing, to Santa Fe, but were after- 

 wards set at liberty, and returned to Nacliitoches. 

 (See Pike's Expedition to the Sources of the Missis- 

 sippi, Philadelphia, 1810.) In 1819, the federal 

 government organized a new expedition, of a mili- 

 tary and scientific nature, to examine more carefully, 

 with a view to colonization and defensive establish- 

 ments,the country east of the Rocky mountains. It was 

 commanded by major Long, and a narrative of it has 

 been written by doctor James, botanist to the expedi- 

 tion. The party embarked at Pittsburg, in a steam- 

 boat, and reached the mouth of the Platte in the middle 

 of September. Having passed the winter on the banks 

 of that river, they resumed their route in June, 1820, 

 and crossed the great sandy desert which extends, in 

 a gentle slope, nearly 400 miles to the base of the 

 Rorky mountains, and nearly 500 miles from north 

 to south. Its surface is furrowed by ravines, seve- 

 ral hundred feet deep, in which are a few stunted 

 trees. On the elevated surface of the desert, not a 

 tree is to be seen ; but it is thickly set with the 

 spiny cactus, or prickly pear. Proceeding south- 

 wardly, they descended the Arkansas, and returned 

 with large collections of skins of rare animals, some 

 thousand preserved insects, and an herbal of 400 or 

 500 new plants. (See Account of an Expedition to 

 the Rocky Mountains, Philadelphia, 1828.) Another 

 expedition, under general (now governor) Cass, pro- 

 ceeded to explore the British frontiers about the 

 sources of the Mississippi. Schoolcraft was the his- 

 torian of this expedition. (Travels to the Sources of 

 Mississippi, in 1820, Albany, 1821.) To complete 

 the survey of the frontier, major Long was sent, in 

 1823, with Mr Keating to ascend the St Peter's, 

 a considerable river which falls into the Missis- 

 sippi. They traced the river to its source (375 

 miles), and, proceeding northward, reached the 

 Red river, which flows into lake Winnipec. (See 

 Narrative of the Second Expedition to St Peter's 

 River, Lake /finnipec, &c., by William H. Keat- 

 ing.) This completed the general survey of this 

 immense region. Its northern boundary was settled 

 by the convention of 1818 with Great Britain, on 

 a line drawn in 49 from the lake of the Woods 

 to the Rocky mountains: the southern, by the treaty 

 of 1819 with Spain, is from the Sabine river, in 32 

 N., to the Red river; then along that river to 100 

 W., thence directly north to the Arkansas, which it 

 follows to 42 N., and thence, in that parallel, to the 

 South sea. The states of Louisiana and Missouri, 



