130 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



LOST CITIES Continued 



Louisiana. >In 1541, De Soto discovered 

 the Mississippi and in 1682 La Salle voyaged 

 down this river to its mouth, naming the country 

 Louisiana and taking possession of it in the name 

 of the King of France. In 1716, Bienville estab- 

 lished Fort Rosalie in the Natchez country and 

 in 1718 founded New Orleans. In 1717, the 

 Mississippi Company was formed by John Law 

 for colonization purposes, and in 1732 resigned 

 its claim to the territory, and Louisiana became 

 a royal province. In 1733, the first settlement 

 was made at Baton Rouge. In 1750, the culti- 

 vation of cotton was begun in the territory. 

 In 1755, Louisiana received a large increase in 

 population from the Acadians, who were driven 

 from their homes in Canada. By a secret treaty 

 in 1762, France ceded Louisiana to Spain, and 

 in 1768 the French drove the first Spanish Gov- 

 ernor, Don Antonio de Ulloa, from the colony. 

 In 1800, Louisiana was ceded to Napoleon by 

 Spain, and in 1803, on April 30th, was purchased 

 from France by the United States for 60,000,000 

 francs. In 1806 and 1807, Aaron Burr's scheme 

 to set up an independent nation in the Mississippi 

 Valley caused much disturbance in New Orleans, 

 and in 1810 residents of eastern Louisiana 

 formed the Republic of West Florida in an 

 attempt to overthrow the Spanish Government 

 there. The district was taken under the con- 

 trol of the United States and made part of 

 Louisiana during the same year after some 

 trouble. 



In 1812, Louisiana was admitted to the Union 

 as a State, with boundaries as they are now. 

 That same year the first steam vessels on the 



Mississippi arrived from Pittsburg. The battle 

 of New Orleans between the British and Ameri- 

 cans was fought January 8, 1815, and it was 

 the last battle of the War of 1812. During the 

 period from 1815 to 1860 there was continual 

 industrial activity and Louisiana soon became 

 one of the leading agricultural States. In 1850, 

 Baton Rouge became the seat of State govern- 

 ment. On January 26, 1861, Louisiana passed 

 the Ordinance of Secession. The first gun cast 

 for the Confederate navy was made at Gretna, 

 near New Orleans. Port Hudson, the last Con- 

 federate stronghold on the Mississippi, was cap- 

 tured by General Banks July 8, 1853, and on 

 May 26, 1865, the war in Louisiana was ended 

 by the surrender of General Kirby Smith. From 

 1865 to 1874 a period of carpetbag government 

 caused many disturbances, and on September 

 14, 1874, it was overthrown and a representative 

 government established. In 1884, the Industrial 

 Cotton Exhibition was opened at New Orleans, 

 celebrating the centennial of the first exporta- 

 tion of cotton from the United States. In 1890, 

 Chief of Police David C. Hennessy, of New Or- 

 leans, was killed by an Italian criminal. In 

 1891, an organized band of citizens killed eleven 

 Italian prisoners in the parish prison at New 

 Orleans. 



Lundy's Lane, a locality in the province 

 of Ontario, near the Falls of Niagara. Here, 

 July 25, 1814, an obstinate and undecisive en- 

 gagement was fought between an American 

 force, numbering 3,000 men, under General 

 Brown, and a body of about 2,000 British troops 

 commanded by General Drummond. The loss 



