ana took an active part in the American Revolution in 

 behalf of the colonies. The Spanish reoccupied planta- 

 tions that the British had temporarily taken and re- 

 united tobacco areas in the Natchez region. The Span- 

 ish authorities encouraged the growth of tobacco and 

 promised good prices to its cultivators, hoping to sell 

 it to the French and to the Mexican Monopoly. 



By the end of the American Revolution, the Spanish 

 government in Louisiana was deeply involved in the 

 tobacco business with up to two million pounds being 

 shipped annually from the port of New Orleans. 



W^ 



ilkinson and the Spanish curtain 



A complex problem was in the making, however, 

 causing increasing friction between American tobacco 

 growers to the north and the Spanish authorities. To- 

 bacco from Kentucky, Tennessee and surrounding areas 

 could easily be floated down the Mississippi River and 

 shipped out of the port of New Orleans, but the Spanish 

 tightly controlled the port's exports and prohibited 

 shipment of any northern tobacco. Thus much of this 

 tobacco was bottlenecked with no feasible outlet. 



What was needed was a promotion man, both a 

 diplomat and salesman to help open Louisiana to the 

 American tobacco trade. He turned up in the form of 

 one James Wilkinson, an American general who had 

 served with Benedict Arnold during the Quebec cam- 

 paign. 



In 1786 Wilkinson conceived the idea of breaking 

 the export barrier the Spanish government had set up 

 at Natchez and New Orleans. His expedition set out 

 from Frankfort, Kentucky with a full load of tobacco 



24 



