Eight days in New-Orleans in February, 1847

by Albert James Pickett

CHAPTER II.

THE EARLY SETTLEMENT OF NEW ORLEANS,—OF BILOXI,—NATCHEZ.—GOVERNOR IBERVILLE AND HIS SUCCESSOR.

Iberville, the father of Louisiana, having formed a settlement at Biloxi, by erecting a fort and leaving a garrison, proceeded up the river, and established a town at Natchez, on that splendid bluff which towers above the angry waters of the Mississippi. On his departure for France, his brother, Bienville, was made Governor, and he appears to have been anxious to procure a more eligible site for the capitol of the province than either of those which his predecessor had selected. Dropping down the vast current he most patiently made a thorough examination of the banks from Natchez to the gulf, and finally determined to make the Crescent Bend the future capitol. His judgment was good, although the visitor frequently wonders why the city was not placed nearer the ocean. It was, perhaps, the most elevated spot convenient to the outlet, and was certainly nearest Lake Pontchartrain, upon the commerce of which the founder no doubt made reasonable calculations. But whether the settlement of New Orleans was the result of accident, as many suppose, or of well conceived design, it matters but little. It was selected by Bienville, and he threw fifty able men forthwith into the forest to felling the trees, exactly one hundred and twenty-nine years ago! In defiance of the united opposition of Natchez and Biloxi, the Governor pushed forward his work. It appears that in the very outset this place encountered difficulties of various kinds, which thwarted its prosperity for nearly a century. While only one year old, the Mississippi rising to an unprecedented height, swept away every vestige of human innovation. Being totally abandoned for three years, it was again settled by Delorme, "who acting under positive instructions, removed to it the government establishment." In the following year it contained about one hundred houses scattered in all directions, with no regularity, with no dyke to protect them from the rolling waves, no fort to repel the incursions of the Indians; without the smallest luxury and comfort, without society, without religious enjoyment, reduced by disease and assailed by the venom of every tropical insect, did these enterprising sons of France struggle for existence and a town. No sooner were they left to some kind of repose than they were visited by a dreadful tornado, which blew away their houses, destroyed their shipping, and ruined their gardens. But New Orleans has risen above all disasters and opposition. One of the most remarkable characters of that day was Governor Bienville. He must have been a determined man, with great good sense, and had the confidence of the citizens. He was made Governor three times, and for many years exercised a salutary influence over the destinies of Louisiana.

A few years after this period, a body of Jesuit priests and nuns arriving from France, gave a new impetus to the town. They made a most fortunate location, and their property greatly augmented in value. But these pious adventurers were also to be disturbed. The Pope of Rome not only expelled that sect from Europe, but pursued them in American exile. Their property in New Orleans, variously estimated to be worth now, from fifteen to thirty millions, was then confiscated and sold for one hundred and eighty thousand dollars. These unfortunate people still further had to satisfy the tyrannical decree to the full measure, by leaving Louisiana! Fifty-one years elapsed from the settlement of Orleans until it was visited by that dreadful disease, the yellow fever, and we may ascribe that affliction, as we may do many other entailed evils, to the English. They introduced it by importing to Louisiana a cargo of slaves; and now these philanthropists would be willing to see our nation exterminated, and our throats cut, because we are pursuing a system of mild domestic slavery, when they imposed it upon us in the most heartless and aggravated form, by kidnapping and robbery!!! But I am digressing.

To terminate this very rapid and imperfect sketch of the history of Orleans, I will introduce a brief summary, with the remark, however, that the Louisianians had every impediment thrown in their way in endeavoring to become a prosperous and happy people. They were handed over by the French government to a chartered company, who afterwards returned them to the government. They were then sold to Spain, and a remorseless governor of that nation introduced a system of plunder and oppression. Afterwards Spain ceded this country again to France, and France sold it to the United States for fifteen millions of dollars! A sum that startled many of our economical republicans of that day, but which, compared to the advantages of the purchase and the revenue since derived, was a most paltry sum. In 1778 a fire consumed nine hundred houses. In 1785, seventy years after it was founded, the population was only four thousand seven hundred and eighty. In 1791 the first comedians arrived from Cape Francois. In 1800 Spain receded the province to France, and it was purchased by the United States in 1803. In 1810 the population amounted to twenty-four thousand five hundred and fifty-two souls: Ever since the cession to the United States the strides of the city of Orleans have been rapid, and her march onward!