FOOTNOTES:
[48] For the following topics mentioned in this chapter, see Nuttall's Journal, in our volume xiii: William Darby (note 181), Caddo Indians (103), Little Rock (123).—Ed.
[49] Ellicott; 31° 1´ 15˝, according to M. de Ferrer.—James.
Comment by Ed. 30° 58´ 50.28˝ is correct.
[50] The settlement of Avoyelles occupied an island of prairie, about forty miles in circumference, rising out of the swamp thirty or forty feet above high water. The name was that of a small tribe of Indians found there by the early French. Acadians went thither in considerable numbers during the last fifteen years of the eighteenth century. In 1803 the inhabitants were a mixture of French, Irish, and Americans, settled around the edge of the prairie, near the woods, their houses facing the open land, which they cultivated. A decade later the population was estimated at four hundred and fifty whites and a hundred and fifty slaves.—Ed.
[51] "The south side of this river, quite to the rapid part, is entirely different from the opposite side; it is something higher, and rises in proportion as it approaches the height I have mentioned; the quality is also very different. This land is good and light, and is disposed to receive all the culture imaginable, in which we may assuredly hope to succeed. It naturally produces fruit trees and vines in plenty; it was on that side muscadine grapes were found. The back parts have neater woods and meadows, intersected with tall forests. On that side the fruit trees of the country are common, and above all, the hickory and walnut trees, which are sure indications of good soil." Du Pratz' Louisiana, p. 166.—James.
Comment by Ed. This reference is to the second London edition (1764).
[52] Sibley's report on Red River says of the settlement at the rapids (1803), "No country whatever can exhibit handsomer plantations." See American State Papers, "Indian Affairs," i, p. 726. There were also at that time a few settlers on the north side of the river between the rapids and Avoyelles, but none on the south side which was more subject to inundation.—Ed.
[53] Freeman's MS. Report to W. Dunbar, esq.—James.
[54] Compare Sibley's description of this portion of the river in 1803 (see reference, ante, note 52). Rigolet means a little irrigation ditch, giving the name of the east channel the curious meaning, Little Ditch of the Good God. This is now the main channel, and is sometimes called Red River; its upper mouth is four or five miles above Natchitoches, instead of below, as stated in the text. The other channel was also called Cane River. In 1803, there was a settlement of forty families on this branch, about twenty-four miles above the end of the island. Near this point the river again divides, forming Isle Brevel, so called from the first settler upon it. The branch west of this island is called Old, or False, River. The other, or middle, branch was, in 1803, called Little River, its banks being thickly settled; it is now considered as the upper portion of Cane River. The upper junction of Cane and False rivers was near Natchitoches. Thus it appears that each channel has borne, or bears, two names: the east channel is Rigolet du Bon Dieu, or Red River; the middle one at Isle Brevel is Cane, or Little River; and the west one Old, or False River; while at the lower island it is Old or Cane River.
Natchitoches, now chief town of the parish of the same name, was established in 1714, by St. Denys, as a mission station; a fort was erected in 1717, under Governor Bienville.—Ed.
[55] In 1700 M. de Bienville ascended the Red river to the country of the Natchitoches and Yatassee Indians, but could find no Spanish establishments in that quarter. The Yatassee village was about forty miles north-west of the present town of Natchitoches, in the settlement of Bayou Pierre.
Darby, on the Authority of La Harpe.—James.
Comment by Ed. See Margry, Découvertes et Établissements des Français, vi, pp. 241-307.
[56] The official report of the expedition under Captain Sparks was never published, and the account here given is the only one extant, drawn from the notes of the party. Richard Sparks, the leader, first saw service in the "levies of 1791," under Gen. Arthur St. Clair. The next year he was made captain in the infantry, and later promoted to major (1806) and lieutenant-colonel (1807). During the War of 1812-15 he was colonel in the Second Infantry; at the close of the war he received an honorable discharge and died the same year (1815).
Freeman's given name was probably Thomas, but nothing more is known about him. "Lieutenant Humphrey" was probably Enoch Humphreys, of Connecticut, who entered the First Artillerists and Engineers in 1801 as lieutenant. He became an artillery captain in 1809, and remained in this branch of the service until his death in 1825, being breveted major for gallant conduct at New Orleans in 1814.—Ed.
[57] John Joseph Duforest, of Louisiana, was an ensign in the Second Infantry in 1805, was promoted to a second lieutenancy in 1806, and two years later became first lieutenant. His death occurred in 1810.—Ed.
[58] Daniel Parker (1782-1846) graduated from Dartmouth (1801), became chief clerk in the war department (1810), and then brigadier-general, adjutant and inspector-general (1814). Later, for one year (1821), he was paymaster-general. Meanwhile he published a register of the army (Washington, 1816). In 1841 he returned to his former position of chief clerk in the war department.—Ed.
[59] The Natchitoches (whence the name of the town) were a small tribe of Caddo stock, who dwelt on upper Red River. In 1805 only thirty souls remained of this tribe; they lived in a village on Black Lake, north of Natchitoches. A hundred years earlier, they were said to have numbered six hundred men.
The Paskagoulas (Pascagoulas) were one of several small tribes of Siouan stock, who lived south of the main territory of the family, near the gulf. In 1805 they had a village on Red River, about sixty miles below Natchitoches, whither they had come from Pascagoula River, Mississippi.—Ed.
[60] John Sibley had been a surgeon in the Revolutionary War. His account of Red River (1806) has been cited in foregoing notes. He was the father of George C. Sibley (see Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, note 36).—Ed.
[61] Nacogdoches, seat of the Texas county of the same name, was established in 1716, as a Spanish mission post; the mission Indians were removed to San Antonio in 1772. Spanish garrisons occupied Nacogdoches for many years, and kept watch on the movements of the French across the border, at Natchitoches, and, after the cession of Louisiana to the United States, of the Americans in that quarter.—Ed.
[62] Lake Bistineau.—James.
[63] Coshatta, Darby, &c.—James.
Comment by Ed. The Coshatta tribe was of Muskogee stock; they came to Louisiana at the close of the eighteenth century from east of the Mississippi, and established their chief village on Sabine River, about eighty miles south of Natchitoches; at that time they numbered about two hundred souls.
[64] The accumulation of drift known as the Great Raft began near Campti, in Natchitoches Parish, and extended a hundred miles or more up the river. At places the drift was covered with soil which supported a considerable growth, including even small trees; it is said that the river might at some places be crossed without the water beneath being seen; while at other places the drift was open, sometimes for several miles. The national government began the work of removing the obstruction in 1832, and by 1840 had cleared the river. Constant labor has been required, however, to keep the channel open; neglect has repeatedly resulted in the formation of new rafts many miles in length. As intimated in the text, it was possible to pass around the raft by water, through the side bayous and lakes connected with the river.—Ed.
[65] The Caddo Indians here mentioned were an important tribe of the stock of the same name. In 1806 their home was on Caddo Lake, which lies partly in Caddo County, Louisiana, and partly in Texas. The tribe went thither about 1790 from north-eastern Texas, where they had dwelt from time immemorial.—Ed.
[66] The spot where Sparks's party was stopped must have been near Little River (of the North); the account is too indefinite to permit an exact statement. In this same year, Pike and his companions were arrested on the upper Rio Grande and taken to Santa Fé. Several recent events had aroused the apprehension of the Spanish authorities; in 1801 one Nolan had led a filibustering expedition into Texas, and Burr's conspiracy aimed, probably, at the Spanish dominions, had not yet been forgotten. Information of the proposed expeditions under Pike and Sparks had reached the Spanish officials before the Americans had completed their preparations, and Pike found upon reaching the Pawnee village on Republican River that a large body of Spanish cavalry had preceded him in visiting the tribes of the Great Plains. During his detention by the Spanish, he learned that this party had been sent out primarily to intercept and turn back both American explorers. They themselves, however, were not only to make explorations within the bounds of the United States, but to renew their former friendship with the Indians in our territories.—Ed.
[67] Under the French régime, a fort was built near the old Caddo village, and several families settled in the vicinity. This was known as the "upper settlements;" but about 1780 the French families abandoned the location and removed to Campti, a few miles above Natchitoches. For many years thereafter Campti was the "upper settlement;" but in 1818 there were twenty families at the mouth of the Kiamichi and a dozen more a few miles below, at Pecan Point.—Ed.
[68] Little River of the South, so called to distinguish it from Little River (of the North), is the present Sulphur Fork of Red River. Its course is eastward, parallel to the Red, into which it falls in Miller County, Arkansas. For Little River, see ante, note 42. Notes on the Poteau and Kiamichi are given in Nuttall's Journal, our volume xiii (169, 177).—Ed.
[69] Boggy (Vaseux) River rises in the Shawnee Hills, very near the main stream of the Canadian, and flows south-east; its mouth is opposite Lamar County, Texas. Blue River is a smaller stream; its course is parallel to that of Boggy River, and its mouth is near the ninety-sixth meridian. The False Washita has already been described (preceding volume, note 66), and the sources of Red River indicated (ibid., note 52).—Ed.
[70] Rio Rojo (Red River) was the Spanish name for the upper Canadian—the portion marked Rio Mora on the map—but Long's party struck the Canadian considerably to the east of this portion (see preceding volume, note 71). However, the same name was commonly given to other streams. Humboldt's conjecture was that the Pecos (which had not been explored to its mouth) was the upper course of Red River of Natchitoches. See Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (London, 1811), ii, p. 313. The head-waters of the Pecos lie between the upper Canadian and Santa Fé.—Ed.
[71] Thuja occidentalis.—James.
[72] P. [239] [London edition, 1774].—James.
[73] This missionary "family" consisted of nine men, eight women, and four children, sent out by the United Foreign Missionary Society under the leadership of a clergyman named Vaill. The illness of most of the party was nothing worse than ague and bilious fever; but two of the young women were attacked by typhus fever, and died a few days after reaching Little Rock, where they arrived on July 23. Low water detained the missionaries there until the following January; then they proceeded up the Arkansas, and established Union Mission on the Neosho River, twenty miles from the Arkansas.—Ed.
[74] Several persons, passengers on board a steam-boat, ascending the Mississippi, in 1820, went on shore near New Madrid. In one of the houses which they entered they found a small collection of books: as they were amusing themselves with the examination of these, they felt the house so violently shaken, that they were scarce able to stand upon their feet; some consternation was of course felt, and as several of the persons were ladies, much terror was expressed; "Don't be alarmed," said the lady of the house, "it is nothing but an earthquake."—James.
[75] The forest adjoining the settlement of Little Prairie, below New Madrid, presents a singular scene of confusion; the trees standing inclined in every direction, and many having their trunks and branches broken.—James.
[76] See Mississippi Navigator, p. 180.—James.
Comment by Ed. See the account of the earthquake of 1811 in Bradbury's Travels, in our volume v, pp. 204 et seq.
[77] Golconda is the seat of Pope County, Illinois. Its origin as Lusk's Ferry, dates from 1800. Grand Pierre is a small creek which falls into the Ohio four miles above Golconda. On Cache River, see our volume xiv, note 51.—Ed.
[78] Most of the collections made on this expedition have arrived at Philadelphia, and are in good preservation; they comprise, among other things, more than sixty prepared skins of new or rare animals. Several thousand insects, seven or eight hundred of which are probably new; five hundred have already been ascertained to be so, and have been described. The herbarium contains between four and five hundred species of plants new to the Flora of the United States, and many of them supposed to be undescribed.
Many of the minerals collected by Mr. Jessup were left at Smithland, Kentucky. A suit of small specimens, adapted to the illustration of the geology of the country from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains, has been received.
A collection of terrestrial and fluviatile shells was also made. Of these more than twenty new species have already been described and published. The organic reliquiæ collected on the voyage from Pittsburgh to St. Louis have not as yet been received in Philadelphia, but are daily expected.
The sketches, executed by Mr. Peale, amounted to one hundred and twenty-two. Of these, twenty-one only were finished; the residue being merely outlines of quadrupeds, birds, insects, &c.
The landscape-views, by Mr. Seymour, are one hundred and fifty in number; of these, sixty have been finished.—James.
[A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED BY THE EXPLORING EXPEDITION]
Being the Copy of a Report of Major Long To The Hon J. C. Calhoun, Secretary of War
Dated Philadelphia, Jan. 20. 1821.
Sir,
In obedience to your order of the 28th of November, I have the honour to submit the following report, embracing a concise account of the movements of the exploring expedition under my command, and a general description of the country explored by them. Although there may be no very striking incidents to embellish the narration, yet the diversity of scenery presented to the view, the changes in the character and aspect of the country, and the variety of other interesting matter in the several departments of natural science, which have been subjects of particular attention, cannot fail to awaken a lively interest in the minds of an enlightened community, inasmuch as a discussion of them must lead to a knowledge of the condition and natural resources of a large portion of the United States' territory. But as the principal object contemplated in this report is a general view of the topography of the country, the subjects of description will be such only as are thought to be illustrative of such a view.