[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.