This interpretation of how Fort St. Jean Baptiste looked was drawn by the architects, Butler and Dobson of Natchitoches, for the Committee for the Restoration of Colonial Natchitoches, Inc.
It is my sincere hope that this restoration will be executed by the year 1964 when Natchitoches will in that year celebrate her 250th anniversary.
To the Frenchmen of that period, the title, Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches, meant that the Fort or Post was named for St. John The Baptist and that its location was among the Natchitoches Indians.
It was this Fort which St. Denis defended against the Natchez Indians in 1731.
Old Kitchen of Fort Jesup—only remaining building of the original fort
The progress of the struggle for Texas independence was watched with keenest interest throughout the United States, but the interest south of the Mason-Dixon line was greater as most of the Texas settlers came from the Southern states.
Louis Cass, the Secretary of War, on January 23, 1835, sent instructions to Major General Edmund P. Gaines, ordering him to move to a position nearer the western frontier of Louisiana, and to assume personal command of the troops near the Mexican (Texas) border. Blockhouses were erected to protect the supplies of the personnel of the camp. General Gaines took personal command of the troops there.
The Red River by the year 1835 had changed its course and taken the Bayou Rigolet de Bon Dieux as its main channel, leaving Natchitoches high and dry except during the spring and winter months. The river port of Grand Ecore then became the most important shipping port for the southwestern area of Louisiana and eastern Texas. The Texas trail now by-passed Natchitoches some four miles to the west, connecting it with Grand Ecore.
General Gaines wrote of the decaying condition of the buildings at Fort Jesup, and acquired a twenty-five thousand dollar appropriation for their repair through the help of Thomas S. Jesup, Quartermaster General of the United States, who had been given the honor of having Fort Jesup named after him.