NOVEMBER 8:

November 8, 1762: As a part of the Treaty of Fountainbleau, Spain acquires all of French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River for helping France in the "Seven Years War," also called the "French and Indian War." Some sources report this happening on November 3rd.

Also Robert Rogers 1731-1795 Loyalist, author, army officer, was born on this day at Methuen, Massachusetts, in 1731; dies at London, England May 18, 1795. Rogers led colonial Rangers during King George's War (1744-48) and the Seven Years War (1756-63); 1768 tried for treason and overspending in Montreal, but acquitted; Rogers raised and commanded the Queen's (later King's) Rangers during the American Revolution; his works include his Journals (1765), A Concise Account of North America (1765) and Ponteach, or, The Savages of America (1766), which criticized the exploitation of North American Indians.

1634 Quebec Quebec - Robert Giffard baptizes an Indian child of 6 months.
 

BACKGROUND:
 

Timeline from http://www.neworleansonline.com/neworleans/lapurchase/timelines.html

1682 Explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle claims for France the vast territory to the east and west of the Mississippi River, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. He names it la Louisiane in honor of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

1718 Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville establishes a French outpost near the mouth of the Mississippi River and names it la Nouvelle Orleans, in honor of Philippe, Duc d'Orleans and Regent of France. Colonists, including prisoners and Germans, begin arriving from France as well as the earlier settlements of Biloxi and Mobile.

1762 By the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau, Louis XV cedes New Orleans, the Florida territories and that part of the Louisiana territory west of the Mississippi River to his Bourbon cousin, Charles III of Spain.
 
 

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From http://diglib.lsu.edu/tahil/expansion/treaties/fontparis.htm
 

Background: The Treaty of Fontainebleau was negotiated between France and Spain in November 1762.  The French monarch, Louis XV, persuaded his Spanish Bourbon cousin Carlos III to accept Louisiana.  Transferring the colony to Spain allowed France to position herself more advantageously before beginning the 1763 peace negotiations with England.   At the 1763 Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War, France lost Canada to England.  The Louisiana Territory remained in the hands of Spain, although Spain was forced to cede Florida to England.  The Paris treaty of 1763 reinforced the Treaty of Fontainebleau provisions.

"by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre, To all who shall see these presents, Greeting. Whereas the Preliminaries, signed at Fontainebleau the third of November of the last year, laid the foundation of the peace re­established between us and our most dear and most beloved good Brother and Cousin the King of Spain, on the one part, and our most dear and most beloved good Brother the King of Great Britain, and our most dear and most beloved good Brother and Cousin the King of Portugal on the other . . .

"Whereas preliminaries of a solid and lasting peace between this Crown, and that of France on the one part, and that of England and Portugal on the other, were concluded and signed in the Royal Residence of Fontainbleau, the 3rd of November of the present year . . ."
 

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From http://nac.tamu.edu/~x075bb/caddo/Indians.html#II1
 

1. FRENCH AND SPANISH RELATIONS BEFORE 1762

In order to understand the history of the Caddo Indians it is not only necessary to have a knowledge of their traditions, customs, and location but also to know something about their relations with the Europeans. The Caddo was one of the groups located on the frontier between Louisiana and New Spain.

France and Spain began a contest to control these frontier tribes from the first moment of contact until 1762 when Louisiana was ceded to Spain. The principal weapon used by the French was the trader, and by the Spaniards, the Franciscan missionary, each backed by a small display of military force. One of the reasons for a desire to control the frontier tribes was to secure possession of their territory. Both France and Spain realized that the best way to accomplish this was to establish an influence over the natives of the district desired. Another reason to control the tribes was to foster trade. A third was a desire of the missionaries to bring them to the knowledge of the Christian faith.

From the outset both the French and Spanish governments regarded the Caddo country as a strategic point of great importance. Likewise, both countries began to make a bid for control of the individual tribes before the close of the seventeenth century. The first contact made by the French was with the Cadodacho who were visited by the survivors of the La Salle party in 1687, and the friendly relations established by this visit were never abandoned. In 1689 Tonti, while searching for La Salle's colony, visited the tribe and further strengthened the amicable relations already existing between them and the French.

The first Spanish explorer to reach the Cadodacho country was Domingo Teran. His attempt to explore the region was a complete failure and it was not until 1717 when another unsuccessful attempt was made by Father Margil to establish missions for the Cadodacho and the Yatasi.

In 1718 a large grant of land was made to Bernard de la Harpe, a French colonizer, in the Cadodacho country. In 1719 a garrisoned trading post was established on Red River by La Harpe between the Cadodacho and Nassonite villages. This post was maintained part of the time with a garrison until after the Louisiana cession. It checkmated every attempt made by the Spaniards to penetrate the Cadodacho country. Later, depots were established at the village of the Petit Cados and Yatasi.

Bolton says:

These trading establishments at Natchitoches and in the villages of the Cadodacho, Petit Cado, and Yatasi, together with the influence of the remarkable St. Denis, who in 1722 became commander at Natchitoches, and who till his death in 1744 remained the master genius of the frontier, were the basis of an almost undisputed French domination over the Caddo tribes. More than once the Spanish authorities contemplated driving the French out of the Cadodacho village and erecting there a Spanish post, but each attempt failed.

The first relations with the Natchitoches began in 1690 when Tonti reached these tribes from the Mississippi and made an alliance with them. In 1700 Iberville sent his brother, Bienville, on a visit to their country from the Taensa villages. Bienville as an ambassador must have accomplished his ultimate aim, for, from the date of his visit to the close of the eighteenth century the tribe never broke faith with the French. In 1712 they helped St. Denis establish a post on the Red River at Natchitoches as a protection against the intrusions of the Spanish, and also in the hope of establishing trade relations with Spain.

In 1701 Bienville and St. Denis visited the Yatasi tribes and made an alliance with them. That the friendship formed by this alliance was permanent, was shown by the fact that the Yatasi refused to close the road between the Spanish province and the Red River settlement, after the Spanish had demanded that it be closed.

The French maintained control over all of the Caddo tribes with the exception of the Adai, among whom the Spanish were located from the very beginning. In 1715 Domingo Ramon, a Spanish colonizer, with a company of Franciscans, made settlements in the Adai territory. The mission of San Miguel de Linares was founded among them in 1716.

In 1719, when France and Spain were at war, orders were given to Blondel, the commandant at Natchitoches, to drive the Spaniards from Texas. In carrying out these orders Blondel, with Natchitoches and Caddo allies, took possession of Los Adaes, and the Indians were allowed to destroy the buildings. The Adai tribe because of their allegiance to the Spanish, were removed from their lands by the French and treated as enemies.

In 1721 the Marquis de Aguayo, a Spanish general, was sent with the strongest military force that had ever entered Texas to re-establish the presidios of Texas and the abandoned missions. He established a new presidio in the Adai tribe beside the Mission of San Miguel. This new presidio was located where the present town of Robeline, Louisiana, now stands. About 1735 a military post called Nuestra Senora del Pilar was established, and five years later this garrison became the Presidio de los Adayes. Afterwards, when the country was districted for the jurisdiction of the Indians, the Adai tribe was placed under the division having its official headquarters at Nacogdoches. Although Spain had established the political rule over the Adai, she had not stopped the French trade that had won the hearts of the natives. These Indians and associated tribes along the frontier looked to the French for their weapons, ammunition, and other articles of trade, for which they exchanged their peltry, and often their agricultural products.

As a result of the wars between France and Spain the Adai had suffered severely, one portion of their villages being under French control, the other being under Spanish control. The ancient trail between their villages became the noted "contraband trail" along which traders and travelers journeyed between the French and Spanish provinces. One of their villages was on the road between the French fort at Natchitoches and the Spanish fort at San Antonio. The adverse influences of the whites, together with the conflict between France and Spain, almost exterminated this ancient tribe of Indians.

2. THE SPANISH INDIAN POLICY AFTER 1762

From this time the Caddo tribes were under Spanish control; therefore the outcome of the Indians will be largely determined by the Spanish Indian policy. The three fundamental purposes of the early Spanish policy were to convert the natives to the Christian faith, to civilize them, and to use them in the development of the frontier. In order to accomplish these desires the encomienda system was devised. It was soon learned that before the savage could be civilized, converted, or made a useful being, he must first be controlled. To provide such control, the land and Indians were distributed among the colonizers who held them in trust, or in encomienda. It was the duty of the trustee to provide for the protection, the conversion, and the civilization of his subjects; in return he was given the privilege to exploit them. The encomendero, or guardian, was required to support friars, whose duty it was to instruct the Indians in the Christian religion, in citizenship, and in the industrial arts. This plan led to the establishing of great monasteries in the territory conquered by the Spanish colonizers.

It was also learned that in order to instruct and exploit the Indian properly, he must be made to remain in a specified place of residence. Thus it soon became a law that Indians must be congregated in pueblos, and kept there by force if necessary. The encomienda system was so badly abused that it placed the Indians in a state of slavery. The trustees, yielding to the desire of the flesh, thought only of the usefulness of the natives in terms of dollars and cents. They disregarded the primary objects for which the system was designed; to convert and civilize the natives. The encomienda system was gradually replaced by the missions. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many missions were planted on the expanding frontiers of Spanish America. These missions were in the hands of priests whose first duty was to teach the Christian religion to the heathen, and to teach the Spanish language and civilization. The missionaries were not only religious agents but they also served as political agents for Spain. They explored the frontiers, promoted their occupation, de fended them and the interior settlements from foreign influences and savage tribes, and often served as diplomatic agents. The Spanish Indian policy prior to the Louisiana cession, although tinged with mercenary aspirations, was designed for the preservation of the Indians rather than for their destruction.

In 1762 France ceded Louisiana to Spain but the transaction was not complete]y carried into effect until 1769.l7 The Indians were very angry when they learned of the treaty of cession. They did not believe that the King of France had a right to transfer them to any white or red chief in the world, and to dispose of them like cattle; thus they threatened resistance to the execution of the treaty.

Spain now had a new Indian problem. She had the difficult task of winning the loyalty of the Indian tribes that had been living peaceably under the influence of the French in the contested territory. The new policy adopted was similar to that employed by the French, a "method of control," Bolton says, "Through the fur trades and presents, a good many modifications in the directions of greater equity for the white men and greater humanity to ward the natives.

3. RELATIONS WITH THE SPANISH AFTER THE LOUISIANA CESSION

After the Louisiana cession Antonio de Ulloa, first Spanish governor in Louisiana, and Hugo O'Conor, ad interim governor in Texas, issued proclamations threatening death to any French man trading in Texas. Later, O'Conor claimed that by this means all such trade was suppressed. Ulloa soon concluded, however, that the French system of trade and presents for the friendly Indians must be continued. He reached this conclusion in December, 1767, after an attempt was made to suppress the trade with the Yatasi tribe. On his way to the village, Du Buche, a trader who had been stopped by orders of O'Conor, caused the tribe to rise in rebellion. They held a meeting and planned to attack one of the Texas presidios, but were deterred by Guakan, head chief of the Yatasi nation. Guakan was pacified and trade allowed to continue. French traders were allowed to go freely to the tribes of Louisiana and Texas without restrictions as to time or place.

When Alexander O'Reilly became governor of Louisiana in 1769, he continued the trade with the friendly tribes, but attempted to discontinue trade with the enemies. Athanase de Mezieres, lieutenant governor at Natchitoches, was instructed by O'Reilly to continue the annual presents to the Cadodacho, Petit Cado, and Yatasi tribes. De Mezieres was also instructed to choose traders of good habits to send into the Indian villages and to encourage the savages to work and not to remain idle. He selected Alexis Grappe, Dupin, and Fazende Moriere to reside in the villages of the Cadodacho and Yatasi. The instructions which they were to observe specified that the savages must be furnished satisfactory merchandise for the ordinary trade price; no English merchandise should be introduced among the Indians; goods should be sold and distributed only to friendly nations; the traders should arrest all French and Spanish wanderers or vagabonds, and confiscate their effects, demanding, if necessary, the forcible aid of the Indians; the chiefs were requested to bring such rovers to the post; English traders should not be allowed to trade with the Indians or even to go into their villages; they were pledged to maintain peace and harmony among the tribes allied with Spain; they were to teach the natives to be loyal subjects; they were to tell the hostile nations that the French and Spanish were united and if they did not refrain from violence they would be treated as their cruel enemies; but if they made true signs of repentance they would be added to their list of allies; it was recommended to the traders that no adult or infant Indian in danger of death should be without the blessing of holy baptism.