p25  Part 1
The Purchase

It is still a prevalent impression that when President Thomas Jefferson consummated his famous "Louisiana Purchase", when he paid Napoleon and France $15,000,000 for a great pie-shaped slice of land cut of the very heart of the North American continent, at the rate of four cents an acre, that all the territory which today comprises the present State of Louisiana was included in the domain that passed to the United States on December 20, 1803, the day William C. C. Claiborne raised the stars and stripes in the ancient Place d'Armes in New Orleans. Such was not the case; the Spanish flag continued to fly over West Florida, Baton Rouge, Ste. Helena, Feliciana, and Spanish governors and their soldiers and alcaldes continued to rule.

With the exception of "the island of Orleans," all the territory south of the 31° line and east of the Mississippi river remained a province of Spain. For seven long years after the banner of fifteen stars and fifteen stripes was unfurled over Louisiana, this strip along the Gulf of Mexico was doggedly held by the Dons who maintained that the "Purchase" had not included this area. This brought on an argument, for the United States claimed that this particular piece of property was included in the sale by France. In this, as in many other like cases, possession proved nine points in a ten-point debate. In consequence Governor Claiborne's jurisdiction on the east bank of the Mississippi extended north only to the junction of the big river with the stream called the Iberville, at Manchac, to the great and outspoken disgust and disappointment of many in this Spanish-ruled territory, for they had expected to become citizens of the United States coincident with the Purchase.

The majority of those populating this western section of West Florida, as had already been pointed out, were of the English-speaking races. But all were not British; many and many a settler came from that independent pioneer, and turbulent western section, Kentucky. "Kaintucks" they were called. There were many from Georgia. "Crackers" these latter were designated; still others came from the Carolinas, and, while a considerable number were Loyalists, still there were those there who were proud of the fact that they had been patriots and not "damned Tories" during the war of the Revolution.

Practically all of these English-speaking planters and settlers in Spanish West Florida openly resented the fact that this land had not been included in the Purchase, and it was with impatience that they watched the seven-year period of bickering between the diplomats who argued the case, with the shirt-sleeved Yankee diplomats getting the worst of the duel of words with the more experienced and limber-tongued representatives of Castile and Leon.

 p26  That section of West Florida which had for its seat of government the fort at Baton Rouge was ruled by Colonel Don Carlos de Grand Pré, Frenchman by birth, who had won fame and promotion for himself when he commanded French troops in the colony during the time the Bourbon flag waved over Louisiana. When the province was ceded to Spain in 1763, like many another French officer, Colonel de Grand Pré offered his sword to Spain. When he was placed in charge of the Baton Rouge sector his troubles began, especially during the Kemper rebellion in 1804 when Reuben, Nathan and Sam Kemper, exasperated by the fact that the United States had not taken West Florida as part of the land it had purchased from Napoleon, courageously raised their own flag of seven white and blue stripes and twin stars on a red union​1 and started their own move for freedom which, (as related in "The Story of the Kemper Brothers" q.v., "St. Francisville Democrat", July 9, 15, 22, 20, 1933) came to an untimely end.

The Twin-starred Kemper Brothers' Flag

However, dissatisfaction among the inhabitants continued and the feeling of unrest under the continuing rule of Spanish officials grew and threatened to burst all bounds. What else could be expected when the nationality of these "Spanish" citizens is considered?

No better picture of these people has been given than that by Henry Skipwith of Clinton who, in his pen portraits of these pioneers in his little known and exceedingly scarce "East Feliciana, Past and Present," wrote in 1889:

[This list of names of the clients of the Cochran & Rhea store was published in the St. Francisville Democrat, May 20, 1933, under the caption "Early Feliciana Residents." S. C. A.]

These were the folk who were restive under the Spanish yoke. The clever Dons, suave, polished, and courteous, maintained that West Florida was theirs, because France could not sell that which did not belong to her. And so the situation dragged along for seven long years.

When Madison, he who had suggested the Louisiana Purchase, followed Thomas Jefferson into the presidential chair the Kingdom of  p29 Spain, then under the domination of the acknowledged "master of the world," was compelled to accept the Little Corporal's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, as their king, for Carlos IV had abdicated and fled from Madrid to Rome and his son, Ferdinand VII, had thrown himself on Napoleon's mercy — and Napoleon had thrown the young King of Spain in jail!

West Florida, then nominally under the Spanish domination, was pro-United States at heart; at least nine-tenths of the population wanted to join the newly formed collection of states. But neither West Florida, nor even the Feliciana district, was unanimous in wanting annexation to the infant republic. There was an active pro-French party among these citizens. There was a strong pro-British party among the planters. Also a pro-Spanish aggregation of land owners, and, worse, a turbulent, uncontrollable anti-Spanish and pro-nothing band of men in the district who had no use for laws of any land nor use for those who made them. Most of these "citizens" had been forced to flee American law to find harbor in this Spanish land, consequently their abhorrence for law, in any form, can be understood for many of this rag-tag and bob-tail collection were deserters from the United States Army.

Don Carlos de Grand Pré, who did have the confidence of many of the more responsible planter folk in the jurisdiction over which he ruled as governor in 1809, was accused of pro-French sympathies, removed, and died in Havana of a broken heart before being tried. He was replaced by another French-born Spanish executive and then trouble began in earnest. The new governor was bland and easy-going. He was so vacillating in his policies that a number of historians have jumped to the conclusion that his character was weak. This is an error, for he had won his many commissions in the Spanish army and service by bravery and ability in other sections of Spanish Louisiana in his dual capacities as military and civil commander. He was unquestionably unfortunate in his selection of subordinates and they, particularly his secretary, were responsible for what happened in 1810 when the planter folk arose in rebellion.

Don Carlos de Hault de Lassus

As he played such an important role in the events to be later described it is necessary I properly introduce Charles de Hault de Lassus de Luzière, to give him his full name. He was the eldest son of Chevalier Pierre de Lassus de Luzière, holder of the knight grand-cross of the royal order of Saint Michael, of an ancient noble family established in the town of Bouchaine, in Hainault, French Flanders, who had married Domitille Joséphe Dumont Danzin de Beaufort, of Beauchamp, bishopric of Arras. The chevalier was probably the same "Delousiere" mentioned by Michaux, the botanist, as having been exiled from France for having been concerned in a plot to deliver Havre to the combined English fleets. At any rate he fled from France during the Revolution, went to Spain, and then removed to Louisiana, arriving in New Orleans in 1793.

Charles de Lassus (or Don Carlos, as he becomes better identified in Louisiana history) was born in France in April of 1764, and entered  p30 the Spanish service at the age of 18 as a cadet in the Royal Regiment of which the king was colonel, known as the Cuerpo de Guardias Walonas or the Walloon Infantry. He became a second lieutenant of the Grenadiers of the Fifth Battalion, and when 29 was brevetted Lieutenant Colonel in recognition of his bravery in leading a success­ful assault upon and capturing Fort Saint Elmo in the Pyrenees in 1793. A year later he was again promoted and placed in charge of the king's bodyguard in Madrid. Shortly thereafter he requested his transfer to the Louisiana regiment so that he could follow his father, sister and brothers to the New World colony.

Upon his arrival in New Orleans, Governor the Baron de Carondelet, upon receipt of orders from the Spanish court, made Don Carlos commandant at New Madrid, a post on the Mississippi river, and at the same time gave his father the command of the post of New Bourbon. In 1799 Don Carlos was made Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana and stationed at Saint Louis where he ruled until 1804, when he turned over that portion of Louisiana to Captain Amos Stoddard of the United States Army under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase. It was while he was lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana in 1802, that he was promoted to the full rank of colonel in the Spanish armies.

When he was at the New Madrid post Don Carlos had for his secretary an interpreter, Pierre d'Herbigny (he later changed the spelling of his name to Derbigny and became in 1828 a governor of the State of Louisiana) who married Félicité Odile de Hault de Lassus de Luzière, sister of the commandant. Two of his brothers were also in the Spanish service in Louisiana, Jacques Marcelin Céran de Hault de Lassus de Saint Varin, who had served in the French navy before the Revolution, in Louisiana commanded the galliot or war galley "La Flecha" (The Arrow); while Camille de Hault de Lassus de Luzière was interpreter and adjutant of the New Bourbon post.

In the spring of 1807 Don Carlos de Lassus was placed in charge of Baton Rouge fort where he was immediately plunged into hot water, raised to the boiling point by the corruption of the officials under him and the lax methods by which they handled crimes. Spain, and the immediate superiors of de Lassus at Pensacola and Havana, being so far away and engrossed with other affairs, it was nigh to impossible for the complaining planters in Feliciana to refer any of their grievances to other than local officials, and these gentlemen, naturally, were prejudiced against any and all complaints lodged against their own actions and activities.

In the midst of this general discontent a trustworthy rumor was spread throughout the district that Napoleon Bonaparte had decided to regain the territory he had sold to the United States and that this occupation of West Florida would be merely his opening wedge in a campaign to retake all Louisiana. Many of the planter folk of Feliciana, although they preferred the jurisdiction of the United States, were tolerant of Spanish rule as long as they were justly treated, but the very thought of being ruled by the Corsican threw them into a state of apprehension. Something must be done to stave off the coming of the  p31 French. Consequently they, those of the better element, met secretly and decided upon a bold action to end uncertainty.

The Feliciana planters decided what they needed was a more effective, a well organized local government; but how could they accomplish this and at the same time maintain an attitude of loyalty? Admittedly this was a big problem but one, so they believed, they could solve. These planters sensibly realized that they were about to engage in a ticklish proposition and that any move they would make might be construed as treasonable; that the rope, or incarceration at Morro Castle at Havana, would result if their plans were made public or went astray.

"On the Square"

Absolute secrecy was essential to success and the planters, British, Irish, Scottish and American, realized that there was only one bond that could keep these several nationals together — their member­ship in an old, a very old, secret society. In consequence all their meetings were held "on the square," and on the "five points of fellow­ship," in spite of the fact that in the Feliciana district, as elsewhere in Spanish West Florida, such fraternal gatherings were strictly taboo.

The months of May and June, 1810, in the Feliciana country were hectic ones. There were many imputations of graft leveled against the governor's secretary, one Don Raphael Croker (there seems to be evidence he was called "Croquer" at different times) and a captain in the Louisiana regiment. Governor de Lassus objected to the general tone of the complaints against his confidential assistant and demanded specific charges; he even objected to the form of remonstrances made by Captain Croker's fellow-officers stationed at the Baton Rouge fort.

El Capitán Croker airily characterized all the charges of bribery made against him as the "pretext of embryo insurgents to justify the revolution they were fomenting", claimed that "American officials in Mississippi and in New Orleans were inspiring the unrest", and charged that the movement then getting underway in the Feliciana countryside was "due to the machinations of a group of physicians who were meeting secretly with some of the wealthy planters in the neighborhood of Bayou Sara and Saint Francisville."

The commandant of the Feliciana district was one Tomaso Estevan, who, before being placed in charge of the Bayou Sara post, had been the head Spanish officer at Galvez-town, a settlement on the Iberville river below Baton Rouge which had been named for Bernardo de Galvez. When the Louisiana Purchase was consummated, Estevan turned over Galvez-town to the United States representative. While some records refer to him as being a captain, other records stamp him as a "Teniente" or lieutenant of the Spanish Louisiana regiment. He had risen from the ranks, a rather unusual thing in the Spanish army, and had married a daughter of Don José Moller, a planter, who lived on the American or west bank of the Mississippi river, evidently below the lower Pointe Coupée village.

This commandant, who represented the force and arm of Spain in Feliciana, was not invited to attend any of the meetings of the planters  p32 in his district, which is not at all strange; neither was the cura in charge of the church of San Francisco asked to attend. This priest, the Cura Francisco Lennán, and the Spanish commander were exceedingly unpopular, the charge frequently being made that between "the Cross and the Crown" the planters were continuously being bled for services of all kinds. Only one of the English-speaking population, so it appears, had anything in common with these two. He was John Murdock, an attorney, who owned a tavern at the "Murdock's ford," the crossing of Thompson's Creek on the Baton Rouge road, the tavern being kept by a man named Horton.

The first news that Governor de Lassus had that an uprising of the planter folk of Feliciana was under way was when Estevan advised him of the circulation of a petition calling for a people's convention and that already secret gatherings had taken place.

The Johnson Family

These secret gatherings were held at "Troy" plantation, the home of John Hunter Johnson, a captain in the militia. John was the eldest son of Isaac Johnson, a Britisher, who had come to West Florida about 1775, when West Florida was held by the English. Isaac was the son of the Reverend John Johnson, an Episcopal minister, and Margaret Hunter, both of Liverpool. Soon after his arrival in West Florida, Isaac Johnson settled near Natchez, married Mary Routh, who had floated down the Mississippi river with her two brothers, Job and Jeremiah, from Virginia. In partner­ship with John H. Mills he went into the sawmill business at Second Creek, and when this was floated away by a spring freshet, he moved to the Saint Francisville section and established "Troy" plantation about this time Mills founded Bayou Sara, as has already been related.

Isaac Johnson became the father of twelve children, rearing five sons and five daughters to maturity. The eldest of this sturdy brood being John Hunter Johnson, who married Thenia Munson. (John's eldest son, named for his grandfather Isaac, and born in 1805, became the first Democratic governor of Louisiana in 1846, its war governor during the hostilities with Mexico, and the first governor of Louisiana born in Feliciana). Other children of Isaac Johnson and Mary Routh were: 2— Ann Waugh Johnson, who married Gilbert Mills, son of John B. Mills,​2 and later became the wife of Moses Semple. 3— Isaac Johnson, Jr., who married Melissa Jane Williams. 4— Mary Johnson, who married Aaron Gorham. 5— Charles Grandpré Johnson, who married first Anna Ruffin Dawson, and later Eliza Eddington, of England. 6— Carolina Matilda Johnson, who married Benjamin Collins. 7— Joseph Eugenius Johnson, who married Martha Lane. 8— William Gayoso Johnson, who married Eliza Collins Johnson, daughter of William Garrett Johnson, not related. 9— Elizabeth Johnson, who married Thomas Withers Chinn. The tenth and last child was Martha Johnson, who married Dr. Nathaniel Wells Pope, the friend and clerk of John James Audubon.

Unquestionably John Hunter Johnson was not only the brains and moving spirit, but with his dare-devil brothers, Isaac, Charles and  p33 Joseph, became the strong right arm of the rebellion of the Feliciana planters against the Spanish rule in 1810. It was at his plantation that most of the preliminary secret meetings were held. It was he who dictated the wordings of the various proclamations issued, and the demands made by the members of the convention when it held the first open meeting.

While the Feliciana planters were thus quietly organizing, other trouble was brewing at Baton Rouge. Two Frenchmen from New Orleans began holding secret meetings there, practically under the very muzzles of the guns of the fort. They called nearby Frenchmen into parley under pretext of defending themselves from the Spanish but, according to word sent Governor de Lassus by Diego Morphy, Spanish vice-consul at the Crescent City, these French emissaries were in fact planning a revolution for Napoleon Bonaparte; raising a force in West Florida to join forces with others from New Orleans, to capture not only Baton Rouge but Pensacola as well. De Lassus, seeing in these French activities a well-planned propaganda against his jurisdiction in particular and Spain in general, banished the French malcontents and their local followers. The Frenchmen, fleeing Spanish wrath, crossed the Mississippi to Iberville on the American side and there openly threatened to return and overwhelm de Lassus and his entire force. Whereupon, the governor issued a call for the entire territorial militia to take up arms, he prepared for a defense of Spanish soil, and placed the fort in a state of defense.

While de Lassus was in this perturbed state of mind he received a secret dispatch from Don Tomaso Estevan in the Bayou Sara country, advising him of the circulation of an anonymous petition, calling for a popular convention. Estevan coupled these dire tidings with a fervent plea that de Lassus, accompanied by a considerable force, should come at once to Saint Francisville. Deciding that the peril from the French orators at Baton Rouge was more acute than the trouble brewing in Feliciana, de Lassus refused to leave his fort but dispatched two trusted English-speaking "citizens" to consult with Estevan and to urge the planters not to start any disturbance as by so doing they would only favor the enemies of Spain, particularly Napoleon's scheme to repossess the Floridas and then take over Louisiana.

Señors Hicky and Mather

The two messengers were Philip Hicky and George Mather, Sr., both long residents of the district. Parents of both had come to the province when it was under the domination of England and had remained when Spain ousted the British. Hicky was the son of Daniel Hicky of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, and Martha Scrivner, of Worcestershire, England. This couple came to Louisiana and West Florida in 1775 and their one child, Philip, was born at Manchac, June 17, 1778.

Mather's father was James Mather, of Bochin Lane, London, who emigrated to British West Florida in 1777, on the chartered ship "Royal Oak," which also brought Richard Devall, Daniel Hicky, and others. George Mather's sister, Ann, the third daughter of James Mather, married Philip Hicky.

 p34  George Mather and Philip Hicky had always been staunch supporters of the Spanish government in West Florida and Hicky, after the death of his father becoming a wealthy man, had, on more than one occasion loaned Spanish government of the Baton Rouge jurisdiction money to keep up its functions. The Mathers had long been among the more substantial English-born citizens forced to become Spaniards to retain their properties along the Mississippi. Therefore, the two brothers-in‑law were friends and advisers that a governor could select with safety to his own interests to go to a disaffected region and urge loyalty in place of revolt.

Before Hicky and Mather could attend to the duties of their errand, John H. Johnson had summoned the principal planters of the Saint Francisville region to "Troy". A few hours later, in a body, they rode along the dusty roads to Bayou Sara where the Spanish commandant Don Tomaso Estevan had his headquarters. They found the right arm of Spain in bed, complaining of a sudden illness (which one of the liberty-demanding planters whispered in an aside to another that it was probably "yellow" fever), but marching into his very bedroom, John Johnson presented a petition which he demanded the official should receive, read and approve. It was to the effect that he, Don Tomaso Estevan, commander of the Bayou Sara and Feliciana district should summon all of the inhabitants of Feliciana to a people's convention, that he order all the alcaldes, syndics, militia officers, and the leading inhabitants to form a general meeting "to discuss measures to restore public tranquility."

After a general demurrer, after a plea that he must first consult his superior, Governor de Lassus, after vainly trying to get the determined band of petitioners to put off the matter for a week or two, Estevan signed the call as he was bid and thus saved himself a hurried trip across the Mississippi river to the American side — or into the water!

The date set for the people's convention was Saturday, June 23, and to be held at "the farm of Mr. Stirling, some 15 miles from the Mississippi river and about 10 miles below the line of demarcation," according to one report. To another record, it was held "at Saint Francisville." My investigations prove that this first outspoken move for liberty was held at the Stirling place, not at "Wakefield," as some have supposed, but at "Egypt" plantation, first established on Alexander's Creek by Alexander Stirling, which passed to his son, Lewis Stirling, upon his death in 1808. Today "Egypt" is known as "Rosale" plantation. This agrees with "10 miles from the Mississippi river," but not with "15 miles from the line of demarcation."

All was set for the first move; according to one of the physicians of the district "the imposthume [boil] was ready for the lancet!" Messengers dashed to and fro along the roads of the district summoning all who wanted to have a say in the future of Feliciana to be present, at high noon, at the Stirling place on the following Saturday, for then "Vox populi", the voice of the people, would be heard roaring through the hills and dales of flower-spangled Feliciana.

 p35  It was in the midst of this activity that Señors Hicky and Mather arrived in the Feliciana district, ready to call the inhabitants together so that they could read them the letters from the Spanish consul at New Orleans, warning of the French plan, and to show these Feliciana folk that any internal disturbance would only favor the enemies of Spain, which was having its own difficulties across the Atlantic: its king, Ferdinand the Seventh, in one of Napoleon's prisons, and the Corsican's brother seated on the throne of Castile and Leon. They delivered the message, but —

After interviewing commander Estevan, talking matters over with the curate, Francisco Lennán, and holding a secret meeting "on the square" with the planters planning the convention movement, the two messengers returned to Baton Rouge. They assured the governor that he need have no apprehension over the coming meeting, that Estevan and the priest Lennán were jumping at shadows, that the inhabitants of Feliciana were loyal, and the governor need have no fears over what would eventuate. Hicky denied positively that there was any truth to the statements contained in a letter the frightened cura Lennán had written de Lassus; that the coming meeting of the folk of Feliciana merely cloaked a plan to seize the fort at Baton Rouge and deprive the governor of his command. Hicky and Mather had become, too, apostles of liberty.

Early in May, before matters had reached the crisis stage in West Florida, Governor William C. C. Claiborne of the Territory of Orleans (for as such was Louisiana known before it attained statehood), had left the southland and proceeded to Washington where he immediately went into a series of conferences with President Madison. That matters in West Florida formed the topic of the discussions between the head of the territory and the head of the nation is obvious, and is made certain by the contents of a confidential letter Governor Claiborne wrote in Washington on June 14, and dispatched by messenger to William Wikoff, Jr., an American planter and legislator, or as Claiborne described him in a letter to Secretary of State Robert Smith: "Wam.º Wykoff, Jun., is a planter, a native of Penn. and resides on a cotton plantation nearly opposite Baton Rouge, a very honest man, is now and for some time past judge of his parish, speaks English, French, and Spanish." Judge Wikoff was related by marriage to the Hicky and Mather families and was quite familiar with conditions on the Spanish side of the big river. First, let us read Governor Claiborne's letter to his friend and confidant, William Wikoff:

Governor Claiborne's Views

Although this letter had been written during the middle of June, owing to the delays of transportation of mails in those times, it was some days after the planters had met at Lewis Stirling's place to initiate their own move for independence, that Wikoff received Claiborne's missive, which clearly showed how President Madison regarded West Florida, and that he had not abandoned the claim that West Florida, at least as far as the Perdido river, belonged to the area purchased from France under the terms of the Purchase.

The Voice of the People

On Saturday, June 23, 1810, a great concourse of inhabitants of Feliciana gathered at "Egypt" plantation. There were more than five hundred Spanish citizens in attendance when the "voice of the people" was raised in one great shout. Ostensibly their object was "to secure themselves against foreign invasion and domestic disturbance", if what the ringleaders said to those assembled on the lawn in front of the plantation home was the truth. These leaders, head by John Johnson, submitted a prearranged plan and it was adopted viva voce and only eleven voices, out of the five hundred, were raised in objection.

Under the plan submitted by those responsible for calling the people together, the inhabitants of Feliciana were asked to "select four of their respectable and influential neighbors" who were in turn empowered to ask each of the remaining districts of Baton Rouge, Ste. Helena, Chifoncté, Christianna, to elect their representatives to a common council. This council of the whole to be invested with the general powers of government, which they were to administer "in a manner best calculated for the common good." Spanish officers then governing the territory would be empowered to continue in force, provided they would submit to the new authority of the people!

The plan was agreed upon with roars of approval. There were only 11 dissenting voices raised in the 500 and more who crowded the lawn in front of "Egypt's" plantation home, and cheering Feliciana folk selected the four representatives before the meeting was declared ended, and they were: John Hunter Johnson, William Barrow, John Mills, and John Rhea. The people who had delivered the first blow for liberty then wended their way homeward.

 p38  Let us be present at this momentous meeting, witness it through the account written by a "gentleman of Pointe Coupée" to "a friend in the Louisiana territory." It was penned the next day and said:3

Baton Rouge Joins In

The news of the action of the Feliciana planters quickly spread and the other districts of the territory were soon asking permission to call similar conventions. On July 6, those in the Baton Rouge district petitioning the chief executive and signing the call were Philip Hicky, George Mather, Joseph Sharp, Samuel Fulton, Fulwar Skipwith, Dr. Andrew Steele, Thomas Lilley, John Davenport, George and William Herries,  p39 Philemon Thomas, John Morgan, Edmund Hawes, fourteen in all,​a all anxious to follow the lead of the Feliciana patriots.

News of the contemplated convention filtered into New Orleans and the newsprints of that city were soon taking cognizance of the unsettled affairs of West Florida. Printed the "Louisiana Gazette" June 27: "Letters have been received today from Bayou Sara and Baton Rouge, stating that the people of those districts in West Florida had it in contemplation to form a government for themselves; that they had been for sometimes without law, or the semblance of government, and that self preservation drove them to the measure they were about to take. We are promised extracts of the letters, which, if handed us, shall be printed tomorrow."

Three days later the "Gazette" stated: "We are not able to give the extracts of the letters on the subject of the commotions in West Florida. The business has assumed a serious shape, and the gentlemen who received the letters, on due consideration, think they ought not to have publicity. We are promised a communication on the subject which will appear Monday."

As promised, in a letter signed "Common Sense," the "Gazette" published July 2, 1810, a long letter from the Bayou Sarah region, which read:

Independence Day was celebrated with pomp and gusto in New Orleans, although the editor of the "Louisiana Gazette" noted that there was a lack of warmth and zeal among some of the citizens, particularly those of French sympathies, as witness:

Below this item was another which pertained to the troubles in Feliciana and West Florida. It read:

Governor de Lassus did not mull very long over the petitions sent him by the other inhabitants to call an assembly similar to the one held in the Feliciana country so they could select delegates. He replied immediately. He said that as the avowed purpose was to preserve intact the dominions of the Spanish monarchy and sustain Spanish laws,  p41 and as such an action would tend to insure the tranquility and well being of every citizen in the jurisdiction, therefore he freely granted permission to hold such meetings in Baton Rouge, Ste. Helena, Chifoncté, and even sanctioned the meeting already held in Feliciana.

Samuel Fulton

With this assurance that their delegate-selecting meeting would be recognized as legal, official, and non-treasonable, the Baton Rouge petitioners assembled at the home of Samuel Fulton in that village. This makes necessary a pause in the recital of events to introduce Señor Fulton. He was at that time adjutant-general of the West Florida militia and the husband of a daughter of former Governor Carlos de Grand Pré. Before settling in the Baton Rouge district, Samuel Fulton was one of the French agents in the service of the Directory in its plan to reoccupy Louisiana when the Spanish held it. He visited General George Rogers Clark in 1796, and confirmed the captor of Vincennes in his French sentiment. Later Fulton was at work, with a man named Milfort, among the Creek Indians in an endeavor to help out France's plan to limit the western boundaries of the United States to the Appalachian mountains rather than by the Mississippi river. In August of 1804 we find Fulton in West Florida where, with the assistance of Armand Duplantier and George Dupassau, he assembled a force of some 150 men from among the settlers in the Amite and Comite region to balk the Kemper brothers in their revolt, attempt to take over the Baton Rouge fort, and make Governor de Grand Pré a prisoner.

That same summer Sam Fulton had been appointed by Governor Claiborne as "a discreet person" to open the mail bags passing through the Spanish territory on their way to New Orleans and distribute the letters in them directed to persons living in West Florida. The appointment was made by the American governor, strange as it seems, upon the advice of President Madison. The two natural postal routes to New Orleans had to pass through Spanish West Florida, one route being from Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee via Natchez, Fort Adams, Saint Francisville, and Baton Rouge. The alternate road was from Muscle Shoals to Mobile, thence to the north of the Pascagoula, and by water through lakes Borgne and Pontchartrain to Bayou Saint John and into New Orleans. In either case, for a bag of mail to reach the Crescent City where the American executive governed, the Spaniards controlled an important part of both routes. A "discreet person" to open the mail bags was necessary.

In spite of his duties as Spanish adjutant general of West Florida militia, we find among President Madison's private papers a communication from Samuel Fulton, written during the early part of 1810, wherein Fulton confided to Madison his belief that Spain would yield to Bonaparte and that this would so change conditions in West Florida as to bring about British intervention. Consequently if the American government desired to take possession before the British Lion put its paw on the territory, he, Fulton, might be able to render the United States "effective assistance" and would be only too glad to do so.

 p42  It can therefore be understood that as the adjutant general of the West Florida militia, which de Lassus would have to depend upon in case of armed revolt, Sam Fulton's defection could seriously embarrass the régime of de Lassus and Spain.

When the petitioners filed out of Sam Fulton's house, July 8, they had named their five delegates to the convention called for by the planters of Feliciana. Those who were to represent the Baton Rouge district were: Philip Hicky, Thomas Lilley, John Morgan, Manuel Lopez, and Edmund Hawes.

Alcalde Shepherd Brown

The convention idea was not welcomed by everyone in West Florida. The commandant and alcalde in the Ste. Helena district, Shepherd Brown by name,​4 was one of the objectors. He had been receiving rumors of the movement and the desire "for a new order of things" which included the taking over of the reins of government, therefore he was, to say the least, astounded to receive from the governor a written permit to allow the inhabitants of Ste. Helena and Chifoncté to meet and select delegates. Suspicioning that de Lassus had been forced to issue the permits because he was not strong enough to forbid such gatherings or to punish those behind the movement, Brown sent one of his trusted lieutenants, Joseph Thomas, to Baton Rouge to learn from the governor's own lips whether or not he had voluntarily issued the permits or whether they had been extorted.

If the governor was not acting on his "own free will and his course was designed to preserve intact this part of the kingdom and of our loved and worthy sovereign, Don Ferdinand VII, and to sustain his government and wise laws," and the right to meet in convention assembled "had been extorted by fear," then Shepherd Brown declared that the Ste. Helena district which he commanded did not desire a change of any kind, and, if the governor needed help, he, Brown, "could muster in a few hours more than five hundred men ready and willing to sacrifice their lives for the honour of the Spanish flag, and who would obey his word!"

The author of these bombastic words was an American-born individual who settled in the West Florida section soon after John McDonough arrived in Louisiana to begin his work of amassing a fortune in the New Orleans trade and in cypress swamps along the Iberville, Amite and Comite rivers. In this latter endeavor McDonough was ably assisted by his confidential agent in West Florida, Shepherd Brown. It was Brown who greased Spanish palms to secure these "worthless" lands for the notorious spendthrift of the Crescent City. No small wonder then that Shepherd Brown did not look with friendly eye on any move for any kind of government.

The governor reassured Brown's messenger, wrote the alcalde of Ste. Helena, that he had not been "forced" to permit the meeting, that all who had asked to hold them had done "so with proper respect", that he believed the people not only well disposed towards him but to Spain and their sovereign Ferdinand, and the "real meaning of the coming convention is merely an endeavor on the part of the inhabitants to prove  p43 their loyalty to Spain." Which either means de Lassus was a fool, or that he was ready to make a corrupt bargain with the leaders, or that he was craftily playing for time to recruit a sufficiently large force to crush the revolt at one paralyzing blow. Events seem to prove the third suspicion.

Reassured that the governor was not acting under force, Brown issued the call in his district for popular gatherings to elect delegates to the greatly feared convention. As it would be impossible to secure one convenient common meeting place, he divided it into three sections (Ste. Helena at that time took in what is now that parish and Livingston, bounded on the west by the Tickfaw and on the east by the "Chifoncté"), two delegates to be chosen from one section, and one from each of the remaining two precincts. Those "elected" were Joseph Thomas, Shepherd Brown's trusted and confidential lieutenant; John W. Leonard, son of Don Gilberto de Leonardo​5 (the father served under de Lassus as Ministro Interventor y Tesorero, which means he was the comptroller and treasurer, but when Don Gilberto left the Emerald Isle he was plain Gilbert Leonard and, even when he learned to speak Spanish, he spoke it with a thick Irish brogue); William Spiller and Benjamin O. Williams were the two selected from the outlying precincts of St. Helena. The Chifoncté, or Tanchipaho region sent one delegate only, he was William Cooper, a former "North Carolina Tory" now an adherent of Shepherd Brown.

The date set for the meeting of the convention of delegates was set for July 25, and the designated spot, a plantation on Saints John Plains, or "The Plains," sometimes designated as "Buhler's Plains," but usually written "St. John's Plains." The place was noted for its many massive live oaks about the house and was on the right hand side of the road leading from Baton Rouge to Jackson, La., near the Presbyterian or "Plains" church. According to most accounts it was the home of Richard Devall, although one record states it was the home of Thomas Lilley; their places were not far apart.

While awaiting the action of the other districts the Feliciana ringleaders were not inactive. They gathered at "Troy" plantation and drew up a tentative code, or constitution, a sort of declaration of purpose to acquaint the people in general as to their aims. Those concerned in confecting this proclamation, as it may best be termed, included John H. Johnson, William Barrow, Judge Rhea, John Mills, Lewis Stirling, et al., but most of the evidence at hand seems to prove that this "constitution" was wholly written by Edward Randolph of Pinckneyville, a partner of Daniel Clark of New Orleans.

Word of the activities and intentions of the Feliciana patriots filtered into New Orleans and were the subject of conversation in the streets and were also noticed by items in the daily press. In its issue of June 18 the "Louisiana Gazette" published, under the heading "Extract of a letter from Bayou Sarah, received this day's mail":

The next day's issue contained the following paragraph:

 p45  The First Proposed Code

Ten days before the delegates gathered in convention, assembled as representatives of the people of West Florida, the "Natchez Chronicle", July 17, published in full the tentative constitution or declaration, "code" would be a better word, that Edward Randolph, Johnson, Barrow, Rhea, Mills, Stirling and other Feliciana planters had put to paper in advance of the meeting. Said the "Chronicle", which sent one of its editors to the meeting to report what eventuated:

On July 25, the "Louisiana Gazette" republished the Natchez paper's account so that the people of New Orleans would know the aims of the patriots; the "National Intelligencer" picked up the story for the information of the whole nation, and later a clipping sent to England was republished in Yorke's "Weekly Political Review."

If Thomas Jefferson is to be regarded the author of America's famous "declaration," so must Edward Randolph be entitled to a like fame as the author of the first West Florida declaration. Although it was not either the declaration or the constitution finally adopted by the conventionalists, it should be again reprinted in full:

While this tentative "code" was never adopted by the convention of the people, it does, however, give us an insight into the desires and intentions of those planning the orderly uprising that ended in a rough and tumble fight.

A Flag that never flew over Feliciana The tricolor of Republican France and Napoleon Bonaparte's Empire, first raised in 1794 in France, flew for only 20 days over New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana, but never over West Florida. This flag was designed after the banner of the Netherlands, which had red at the hoist instead of blue.​c

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The Author's Notes:

1 The "twin-starred" flag of the ill-fated Kemper rebellion of 1804, when the three Kemper brothers tried to wrest West Florida from Spain, is worth notice. This banner was first raised at Saint Francisville and had seven alternating stripes of blue and white, the union was red and had two white stars. Why the Kempers selected such a flag is not known nor is it certain what the two stars stood for. Did they mean a star for West Florida and another for East Florida? Did the seven blue and white stripes stand for the seven districts in the Spanish provinces? Quien Sabe!

2 Gilbert Mills was brother of John Mills. See above note.

3 The letter "by a gentleman from Pointe Coupée" was first published in the Baton Rouge Advocate.

4 Shepherd Brown, like his friend and business associate John McDonogh, came to New Orleans from Baltimore, and the two formed a co-partnership and did an extensive business under the name of "John McDonogh, Jr. & Co." In December of 1815 this partner­ship was dissolved, Shepherd Brown dying soon thereafter.

5 Although documents first examined appeared to identify John W. Leonard as the son of Gilbert Leonard, later information proves he was not the Juan Leonardo, son of the civil commandant at baton Rouge, but that he belonged to a Tory family of New York and Massachusetts. John West Leonard came to Louisiana early in 1800 and lived first at New Orleans. In 1805 he removed to the St. Helena district and soon became intimate with the Spanish authorities and was in their confidence when the uprising began. Leonard was selected by Shepherd Brown as one who would remain loyal to the Spanish but after the first meeting of the delegates Manuel Lopez suspected he was double-dealing and so reported to Don Carlos de Lassus. Other members of the convention were playing the same game with the Spanish masters. As evidence of John W. Leonard's standing among the patriots is his selection as president pro tempore of the first and only senate of the Tom Thumb Republic. He died in 1818 without issue.

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Thayer's Notes:

a I've carefully proofread this list of thirteen names; I don't know whether in "fourteen in all" we merely have a typo, or whether the author omitted someone.

b So the printed text; several words appear to have been swallowed up in a line skip or a garble. The sense must be something like "The government of the United States will not, cannot withhold their protection over the territory over which their claim extends . . ."

c It may well be true that the flag of the French Republic was influenced by the Dutch flag: Dutch émigrés had gone to Paris to foment revolution slightly before 1789 and do seem to have been involved in the councils of the French revolutionaries and in the design of the flag, even if later the republican colors were taken to stand for those of Paris with a white median stripe. The Dutch flag cannot be said, however, to have had "red at the hoist", since its stripes were horizontal.

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