| 1752 |
Born in Spain, Gayoso is educated in Great Britain and retains until his death the manners and customs of the English. Those who negotiate with him find him well mannered and affable, but his temper could be quick and dangerous and his love of ceremony is extravagant and detrimental to his fortune and the colony’s. Like Unzaga, Galvez and Miro before him, Gayoso takes a wife native to Louisiana, a Miss Watts of New Orleans. |
| 1787 |
Becomes lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of Louisiana for five years. During this time he made treaties with several Indian tribes. He also acted as an agent of Carondelet in negotiations with General Wilkinson trying to gain the secession of the western territories from the United States. He later was a commissioner in the treaty of 1795, which settled the matter. |
| 1792 July |
Appointed governor of the Natchez district. While in this office he establishes the town of Natchez on the hill, laying out the town himself. Two miles from the fort he establishes a mansion and a plantation he calls Concord. With much of the materials imported from Spain, the mansion remains standing until it is destroyed by fire in 1900. |
| 1796 July |
The Cabildo prohibits woodcutters from felling trees on public land. It is concerned over its authority over public lands and asks Carondelet to clear up land titles or repudiate all grants that are unclear. He ignores the Cabildo , which will ask his successor Gayoso in October 1797. |
| 1797 June 14 |
Gayoso issues a proclamation to the people of his district asking them to remain calm until the details could be worked out on the Treaty of 1795, which cedes the territory to the United States. At the same time he was putting all of his efforts into delaying the transfer and reinforcing his military. |
| 1797 August 5 |
Gayoso succeeds Carondelet as Governor-General of Louisiana and West Florida. His first act is to issue his Bando de Buen Gobierno and send a list of instructions to commandants of all posts concerning land grants. |
| 1798 April |
The butchers and bakers of New Orleans volunteer a tax to help pay for the lighting system. The Chimney tax under governor Gayoso is unsatisfactory and sometimes uncollectable. |
| 1798 Summer |
Governor Gayoso initiates regular garbage collection in New Orleans. They purchase a mule and a wagon and auction off a one year post of garbage collector |
| 1799 Spring |
Juan Ventura Morales is
acting Intendant
when news arrives in the province that the land office, until now the governor's
duty, is shared by the Intendant. He draws up a list of rules and asks governor Gayoso for troops to enforce his decrees. The governor, backed by the planters and the Cabildo, refuses, particularly to the article that gives the intendant sole power to grant land. Morales writes to his superiors complaining about the governors extravagance and temper. Morales was mostly concerned about the governor refusing to agree to his power over land grants. Since Gayoso soon dies the Cabildo and the Intendant take their cases to the crown. The Intendant eventually gains the power, but the governors refuse to enforce it. |
| 1799 |
Since Gayoso soon dies the Cabildo and the Intendant take their cases to the crown. The Intendant eventually gains the power, but the civil governor Vidal and Governor-General Salcedo refuse to enforce it. |
| 1799 Spring |
The 1799 Spring floods again inundate most of the Tchoupitoulas district upriver from the city. Governor Gayoso informs the Cabildo that he has ordered the repairs and the council dictates that the landowners will pay for the repairs. Within the city the alcaldes de barrio collect every donation the city can yield. |
| 1799 |
In spite of a ban on importations of slaves governor Gayoso allows Santiago (James) Fletcher to bring in over 200 slaves into Louisiana for his personal use. Other Americans who entered the colony via the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers also brought slaves with them. |
| 1799 July 18 |
Governor Gayoso dies. Nicholas Maria Vidal and Colonel Francisco Bouligny, the regimental commander become acting civil and acting military governors of Louisiana. When he dies Gayoso leaves a library of 411 volumes in 165 titles in Spanish, English, French, Portuguese and Latin. His death begins an era of frustration for the Cabildo which contends with the duplicious Vidal and Salcedo as governors. |
| 1801 |
The Cabildo recovers money from the estate of Gayoso. After his death it was discovered that he had been using money from a royal endowment meant to build a granary. Governor Salcedo urged the council to loan the funds to the Royal treasury, because of delays in delivery from Spain. Spain had already conceded Louisiana to France by treaty, but has kept it from the colony. The granary is never built. |
| 1802 |
January , 1802 is the climax of the theater box controversy.
When governor Gayoso dies in July 1799 Nicolas Maria Vidal and Colonel Francisco Bouligny become acting civil and acting military governors of Louisiana. Under Gayoso the theater box had been divided by a partition: one part for the Cabildo and the other for the governor. To spite Bouligny when he became ill, Vidal has the partition removed and gives the entire box to the Cabildo. In 1802 Saledo orders the partition restored, retaining the larger section for the governor. The councilors became enraged and send Salcedo a formal protest. When he still refuses to budge they quit attending the theater and request an opinion from Jose Martinez de la Pedrera. The licenciado writes a letter of mock epic proportion, citing laws and precedents in defending the Cabildo’s right to the box. Salcedo follows Vidal’s advice and sends the entire controversy to his superiors in Havana, while the Cabildo appeals to the Council of the Indies. What began as a petty squabble contributes to the decline in morale and power of the Cabildo. |