| 1542 May 21 |
After wandering in northwestern Arkansas Hernando DeSoto reaches the Ouachita River near Camden, Arkansas and follows it down to the Black River in Louisiana. Desoto dies, perhaps in the neighborhood of Ferriday, LA. |
| 1682 |
La Salle comes as close as the Tensas village on Lake St. Joseph. The Ouachita country was roughly defined by the area between the Red and Mississippi rivers north to the Arkansas River. The name Ouachita, pronounced ³Wash-i-taw², is derived from a tribe of Native Americans which inhabited that area when it was first explored by the French. |
| 1686 |
Henry de Tonti who had been with La Salle returns, but does not leave the vicinity of the Mississippi River. Tonti reaches the Indian village on Lake St. Joseph and travels overland to visit villages of the Natchitoches Indians on the Red River. He probably crossed the Ouachita between Columbia and Harrisonburg. |
| 1700 | Starting at Lake St. Joseph, Bienville and St. Denis reach a Ouachita village March 28 and then proceed to the Red River and quite a distance into Caddo country. They probably crossed the Ouachita between Harrisonburg and Jonesville. |
| 1718 |
Sieur de Villemont settles on the east bank opposite Harrisonburg. Sieur de Cantillon settles on the same side near Monroe. Between these two was the entrepot (warehouse ) of De Mezieres on the west bank near the foot hills at Harrisonburg. The habitation of the Marquis de Mezieres and Desmarches is on the eastern shore at the mouth of the Boeuf River. |
| 1720 |
By this year Tonti, Bienville
and De la Harpe have explored enough to give De Beauvilliers information
to chart the Ouachita River. Ouachita - Big Cat River, Big Cow River, Big River, Silver Water, Male Deer, Country of Large Buffaloes, Clear sparkling water. |
| 1729 |
All of settlements above were abandoned immediately after the Natchez massacre and were not re-established after 1731. Only trappers and Indian traders ventured back along the Ouachita and Bayous Bartholomew and De Siard before the Spanish era. They planned no permanent structures or settlements. |
| 1769 |
The Ouachita District counts 110 whites in the census of O’Reilly . During the early Spanish years government supervision of the area falls to the commandant of the Natchitoches District. |
| 1774 August |
A royal order of August 1774 gives the Spanish Governor of Louisiana power to grant land without limitation as to quantity and without necessity of confirmation by the Spanish Crown. This remained the case until the Royal Order of October 22, 1798 which gave this power to the Royal Intendant. |
| 1783 February 1 |
Governor Miro
commissions Don
Juan Filhiol, originally a Frenchman, to be commandant of the Ouachita
District. Second in command Lt. Joseph De la Baume and Filhiol are given
large grants as payment for their task of settling the territory. They may have been to Ouachita as early as 1780, surely by 1782. They are there to help concentrate the settlers and establish a Spanish presence in the region as far up the river as possible. The inhabitants at this time are chiefly French, but some Americans have ventured across the Mississippi. They remain at their first location Ecore-a-Fabri, which is now Camden, Arkansas, for about two years . |
| 1785 |
After realizing the original settlement is too remote Don Juan Filhiol and De la Baume move down river to Prairie des Canots which becomes the Ouachita Post, later Fort Miro and finally Monroe. Filiol is granted a large tract on both sides of the river at this time. |
| 1785 |
1785 census count: 207 known Europeans in the Ouachita District. |
| 1786 |
A report by Don
Juan Filhiol to Miro states that none of the original inhabitants -
the Ouachita Indians, still exist. At the second settlement site he notes
vestiges of structures that had been there before the massacre - in the
Villemont prairie and the De Siard Manor. Filiol reports on other areas: Black River - uninhabitable because of flooding beginning at the end of winter. Bayous Tensas and Catahoula flow into the Ouachita where it becomes the Black River. Silver Bayou and Bayou Macon flow into the Tensas. Above Bayou Bacheloi, a branch of the Ouachita above the Catahoula, the hills of Ouachita begin. Bayou Louis is above Prairie Villemont on east. Boeuf River about two leagues higher than Bayou Louis with excellent lands that are unfortunately difficult to reach because of high water most of the time. Higher up is the Bayou la Saline, the Little Missouri. |
| 1786 March 22 |
A large tract of land is granted to Don Juan Heverard (Hebrard) where the Ouachita, Tensas and Little Rivers converge to form the Black River. He is given the privilege of a ferry there. This grant is designed to facilitate travel over the trail from Natchez to the Posts of Rapides, Natchitoches and other areas of Ouachita. |
| 1787 July 7 |
A delegation of the Great Caddo Indians arrives with their trader Louis Epinet. He establishes them on the Little Missouri in the neighborhood of the Prairie de Han. Indians in the area make settlers uneasy. |
| 1788 |
A few other settlers are drifting in slowly and given concessions near the Don Juan Filhiol's grant and along Bayous De Siard and Bartholomew. Population reaches 232. |
| 1790 August 29 |
A number of settlers petition Don Juan Filhiol to build a fort. |
| 1790 September |
A meeting is held at which it is decided that a stockade will be built around the commandant's buildings. A fortification is built at Ouatchita Post and it is named Fort Miro. |
| 1795 March 17 |
A contract with the Marquis
de Maison Rouge, a Knight of St. Louis and French Royalist. is signed
by Carondelet
and Don Francisco Renden, Intendant of the army and Deputy Superintendent
of the Royal Domains. It is approved July 14. The Marquis' main objective is bring in 30 families to grow wheat and build a mill. The government offers to pay for passage and subsistence on the way as well as a bonus to get them started at the new settlement. Don Carlos Trudeau is to be the surveyor, but he never actually travels to Ouachita. The first plat starts five arpents below the mouth of the Bayou Cheniere au Tindre on the right bank, the second on the left bank two leagues below the fort, the third at the front of Bayou de la Loutre bounded by Bayou Siard and Bayou Barthelemy, The fourth at the entrance to Bayou Barthelemy. All of these lands will lie in the County of Ouachita and the parish of Catahoula. After the creation of more parishes most of the land was in Ouachita and Caldwell parishes. |
| 1795 April 2 |
A letter from Carondelet to Don Juan Filhiol mentions another possible contractor. He is a Dutch man Felipe Enrique Neri, the Baron de Bastrop. Like the Marquis, his French properties had been confiscated in the revolution and they had been banished from France. |
| 1795 August 1 |
Carondelet
sends a letter to Don
Juan Filhiol confirming his command in the Ouachita Valley. Filhiol
is considering resigning. Another letter from Carondelet to Filhiol mentions the expected arrival of Baron de Bastrop. |
| 1795 October 17 |
A treaty with the United States underlines the seriousness of the westward movement of Anglo-Americans. |
| 1796 June 2 |
Yet another letter to Filhiol mentions Baron de Bastrop and describes him as a better candidate for a successful contract than Maison Rouge. |
| 1796 June 20 |
A petition from Baron
de Bastrop to governor Carondelet
for land in the Washita and rights to build a mill to process wheat and
sell it to Havana if not needed in Louisiana. Bastrop later states in an undated petition, perhaps 1801, that he did not ask for a grant immediately upon his arrival in New Orleans, but that governor Carondelet suggested he establish a colony. A Carondelet decree is sent to Don Juan Filhiol to designate 12 leagues square for Bastrop's settlers on Bayou De Siard for the cultivation of wheat alone. |
| 1796 June 30 |
A letter from governor Carondelet to Don Juan Filhiol announces that he has named M. de Grand Pre as Lt. Governor of the area as well as the Rapides and Avoyelles Districts. The letter also mentions the building of a new fort by Grand Pre and a possible garrison of a sergeant and 15 foot soldiers. |
| 1796 |
Don Juan Filhiol to Carondelet: The commandant is having trouble with Maison Rouge fulfilling his contract. He has not provided the 30 families and those that have settled have gotten a larger share which they intend to sell parts to later settlers in defiance of the spirit of the contract. Also the Marquis is obliged to honor the lands of earlier inhabitants. |
| 1796 July 30 |
Carondelet to Filhiol: Grand Pre is in Natchitoches. Don Juan Filhiol should compel Maison Rouge to chose other land, but he is not to encroach upon the old inhabitants. Chevalier D'Anemours establishes a plantation next to Filhiol's grant. Wheat is to be transported from Mexico for settlers to sow. |
| 1796 August 26 |
Acting Intendant Morales (having replaced Rendon) in a
letter to the Chevalier Augustus de Breard (considered an agent of Maison
Rouge) at Fort Miro notes that a number of single men who have settled
in the area should not have received the $100 stipulated because they are
not a family. Morales succeeds to the Intendancy. His methods of colonization will differ with those of Carondelet although he agrees that Ouachita should be colonized. |
| 1797 March 5 |
Carondelet to Don Juan Filhiol: An engineer is on his way to construct a new fort. Baron de Bastrop is to arrive with wheat. |
| 1797 March 6 |
Carondelet
to Don
Juan Filhiol: Grand Pre has been ordered to compel Maison
Rouge to pay a debt to M. De la Baume or forfeit his property. Natchez and Nogales are being evacuated by the Spanish. Carnet, an American, is forbidden to settle in Ouachita. Peace signed between the French Directory and the King of Prussia. Filiol is ordered to scout between Ouachita and the Arkansas River. He is to establish a direct line of communication with Spanish settlements and posts in the upper reaches of Louisiana. The Spanish commandant of Arkansas post is also alerted. |
| 1797 June 10 |
Baron de Bastrop petitions the governor to give him land that is not already occupied. |
| 1797 June 14 |
The survey plat and process verbal dated on this day by Don Carlos Trudeau is later declared fraudulent as per testimony of Don Juan Filhiol, McLaughlin and Pomier. The actual survey was in December 1802 and January 1803 after the Marquis' death. |
| 1797 June 16 |
Morales calls a meeting of the Junta de Hacienda Real at New Orleans which includes Morales, Don Manuel Serrano, Assessor of the Intendancy, Don Gilberto Leonard, Treasurer of the army, Don Cayetano Valdes, Secretary of the Intendancy. They decide that all colonization expenses up to this time should be paid, but the governor and the Baron should be told to forget any future colonization without permission of the crown. |
| 1797 June 20 |
Carondelet issues a suspension order on all immigration into Louisiana. |
| 1797 June 20 |
Carondelet
executes a formal decree which is later construed as an absolute grant to
the Baron
de Bastrop. This Act of Concession to Bastrop mentions 500 families to be introduced into the country. Regarded as the absolute grant, it ends by stating that the Baron is not to admit or establish any Americans on the land. |
| 1797 June 22 |
Baron de Bastrop travels to United States to get settlers, who he claims are detained in New Madrid for a month. When a barge he has purchased for their transportation reaches Natchez, the United States has maneuvered troops for an attack against the Spanish fort. |
| 1797 June30 |
Morales sends a comprehensive report to Don Pedro Valera y Ulloa , secretary of Finance at Madrid and Gardoqui who is secretary of State. |
| 1797 July 4 |
A large group of settlers arrives with the Chevalier Augustus de Breard, agent of Maison Rouge. |
| 1797 August 1 |
Carondelet is transferred and promoted to the Presidency of the Royal Audience of Quito. Don Manuel Gayoso is the new Governor General of Louisiana. |
| 1797 August |
The Baron is buying up land not in the limits of the "grant",
including a parcel from Don
Juan Filhiol with ten arpents on the river at the point of and continuing
along the southern bank of Bayou Siard that will be called Point Plantation.
Here he builds his plantation and large warehouses. He will conduct extensive mercantile business ( see De Lisle-Serpi in N.O.) and Indian trade under an exclusive concession given to him by Casa Calvo in 1801. |
| 1798 |
Maison
Rouge finally arrives in Ouachita and settles on a small parcel of land
called Prairie Ronde about four miles below the entrance to Bayou Barthelemy.
He brought with him clock makers, jewelers and other gentlemen. The rough people of the country were not to his liking. Also in this new group of settlers: , Sieur de Breville, Lt. of the same, merchants: Buchours, Badins, Poiret, Prieur, Coupelly. Zadoc Harmon, free mulatto. Pierre D'Agnet, a doctor. Racines and Roberts originally of Swiss origin. Maison Rouge brings with him a dismounted carriage, but found no roads upon which to display its magnificence. The carriage is returned on the same bateau without ever having set wheel upon the earth at Ouachita. The contract with Maison Rouge is a failure, he has not built the intended mill and the thirty families have not arrived. |
| 1798 October 22 |
Royal decree removing power of granting lands from Governor General and giving it to the Intendant. |
| 1799 May 23 |
The Baron sells the "grant" to Col. Abraham Morehouse before Gabriel J. Johnson a Kentucky Justice of the Peace. Morehouse was originally from Montgomery County New York, claimed to be a Colonel in the New York Militia and had abandoned a wife and two young sons there before he began speculation on land in Kentucky, Virginia and Louisiana. |
| 1799 July 25 |
Governor Gayoso dies. |
| 1799 September |
1799 Colonel Abraham Abraham
Morehouse arrives in association with Baron
de Bastrop. Marquis de Maison Rouge dies in New Orleans. His estate goes to the Louis Bouligny family in New Orleans, except for the house which he leaves to his "servant" Maria Fair who had several children while in Ouachita. |
| 1799 December 11 |
Abraham Morehouse presents to new ad interim governor Casa Calvo a petition requesting the rights and privileges from the Baron's grant. The next day Casa Calvo recommends to Morales that they be granted. |
| 1800 January 18 |
A decision from Don Gilberto Leonard, acting Comptroller General and Fiscal of the Royal Treasury at New Orleans that the concession to the Baron had not received Royal approval, was void due to the Baron's non-compliance and was not advisable to give to Americans at such a vulnerable area. |
| 1800 March 26 |
Don
Juan Filhiol who served as Commandant for 15 years, is succeeded in
1800 by Don Guilaume de la Baume, Captain of the Dragoons in the Militia.
Baume will be succeeded by Don Vincente Fernandez Texiero (Tejeiro). Filhiol, now former commandant, writes that the colonization effort has been a failure and that the immigrants have an unfavorable character. |
| 1800 May |
The Baron arrives in New Orleans, having returned to the United States to find more settlers, preferably German, that he could introduce to Louisiana at his own expense., but Gayoso has died and the government there is in confusion. During the next year he will write an undated petition to introduce Abraham Morehouse and more settlers. |
| 1800 September |
Don Ramon Lopez y Angulo writes to the Secretary of State to request that he not sanction the grants to Baron de Bastrop and Morgan. |
| 1802 July 18 |
A Royal decree forbids the grant or sale of any land in Louisiana to a citizen of the United States. |
| 1802 December 20 |
Formal cession of Louisiana to the United States. |
| 1803 July 16 |
On this date and on June 1, 1804 and January 12, 1812 Louis Bouligny conveys his entire interest in the Maison Rouge "grant" to Daniel Clark. |
| 1803 August 5 |
A certificate is issued at the request of Daniel Clark and endorsed by Intendant Morales approving the compliance of the Marquis to the contract of 1795. |
| 1803 |
The Baron de Bastrop moves on to Texas and becomes a notable figure in history there. |
| 1804 January |
Lieutenant Joseph Bowmar takes over the post in the name of the United States from Tejeiro. French traveler and writer Robin is at Ft. Miro at the time. American Lt. Bowmar becomes commander, but does not occupy the Spanish stockade that was built on Don Juan Filhiol's private property. By the time of the visit of British officer William Dunbar on November 4, 1804 Bowmar has built several log cabins and a slight stockade nearby on unsettled land. |
| 1804-1805 Winter |
William Dunbar explores the Ouachita River for Jefferson, meets Lt. Joseph Bowmar , Civil Commandant |
| 1805 May 18 |
Settlement between Baron de Bastrop, Abraham Morehouse and Col. Charles Lynch which further complicates the land. Bastrop then moves to Texas. |
| 1805 April 10 |
The Territory of Orleans is divided into 12 counties. |
| 1805 July |
The first law suits in the new County of Ouachita Court before the first county judge the Chevalier Charles le Paulmier D'Anemours. |
| 1806 December |
General John Adair, an associate of Aaron Burr's, is arrested and released and then re-arrested the following January 14 in New Orleans and taken to Baltimore. An accusing finger was also pointed at Edward Livingston. Both Livingston and Adair are associated with the Bastrop land. |
| 1807 March 31 |
The Territory of Orleans is divided into 19 civil parishes. |
| 1807 September |
At this time Abraham
Morehouse owns 4/10ths interest in the remaining Bastrop land and Edward
Livingston owns 6/10ths. Among buyers of Livingston's land: James
Pitot, General John Adair, Francois Duval, David Williamson, Stephen
Wendt, Eli Fromentin and Henry Carleton. An interesting side bar here is a claim by Aaron Burr to have control of a large part of the Bastrop "grant" for settlement of his emigrants through Judge Charles Lynch. |
| 1807 June 24 |
A grand jury of the Circuit Court of the U. S. at Richmond Virginia returns two true bills of indictment against Aaron Burr, for treason against the U. S. A misdemeanor charge was for mounting an expedition against Spain (in Mexico) with which the U. S was at peace. Trial Judge is Chief Justice John Marshall. Burr was not at Blennerhassett's Island at the alleged time of the conspiracy, he met the group later at the mouth of the Cumberland River and evidence showed that he had planned to settle the land in Ouachita. |
| 1811 February 25 |
Daniel Clark sells part of an undivided one-half interest in the Maison Rouge "grant" to General Wade Hampton. |
| 1812 May 10 |
Daniel Clark sells the rest of an undivided one-half interest in the Maison Rouge "grant" to General Wade Hampton. |
| 1813 August |
Daniel Clark dies leaving his one-half interest in the Maison Rouge "grant" to his mother Mary Clark. |
| 1813 |
Colonel Abraham Morehouse dies. |
| 1819 May 1 |
The first steamer, the Monroe, reaches the port and docks before the stockade called Fort Monroe and on that occasion the town is also called Monroe . |
| 1821 September 28 |
Don Juan Filhiol dies. |
| 1824 December 23 |
A select committee of Congress finds that the original contract did not grant the Maison Rouge land to the Marquis individually , but to the emigrants that he was to introduce. |
| 1830 June 5 |
After ordering the sale of public lands including the Maison Rouge and the Baron de Bastrop grants, both are withdrawn by the General Land Office. |
| 1832 |
Carroll Parish is established in 1832 in honor of Charles Carroll, a philanthropist, statesman and signer of the Declaration of Independence. Lake Providence becomes the first seat of government of the new parish. |
| 1838 March 6 |
Caldwell
Parish is created from territory taken out of Ouachita and Catahoula
parishes on March 6, 1838. Both the parish and its seat of government were
named after prominent families in the region. Columbia was named the parish seat, after consideration of Copenhagen, and land was donated to establish a courthouse and streets alongside the river. |
| 1838 |
Madison
Parish is created beginning at Shipp's Bayou on the Mississippi River
extending north to the Carroll Parish line. With the western boundary extending
to Big Creek, parts of present day Richland
and Franklin
parishes are included in Madison Parish. The first parish seat is located at Richmond, which is located on Roundaway Bayou 2 miles south of Tallulah. Several changes will be made to the borders of Madison Parish until 1861 when its present day boundaries are created. |
| 1839 |
Union Parish is created out of the northern part of Ouachita County and Farmerville is made the parish seat. |
| 1839 |
Franklin Parish is created out parts of Ouachita, Catahoula and Madison parishes. It includes most of Richland Parish at this time. |
| 1844 |
In U. S. vs. King and Coxe the Maison Rouge grant is declared fraudulent and void. Richard King had purchased 4,666 acres from Coxe on the west bank in Caldwell Parish. |
| 1843 March 25 |
Tensas Parish is created from parts of Concordia
Parish and Madison
Parish with St. Joseph as the parish seat. St. Joseph is a rare example, for deep south, of a town planned and constructed around New England style village green. This historic district is listed on National Register of Historic Places. |
| 1844 March 25 |
Due to the population increase, a new parish is carved by an act of the Louisiana Legislature from the northern and northeastern section of the County and Parish of Ouachita. It is called Morehouse Parish and its seat is called Bastrop. At the time Morehouse included within its boundary part of what is now Richland Parish. |
| 1849 |
For technical reasons the previous decision on the Maison Rouge grant by the U. S. Supreme Court is thrown out and will be decided again. This time the two documents of 1795 and plan of 1797 were deemed authentic but did not contain the word "grant" or did not sever the land from the Royal domain. Judge Taney again led the majority. |
| 1849 |
Another boost in immigration to the area came with the steamboat era. In the 1850s the first packet boats began to arrive, carrying produce and cotton to New Orleans and delivering supplies to the new settlements. The communities near the points of river trade grew until the Civil War. River traffic had a significant influence on the area's development during these formative years. However, as railroad tracks were constructed through the parish after 1890, the settlement patterns and growth of the villages changed. Towns which were not on the railway were deserted while those along the right-of-way prospered. |
| 1854 |
A map of the area between and including Monroe and Bayou De Siard shows Monroe with eight squares facing the river by a depth of four squares with the proposed route of the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Texas Railroad dividing it down the middle. Trenton, on the opposite bank a few miles up was later abandoned. |
| 1868 September 29 |
Richland
Parish is established by an act of the Louisiana Legislature on September
29, 1868, during the early part of the "reconstruction era". It is carved
out of parts of Carroll, Franklin, Morehouse and Ouachita parishes. It was named Richland because of the fertility of its soil. Rayville was immediately chosen as the seat of the parish government, although at that time it was a very small settlement. The town having been named for James Ray, who ran a store on the site. Democrats opposed the formation of new parishes during the Reconstruction Era because it spread the influence of the Republican "carpetbagger" government. |
| 1877 |
Carroll Parish is divided into East
Carrol Parish and West
Carroll Parish in 1877. Most parishes that are created during Louisiana's Reconstruction Period were made for the political advantages to the carpetbagger government. The division of Carroll parish, however, solved a long-standing feud over the site of the seat of government. Lake Providence was named the parish seat of East Carroll. Bayou Macon formed the boundary between the two parishes. |
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