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1798 |
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| Previous Hispanola: 1798 February, 1798; Rigaud and Toussaint again mobilize against the British.
March, 1798; New British commander Maitland arrives, but planters begin to leave the West Provence ahead of the advancing armies from west and north. Toussaint gains a truce with the British but then resolves to drive all British from the island.
At this time and for the next two years an undeclared naval war between the U. S. and France complicates everything including trade.
A new French agent Count of Hedoville arrives with a bizarre plan whereby Toussaint would attack Jamaica and possibly the United States, freeing slaves to join him as the battle progresses.
With Toussaint s black liberators allied to France Rigaud s power grows.
Toussaint and Maitland scheme against the Count.
Maitland leaves with a promise that Toussaint will not invade Jamaica. He returns 10,000 slaves to Haiti and offers to make Toussaint king of the island.
With the British out of the way the War of the Knives now pits Toussaint against Rigaud which is basically black vs. mulattoes.
Next South America & Caribbean:Events of this year in this region influencing Louisiana. |
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| North America:Eli Whitney uses his mass production ideas to gain firearms contract from government; Sedition Act passes Congress, opposed by Jefferson; silk hats become fasionable in Europe, replace need for North American beaver pelts; Events in North America this year influencing Louisiana. | |||||||||||
| Europe: Napoleon takes Rome and removes the Pope to France. He next assembles an invasion army aimed at England, but slips of to take Malta and then Egypt; Nelson destroys the French fleet at Alexandria; Irish resistance defeated; Jenner perfects vaccination; Typhus and famine sweep Britain; papermaking and lithography; Samuel Taylor Coleridge; William Wordsworth; Goya; Beethoven; Haydn; Events in Europe this year influencing Louisiana. | |||||||||||
January 1798 1798 Spanish Officials: Alcaldes Ordinarios Primer - Manuel Serrano Segundo - Pedro Marîn de Argote Pedro Denis de La Ronde replaces Manuel Serrano on September 22, 1798 while Serrano is acting Intendant. Sindico Procurador General Francisco Caiserguez Mayordomo de Proprios Juan de Castañedo. |
February 1798 February 16, 1798 The post of Alcalde Mayor Provincial is purchased by Pedro de La Roche. The post has been vacant since the death of Luis Toutant Beauregard in June 1792 because his heirs quarreled over the post. Pedro de La Roche holds the office until the transfer of the territory to the United States in 1803. |
March 1798 |
April 1798 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 they are unable to collect it. At the same time the bakers and merchants conspire to profit at public expense. They manipulate the price of flour by purchase, sale and repurchase, the price rising with each transaction, the final cost being passed on to the public. The Cabildo steps in to stop the practice through requiring records of all costs from the bakers. April 26, 1798 Andres Almonester y Roxas dies. He leaves his post as Alférez Real of New Orleans to his brother-in-law Pedro Denis de La Ronde who is the last to fill this post before the transfer of the territory in 1803. His wife Louise de la Ronde finds a new, younger husband Jean Baptiste Castillon to help raise her two young daughters, including Micaela the future Baroness Pontalba. |
May 1798 | June 1798 |
July 1798 Summer of 1798 In the summer of 1798 governor Gayoso initiates regular garbage collection in New Orleans. The Cabildo purchases a mule and a wagon and auction off the post of garbage collector for one year. Summer of 1798 In the summer of 1798 the newly enlarged Cabildo asks that its members be accorded military honors, rank and uniforms. The king does not reply. |
August 1798 |
September 1798 |
October 1798 |
November 1798 The Cabildo votes to build a public fish market and awards the contract to Bartolome Lafon. Unfortunately the structure finished in 1799 is built on a section of the levee that will be close to disintegration by 1803. |
December 1798 |
A new plan of New Orleans by Carlos Trudeau is the first to show Faubourg St. Mary, established in 1788, and plantations along Bayou St. John. It shows the new cemetery (St. Louis No. 1). The old cemetery is divided and sold in 1800. The space above Customhouse (Iberville) and below Barracks is shaded and marked "lands granted by Carondelet". The land on Levee where the French Market is now located is a public park referred to as Los Naranjos or the Orange Grove. Two small wharves built on the levee by the Cabildo in 1798 will supply an improved anchorage and protect the levee from damage. A larger wharf was planned but was not supported by merchants who did not want daily wharfage fees. The Cabildo maintained the antiquated method of posts for anchorage. |
For thirty-three days the Dukes of Orleans, Montpensier and Beaujolais, refugee members of the French royal family, are visitors to the city. They stay at the home of Philippe de Marigny and are generously feted and escorted around the area during this time. | Valcour Aime (1798-1867) is born near Vacherie, La. He will be one of the most remarkable men in the long history of Louisiana. He was a very successful planter, financier, scientist and philosopher. He experimented with the culture of sugar cane, owned a private steamboat that brought his guests from New Orleans and had a highly developed sense of social responsibility. When his only son died from yellow fever in 1854 the spirit that drove him suddenly departed and he remains reclusive until his death from pneumonia in 1867. | 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. Since Gayoso soon dies the Cabildo and the Intendant take their cases to the crown. The Intendant eventually gains the power, but the governors, Vidal and later Governor General Salcedo refuse to enforce it. | Five unlicensed pharmacists are found to be practicing in New Orleans in 1798.
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