Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-08-19
The First American Revolution.

How MANY people are there who know
that in Louisiana, as far back as 1868,
there was an attempt made to establish
republic upon the soil of North America.
and that five citizens of New Orleans paid
for the attemptwi their lives? Yet such
is the fact, and the dusty records in the
official archives at Madrid and Paris bear
testimony to their gallant but fruitless en-
deavor
1t occurred shortly after France had
coded Louisiana to Spain. The helpless
inhabitants disliked the transfer, but they
were powerless to help themselves Al
| though the Spaniards formally accepted
the gift in 1862, the first Spanish Gov
ernOr, Ulloa, did not arrive in Louisiana
until four years afterward. The colonists
had made up their minds to dislike him.
and they did so. He seems to have been
gay, goOd-humored, not very dishonest
ruler, who tried to suit his unruly sub
| jects, and found that he had set himself
an impossible task. They were scandal
| lied because he married without the con-
sent Of Father Dagobert," and hurt be-
cause he sent to Havana for a nurse for his
child. Was not Louisiana able to furnish
a good enough nurse? The colonists COM
| planned Of his presence at New Orleans,
| but declared that he had insulted them
when he stayed at Balize for eight months
They shut him and his wife out of society,
and then accused him of naughty exclu-
| slveneSs. One of the severe charges
against him was that he made the inhab-
itants Of New Orleans 90 six miles out
OF town in order to whip their slaves, be
cause, forsooth, Nine. Ulloa's nerves were
disturbed by the shrieks of the victims of
the lash. When he saw that the colonists
had agreed to disagree with him in every
thing he gave up trying to please them,
secluded himself and studied science, to
which he was a devotee. Meanwhile the
popular discomfort grew apace Twelve
prominent citizens formed plot to over
throw the Spanish authority and establish
a republic under the protection OF the
British officer then commanding at Pen
sacOla. Oct. %, 1868, the crisis came.
Armed bands occupied the streets of New
| Orleans. Ulloa fled to frigate which lay
off the city. The Superior Council met,
expelled, in the style of more recent DAYS,
all the adherents of the other side, and
adopted an address declaring that the col
Ony's allegiance was due to France, not
Spain. This was blind The real intent,
as the archives Of Paris show, was to es-
tablish republic modelled after the Swiss
Government. Ulloa reported to Madrid
One plan was to transform the colony
into republic, under the protection of
England, but, seeing that they could not
obtain from her the assistance they wished
for, they came to the determination to rise
without it, and to trample under foot the
orders of their sovereign
For several months the cOlOnists were
left to rule themselves Then the future
grew dark. France and England both re-
fused their aid. Spain sent the Irish
O'Reilly, with twenty four ships and more
than 5000 troops, to seize the rebellious
colony. When the fleet came in sight, ad-
vancing up the Mississippi, one ofthe con
spirators, Marquis, proclaimed the Repub-
lie, but less than hundred men respond
ed to his call for troops. O'Reilly landed
undisturbed. Four days afterward the
twelve leaders were arrested. A month of
torture and trial ended in the sentence of
five of them to death One had already
been killed while trying to speak to his
wife. The lack of a hangman saved the
five from the scaffold. They were shot on
the morning of Oct. 26, 1769-the first
martyrs to American ndependence--New
Orleans Pdcayatae