The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-02-09
THE oLDEsr TOWN IN LOUISIANA.
New Orleans Democrat. !

New Orleans Democrat
AS early as I7t4, when st. Denys sail
ell up Red River to take possession of
Texas, he found that the Spaniartls
We're ahead Of him and had already
established a fort and mission on terri
tory that is now II portion Of the State
Of Louisiana. A few miles west of
Natchitochcs, distant about II mile from
the present town of that name, he
found a settlement, which, deserves the
reputation of being the first European
settlement in Louisiana, Adais, Adayes
or Adayches AS it was variously spelled.
This little town, the oldest in Louis
lana, has been shamefully and igno-
miniously overlooked by history. AL
though it antedated New Orleans half
II dozen years, it is never mentioned or
thought OF. The town at the times st.
Denys visited it was not Il very popu-
lous or thriving village, but still all
classes and peoples We're there repre-
sented. For the church there were two
friars, while the army was represented
by division of troops consisting of
three men. One single white woman
lent her grace and beauty to the village.
Besides these there were some fifty saw
ages of the Adais tribe, living in rather
respectable cabins for Indians.
Small as it was, Adais was the largest
town between the Alleghanies and the
Rio Grand. Nacogdoches, that became
boosted only four white people, ard its
close nighbor, Natchitoches, only Il few
voyageurs and traders. Having OBJ
tanned this foothold on the soil of Lou
isiana, the Spanish resolutely maintain
ed it. They established another mis-
sion but Il few miles OIL, and also on the
east of the Sabine, called San Miguel
de IAanarez, and named the COLONY,
New Philippine. From Adais they
never retreatcd until 1914; they reso-
lutcly held it throughout the French
colonial period, and even after the
American Government was established
in the State, they refused to retire to
the other side of the Sabine which by
the-by. they called the Adais; indeed,
they made II very determined and per-
sistent effort to hold this portion Of Lou
isiana as being II part OF Texas. Aspe-
cial treaty or arrangement was made
between the Spanish commander at
Adais aud the French commander who
commanded ut Natchitoches ut the
time of the French surrender, that
that the Arryo, or Rio Hondo, should
bc the boundary between Texas and
Louisiana. The Rio Hondo, or Deep
Creek, is II gully about six miles
from Natchitoches, dry in dry weather,
but forming Il small bayou emptying
into Spanish lake after Il good rain.
Such We're the special terms arranged
by these two officers. 1t is true that
the treaty of cession made the Sabine
the boundry, but the Spaniartls reso-
luteIy refused to leave; instead of this,
they collected quite an army on the
Louisiana side ofthc Sabine and seemed
determined to annex even the town of
Natchitoclles to their dominions. The
people of Natchitoches appeared, on
the whole, rather inclined to secedc
from Louisiana, and become q part of
Texas. Don Felix Marero, Bishop OF
the Spanish province of New Leon, was
brought over to appeal to the religious
prcjudices of the creoles and Spaniards,
and to baptiZe the children. Gov.
Claiborne became alarmed ut this, and
fearing that all this portion of Louis
lana would be lost, sent an army of
some four hundred men up to Natchi-
toches to watch tho Spanish army.
The two bodies of men waited here,
watching each other, for some time,
but although the Spaniards were much
larger in numbers than the Americans,
they attempted no attack.
Even when the rival armies with
drew, they left the boundary still in
doubt. The Spaniards claimed that
they had always held the town Of Adias
and the country around it; the Ameri-
cans that it was impossible to have a dry
little creek as the boundary between two
great nations.
For over ten years the boundry re-
mained in doubt, and the Spaniards
fingered in Louisiana is what in now
Sabine, Vernon, Natchitoches and De-
Soto parishes. Even after this, the
boundary was not altogether settled or
determined on, and rs late as 1914 Con-
gress had to pass special act natural
ing citizens of Louisiana who had mis-
taken the boundary and settled on the
Texas side of the frontier, when they
meant to settle in Louisiana.
MARDI GRAS IN THE CAPITAL.