William Charles Cole ClaiborneIndex |
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July 1801- December 1801 |
"to have and to hold the office with all the Powers, Privileges and Emoluments..."When William Charles Cole Claiborne was commissioned to take the office of territorial governor in 1801 he was 26 years old but had the confidence of the nation's highest officers. At that young age he had already resigned as a Tennessee State Supreme Court Justice to run and serve as a member of the House of Representatives in the U. S. Congress. |
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In the first quarter of 1801 William Claiborne has not heard from the Federal government since he arrived in Natchez. He struggles to begin the job of turning the frontier atmosphere of the territory into a working democracy. The laws of the previous legislature should be repealed, the judiciary and the militia are a sham. River pirates plague the Spanish rivers. |
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William Claiborne begins to have troubles with Choctaw Indians in the Mississippi Territory and small pox makes a visit via New Orleans. This year's assembly votes to move the seat of government to the town of Washington and establishes Jefferson College on Claiborne's request. Discussion of factories for the Indians and a new army post near the new capital, as well as the possible fate of Louisiana if it is claimed by France. Muskets and rifles make their way through New Orleans to the Mississippi Militia. Samuel Mason may be the river pirate who is robbing travelers along the river and the road from Nashville. |
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Claiborne continues to improve the government and the militia. He begins to organize land claims, which will bring him praise and experience he will need later in Louisiana. Mississippi's land claims include a claim by the state of Georgia, whose Bourbon County reached all the way to the Mississippi River. Georgia has ceded this claim in April of 1802. A site for the future Ft. Dearborn is chosen near the town of Washington. |
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General Wilkinson begins to survey the old boundary line between the Mississippi territory and the Choctaw Nation. Troubles with stray Choctaws in the territory continue. The small pox problem has passed. The port of New Orleans has been closed to American commerce and deposit, threatening commerce all along the Mississippi River. Word of French troops sailing toward New Orleans. The small port now has taken on international significance and the interest of every American living near the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. |
| Most of this text is derived from the Edited by Dunbar Rowland, B.S, LL.B., LL. D. Director Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Secretary Mississippi Historical Society, Member American Historical Association. This six volume collection was published in 1917 in Jackson Mississippi and was printed for the State Department of Archives and History. I have attempted to include events, names, dates and cultural nuances of the times that are important to the study of Louisiana History. Although the correspondence begins before William Claiborne was a territorial governor in Louisiana the earlier letters reflect the difficulties of living and governing on the frontier of the young nation. This feature of the Encyclopedia Louisiana will appear as a serial and when finished will contain important links to the early development of Louisiana as a state. As always I invite serious students of history to seek the original text for a fuller explanation of the thoughts and feelings of this important personality in our history. |
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