History of New Orleans

History traces the development of New Orleans back to the late 17th Century at the time of La Salles’s claiming this entire area under the name of King Louis XIV of France in 1682. It remained nothing more than a small settlement until 1718, when in honor of the Regent of France, Phillippe, Duc d’Orleans, Sieur de Bienville had his engineers plot the original city which today is known as the French Quarter.

The capitol of the colonial empire of Louisiana began in Mobile in 1682, moved to Biloxi in 1699, and then to New Orleans in 1723. The population consisted of soldiers, trappers, merchants, and slaves, until in 1727, the Ursuline Order sent over six nuns as nurses and teachers and under their supervision, eighty-eight girls came with them from the prisons of Paris to serve as wives of the settlers.

In spite of the hardships caused by malaria, floods, and hostile Indians the city continued to expand and develop and by 1737 became a French crown colony under Louis XV. Population continued to expand. People arrived on ships from France and traders floated down the Mississippi River from the North. Up-river travel was not possible until much later, 1814, when the steamboat appeared.

It is said that in 1762 Louis XV of France lost a wager to his cousin King Charles III of Spain and thus the whole Louisiana territory became a Spanish possession. This trade took place along with other agreements and became official under the Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762 and the Treaty of Paris in 1763.

French officials and citizens in the territory did not learn of this until 1766 when the Spanish commissioner, Don Antonio de Ulloa and his party arrived by boat in New Orleans. They felt they had been betrayed, refused to follow de Ulloa’s rule and forced him to leave in 1768 under threat of being hung. This act marked the first time in America that a colony enjoyed freedom from a foreign rule.

Freedom lasted only eight months, however, as in the summer of 1769, 25 Spanish war ships with over 3,000 soldiers arrived and reclaimed the territory. Don Bernardo de Galvez was made Governor of Louisiana in 1770. During the early 1770’s Spain and Great Britain were pirating each other’s merchant ships in the Atlantic. This practice continued to expand over the next few years and in August of 1776, upon learning of the revolt of the New England Colonies against Great Britain, de Galvez sent twenty of his largest vessels laden with supplies of ammunition out into the Gulf of Mexico and up the eastern sea coast to New York. This was greatly appreciated by the revolutionaries and Oliver Pollack, a member of the Continental Congress was sent to Spain to extend personal thanks to Spain and Charles III. This and other events caused Great Britain to declare war on Spain in 1779.

In order that all of Great Britain’s holdings were eliminated in America, de Galvez wiped out British colonies in Mobile, Baton Rouge, Pensacola and Natchez in 1780 and 1781.

It should be remembered that the nationalities, Spanish and French, lived together here in considerable friendship during most of this time, and their intermarriage developed the Creole. Thus the city’s natural architecture and food is Creole.

Spain’s war with Great Britain was costly and although she looked on Louisiana as a valued property, she cold no longer afford to keep it. Great Britain, it was feared, would seize it. By the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1801, Louisiana was ceded to France. In two short years Napoleon too feared that he could not keep it. And the Louisiana Purchase was signed in 1803, deeding the entire property to the United States for $15 Million.

The New Orleanians (the Creoles) did not like the intervention and appearance of the Americans and fights were so fierce that the Americans built up their own area on the other side of Canal Street. The city was incorporated in 1805, and in 1812 Louisiana was admitted to the Union.

Late in 1812, during the War of 1812, the British began the first of their repeated attempts to seize New Orleans and thus control the Mississippi River. In early 1815, this reached its head. General Andrew Jackson and his “Kentucks” arrived and teamed up with the noted pirate Jean Lafitte, Choctaw Indians, Creoles and Negro slaves for an extremely fierce 29 day battle, the Battle of New Orleans. The British were beaten back and driven off as Jackson lost only 52 men and the British 2,200.

It was now apparent that at last the Mississippi River was secure and free. This fact, the development of the steamboat, cotton, and tobacco made New Orleans a “boom town”. By 1840, the city was the second wealthiest, second only to New York City, and fourth in population. It grew and became the bulwark of the Confederacy until it was occupied by Union Troops in 1862.

Today New Orleans is the largest port in the United States based on gross tonnage and yet has not lost its heritage of the birthplace of jazz, its cuisine, its Creole ancestry (the city is still over 50% Catholic), and the French Quarter. New Orleans still possesses its Joie de Vivre and enjoys being “The City that Care Forgot”.