First weekend in November
Florien, La
 |
|
Rodney
Jordan (center) prepares
for logging competition
during the Sabine Freestate
Festival
|
This festival commemorates the time
when the area was a Free State
(1806-1822), located between Spanish
land and the United States. This
festival has a comedy of shoot-out
skits (Free State Gang vs. The
Law), trail rides, street dances,
lots of food and authentic syrup
making, lye soap making, and an
operational grist mill. Held each
November in Florien, La. Contact Margaret Nixon (318) 586-3521.
History of the Sabine Free State and
the background of this festival
The Sabine Neutral Strip Historical
Foundation and the Sabine Freestate
Festival were organized to commemorate
the great historical events leading
to the establishment and termination
of the "neutral ground" between
the territory of the United States
and the territory of his Catholic Majesty
(Spain) west of the Mississippi River.
Events leading to the territorial dispute
resulting in the "neutral ground" agreement
really began with the French establishment
of its westernmost settlement and fort
in Louisiana at Natchitoches and the
eastern terminus of El Camino Real
(San Antonio Trace) at Los Adaes just
east of the present town of Robeline.
It is generally conceded by most historians
that the actual boundary between the
two powers in Louisiana was on the
Rio Hondo, a small tributary flowing
between present day Natchitoches and
Robeline.
By the treaty of Fontainbleau of 1762.
France ceded its Louisiana territory
west of the Mississippi to Spain thereby
establishing Spanish jurisdiction from
Los Adaes eastward to the Mississippi
River. Spain held possession of this
territory until 1801 when it agreed,
in a secret treaty, to cede the territory
back to the French Republic. The document "ceded
to the French Republic, the colony
or province of Louisiana that it had
when France possessed it." It
appears therefore that the western
boundary of the colony or province
of Louisiana, again in possession of
the French was at the Rio Hondo as
this was the boundary "when France
possessed it."
The greatest concern of the United
States at this time was not the precise
location of the western boundary of
this territory but was the French possession
of New Orleans by which they could
control the Mississippi River and the
Gulf. The concerns were best expressed
in a letter from the president Thomas
Jefferson to the American minister
to France on the importance of New
Orleans to the United States. The famous
letter anticipated formal instructions
requesting the minister to ascertain
the terms upon which France would sell
New Orleans and the Floridas to the
United States. The letter states, in
part, "The cession of Louisiana
and the Floridas by Spain to France
works most sorely on the United States.
It completely reverses all the political
relations of the United States and
France. Of all nations, France is the
one which, hitherto, has offered the
fewest points on which we could have
any conflict. There is however on the
globe one single spot, the possession
of which is our natural and habitual
enemy. It is New Orleans, through which
the produce of three-eights of our
territory must pass to market, and
from its fertility will long yield
more than half our whole produce, and
contain more than half of our inhabitants.
France, placing herself in that door,
assumes to us the attitude of defiance.''
Congress immediately appropriated $2,000,000.00
for the purchase of New Orleans and
negotiations were opened with Napoleon
for its purchase. Because of pressing
matters in Europe, primarily of a military
nature, and the almost defenseless
position of France in Louisiana, Napoleon
decided to sell not only New Orleans
but the whole of the Louisiana territory.
The document for the cession of the
Louisiana territory to the United States
provided, in part: "..the French
Republic doth hereby cede to the United
States the said territory as fully
and in the same manner as they have
been acquired by the French Republic
in virtue of the Treaty concluded with
his Catholic Majesty. " This document
of cession again left the western boundary
as had been specified in previous exchanges
of the same territory. The American
ministers attempted to have the boundaries
more definitely stated, but when it
was brought to already exist it would
perhaps be a good policy to put one
there. Perhaps this was "good
politics" because it meant that
the western boundary with Spain, who
at this time was a weak and ineffective
nation, might could be established
by the United States as far to the
west as they desired or at least as
far as their power to command made
possible. (As a matter of fact, President
Jefferson, at one time, attempted to
set the boundary as far to the west
and south as the Rio Grande River).
it is important to note at this point
that the United States divided its
newly acquired lands into two territories,
e.g. the Territory of Louisiana. The
former conforms to what is the present
State of Louisiana and it is in this
area that, for the most part, the neutral
ground established between Spain and
the United States is located.
Having thus established the conditions
precedent to the ensuing territorial
dispute between Spain and the United
States as to the western boundary of
the Territory of Orleans we can look
to the political intrigues and conspiracies
leading to the agreement on a neutral
ground in the disputed territory.
The political intrigues and conspiracies
referred to are commonly known as the
Burr conspiracy and part of its aims
and purposes was to capture New Orleans,
plunder the bank there, seize the military
and naval stores and proceed on an
expedition to conquer Mexico. The scope
of these designs came to the attention
of President Jefferson in October 1806.
As has already been demonstrated the
American government did not look favorably
upon New Orleans being in possession
of any but the United States so it
became necessary to again initiate
action to prevent such an eventuality.
In the meantime, in the year 1806,
the territorial dispute between Spain
and the United States heightened in
its intensity and by the end of October
military units of both nations had
marched forward fully expecting an
outbreak of hostilities. The American
and Spanish forces faced each other
across the Sabine but, interestingly
enough, both commanders had been ordered
not to precipitate any military engagement
by crossing that river. Negotiations
were in process in the hope of avoiding
the outbreak of armed conflict. On
November 8th president Jefferson instructed
General Wilkinson "to hasten an
accommodation with the Spanish Commandant
on the Sabine, and as soon as that
was effected to fall back with his
principal force for the defense of
the Mississippi River and New Orleans.''
Wilkinson immediately dispatched a
proposal to the Spanish that they remain
west of the Sabine and the Americans
east of the Arroyo Hondo leaving an
unoccupied neutral ground between.
A favorable reply was returned: an
arrangement concluded which was commonly
known as the Neutral Ground Treaty.
Shortly thereafter, General Wilkinson
returned to New Orleans where he began
the business of fortifying the city
against the scheme of Aaron Burr. The
Neutral Ground Treaty seems to have
avoided a fight for which "one
nation was afraid and the other was
glad of it'' as both were preoccupied
with more important considerations.
The "no-mans land" thus created
was filled with lawless squatters who
robbed and killed until 1810, when
a joint expedition of Spanish and Americans
drove them out. Robberies and murders
were numerous along the San Antonio
Trace and Nolan's Trace however, until
1822, when Colonel Zachary Taylor built
Fort Jesup and brought order to the
lawless region. The Florida Treaty
of 1819 fixed the western boundary
of he Territory of Orleans, among others,
but not until 1826 did the so-called "Free
State of Sabine" really become
a part of Louisiana.
The Florida Treaty, which ended the
territorial dispute, fixed the western
boundary as follows: Beginning "on
the Gulph of Mexico, at the mouth of
the River Sabine, in the sea, continuing
north, along the western bank of that
river...", etc., etc.
Thus ended a period of over fifteen
years during which men of intrigue,
desperation or adventure came to the
neutral ground for their various purposes.
The legends and facts coming down to
us in the intervening yeas are the
basis of our reflections and of our
SABINE FREE STATE FESTIVAL.
|
