Report made by [Captain John Ballinger], New Orleans, to General James Wilkinson, [New Orleans]
Description
[In 1812 June the United States had declared war on Great Britain, and in July of that year General James Wilkinson arrived in New Orleans to take command of the Seventh Military District, which was comprised of Tennessee, Louisiana, and the Mississippi Territory. As protection against the menace of British naval power in the Gulf, he ordered a reconnaissance of the area west of the mouth of the Mississippi and the construction of a new post at La Balize. Ballinger's mission to Barataria, about which he reported in the document summarized below, may not have been strictly for strategic purposes, however, for on 1812 October 12 Governor Claiborne wrote to Wilkinson that the Acting Collector of Revenue of the District had informed him of "a serious opposition to the Revenue Laws, by an armed Banditti on the Lake Barataria. The Collector, " Claiborne continued," requests Military aid in enforcing the Laws,...and suggests the expediency of your placing the armed force under the Command of Captain Ballenger [sic], who has received a Special Commission as Inspector of the Revenue." (Rowland, Claiborne Letterbooks, VI, 189-190).] Captain John Ballinger, having reconnoitered the passes of Barataria and Lafourche, submitted his report to General Wilkinson. With respect to Barataria, vessels not drawing more than three feet of water could come within two leagues of New Orleans. The erection of a fort at a site that he called "Temple" would effectively protect against enemy attack. On Bayou Lafourche, which does not connect with Barataria, the most suitable site for a fort would probably be at the fork, where a small detachment of artillery with three six-or nine-pounders could guard the area. Additionally, "the Creole volunteers would perhaps be the best troops for the Lafourche," he said, "as I consider It a very unhealthy situation."