"Plan for the defense of the Province of Louisiana," by [Colonel Francisco Bouligny]

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Description

The Plan proposed Spanish removal of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws,and Creeks from the area east of the Mississippi River and north of the 31st parallel and their resettlement in the Spanish territory bounded by the Mississippi, Red, and Osage Rivers. There, it was hoped, they might form a protective buffer against the incursions of Anglo-Americans into the Spanish territories of Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. The incoming tribes would be urged to make peace with the Indians already residing and hunting on the land. All would be bound by a treaty of mutual friendship and would be ruled by a single chief. The document estimated the number of persons involved in the move and the number into which they would be assimilated. All Indians would be given sufficient territory for hunting grounds, which would be interdicted to white hunters. White settlers would be established along the Mississippi to prevent the entrance of unauthorized persons and to protect the Indians. It would be advantageous to instruct a group of Creoles or Europeans in the Indians' ways that they might dwell among them and supervise the system, along with a military regiment of 500 to 800 men, who would be assigned, one or two soldiers for every hundred hunters.

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French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, and Nineteenth-Century Louisiana Documents

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Title: "Plan for the defense of the Province of Louisiana," by [Colonel Francisco Bouligny]
Date Created: circa 1798
Description: The Plan proposed Spanish removal of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws,and Creeks from the area east of the Mississippi River and north of the 31st parallel and their resettlement in the Spanish territory bounded by the Mississippi, Red, and Osage Rivers. There, it was hoped, they might form a protective buffer against the incursions of Anglo-Americans into the Spanish territories of Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico. The incoming tribes would be urged to make peace with the Indians already residing and hunting on the land. All would be bound by a treaty of mutual friendship and would be ruled by a single chief. The document estimated the number of persons involved in the move and the number into which they would be assimilated. All Indians would be given sufficient territory for hunting grounds, which would be interdicted to white hunters. White settlers would be established along the Mississippi to prevent the entrance of unauthorized persons and to protect the Indians. It would be advantageous to instruct a group of Creoles or Europeans in the Indians' ways that they might dwell among them and supervise the system, along with a military regiment of 500 to 800 men, who would be assigned, one or two soldiers for every hundred hunters.
Topical Subject(s): Documents
Politics & government
Plans
Military tactics
Language: spa
Notes (Physical): Autograph document. Unsigned, but [written in the hand of Francisco Bouligny]. In Spanish. [Although the document bears the inscription "1770," this date appears to have been written in at a later time. Internal evidence places the actual date after the Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckney's Treaty, 1795 October), news of which did not reach Spanish officials in Louisiana until May or June of the following year. The document, however, is probably an elaboration of the 5 degrees Capíulo of the preceding "Plan for the Population...," which Bouligny wrote sometime about 1798.] [In relation to this document the following are of interest: J.M. Berry, "The Indians Policy of Spain in the Southwest, 1783-1795," MVHR, III, 462-477; M.A. O'Callaghan, "An Indian Removal Policy in Spanish Louisiana," Greater America...281-294.]
Type of Resource: text
Rights: Physical rights are retained by the Louisiana Research Collection. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.
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