II. ARKANSAS POST AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

B. The Spanish Defeat the Natchez Rebellion

2. The Spanish Strike Back

Soon after the surrender of Fort Panmure, the victors divided into factions. The fate of the prisoners added to the bickering. One faction wanted to send them to Pensacola. Anthony Hutchins argued successfully against this proposal by suggesting to Captain Blommart that “the self-nominated guard for this journey intended to act as executioners as soon as they got away” from his control. Blommart was persuaded to send the garrison commander and his 76 men to Baton Rouge under a reliable guard commanded by Capt. Jacob Winfree. The journey was made without incident.

Another problem had been the question of raising the flag of the United States rather than of Britain. Blommart vetoed this scheme. The pro-United States faction led by John and Philip Alston and John Turner also hoped to plunder and divide the captured stores, and even went so far as to break into the Spanish commander’s baggage. Captain Blommart, however, kept a tight rein on his men. His commissary kept careful records, and only issued what powder and shot was needed.

To checkmate his “more bloodthirsty” and avaricious followers, Blommart recognized the civil authority of Anthony Hutchins, who had been the Natchez chief magistrate before the arrival of the Spanish.[19]

Word that Pensacola had surrendered to Governor Gálvez’s expeditionary force on May 9, 1781, caused the Natchez rebels to have misgivings. They had counted on a successful defense of that city and an attack by the British navy on New Orleans. This news chilled their ardor. Some of them fled the district; others demanded a division of the spoils at the fort as a preliminary to their flight; but Captain Blommart and a majority of his followers resolved to hold the fort until it could be returned to Spanish authorities. Blommart’s faction was satisfied that Governor Gálvez would treat them as members of the regular military establishment rather than as rebels.[20]

The New Orleans authorities, even before Governor-General Gálvez’s return from the capture of Pensacola, had organized and put in motion a column with the mission of recapturing Fort Panmure. Commanding this force was Robert de la Morandier, a militia captain. He started from the Attakappas with 40 militiamen. As he advanced, his command was reinforced, until by June 18, 1781, it numbered 43 Indians, 66 militiamen, and 40 Canadians.

On their way northward, they encountered Colonel Hutchins and Doctor Farrell, acting as emissaries from Captain Blommart. They carried a letter from Blommart, suggesting a return “to the status quo ante ‘rebellum’. Fort Panmure would be restored to Spain, with the residents of the Natchez District regaining “all the rights and privileges provided for by the capitulation of Baton Rouge.”

Before dismissing Hutchins and Dr. Farrell with his promise of “personal protection,” Captain Morandier informed them that Capt. Carlos de Grand-Pré was en route upstream from Pointe Coupée with artillery and reinforcements. But, as to negotiating with Blommart, Morandier cautioned

an officer of his majesty, although in the militia, could never treat with one who was not only a rebel but even a traitor, who had voluntarily taken an oath of fidelity to the king but had felt free to return to the service, of his former sovereign.[21]

On June 14, the day after the parley, Captain Morandier sent a courier ahead to assure the inhabitants of the Natchez District that if they returned to their homes, his troops and Indians would not molest them. To guard against intrusions, they were advised to display Spanish flags in front of their homes.

Norandier’s command, with Captain Blommart and his people looking on, landed at Natchez on June 22. Morandier bruskly brushed aside Blommart’s efforts to establish conditions for surrender of the fort and return of the public property. Forty of his soldiers slipped into Fort Panmure unopposed, and at daybreak on the 23d Captain Morandier entered the fort. He then ordered 20 militiamen and 80 settlers in pursuit of the fugitive rebels. At 10 o’clock, the hour Blommart had proposed to give up the fort, Morandier arrested and sent Blommart and three of his lieutenants (William Eason, William L. Williams, and Samuel Benjamin) under guard to New Orleans.