II. ARKANSAS POST AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

C. Captain Colbert Intervenes

3. Captain Colbert Strikes

k) Labadie Travels to St. Louis by way of Arkansas Post

Glad to be free, but saddened at leaving 43 of their comrades (including nine from Lafon’s boat, four survivors of the Arkansas Post pirogue, and a sergeant and four privates captured by Colbert at Mobile), they cast off, proceeding down Wolf River. Turning into the Mississippi, they headed for New Orleans. About 30 leagues above the mouth of the Arkansas, they encountered the three boats commanded by Louis de Villars, Francisco Vallé, and Eugenio Pourré.

Madame Cruzat and Labadie violated their paroles, telling of their capture and the dangers to be encountered in passing Chickasaw Bluffs. The captains determined to return to the outpost at the mouth of the Arkansas. From there Labadie sent his bateau to New Orleans with Madame Cruzat and her children. With them they took a report of the incident prepared by Labadie and addressed to Governor-General Gálvez.

Labadie then proceeded to Arkansas Post, where he reported to Commandant de Villiers. While he was at the post, there was an alarm, when the corporal commanding the outpost near the mouth of the river notified Co de Villiers that “some people who appeared to be enemies had been seen in the immediate neighborhood of the old fort.” Captain de Villiers responded by recalling his five-man outpost.

On May 30 the day before Labadie left Arkansas Post, Capt. James Willing arrived by boat from the Falls of the Ohio.

Willing reported that “the French and Americans were accomplishing great marvels; that General Washington was gathering his army in the north of the American continent, and it was believed that it was for the purpose of” invading Canada.

Continuing, Willing stated that he had been exchanged for Lt. Gov. Henry Hamilton, who had surrendered Fort Sackville to George Rogers Clark’s command in February 1779. Hamilton, he reported, had returned to his former headquarters at Detroit. There he was rallying a force of regulars and savages with which to attack the Spanish settlements on the Mississippi.[68]

It was decided that the three boats should resume their run up the Mississippi, and Labadie left Arkansas Post on May 31 for the mouth of the river. Seeing that Commandant de Villiers was too ill to discharge his duties, Lieutenant de Villars, as an officer in the Louisiana Regiment, remained on the Arkansas to assist in the defense of Arkansas Post in the event that Captain Colbert sought to make good his boast.[69]

Madame de Villiers, arriving at Arkansas Post in late May, took her husband aboard their boat, intending to take him to New Orleans, where he could receive better medical attention. They reached Natchez on June 9, where the captain probably died on July 9, 1782.[70]

The three boats, on one of which Labadie had taken passage, passed Chickagaw Bluffs without difficulty and reached St. Louis on June 29, 1782, at 10 P.M.[71]

Labadie on July 5 appeared before Colonel Cruzat and made a report on his difficulties. Meanwhile Madame Cruzat, accompanied by Madame de Villars, had reached New Orleans on May 30 in Labadie’s bateau. That afternoon she provided Acting-Governor Miró with an exhaustive account of what had occurred in the weeks since she had left New Orleans in late February.[72]