ARKANSAS POST - 1686 AND LATER

Thus, Arkansas Post, or Poste de Akansea as the French called it, was founded in April, 1686, before the 20th by ten men - six Frenchmen and four Indians led by Coutoure Charpenter. They were directed by Henri de Tonti, Lieutenant of Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle and seigneur of a grant on the Arkansas River to erect a cross and build a house near the Quapaw village of Osotouy on the Menard Mounds with a three-fold purpose in mind. First, keep an open channel down the Mississippi for any information on La Salle’s colonization expedition, out of touch for two years. Second, establish a fur-trading post to legitimize De Tonti’s seigneury on the Arkansas River. Third, to demonstrate the validity of the claim of France to the Louisiana Territory.

Were these three purposes attained?

La Salle did not return. But six survivors of this expedition turned up on July 24, 1687, fifteen months after Arkansas Post had been founded. This purpose was achieved. When the survivors showed up, only two of the original ten were here. De Tonti’s dream of a fur-trading fortune never was achieved. His seigneury did not survive. By 1690, his dream of an empire had all but ended.

The claim of France to the Louisiana Territory was considered valid not so much by the presence of Arkansas Post as by other circumstances. England was established on the east coast, but in 1686, Philadelphia was only four years old. Spain had all she could handle in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. France was already established in Canada. Established routes lay from Montreal and Fort Frontenac to Michilimakinac and down to Fort Saint Louis. Arkansas Post was more or less the farthest outpost of French dominion.

The French dominion was tenuous at best. After the collapse of the De Tonti seigneury in the early 1690’s, a small garrison was left. A Royal Edict in 1698 forbade trapping of furs south of Canada and it appears the post was abandoned.

In 1721, the John Law Concession was set up in the Arkansas country by the East Indie Companie. Lieutenant de Boulaye and Ensign M. de Francome and a small company of men set themselves up on the Mississippi near the mouth of the Arkansas, but by March, 1722, had moved upriver due to flooding to the Menard Mounds site. The site contained no fort, only four or five palisaded houses, a guard house and a storehouse. The Law Concession itself was about three miles to the northwest. The garrison, except for the two officers, were sent up to help the colonists, consisting of about 47 persons under the command of a Mr. Menard. This is the first mention of a name still familiar to people in the Gillett area: Menard. The Mounds were named after his family and his descendants still live in Gillett. But the Law Concession was not to last. By 1723, a year later, only 14 Frenchmen and six Negroes were left at the Concession. The Concession was dissolved about this time. To maintain the French alliance with the Quapaw, the small garrison was retained at Menard Mounds. The post then consisted only of a cabin for De Boulaye and a barn to house the garrison. In 1726, the Jesuit Order assumed responsibility of keeping up the Quapaw alliance and the military presence was withdrawn. Father Du Poisson was placed in charge, living in the cabin that had housed the commander of the Law Concession. However, Father Du Poisson died in 1728, and the site was completely abandoned.