THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ARKANSAS POST

By Roger E. Coleman, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program

Originally presented as a paper at Arkansas Post National Memorial on May 18, 1991 for the tenth annual Arkansas Heritage Week.

This year the theme of Arkansas Heritage Week, “Linking the Landscape,” focuses on rivers, rails and roads of Arkansas and the influences that these transportation arteries had on the development of the state. Specifically, I will explore the role of the Arkansas River in the development of Arkansas Post, the cradle of Arkansas history.

Established in 1686, Arkansas Post commemorates nearly 300 years of European occupation in the lower Arkansas Valley. The trading house, fort, and civilian hamlet - known collectively as Arkansas Post - has been a strategic military and commercial center as well as the focal point of numerous Indian and European encounters. Occupied by France, Spain, the United States, and the Confederacy during the Civil War, Arkansas Post figured prominently in the politics of four nations and contributed significantly to European colonization of North America. As the first settlement in the lower Mississippi Valley, Arkansas Post helped establish the claim of France to the most important waterway on the continent. Under French ownership, Arkansas Post served as a center of Indian policy, as a port for Mississippi River convoys, and as a point of embarkation to trade and hunt on the upper Arkansas River. Adventuresome French explorers eventually reached Santa Fe and established the Arkansas River as one transportation link to the Spanish southwest.

Under the jurisdiction of Spain, Arkansas Post bolstered the Spanish barrier and helped prevent English penetration to Spanish colonies in the southwest. During the American Revolution, Spain aided the patriots and Arkansas Post served as an intelligence center and stopping point for American supply boats. In 1783, James Colbert and pro-British sympathizers attacked Arkansas Post in what was probably the final battle of the conflict. As an American community, Arkansas Post participated in the growth and expansion of a nation. The Arkansas River became one avenue of westward expansion and Arkansas Post soon grew into a bustling frontier town, a center of cotton production, a thriving river port, and the first capital for the Territory of Arkansas. Arkansas Post enjoyed a new prosperity interrupted only by the Civil War. For the first few months of the conflict, a Confederate earthwork at Arkansas Post guarded the approach to the upriver capital of Little Rock. In January, 1863, Arkansas Post fell to Federal troops following a three day engagement.

The story of Arkansas Post is the story of the river that flowed past it. Over 1,450 miles long, the Arkansas River was a major transportation artery. Originating deep within the heart of Spanish territory, the Arkansas pulsed through the dominions of numerous American Indian nations and eventually emptied into the Mississippi River. Located at the confluence of both rivers, Arkansas Post served as an entrepot or point of entry for trappers and traders bound for the upper Arkansas.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Arkansas was a distant and inaccessible place—a perfect terra incognita or unknown land. The journey from New Orleans to Arkansas Post required 35-40 days to complete, and the ascent from Arkansas Post to St. Louis could not be accomplished in less than 70 days. Even the 30 mile voyage from the mouth of the Arkansas River to Arkansas Post demanded 3 days of rowing and poling against swift currents and around numerous sandbars. Yet, stories of untold wealth on the Arkansas prevailed and proved to be a powerful magnet to enterprising Europeans. The Arkansas country was teeming with wildlife and according to one official report, pelts from deer, fox, bear, mountain lion, martin, beaver, raccoon, buffalo, and wolf were plentiful. The area was a particularly important source of bear’s oil or “manteca,” a substance relished by Europeans as a butter substitute. Its preservability and flavor was touted by the French to be far superior to that of butter.

It may not be possible to accurately measure the economic potential of Arkansas, but historic documents do provide some insights into the volume of resources harvested there.

In a single transaction that took place in 1770, the Quapaw Indian chief Caiquaioataniga (Ka-Kwa-Oa-Taniga) exchanged 5000 deer skins to the British for a cask of whiskey. In 1776, an Indian raid on a British hunting camp resulted in the capture of 300 deer skins and many beaver pelts. According to one post commandant, in 1776, trespassing British hunters obtained 12,000 deer skins and 6,000 pounds of beaver furs on the White and St. Francis Rivers - during a two month period! We can only marvel at the volume of the legal catch that must have been obtained by the French and Spanish. It is known that the Quapaw produced between 1,250-1,500 gallons of manteca annually and that under American occupation, 975 bales of deer skins were shipped from Arkansas Post in a single year. If a pack contains only 100 skins, then almost 100,000 deer would have been harvested on the Arkansas each year. It is evident that rumors of wealth in Arkansas were justified and that commercial opportunities abounded in the region.

Much of the annual harvest in Arkansas was supplied by the Quapaw and other friendly Indian tribes. In return for products of the hunt, merchants provided material goods to the Indians and resident French hunters. A variety of goods found their way to Arkansas such as:

Rifles, bullets, powder, gunflints and tools, scissors, combs, butcher knives, steels for striking flints (strike-o-lites), needles, vermillion paint, salt, bells, kettles, beads, brass thimbles, looking glasses, blankets, limbourg cloth, red silk ribbon, and a variety of clothing including a scarlet coat with silver stripes and matching trousers, decorated shirts, hats with silver embroidery, shoes, and stockings.

The most important goods brought to Arkansas, however, were powder and shot. As one resident commented, these are commodities ‘more valuable than silver, as everybody in this land is a hunter.’ If ammunition was the primary trade item, alcoholic beverages must have been second in importance. Liquor consumption was prevalent among all elements of frontier colonial society—civilians, soldiers, and Indians. Most accessible to the Arkansas frontier were brandy (eau de vie) or Jamaican rum (agardiente or taffia). For gifts or trade, liquor gurgled freely from its import casks. In 1782, the French governor commented that liquor formed the greater part of the presents he distributed on behalf of his king among the loyal Indian nations. In one year the annual present to the Quapaw included 48 potes (24 gallons) of rum. The practice of befuddling the Indians with liquor, however, was not without a price.

As an historical footnote, I mention the April 17, 1783, raid on Arkansas Post which would have been prevented had not the Quapaw chief Angaska succumbed to alcohol. In his befuddled condition, Angaska allowed James Colbert and 100 armed British sympathizers to ascend the Arkansas River to “shake the hand of the new commandant.” Alcohol consumption was also prevalent among the military since a liberal allowance of eau de vie was customarily dispensed to “revive the troops.” Perhaps the best documented and most excessive use of spirituous beverages comes from the civilian population. It was a customary practice to provide the crew on a trading barge with a gratuity of rum from which the oarsmen freely imbibed. During a trading expedition these men served themselves, not from kegs or casks, but from barrels of 40 potes (20 gallons) each. During his first trip to St. Louis, an inexperienced Captain Dubreuil set aside only half the normal supply of rum for his 16 oarsmen. The barrels ran dry not far above the Arkansas and he was forced to dip into his personal cargo and increase the allotment to 120 gallons before the 10 week voyage had ended. Simple arithmetic indicates that 16 oarsmen consumed six 20-gallon barrels of rum over the 70 day period. Therefore, each man consumed 7.5 gallons of rum on this trip or one gallon of rum every 9 days! But I digress. It can be said that of all the items brought to the Arkansas, Liquor fueled trade and the local economy.

The Arkansas River was the primary transportation route for the region, indeed the “right arm of trade and business.” Yet, the Arkansas was a river that knew no master. It could be a raging torrent one week and the next week could drop to a maddening trickle of water. In the vicinity of Arkansas Post, these fluctuations could exceed 30 feet between high and low water marks. When droughts occurred, navigation on the Arkansas River was difficult if not impossible and often stretched the supply line to the breaking point. In flood, the temperamental river spilled over its banks and consumed the land for miles around. No location within thirty miles of the mouth of the river remained dry. To escape the threat of inundation, the flood weary inhabitants of Arkansas Post changed location no less than seven different times. Floods are documented for the years 1748, 1756, 1758, 1775, and for the consecutive years of 1764-1768,1777- 1779, and from 1780-1788. Therefore, floods occurred in 19 years of this 40 year period suggesting that during the 18th century, the post inhabitants experienced a flood on the average of once every two years. Since only major damage producing floods found comment in the historic records, this estimate is undoubtedly conservative. In 1778, the post commandant protested to the governor that the spring rise flooded the post every year.

Floods often affected the post inhabitants in unforeseen and unpredictable Nays. In the spring of 1748, extensive flooding destroyed the Quapaw fields, forcing the Indians to relocate to higher ground some 15 miles above the post. The Quapaw provided a policing force for the French, but with their relocation, the inhabitant village lay unprotected. In May of 1749, 150 Chickasaw warriors fell upon the post, murdering 6 men and taking 8 women and children captive. The vulnerability of Arkansas Post, painfully evident after the Chickasaw raid, prompted the French to relocate near their Quapaw neighbors. The new site, “Ecores Rouge” or Red Bluffs was the first high ground encountered within 30 miles of the mouth of the Arkansas and is the location of Arkansas Post National Memorial. This new site, while above flood waters, was 3 days distant from the Mississippi River, making it difficult to support convoys passing between St. Louis and New Orleans. Therefore, in 1756, the post was relocated to a more convenient location about 9 miles above the mouth of the Arkansas. Unfortunately for the post residents, this convenience was not without a price. During the years that the post remained at this location, the French fought a losing struggle against the destructive Arkansas River.

In 1758, the murky brown waters backed-up the Arkansas for many miles, imperiling Arkansas Post. High water topped most of the levees, flooding the lowlands. The parapet of the fort and the garden levee of Etienne Maraffret Layssard, however, held fast, both scarcely 4 inches above the rising water. Layssard’s house stood on posts above the flood water. Into one room of the tiny dwelling, Layssard crowded his twenty pigs. The second room sheltered Layssard, his wife and four children, five slaves, a dog and cat, and all the squawking chickens he could gather. The cow, for want of space, remained outside knee-deep in water. Other inhabitants were less fortunate.

The flood destroyed Father Carrette’s rectory, forcing the priest to say mass in the post dining hall and canteen. The room, complained Father Carrette, is totally unsuitable as “everything entered there even the fowls.” During the priest’s final mass, “a chicken flying over the altar overturned the chalice... One of those who ought to have been most concerned exclaimed, ‘Oh! Behold the shop of the good God thrown down!’” So discouraged was Father Carrette that he auctioned off his household items and left the Arkansas for good.

From 1764-1768, annual floods prevented the French from harvesting any crops. The inhabitants were completely dependent upon the Quapaw for food—but, threatened by the Osage, the Quapaw moved frequently and were prevented from planting. The post commandant advised the Indians again and again to ‘settle down and make a crop.”

In 1776, Captain Balthazar De Villiers assumed command of the post. He found a pitifully small French and Spanish community of 61 inhabitants all domiciled in 11 rotting dwellings. Only 16 soldiers comprised the garrison. The fort itself was dilapidated from the annual floods. To De Villiers, Arkansas Post was “the most disagreeable hole in the universe.” In 1777, he wrote “all the land has been covered with water for three weeks and the entire harvest has been lost, indeed for the fourth year in a row. Again in 1779, Heavy spring rains forced the Mississippi to overflow. Muddy water backed-up the Arkansas inundating the post. There was two feet of water inside the fort. Weary of continual flooding, De Villiers relocated the fort to higher ground at Ecores Rouges.

Although the relocation to Ecores Rouge placed the post above the level of destructive flood waters, the swift current of the River now undermined the very bank upon which the fort stood. In 1787, 4 rises of the river badly eroded the bank below the fort. By the end of the year, only 18 inches of overhanging esplanade remained, forcing the removal of artillery. For reasons of safety, the alarmed commandant sent his wife and child to live in New Orleans. In February, 1778, another rise of the river tore away a bastion and a month later, the stockade wall nearest the river tumbled down the bank. Little remained of the fort and the garrison took quarters beyond the ruined enclosure. The following year, a spring running through the fort undermined what remained of the stockade. A new fort was eventually constructed by 1792, but was positioned a respectable distance from the friable river bank. Erosion of the site, however, continued to be a problem.

In 1819, the British naturalist Thomas Nuttall commented that ‘the encrouchments of the river upon the precipitous and friable bank in front of [ Post] and the enlargement of the ravine by which it is intersected, renders the site altogether precarious.” Late in the 1830s, G.W. Featherstonaugh observed that “the banks of the river, which are about eight feet high here, are crumbling down with a rapidity that must attract the attention of the settlers and somewhat alarm them; the descending floods undermining them on the one hand, whilst the banks...saturated...are precipitated in immense masses to the bottom.”

The Arkansas River was of primary importance to early settlement in Arkansas. The river’s watershed teemed wildlife that served as a powerful magnet for enterprising Europeans who flocked to the country. The Arkansas River was the major—indeed, the only viable transportation linking the inhabitant population to markets abroad. Colonial policy demanded that Arkansas Post be located in close proximity to the Mississippi River to protect and support passing convoys. Yet, no location within 30 miles of the mouth of the Arkansas remained dry. Ironically, the river that attracted Europeans to its banks flooded almost annually, destroying crops, homes, and fortifications. spite of the natural wealth that the region offered, the colonial inhabitants were half starved, destitute, and demoralized — owing largely to their dependence an the Arkansas River.