II. HISTORY OF THE SUBJECT LOTS--1804-66

A. Jacob Bright and Company on the Arkansas
1. Bright and Company Come to Arkansas Post
Almost as soon as the United States took possession of the Louisiana Purchase in late 1803, Governor William C. C. Claiborne of Mississippi, who was also Governor- General and Intendant of the Province of Louisiana, was approached by Jacob Bright. Bright, the operator of a trading house at Chickasaw Bluffs, Tennessee, asked permission to establish a post on the Arkansas. Claiborne was agreeable. On February 8, 1804, he granted to Bright authority to open a store “on the Arkansaw [sic], for the purpose of carrying on trade with the inhabitants of that District, and such Indians as may still visit the Post." This franchise was to continue "in force during the pleasure of the Governor ...or until provision shall be made by Congress for regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes west of the Mississippi river.[1]

To secure financial backing for his trading house on the Arkansas, Bright formed a partnership with Benjamin Morgan of New Orleans. Morgan was an important and wealthy member of the growing Anglo-Saxon community in New Orleans. In February 1804 he was one of the incorporators of the city's Bank of Discount, Deposit and Exchange, and on July 16, 1805, he was elected president of the Bank of the United States, of New Orleans. Morgan was also close to Governor Claiborne, and on September 1, 1807, he was appointed territorial secretary, an office he held until October 15. In addition to his banking interests, Morgan also owned several ships. A public-spirited individual, he took the lead in securing the paving of the New Orleans streets.[2]

Jacob Bright, having secured a franchise and a wealthy partner, traveled to Post of Arkansas. There he bought out the trading house owned by Louis Jordella. Besides Jordella's good will, Bright and Company secured a one-acre lot. Located on the subject lot was a house and probably other improvements.[3] Undoubtedly, Bright and Company erected other structures on the subject lot, because it promptly became the largest and most important trading house on the Arkansas River. Jordella, having sold out, went to work for Bright and Company.

2. Bright and Company Dominate the Arkansas River Trade
a. The Establishment of the U. S. Factory
In 1805 the United States government established four new factories or trading houses to trade with the western Indians. These were located at Arkansas Post, Natchitoches, Belle Fontaine, and Chicago. John B. Treat was appointed factor for the Arkansas Post establishment by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn.

On reaching Post of Arkansas in September 1805, Treat found that the trade had been engrossed by nine or ten "persons resident at the post, and 2 or 3 Frenchmen who annually descend the Wabash, having obtained their goods at Detroit." He learned that the amount of capital employed by his rivals was nearly $50,000, "about the half of which is engaged by the House of Bright and Company (an establishment transferred from the Chickasaw Bluffs about two years ago) connected also with a House in New Orleans, and probably with another place in Philadelphia." His other competitors, Treat reported, could be divided into three classes: those who employed from $4,000 to 5,000 each; those in the $3,000 class; and finally those that annually did from $2,000 to $1,500 business.[4]

b. Cutthroat Competition
The competition between the trading houses compelled them to extend the Indians liberal credit. This they hoped to recover when the Indians returned from their autumn hunts. Bright and Company, although at the Post less than two years, had advanced the Indians $10,000 in trade goods to be redeemed with peltries and furs.[5]

Shortly after his arrival at Post of Arkansas, Treat was distressed to learn that the Factory's only serious competitor, Bright and Company, had secured on September 27, 1805, from Secretary of War Dearborn, the right of "free trade throughout the whole extent of the Arkansas river for two years." Bright accordingly organized an expedition and prepared to start up the river to trade with the Osage.

Such action on the part of the Secretary jeopardized the success of the Factory, because Bright and Company, certain that profits from their Osage venture would be great, had drastically cut prices at Post of Arkansas. Treat feared that Bright and Company would soon be underselling the Factory. Until October 1805, the Factory's prices had been one-third less than those demanded by Bright and Company.[6]

In the spring of 1806, several vessels, including the barge Hope and the flatboat Necessity, left Post of Arkansas for New Orleans, with packs of peltries and furs. Sixty of these packs belonged to the United States Factory, which placed it fourth in quantity of packs forwarded. Bright and Company had shipped the lion's share, having loaded out 267 packs of deerskins, 1,500 pounds of beaver pelts, 930 pounds of bearskins, 12 packs of small furs, 72 packs of assorted hides, and a considerable quantity of oil and tallow. The next largest shipper had sent out about 100 packs.

Treat warned his superiors in Washington and Philadelphia that Bright and Company was continuing to engross much of the trade at the Post, and aided by their franchise would monopolize the Osage trade.[7]

Secretary of War Dearborn on April 29, 1806, assured Treat that the administration had not intended to give Bright and Company any advantages over competitors. Treat was authorized to notify the other traders that it was not proposed "to give anyone any exclusive privileges," and the "old trading settlers may have licenses to prosecute their trade up the Arkansas river." Moreover, the Secretary did not believe that Bright and Company should be permitted to keep a store at the Post to trade with the Indians.

Treat was therefore authorized to grant licenses to "such of the inhabitants of Arkansas as you may judge suitable characters to trade with the Indians ... taking suitable bonds for their proper conduct, especially prohibiting the sale of any ardent spirits."[8]

The Secretary's statement that Bright and Company should not be allowed to operate a store at Post of Arkansas perplexed Treat. If this were true, Treat wanted instructions how to proceed in this matter.[9]

3. Bright's Expedition to the Osage Village.
Bright with a strong force had ascended the Arkansas in July 1806 "to make arrangements to secure the trade of the Osage.” It was apparent that Bright and Company had inaugurated an aggressive campaign to secure a monopoly. Credit had been advanced to traders operating on the St. Francis River at exorbitant rates. Treat knew of one Indian, not a chief, to whom Bright and Company had given a credit of “upwards of $3,000” by which means more than 100 hunters were indebted to them.[10]

By September 1 the recipient of the $3,000 credit returned to Post of Arkansas, with about 9,000 skins for Bright and Company. Having made his delivery, he returned to the woods with 115 hunters. [11]

Meanwhile, Bright's party had ascended the Arkansas for a distance of several hundred miles. Finding a likely looking site in the country of the Osage, they landed and started to build a cabin for a trading post. On August 3, 1806, Bright and his companions stopped work when they heard two guns discharged. About one-half hour later, they sighted “a tall and soldierly looking man, with a coat faced with red" ride into view. He fired his musket into the air, and it was followed by other shots by those to his rear who could not be seen. This bold warrior followed by several hundred others approached to within 20 yards of the traders and dismounted. After the chiefs had assembled, they advanced with Clermont in front. Clermont took position on Bright's right, and gave orders for his people "to falloff right and left ...to give room for them all to come in. They then seated themselves on some skins which they had thrown on the ground for that purpose” to receive presents of tobacco and to smoke. Bright gave each Indian a dram of whiskey, which most of them drank.[12]

On Monday, the 4th, Bright conferred at length with the Osage chiefs. By the 9th all the Osage except four had returned to their village. These warriors were to guide the traders to their village and to hunt for them as they ascended the Arkansas. The keelboat had been loaded by 1 p.m., and they cast off. Bright's party tied up and camped for the night at the head of a sand bar.

At dawn on August 10, they were attacked by a war party, whom some of the traders believed were Choctaw. In the first volley one of the Osage hunters was killed and the other three fled. The Choctaw kept up their fire for about 15 minutes. They then ceased shooting and withdrew. When he mustered his force, Bright found that besides the Osage, the score of attackers had killed two of his men, Louis Jordella and Augustine Strong. Jordella, in attempting to escape by swimming the Arkansas, had been shot. The loss of Jordella was a severe blow. A native of Post of Arkansas, and an experienced trader and hunter, he had been placed by Bright in charge of the Osage trading house. Jordella was in the prime of life, and possessed of both modesty and integrity, and his loss would be a blow to the community, as well as the company.[13]

Before returning to Arkansas Post in November 1806, Bright established a trading house near Clermont's village. In February 1807, when the Osage were absent, the trading house was besieged by Choctaw, angered because Bright and Company had been selling firearms and ammunition to the Osage.[14]

4. The Death of Jacob Bright
a. Bright Passes On
In the late spring of 1807, Bright left Post of Arkansas for New Orleans aboard a keelboat loaded with the winter's take of peltries and furs. He was not feeling well. He reached New Orleans in mid-May, and told his partner, Benjamin Morgan, that he planned to visit Washington, D. C., to discuss with the President and Secretary of War Indian relations and trade. Before he could complete arrangements for his trip to the nation's capital, he died. In reporting Bright's death, Morgan wrote Secretary of War Dearborn, "his death may be considered a public as well as a private loss. He was beloved and respected by all the Indian tribes with whom he had any connection. He was using his best efforts to attach them to the cause of the United States."[15]

b. Bright's Journal
Jacob Bright kept a detailed journal while at Arkansas Post. On December 20, 1806, he mailed an extract from his journal, covering the period August 4-12, 1806, to Secretary of War Dearborn. The Bright Journal if it could be located would prove an invaluable source of information about Arkansas Post and the Indian trade during the period 1804-07. In a futile effort to locate the Bright Journal, the author has contacted a number of historical societies and persons versed in the history of the fur trade.

 

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