Caddo Parish, Louisiana History and Genealogy
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Background: About thirty years ago your host was browsing a used book store and came
across an original book titled Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest
Louisiana.
I bought it for $1.95 if memory serves me, and wanted to transcribe it. I 'm
getting around to doing something about it. Spacing, format and some "clean up"
was done to fit our webpage design.
The following is not a reproduction of the original. Please
report typing errors.
Bounteous nature loves all lands.
Beauty wanders everywhere,
Footprints leaves on many strands,
But her home is surely there.
Falconer.
CADDO PARISH is situated in the extreme northwestern corner of Louisiana. It embraces 852 square miles or 545,280 acres, divided into 095 square miles of oak uplands and 157 of Red River bottom lands, its front on Red River being 183 miles long. The Caddo uplands are marked by numerous bayous and lakes, and are undoubtedly excellent in quality. The divide between Boggy Bayou and Cross Lake runs east and west, ending at Shreveport. In the northeast quarter is the great cypress brake, and in the southwest is the continuation of the divide between the Bed and Sabine Rivers. The Red River bottom is from two to eight miles wide, and sixty-live miles long here. In 1880 there were 95,400 acres in cultivation, of which 46,238 were in cotton, 23,109 in corn, 315 in sweet potatoes, and one acre in sugar cane. There were 20,903 bales of cotton produced, .45 bale per acre, 624 pounds of seed cotton, or 214 pounds of lint cotton per acre. In 1887 the cotton acreage increased to 51,719, and within the last three years corn lands have been set aside for cotton, and a large area of upland reduced from its wilderness state and devoted to the staple crop. In 1889 there were 128,000 acres in cultivation; even more in 1890, and with the improvement of Bayou Pierre, acreage to produce 25,000 extra bales of cotton will bo added. The population in 1840 comprised 2,410 Caucasians, 29 free colored, 2,837 slaves, or a total of 5,282. In 1850 the total population was 8,884, made up of 3,034 Caucasians, 42 free colored, and 5,208 slaves. In 1860 the total was 12,140, including 4,733 Caucasians, 69 free colored and 7,338 slaves.
The white population in 1870 was 5,913, and the black, 15,799, or a total of 21,714; this total was increased to 26,305 by 1880, number of whites being 6,922, and blacks, 19,283. The population in 1890 is 31,555, and the number subject to military duty, 3,457. Among the old people discovered by the enumerators in June 1890, one was one hundred and fourteen and the other one hundred and twenty years of age. In 1880 the United States statisticians placed the debt of Caddo and Shreveport at $554,644, while in August 20, 1890, the parish owed $35,000 and the city $190,000, or a total of $225,000. The greater part of the old debt originated in city and parish scrip issued during the war, which sold for from 15 to 20 cents per dollar. This necessitated the heavy parish levy of 14 mills and 10 mills, which latter tax collected up to a few years ago. In July, 1890, the assessed value of Parish property (exclusive of the value of about 30,000 acres of United States lands) was placed at $5,500,000, on which 5.25 mills, general, and 2.5 mills court-house tax were levied, or a total of 7.75 mills, equaling $42,500. The levy for school purposes was 1.25 mill, general fund, 3 mills, bridge mill, interest and sinking fund, mill and court-house, 2.5 mills.
The parish is separated from Bossier by Red River, the water front being 183 miles. A chain of lakes extends above Shreveport for over 100 miles, to which the general title, Caddo Lake, is erroneously given. The lakes forming this chain are known as Cross, Swan, Sodo, Ferry, Clear and Roberta. The last-named was known to old river men as Shift-tail Lake. The name was changed to Little Sodo Lake and ultimately to Roberta by Dr. Stuart, who resided on the lake shore, and named it in honor of his wife. Through these lakes and their connecting bayous was the steamboat route from Shreveport to Jefferson. Sodo Lake derives its name from Zagal De Soto, who is said to have been left to die in its vicinity. Black Bayou, with its many branches, drains the northwestern portion of the parish, running through an immense cypress brake, and after connecting with Red Bayou through Sewell's Canal, pours its waters into Clear Lake. Red Bayou is navigable for steamboats its entire length, Dooley's Bayou for many miles, Black Bayou to Sewell's Canal and a few miles above until it reaches an impenetrable cypress forest. Many of the other bayous are navigable for flatboats, and in high water afford passage for cotton and rafts of logs.
One bale* of cotton per acre is a fair average crop on bottom lands, and one bale to three or four acres on the hills is a fair estimate, though with even a scant application of fertilizers, saved on the plantations, this yield could readily be increased to a bale to two acres. Corn in good seasons will produce from 60 to 100 bushels to the acre on the bottoms; from 20 to 75 bushels on the bills, largely dependent upon the judgment and industry exercised in its culture. Some planters produce enough corn for their own use, but the great majority of them rely upon the granaries of the West. The river lands of Caddo are of the richest alluvial soil and of wonderful fertility. There are hundreds of thousands of acres of lands which, with comparatively little cost and labor, could be reclaimed and produce almost enough raw cotton to supply all the mills of the world. It is the opinion of intelligent planters that Caddo Prairie alone, when reclaimed from overflow, would add to the receipts of cotton at Shreveport not less than 30,000 bales annually, and that the entire valley would be capable of producing annually from 80,000 to 100,000 bales of cotton. In August, 1890, the Bayou Pierre Drainage Company began the work of reclamation, and by the close of the year, it is stated, 50,000 acres of alluvial land will be drained and 75,000 acres relieved from the risks of overflow.
The State Fair Association in 1890 offered first prize for not less than 400 pounds of lint cotton per acre from uplands, and for not less than 700 pounds per acre from valley lands, while for corn prizes were offered for 75 bushels per acre (*The soil of the valley in many places is a black, deep soil of unsurpassed fertility, producing, when above inundation, two bales of cotton and from 80 to 100 bushels of corn per acre as average annual crops from uplands, and 100 bushels from valley lands, weighing 72 pounds per bushel.)
The growth of the cotton industry from 430,000 bales in 1820 to 7,017,707 bales in 1888, may be taken to represent, in proportion, the increase in Louisiana. In this parish it is undoubtedly the great industry. Out of a total product for the year ending August 31, 1880, of 5,761,252 bales, there were received at Shreveport 95,436 bales, or about the one-sixtieth of the total crop. The following year 82,964 bales were received, and during the year ending August 31, 1882, 64,837 bales. Between the years 1825 and 1861 prices ranged from 8 to 28 cents. In 1864 cotton sold for $1.90 in New York City, and during the years of Civil War it sold as low as 20 cents. In 1719 the first Negro slaves were imported to open a plantation opposite New Orleans; but at the close of the eighteenth century the development of the rich cotton lands of Louisiana was still in a very primitive condition. After the acquisition of this territory by the United States, immigration crossed into Lower Louisiana, the slave trade was extended, and with this extension the domain of cultivated lands widened. Civilization spread over the valleys and crept to the head-waters of the Red River, opening up to the cotton industry one of the most fertile valleys in the world.
The comparative receipts of cotton at Shreveport for the nine years, as taken from the official records of the cotton exchange, are as follows:
SOURCES OF RECEIPTS.
Rail [not show here]
Wagon [not show here]
River [not show here]
The decrease as compared with the season of 1887-88 was due to a short crop. The year 1889- 90, compensated for this shortage. The difference between the net and gross receipts represent the number of bales of cotton received at Shreveport from points on upper Red River and by rail consigned to merchants in other cities. The net receipts show the actual number of bales received at warehouses, handled, compressed and shipped direct from this port.
On July 0, 1855, cotton picked on the B. F. Eppes plantation was delivered at Shreveport, being the first of the season. The first bale of cotton, in 1865, was that from E. R. Moore, on August 30. It was bought for 22 cents per pound in gold, by Johnson & Durr, who sold it immediately for 24 cents. From the close of the war to April, 1860, there were 140,000 bales of cotton shipped from Shreveport, of which Walsh & Boissean shipped about 49,000; Howell & Buckner, 17,000; Phelps & Co., 38,000, and the following named dealers smaller lots: E. S. Kneeland, William Thatcher, Thompson, Morris & Co., D. J. Elder, Tally & Co., E. & B. Jacobs, Elstner, Kinsworthy & Co., Whetly & Co., Stacey & Poland, and S. P. Griffin & Co. The first bale of new cotton received in 1872 was raised by Capt. Vinson, in Bossier Parish, and sold August 12. Capt. Vinson repeated his feat of 1872 on August 19, 1873. The first bale of cotton was sold by him to Hicks & Howells. The first bale received in 1876 was on August 3. In 1881 Belcher, of Bossier, furnished the first bale. It was sold by Joseph Boissean to D. B. Martin for 12 cents. Thomas Johnson, of Caddo, brought in the second bale immediately after, and Daniel Monroe followed next. The first bale of 1882, raised on the Carmonche lands, weighed 305 pounds, and was sold for 15 cents to J. B. Durham. The second bale was delivered on August 17, by J. J. Marshall, of De Soto. On August 7, 1883, a 518-pound bale, raised on the Belcher lands, Bossier, was sold by W. P. Taylor for 14 cents. On the same day a second bale, weighing 550 pounds, was brought, in from the same farm. In 1884 Albert Butler (Colored), of Caddo, raised the first bale, 420 pounds, and Cornelius Brown, the second bale.
On August 13, 1885, R. R. Harroll raised the first bale, 430 pounds, and Schuler, of De Soto, the second bale, 461 pounds. Yancy Roach raised the first bale in 1886, in De Soto. It weighed 460 pounds and sold for 11 cents. Walter Colquitt, of Bossier, raised the second bale, which weighed 028 pounds, and sold for 11 cents. On August 17, 1887, six bales were received, and on the 19th, the first from H. Herold, of Twelve Mile Crossing.
On August 8, 1888, J. J. Marshall, of De Soto, sent in a 360 pound bale, which sold for 12 cents, and on the 17th the second, 427 pounds, was sent in by C. Shuler. Jackson and Joiner, of De Soto, sent in the first bale of the 1889 crop, on August 20. The forests of the parish show a wealth of commercial timber, which awaits the lumberman.
Here cotton-planting is carried on while the snows of winter lie along the fences of Illinois, and the dreary days of March and April bring heartsickness to old and young in the North. The trees and flowers and birds show more life here in March than they do northward in July, and thus the whole year plays in the sunshine without the dangerous changes which build up doctors' bills in other lands.
The mean annual temperature is sixty-five degrees and mean relative humidity, seventy; average rainfall, fifty-two inches, and prevailing direction of the wind southerly.
Red River, the history of which is related in the sketch of Red River Parish, drains an area of 89,970 square miles. Rising in the Llano Estacado of Texas, 2,450 feet above the sea level, it flows southeast for 1,200 miles, when it enters the Mississippi, 341 miles above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. In olden days this river entered the Gulf through the Atchafalaya River. The fall in the first 600 miles is 2,208, and in the lower 600 miles, 188 feet. At Alexandria the river is 720 feet wide, and up to this point a minimum depth of three feet may be depended upon; but steamers of four feet draught can ascend to Shreveport, as shown in the history of navigation. Like the Mississippi, this river is subject to overflow; but, unlike the Father of Waters, its seasons of riot are few and far between. During the closing days of April and the early days of May, 1890, Red River assumed her worst character, passing the highest recorded water-mark. The county from Fulton down was flooded, and the lower streets of Shreveport were under water.
On the Bossier side a levee was constructed from the Cotton Belt Railroad to the old fortification, several miles up the river, and the levees up to Benton were strengthened. A 300-feet break occurred in the Adley levee, and Harts Island was submerged. [Vide history of Red River Parish for history of river, great raft and navigation.] Tradition brings the history of Caddo Parish back to 1542, when it credits De Soto with coming into the wilderness, crossing Red River near Fulton, Ark., returning by way of the lakes and bayous, to which some writers give the name Caddo Lake, and arriving at the mouth of the river, where he died a few days later. This tradition claims the belief of local writers, who base their belief on the fact that all along the route are to be found beneath the surface of the soil pieces of armor, spurs, broken swords and lances of unquestionable Spanish workmanship. In this rapid march sick and wounded men were left behind, and among them Zagal De Soto, a relative of the great explorer, who was left to die in the lake region above Shreveport. Soto Lake derived its name from him, but has been corrupted by "mapagraphers" to Sodo Lake. In 1544 Pere Andrew de Olnios visited the tribes on the Red River and Rio Grande. He was followed by several zealous fathers prior to 1682, when Father Membre came. In 1098 Vicar-Gen. de Montogny founded a church among the Tensas tribes. Pere Davion was there at the same time, traveling to the Upper Red River as a missionary.
One hundred and fifty-eight years later (1700) St. Denys explored Red River for upward of 1,000 miles, and a few years after, in 1713, a military and trading post was established at Natchitoches, over which St. Denys was appointed to preside. In 1745 there were 260 white persons (French) at Natchitoches, while beyond the divide (Sabine and Red Rivers) several Spanish planters were reported to reside. The lands between the Sabine and Red Rivers were claimed by both Prance and Mexico. On these lauds extensive plantations were opened, and cultivated under French and Spanish claims. Squatters, also, laid claim to some of this land which was ceded to the United States. The Caddo Indians, whose home was in the Red River Valley, had located a large village a few miles above Shreveport, while beyond, in the Spanish territory, the Texan Indians, and to the southeast, the Natchitoches, lived at peace with the white invaders. In 1811 the first permanent settlements by English speaking people were made, near the present Claiborne-Webster line, as told in the history of Webster.
Next to Orleans, Caddo Parish is the largest and wealthiest in the State. It was organized in 1839, the name being suggested by Col. W. H. Sparke, then a member of the Legislature, to perpetuate the memory of the tribe of Indians who inhabited the Red River Valley. This tract belonged originally to the United States, and was first brought into market in 1839, although settlement had been made as far back as 1828. In 1839 a vast number of entries were made, varying in extent from forty acres into hundreds and thousands of acres. In the first settlement of this section, what is called Caddo Prairie, was regarded as the garden spot of the Red River Valley, and was chosen for settlement by those adventurous spirits who first came with negro property and other large means from the older States. Hundreds of acres were put in cultivation as early as 1836, at which time there were only a few "clearings" (nearly all of them below) of from five to twenty acres along the hundreds of miles of river bank from Grand Ecore to the head of the stream.
The first settlement was made by McNeal and Sprague at what is now called Erwin's Bluff, which they sold a short time after to James Erwin, a son n law of Henry Clay, who removed to it from Kentucky with about 100 Negroes and a quantity of fine stock. The other earliest settlers were Joel Wadsworth, Robert Hamilton, John Herndon, Dr. J. L. Scott and Dr. James Peace. The James H. Cane settlement may be considered one of the first in the Shreveport neighborhood, and others named in the following memoranda of early records may be classed among the pioneers. William Davis, a soldier of the Revolution, was also here.
The first certificate of marriage recorded is that of Rolland Polland and Mrs. Elizabeth E. Williams, solemnized by Judge Jenkins, April 3, 1838. The witnesses were James Walsh, W. T. Fortson and D. C. Williams. A bond of $200 had to be entered into by Polland and Walsh to be null in case no legal objections to the marriage were preferred. Justice of the peace William T. Lewis, like the Judge, was a favorite matrimonial knot-tyer in those days, and John Ray a preacher united many couples.
On April 4, 1838, the slave woman, Caroline, and her child, named Littleton, twenty-five years old, and sound in body and mind, a slave for life, were sold by Michael Wright and J. S. J. Parrar, of Perry County, Ala., to B. F. Epps, of Caddo, for $700. The first sale recorded in the records of Caddo Parish is that of a Negro boy, named Alexander, thirty years old, slave for life, to Angus McNeil and John O. Sewall, for $900. Elihu Lipscomb was the seller. This system continued down to 1801, and even after the first days of the war slaves were sold or bartered as other property. In 1850 William J. Boney bought a fourteen year old mulatto, named Hannibal. He was raised at Charleston, S. C., and took a great interest in the success of Fremont. In fact, young Boney received his first lesson in the principles of abolition from this young negro. When the war days came his master gave him over to the Confederacy to work on fortifications, but his aptitude won him a place as servant on Kirby Smith's staff, and a few years later he was free.
The cattle brands recorded in 1838 were those of Jean B. Fourier, Samuel Norris, Mary E. Norris, Mary S. Norris, Nathaniel A. Norris and other children of Samuel Norris; John F . Smyth, Lucinda T. Smyth, John C. F. Legrand, R. W. Legrand and Alex Blunt. Ear marks and swallow-forks were the marks adopted. In 1839 Elizabeth Latitte and Charles Romine recorded marks for their cattle. In 1840 Mary A. Dubois, Andre Renoys, Marie T. Valentine, Elizabeth, Joseph, Zelia, Catherine, Alary Jane Olivia. Louisa and Marie L. Fourier; Mary Rachel Moreno, and Mary, Merciline and Nicobich Valentine. In 1841 Jesse T. Miller, Anthony W. P. Ussery, Kesiah (wife of Anthony Pussey), John L. Rogers, Willis Pollard. Joseph Oldham, Martha Sterrett, and in .1842 Milton H. Pry or and Rachel Shenex. Prior to 1846 the brands of Martha Stephens, Cynthia M. Lacy. J. W. Ray, James Waddill, Sarah Hollingsworth, H. P. Stephens, R. W. Logan, J. Russell, Hannah McDonald and John M. Simms appear.
A company, formed in Natchitoches, had laid out a town on the bluff, about three miles below, and called its Coats' Bluff. On a certain Sunday, in 1837, some of the citizens of Shreveport induced Capt. Shreve to go down with the snag boat "Eradicator," and cut a ditch across a point about 250 yards wide and three miles around. This ditch rapidly washed out, and as the divergence of the channel left the embryo city of Goats' Bluff comparatively high and dry, the high expectations of its founders were swept away. Gilmer's town of Red Bluff, projected in 1850-51, was another visionary scheme. At one time Irving's Bluff, at the foot of Sewall's canal, connecting with Bed and Black Bayous, was the shipping point from which thousands of bales of cotton were sent to market annually.
A modern event may be crowded into this little record of the beginnings of settlement, that is, the resolution of September, 1873, by the State Democratic Convention of Texas, approving of the proposition to annex Caddo and De Soto to Texas. The people of the two parishes favored the divorce proceedings, but, of course, Louisiana would not agree to such a separation.
The first court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit was opened September 3,1839. Ephraim K. Willson presided, and the following-named grand jurors were empaneled: George W. Nichols, William T. Dawson, Nathan Preseott, James Wardsworth, Thomas R. Shanklin, Angus McNeal (foreman), John O. Sewall, Thomas Ettridge, Henry C. McNeal, James Peace, John G. Green, John McAlpin, Naville Rambin and John Cain. The case of I. H. Mahle vs. Francois Fourier, Jr., was presented and continued. On September 4, Charles A. Billiard, an attorney, presented the name of Sturgis Sprague for admission to the bar. The new member presented his license, and, on taking the following oath, was admitted:
I do solemnly swear, in the presence of the Searcher of all hearts, that I will demean myself honestly in the practice as counselor or attorney, and will discharge my duty in every respect to the best of my knowledge and abilities, and I do further swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and State of Louisiana, as I shall answer at the Great Day of Account. John William Frost was admitted on this day. The modern idea of excuse from jury service was introduced - Clement and Emanuel Lafitte and James Wallace "getting away." No less than twenty-five civil cases were presented, judgment by default being entered in the greater number. The State vs. Henry J. Benton, for assault and battery, resulted in a verdict of guilty and a fine of $50 and costs.
In May Judge Henry Boyce presided, with Samuel C. Wilson, clerk. On December 7,1840, the third term of court was opened by Judge James G. Campbell. The territory was then part of the Tenth Circuit or District. Among the pioneer jurors were Jonas Robison, Richard Noel, John F. Smyth, Caleb Eubanks, Silas Haralson, James Wills, Samuel Hollingsworth, Amos Thompson, Daniel Nicholson, I. M. Pelham, Jacob Smith, B. F. Epps, A. W. Tucker, John Nolan and Matthew McMillan. H. G. Williams was fined $10 for nonattendance.
There were 134 civil cases on the call disposed of that day; only a few criminal cases were presented, the charge of murder against Charles A. Sewall being the principal case. Parish Judge Washington Jenkins presided in cases where Judge Campbell secured himself. Robert Nesbitt, a native of the Land o' Lakes, was admitted to citizenship, the first admission in this parish. The trial of Sewall was proceeded with, but, owing to the escape of a juror named Pollock, it had to be postponed. John R. Smith was indicted for murder, but was found "not guilty." The fourth term was begun June 7, 1841, by Judge Campbell. Angus McNeil, or McNeill, was indicted for murder, and many indictments for assault and battery were returned; Judge John B. Carr took Judge Campbell's place on the bench as special judge; the trial of Sewall was continued. In December Judge Campbell resumed his seat. Indictments were returned against the Littlejohns, Pegrams, Pollocks and Joneses for rioting. In May, 1842, the spring term opened. Judge Campbell quashed the array and ordered the parish judge to draw a new set of jurors instanter. This was done on motion of Attorney Frost. In December, 1842, George R. King was district judge. At this time the district attorney asked that the bonds given by Charles A. Sewall be canceled, as a jury could not be found in the parish to try the case. Joel W. Hardwick was tried on the charge of murder, but found "not guilty." Judge Henry Boyce presided in May, 1843. Indictments for murder against William Perry, James A. Young and C. A. Sewall were returned. Perry was acquitted; a nolle prosequi was entered in the case of Young, and Charles A. Sewall's case was continued. In December of this year James Marks was indicted for murder, but was acquitted. In April, 1844, Judge Campbell revisited this circuit. William L. Tuomey was appointed district attorney. In November Charles M. Sewall was indicted for passing counterfeit coin; Lewis I. Pollock for keeping a banking-house, and William Sayres for stealing the negro man, Caesar. The latter was sentenced to eight years in prison. Antoine St. Vigne was admitted a citizen, and also a Russian named Henry L. Myers, in 1845. In August, 1846, E. R. Olcott was commissioned judge; Matthew Watson, sheriff, and John M. Lewis, clerk. The circuit was then known as the Seventeenth District. Judge Taylor of the Tenth, afterward the Sixteenth District, presided here in special cases in 1847-49.
In February, 1850, Sheriff Watson was re-commissioned, and Benjamin Wells, clerk, received his commission. In April, Judge Bullard opened court here. In August, 1850, a record of the bar meeting in re the death of Attorney Richard A. Walker is made. In January, 1851, Roland Jones was commissioned judge, vice Olcott, resigned. John A. Lee was indicted for murder. Judge Jones was re-commissioned in March, 1852, but the April term was opened by Judge Bullard. In November, 1852, Henry L. Holmes was indicted for murder. In December, 1853, Henry M. Spofford took his seat as judge of the Eighteenth Circuit, having been commissioned in May of that year. In January, 1854, the grand jury recommended the building of a courthouse, and suggested that the patrol system be extended to meet the great increase in the number of slaves. This was the first grand jury report recorded here. In July of this year Judge Harmon A. Drew, of the Seventeenth District, presided here. Matthew Watson was still sheriff and W. G. Kerley clerk.
Judge Thomas T. Land took his seat in December, 1854. In 1855 John James was indicted for murder; the '' liquor cases'' were presented in numbers; William and Daniel Waddill, Jr.,were indicted for murder, but in November the grand jury congratulated the court on the entire absence of crime for the six previous months. In March, 1856, N. E. Wright was admitted to the bar. In 1856 George A. Austin was admitted, and in 1857 W. O. Crane, Walter Overton and John C. Lewis. In May, 1857, Judge David Cresswell succeeded Judge Land, and on the 26th of that month a series of resolutions were adopted by the bar, expressing acknowledgments to the retiring judge. Capt. L. P. Crain presided, with K. T. Buckner, secretary. The resolutions were drafted by L. M. Nutt, L. D. Marks, Hinton Smith and G. A. Austin. Thomas R. Simpson succeeded Watson as sheriff. John M. Landrum and all the other members signed the resolutions. In 1858-59 the murder cases referred to in other pages were presented, Judge Cresswell being still on the bench, Henry J. G. Battle, sheriff, and N. E. Wright, clerk. In March, 1859, resolutions of condolence in re the deaths of Capt. L. P. Crain and George A. Austin were adopted;
Alex H. McGarvan was admitted to the bar, and a number of foreign born residents admitted to citizenship. Under date February 11, 1859, seven attorneys of Shreveport signed a set of rules for the government of their practice in Caddo Parish. The signers were; W. U. Roberts, J. Clinton Beall, Vaughan Z. Long, Cushman & Frost, and Olcott & Summers. On January 27, 1860, Artemas Bennett was hanged. In March Judge Roland Jones is found presiding over the Eighteenth District, vice Cresswell, resigned. Nathan Hass was sheriff. Waddy T. Moans. Kimball A. Cross, L. D. Marks, and R. P. Cates were admitted to the bar. The portion of the grand jury report criticizing Judge Oresswell's methods of admitting persons charged with murder to leave the State was ordered to be stricken from the records.
The first session of a civil court in Louisiana, outside of New Orleans, since the close of the war, was opened at Shreveport, August 21, 1805, by Judge Weems. A few days prior to this, R. W. McWilliams shot and killed a colored sergeant, and was at once arrested by the military authorities.
In September, 1805, Judge Weems was brought before the Preedmen's Bureau, at Shreveport, charged with trying John Gaines, a freedman, at Bellevue, for horse-stealing, in violation of the rules of the bureau. Thomas Calahan, the assistant superintendent of the bureau, was to reprimand the judge, but did not inflict any punishment. The sheriff, Mr. Alden, was arrested, as well as the judge, by the provost marshal, C. R. Berry, of Bossier, but the bureau was not inclined to push the prosecution to extremes.
In October, 1860, Judge W. B. Egan, of the Seventeenth District, presided here, vice Jones; J. T. Heath, Thomas G. Pollock, and Emmet D. Craig were admitted to practice, and a number of residents to citizenship. W. P. Winans, a member of the bar, presented resolutions on the death of Hinton Smith. Under date, April 17, 1861, a record of the adjournment of court is made, and a notice of the departure of the Shreveport Grays and Caddo Rifles for the seat of war given. On April 20 a petition signed by A. H. Leonard, Hodge and Austin, L. M. Nutt, J. W. Jones, J. M. Landrum, Robert J. Looney, attorneys; N. E. Wright, clerk, and Nathan Hass, sheriff, was presented, asking that court be adjourned until such time as the judge should order a special session.
This petition was granted in opposition to J. T. Heath. In November, 1861, court was opened as usual, J. C. Moncure was admitted to practice, and resolutions on the death of John M. Landrum adopted. In January, 1862, Judge Jones transacted a good deal of business, and resolutions on the death of J. T. Heath were reported by Capt. W. A. Lacy, Samuel Wells and R. J. Looney. In June, 1862, Israel W. Pickens was sheriff, Judge Jones and Clerk Wright being still in office. The latter, however, tendered his resignation, and A. L. Mershon was appointed clerk. The death of Lieut. R. P. Cates, during the battle of Sharpsburg was appropriately noticed, Harman A. Drew, A. B. Levisee and W. O. Crain drafting the resolutions. The April term of 1863 was duly opened by the judge and officers named, but little business was transacted. In November of this year A. H. Leonard was commissioned clerk, and qualified. Indictments for murder were returned against Levi Gibson, James Thompson and James Everett, and resolutions on the deaths of John W. Penuall of Capt. Tucker's company, and Capt. T. G. Pollock of the Shreveport Grays, were adopted. In May, 1864, the district was again known as the Tenth, and an indictment for murder was returned against James Grimes and S. J. Robinson; Grimes was found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment for life, and James Everett received a like sentence. Resolutions on the death of Col. W. P. Winans, at Missionary Ridge, were also reported by W. J. Duncan and J. P. Harris. In October the charge against Robinson was withdrawn, but Levi Gibson was found guilty and fined $500. The death of Attorney Hodge was recorded at this trial. S. M. Chapman and R. E. Joslyn were admitted to the bar in August, 1865, and James J. Weems presided over the Tenth District. In October the grand jury reported the prevalence of crime of every description, and suggested that the United States be asked to replace the colored troops by white troops. In November, 1805, and January, 1860, court was regularly held. In April, 1866, Thomas R. Simpson was sheriff, Judge Weems and Clerk Mershon holding their positions. In October Richard J. Wright was clerk. On August 15, 1806, T. T. Laud, Jr., took the oath as attorney, and was admitted to the bar. E. B. Benton was admitted in May, 1867, and in January, 1868, John J. Hope was named as sheriff.
The death of J, C. Beall was recorded at this lime, and the name of Col. J. H. Kilpatrick appears as a member of the bar. The death of the old clerk, N. E. Wright, was also recorded, with the eulogy by George Williamson. On January 27, 1868, " Special Order 203 " was entered and court opened by Judge Weems. John N. Hicks was admitted to practice in October, 1808, and in February, 1869, the death of Roland Jones called forth a series of resolutions. At this time Judge A. B. Levisee presided over the district. In June John J. O'Connor was present as sheriff. At this term the State licenses issued to attorneys W. B. Egan, James S. Ashton, T. A. Flanagan, S. M. Chapman, J. W, Duncan, C. C. Henderson, A. W. O. Hick, M. S. Jones, T. T. Land, A. H. Leonard, R. J. Looney, J. C. Moncure, L. M. Nutt, S. L. Taylor, Samuel Wells, J. H. Kilpatrick and C. C, Henderson were recorded. In October J. C. Moncure presided in the trial of some cases. Sheriff O'Connor was fined $10 for absence. In February, 1870, S. L. Taylor was special judge, also C. M. Pegues and A. D. Land. In the fall Bryant Wright, a preacher, and Dave Newton and E. H. Walpole, physicians, were excused from jury service, and the death of Col. J. J. O'Connor announced. M. A. Walsh succeeded him as sheriff. In May, 1871, N. C.
Blanchard was admitted to the bar. In April, 1872, the death of Judge Weems was recorded, H. G. Hall being one 6f the attorneys signing the resolutions. William L. McGary and E. L. Tenney were admitted to the law circle. In November, 1872, Samuel C. Wright succeeded R. J. Wright as clerk, who, with his brother, Deputy Sheriff William N. Wright, were reported deceased. In April, 1873, Israel W. Pickens, sheriff, and Samuel M. Morrison, clerk, qualified. Robert J. Looney, judge of the Tenth District, took his seat in May, 1873, and D. M. Callahan was admitted to the bar. In November the deaths of S. M. Chapman, James G. Ashton, Samuel Wells, J. M. Lawton, E. L. Tenney, and H. G. Hall j were recorded. In April, 1874, the attorneys of the 1 parish who paid the State license were A. D. Land, W. B. Egan, N. C. Blanchard. A. B. Levisee and E. B. Herudon. William H. Wise was then district attorney. In 1875 the question of the legal status of the sheriff led to the adjournment of court. The lawyers signing the petition, not hitherto mentioned, were M. C. Elstuer, T. P. Bell, W. A. Seay, W. D. Wylie and C. M. Pegues. In November, 1876, W. Heffner was sheriff, and John W. Wheaton, clerk. In April, 1877, Edward H. Ryan, of Wisconsin, was admitted to practice here, followed by J. H. Shepherd, of New York, and in November Judge Aleck Boarman succeeded Judge Levisee in this district. In November, 1878, the death of Supreme Court Judge W. B. Egan was entered on the minute-book. J. D. Cawthorn qualified as sheriff in 1879. In April, 1880, S. L. Taylor took his seat as judge of the First District under the constitution of 1879. W. P. Ford qualified as clerk, John Lake as sheriff and M. S. Crain as district attorney. In January, 1881, J. Shaffer was admitted to practice. In February the deaths of R. C. Crain and J. W. Duncan were noticed in a series of resolutions by J. H. Shepherd, F. G. Thatcher and N. C. Blanchard. In March, 1882, the record of the death of L. M. Nutt appears. The only change in the officers of the court since 1880 has been the choice of J. H. Shepherd as district attorney in 1888. M. S. Crain died in March, 1890. W. G. Boney has been deputy clerk since 1880.
The present bar comprises T. Alexander, N. C. Blanchard, T. F. Bell, W. H. Bristol, T, C. Barrett (1886), C. J. Boatner, M. H. Carver, M. C. Elstner, J. M. F. Erwin, J. L. Hargrove, E. B. Herndon, John N. Hicks, John W. Jones, T. T. Land, A. D. Land, D. T. Laud, R. J. Looney, W. E. Maples, E. H. Randolph, J. B. Slattery, J. H. Shepherd, F. G. Thatcher, Hoyle Tompkies, W. H. Wise and J. S. Young. Of the lawyers named, Henry A. Bullard was judge of the superior court, Territory of Orleans, from 1832 to 1845; Henry M. Spotford, from 1853 to 1855; Thomas T. Laud, from 1858 to 1862; R. B. Jones, associate justice in 1865, and William B. Egan. 1877-1880; John C. Moncure served as judge of the circuit court of appeals from 1880 to 1888. A. B. George was elected for a short term in 1880 and re-elected in 1884 to serve until 1892; James C. Egan was attorney-general from 1880 to 1884; John C. Moncure was speaker of the house in 1879; Louis A. Wiltz served as lieutenant-governor from 1877 to 1880, and was governor at his death in 1881.
The parish court was opened August 6, 1838, by Washington Jenkins, with Samuel C. Willson, clerk, and Samuel B. Hunter, deputy clerk. The transactions were comparatively few, as eighty pages covers the record up to June, 1846. In 1845 Robert Burnsides qualified as parish surveyor. After Judge Jenkins' term the office was abolished and not revived until after the war. In November, 1868, David Cresswell was parish judge, succeeded in March, 1871, by F. M. Smith; in January, 1873, J. M. Ford; in August, 1873, H. G. Hall; in November, 1873, David Cresswell, vice Hall, deceased (A. Flournoy, sheriff, and P. T. Hatch, clerk); in December, 1878, S. L. Taylor. In 1879 the office was abolished.
The United States District Court was established at Shreveport in 1881, with Aleck Boarman district judge. M. C. Elstner was, in fact, the first United States district attorney, and was succeeded by M. S. Jones, and he by M. C. Elstner, the present incumbent. Judge Boyce, who before the war was United States district judge for Western Louisiana, was district judge for Caddo in 1840. In 1839 the parish agreed to pay C. A. Sewall & Co. $300 per year as rent for clerk's and sheriff's office, and $25 per month to Davis & Howell for room in their house. The oldest record of the police jury is dated September 14, 1840, when the following jurors convened by order of the parish judge, W. Jenkins: Thomas C. Porter, president; Willis A. Arington, J. G. Jones, William J. Blocker, John S. Scott, P. W. Winter, T. P. Hall, L. D. Bossier, J. A. Gamble, A. W. B. Ussery and E. Herndon. J. C. Bead was chosen clerk and attorney; Dan W. Edgerly, treasurer; J. S. Carrow and G. E. Collins (later, W. H. Fleming), assessors. There were eleven wards. John F. Scott was captain of patrol in Ward 1, while in several of the other wards patrols were appointed without rank, and Col. J. G. Jones was appointed parish ranger. On October 13, 1840, James H. Cane proposed to donate to the parish four lots at Shreveport, and Charles A. Sewall & Co. made a similar proposition. Washington Jenkins offered to sell his house and three lots to the parish for $8,000, reserving the stable and kitchen, which he agreed to remove. This proposition was accepted and a committee appointed to fit up the house for official purposes. In December, Michael E. Davis and John N. Howell entered into a contract for building a jail for $2,350, $562.50 of which was a subscription. In 1841 the names of Roland Polands and W. H. Fleming appear as jurors vice Winters and Arington. An additional sum of $250 was allowed Van Bibber to complete the courthouse by October, 1841. Horatio Chambliss and J. H. Mahla qualified as jurors in December; at this time a contract was made with the editor of the Caddo Gazette for printing scrip; and a bonus of $5 was offered to the slayer of every wolf and tiger, and $1 for every wildcat and fox. The Legislature was petitioned to lay the parish off in jury wards, and C. W. U. Hazlett was appointed parish police officer. Later, nine wards were established by commissioners appointed by the Legislature. In October, 1842, John H. Mahla, J. A. Gamble, A. W. P. Ussery, Thomas D. Gary (president), Samuel Hollingsworth, D. B. McMillan, William Isler and Daniel Waddill.
John M. Lewis was chosen clerk, later S. H. Potter, and John S. Gilbert, attorney. About this time the jurors learned that a petition for the division of the parish would be presented to the Legislature. This knowledge drew out a remonstrance from the jury, against which only John A. Gamble protested. In 1843 C. Lewis signs the record as clerk, and J. M. Ford as treasurer. The second record book of the police jury of Caddo (in existence) is dated Augusts, 1844. It was found in August, 1890, and though it begins six years after the establishment of the parish, it is a venerable memento of an age gone forever. At that time Col. J. G. Jones was chosen president, Cadwallader Lewis, clerk, and John N. Howell, treasurer. J. G. Jones, John H. Mahla, Reuben White, B. B. Smith, R. T. Nowell (Noel) and William H. Hackett were the police jurors. Later that year mention is made of the first patrol companies, and the names of Dempsey Her, B. B. Whitworth, Benjamin Wills and B. Rinnolds given as captains for Wards 1 to 4, respectively. The school fund for 1844 ($400) was ordered to be collected, a number of constables appointed, and the report of committee on debt (showing $3,997.71 outstanding June 3, 1844) was received. B. B. Smith was appointed parish physician, and John Kirk took Mahla's place on the jury. In 1845 E. Atoway, H. J. G. Battle, E. D. Williams, with Messrs. Jones, Kirk and White were jurors, and J. W. Morris, treasurer. In June, 1846, repairs on the courthouse were authorized. Thomas B. Jones was chosen treasurer (he succeeded Cadwallader Lewis as clerk), and Jordan S. Carrow, assessor. The first notice of pay for public printing appears in July, 1846, when H. J. G. Battle was allowed $50. At this time T. M. Gilmer; S. Bossier and Elisha Atoway were jurors. The jail, completed in 1847, by Oglesby &Griswold, was accepted; Lewis Pugh was appointed assessor, M. Mahon, collector, and C. R. Griswold, treasurer. In September, 1847, the jurors were Dr. A. Flournoy, B. W. George, T. S. Cromwell, Dr. J. W. Hardwick, president, and T. M. Gilmer. John Young was chosen clerk. In October, 1848, J. W. Mahala, B. S. Dickson and Hiram Johnson wore elected jurors, Hardwick, George and Cromwell holding over.
In February, 1849, R. A. Walker succeeded John Young as clerk. At this time school districts were formed. I n August, Joseph B. Thompson and William Terrell represented Wards 1 and 4, respectively. The latter was chosen president. Thomas Rowan was coroner. In November, Mrs, Ann Pitts was permitted to keep the ferry at the old Shennick ferry, on the same conditions as governed Mooring & Thompson's, on Ferry Lake. In February, 1850, Recorder John Young was authorized to remove the deed books to his brick office on Texas Street. Juror T. B. Cromwell resigned, and A. G. Scoggin was chosen in his place. In June, M. Watson, later R. A. Cutliff, H. Van Bibber and William Terrill were appointed jail building committee, and $200 was granted Messrs. Battle, Mitchell & Co., of the Caddo Gazette for one years' printing; J. T. Toney and Robert Lowe qualified as jurors; B. M. Pond was chosen clerk in September, 1850, but gave place in June, 1851, to R. T. Buckner, and William Terrell was re-elected president. In January, 1851, Mahla and Lowe were fined $50 each for non-attendance, and captains of patrol companies were appointed for many places throughout the parish. In October, Micajah Johnson was elected juror from Ward 3, and with Messrs. George, Terrell, White, Toney and Lowe, formed the police jury in 1852. W. A. Pegram, John H. Payne qualified in September, and in January, 1853, T. H. Armstrong was appointed clerk. On April 19, 1853, the question of aiding the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas R. R. to the extent of $100,000 was carried by 211 votes for, against 154 votes contra, and in June the license question was introduced. S. D. Parker, from Ward 3, and J. A. Jeter, Ward 1, and Samuel Ford qualified as jurors in 1853; R. White was chosen president, and H. Hunsicker, clerk. In 1854 Samuel Ford presided, and R. L. Gilmer, R. Lowe and W. A. Pegram qualified as new members of the jury, and in March, 1855, the names of Henry T. Jones, W. A. Lacy and R. T. Buckner appear on the roll of members. Lacy, Pegram and Gilmer were instructed to lease or buy a poor farm.
N. E. Wright was clerk. In 1850 Joseph Beard was a juror, and R. T. Buckner, attorney, as well as president of jury. B. T. Scoggin was appointed collector, and in November R. L. Gilmer was chosen president, vice Buckner. In January, 1857, authority to build a jail was given. The record from 1858 to 1870 inclusive can not be found. It appears that A. J. Pickens, the radical president of the police jury at the beginning of 1871, refused to turn over to the newly appointed jury the minute books.
A memoranda of some political affairs during that period may, however, bring up some recollections of the darkest days in the history of Louisiana, and compensate, in a measure, for the loss of the most interesting volume of police jury minutes. Immediately after the election of November, 1860, a meeting was held at Shreveport, the members of which resolved that it was no longer compatible with the safety and honor of the Southern States to remain in the Union, and petitioned the Legislature to arm the militia at once. The resolutions were warlike in the extreme, and were signed by B. L. Hodge, Leon D. Marks, Thomas J. Allen and R. T. Buckner.
On January 7, 1861, Leon D. Marks and George Williamson were elected delegates from Caddo to the State convention. L. D. Marks and B. L. Hodge, of Caddo, signed the secession ordinance of 1861. The vote in November, 1861, shows 761 votes for Marshall and nineteen for Lewis, candidates for Congress; Reuben White and J. A. McRady were chosen representatives. During the year 1862, a soldiers tax amounting to $26,000 was levied in addition to the $9,000 ordinary parish levy. This was not the beginning of war levies; but it is enough to point out the sacrifices the people of Caddo were willing to make for their cause. On January 26, 1864, Gov. Henry W. Allen delivered his message to the Legislature at Shreveport. On January 25, 1864, Gov. Moore closed his administration.
Caddo recorded 648 votes for Breckinridge, 546 for Bell, and thirty-eight for Douglas. In 1865 Allen received 288, and Wells, 140 votes for governor. S. R. Mallary, the last State prisoner confined in Fort Lafayette was released in April, 1866. The parish elections of May, 1866 resulted in the return of Thomas R. Simpson, sheriff; A. L. Mershon, clerk C. W. Lewis, recorder; William Hubbard, assessor; W. W. Blackwell, coroner, and James S. Ashton, district attorney. For the three candidates for sheriff there were 740 votes cast. In April, 1867, a series of resolutions were signed by Judge Weems and other citizens of Caddo, assuring Gen. Sheridan of the desire of the people to join in every measure and effort for the restoration of the union.
In July, 1870, a report gained credence that Gov. Warmoth intended sending a battalion of State militia to Caddo Parish, during the fall elections. The Shreveport people did not see the necessity for this extreme measure, and petitioned the governor not to send an armed rabble to create disorder in the midst of order. This petition was presented by Thomas T. Land, Robert J. Looney, F. P. Leavenworth, James W. Duncan, C. L. Pegues, C. B. Clark, S. L. Taylor, J. S. Ashton and R. C. Cummings.
On June 5, 1871, a new record book was opened. D. J. Elder, G. J. Jones (president, succeeding Elder), Reuben White, Samuel Armstead and James McCleery were members of the jury; George L. Smith, collector; N, C. Blanchard, clerk; O. L. Van Creelan, treasurer (succeeding P. H. Rossen); S. L. Taylor, attorney; S. H. Parsons, surveyor, and T. G. Ford, physician. An order to institute proceedings against A. J. Pickens, to obtain possession of the parish records was entered June 19, but the trial was never recorded, if it ever took place. The parish was redistricted for road purposes into twenty-eight districts. Gen. McCleery's death is recorded on November 7. In September, 1872, the jurors were G. W. Stoner, president; J. A. McRady (later president), Dr. W. Turner, Zach Howell and R. T. Noel, with Stephen Pitts, treasurer, and John W. Jones, attorney. In January, 1873, A. W. Marshall, D. S. Hall and F. G. Spearman, qualified as jurors, with R. T. Noel and J. A. McRady holding over. J. G. Mc- Williams was elected treasurer, and S. M. Chapman, attorney. In May, 1875, S. G. Head was chosen president; John N. Hicks, clerk (to, succeed N. C. Blanchard), and William A. Seay, attorney. Messrs. Porter, Hendricks and Page were the new members of the jury. At this time the use of the court-house was granted to St. James' Colored Methodist Society for worship, and Dr. Turner was appointed physician. In September, scrip for $28,663 was canceled, and a 5-mill tax for jail building purposes authorized. E. B. Herndon was treasurer in 1876, with S. C. Head, F. G Spearman, Marshall Page, W. L. Smith and Jacob Hass, jurors, and W. R. Devoe, surveyor. During the year all outstanding scrip was called in for registry under penalty of being invalidated.
In August, 1876, the Funding Board reported $35,200 outstanding, for which funding bonds were issued. P. W. H. dimming was president, and J. E. Maguire secretary, of this board. The name of "B. C. White, clerk of former police jury,'' occurs under date January 1, 1877. W. N. Jeter, S. C. Head, James Tisby and M. Page, were jurors; J. E. Maguire, clerk; R. J. Looney, attorney, and C. H. Spilker, treasurer. On June 4, 1877, the newly appointed jurors qualified, with James B. Smith, president; Tisby, Head, Jeter and Page, of the old board, and J. D. Cawthorn, W. D. Browning, C. J. Foster, D. S. Hall and J. M. Hollingsworth as new members. N. C. Blanchard was elected treasurer; John C. Elstner, clerk; S. M. Morrison, collector; E. B. Herndon, attorney. The assessment of the parish was then $3,215,000, on which a tax of 8 mills was levied, being a decrease of 6 mills on the tax of 1875, and of 4 mills on that of 1876. In August, 1878, there were nine quarantine posts established, and a guard put in charge of each to prevent the entrance of sick persons; the death of Marshall Page was made part of the record. In June, 1879, James M. Hollingsworth was president, with W. H. Adams, R. H. Harrell, Ed Martin, James M. Martin, George J. Johnson, D. S. Hall, and W. J. Hutchinson, members of the police jury. D. S. Hall presided in 1881, with R. T. Cole, S. J. Ward, J. I. Shrumpert, J. H. Fullilove, W. H. Adams, G. W. Huckaby and the last-named member, of the old board members. In 1882 R. T. Vinson took Ward's place, and J. M. Alexander replaced Fullilove, and Mooringsport Ferry was declared free. In 1885 R. T. Vinson presided, with L. Z. Crawford, G. W. Huckaby, R. T. Cole, Pete Youree, Jules Dreyfuss, J. W. Scott, R. P. Walters, G. A. Colquitt and Walter J. Crowder, members. W. C. Perrin was chosen treasurer. In June,1886, Taylor Noel occupied R. T. Cole's place, and Frank J. Nolan succeeded Elstner as clerk. On August 14, 1888, this old jury gave place to the new. J. M. Poster was chosen president, and Edward Martin clerk. The jurors, in order of wards, were J. P. Spearman, 1; J. E. Browning, 2; J. B. Newton, 3; N. Gregg, J. M. Foster and P. Youree, 4; W. R. Bradford, 5; Thomas Williams, later, S. C. Hall, 6; James Herndon, 7, and J. M. Robinson, 8. In February, 1889, Capt. H. H. Hargrove was appointed director, from Caddo Parish, to the New Orleans Immigration Convention. W. F. Taylor succeeded N. Gregg (resigned) in 1889. In August, 1889, William Boney succeeded Martin, as clerk; T. C. Barrett followed Perrin, as treasurer, in 1888; J. H. Sheppard was elected district attorney, as shown elsewhere, and holds the position of parish attorney; R. H. Lindsay succeeded A. D. Battle, as assessor, in 1888.
The work of removing the historic courthouse was entered upon July 24, 1890, by contractors Moodie & Ellis. In August the contractors began the work of erecting what will be the finest courthouse building in Louisiana. This division of the State claims as its pioneer soldier one William Davis, a pensioner of the Revolution. He resided in Caddo Parish in 1840, being then eighty years old. Later a number of Mexican soldiers, of whom Capt. Crain was the best known, settled here. The War of the Rebellion may be said to have begun here in 1859, for, as is shown in former pages, resolutions favoring secession were adopted and military companies were organized. On January 8, 1861, the Caddo Grays, under Capt. Beard, paraded in new uniforms. Contributions toward the better equipment and arming of this company were received.
The Shreveport Home Guards organized January 22, 1861, with T. P. Hotchkiss, captain; H. Markham, first, and W. C. Beck, second lieutenant; Jonas Robeson, treasurer; L. Dillard, H. S. Roach, W. B. Adams, W. Holmes, S. B. Jones, B. Barker, James I. Weems, S. P. Day, Ben Stanton, H. D. Brown, B. F. Logan, Warren Hecox, J. Close, C. W. Gibson, Martin Tally, Charles Urback, W. K. Harrison, R. V. Mayre. C. W. Lines, Edmund Sawyer, H. T. Stewart, John H. Wilson, William Brown, N. E. Wright, W. W. Debach, W. S. Lewis, J. C. Beall, Wash Jenkins, Robert Cain, M. F. Reinhardt and John Frisby, privates.
In February, 1861, the Shreveport Sentinels organized, with H. J. G Battle, captain; W. P. Winans, lieutenant; Thomas H. Morris, second lieutenant; J. W. Bricked, sergeant; Henry Hunsicker, second sergeant; H. Dreyfuss, third sergeant; N. G. Tryon, fourth sergeant; R. H. Lindsay, first corporal; William Robson, second corporal; Thomas F. Bealle, third corporal, and Emmott D. Craig, fourth corporal. On the captain's promotion to a colonelcy E. Mason was elected captain in June, 1861.
The Caddo Grays, afterward known as the Shreveport Grays, left the city April 16, 1861, on the "Louis D'Or" en route to New Orleans, under command of Capt. J. H. Beard; Lieuts. George Williamson and L. D. Marks; J. A. Andrews, J. P. Harris, T. G. Pollock and A. C. Powell, sergeants; F. Chifille, quartermaster; L. L. Butler, W. S. Crowder, John Beynon and W. E. Moore, corporals.
The Caddo Rifles were commanded by W. R. Shivers, in April, 1861, with J. K. Ashmore, second lieutenant; C. W. Lewis, R. E. Sewall, Aleck Boarman, and Samuel Wells, sergeants; D. H. Glover, ensign; J. De Marre, W. W. Blackwell, E. J. Wright, H. E. Allen, and E. Rankin, corporals. This command proceeded to New Orleans on the " Grand Duke," in command of Capt. Gilmore. This movement of troops was carried out amid the greatest excitement. The early successes of the Confederate army brought joy to every home, so that the Fourth of July of 1861 was celebrated at Shreveport enthusiastically, the Shreveport Sentinels, the Summer Grove Cavalry, the Reagan Guards, from Texas, and the people participating. The Landrum Guards was the name given to the fifth military company raised at Shreveport. In September, 1861, this company was organized, with T. A. Sharp, captain; Thomas H. Triplet, first lieutenant; J. C. Kuney, second lieutenant, and H. E. Allen, third lieutenant. This company was made up of a number of Irish railroad graders, who were urged to join the army by Col. Battle, now of the Rapides newspaper circle. They were powerful fellows, belonging to the peasant class of their country, driven here by oppression. The failure of the contractors to pay them left them easy prey to the recruiting officer, and thus they fell into the ranks, September 15,1861, at Camp Moore, Landrum equipping the company out of fees received from a nonresident land-owner.
The Lake Company was organized in September, 1861, with James Yetter, captain; Frank Shearman, first lieutenant; F. G. Beckham, second lieutenant, and J. C. Allen, junior second lieutenant. This company left on September 13, for the war. The Caddo Sportsmen, under Capt. Winans, left for Camp Moore on September 19, 1861. The Caddo Guards, organized March 4, 1862, with William Robson, captain; S. C. Head, first lieutenant; H. S. Howell, second lieutenant, and R. B. Smith, third lieutenant, left for the front March 7.
The Dixie Rebels, organized in March, 1862, with O. L. Durham, captain; C. J. Foster, first lieutenant; Rev. J. H. Tucker, second lieutenant; C. N. Graves, third lieutenant; Rev. Joseph Hay, chaplain, and eighty-five men. This company embarked for New Orleans on the "Trent." The Caddo Pioneers arrived from the lakes of Caddo, March 13, 1862, en route to the front on " Era No. 4. C. G. Williams was captain, J. M. Christian, C. S. Gillis and T. S. Jordan, lieutenants. The Caddo Confederates organized in March, 1862, with Rev. Geo. Tucker, captain, and T. C. Lewis, J. B. Smith and Samuel Beckwith, lieutenants. The Red River Rangers organized in May, 1862, with L. M. Nutt, captain; R. E. Sewall, A. D. Battle and Dew Tally, lieutenants. This company, as well as the command of W. B. Denson, of De Soto, served with Garland's Texas brigade. The Caddo Light Horse Company was organized May 3, 1862, with W. B. Denson, captain; W. J. Scott, J. A. Hecox and S. W. S. Gulp, lieutenants. The sergeants elected were A. Walker, David Elder, W. M. Her, JE. Hayden and George Crowder, with G. E. Bennick, ensign. E, M. Van Nostrand was commissary. The work of military organization did not cease in 1862, although a great deal of the bone and sinew of the land had gone forth to tight for their homes, a thousand soldiers awaited only the order to fall in, and before the close of 1864 every able-bodied man in Caddo had either served a term in the army, was serving one, or had been mustered out by the great officer, Death.
In April, 1862, a meeting was held at Shreveport to consider the question of burning the cotton in the event of the Federals advancing on the town. The people wisely resolved to remove the stock of cotton rather than burn it, and cautioned the planters not to send any more cotton to Shreveport. The fall of New Orleans prompted this meeting and further suggested the establishment of a courier service between this town and the mouth of the Red River to give notice of Federal movements. The Southwestern was roundly denounced for suggesting the preservation of the cotton.
J. L. Hart proposed, in June, 1862, to establish a pony express mail between Shreveport and Beauregard's headquarters. Mrs. Roland Jones was president of the Ladies' Military Aid Society and Miss Mary J. Craige, secretary, in 1862. What the women of Caddo did for their soldiers can not be calculated. Sacrifice after sacrifice was made to send the troops clothing and food, and many a cheering letter of hope made happy the toiling army in the field. July 21, 1864, General Order No. 6 was issued from the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department at Shreveport. This order brought vividly to mind the capitulation of Vicksburg July 4, 1863, for it asked all the officers and men captured and paroled there, who reported at Enterprise, Demopolis, Vienna, Natchitoches, Shreveport and Alexandria at any time prior to April 1, 1864, to rejoin their commands, as they were declared exchanged. S. S. Anderson, A. A. G., by command of E. Kirby Smith, issued this order. On the 24th 1,100 exchanged prisoners arrived, and on the 31st Polignac's division. August 9 a portion of the old Third Louisiana Infantry embarked at Alexandria for Shreveport on the steamer '' Lelia," Capt. Isaacson. At Lacdes Mures the boat was forcibly held, while the 110 officers and men were entertained by the former lieutenant-colonel, S. M. Hyams. On the 16th the force arrived at Shreveport and occupied Camp Boggs, one and one-half miles south, formerly held by the Crescent Regiment, who guarded the Yankees in the prison close by. September 3 a body of men arrived, bringing the strength up to 300. October 15 the Shreveport Glee Club gave an entertainment for the benefit of the Missourians, serving in this Trans-Mississippi Department, which netted $5,000.
February 18, 1865, a review was held by Gens. Forney, Smith, Magruder and other officers on the Marshall road, two miles from the city. Forney's division was present. This military spectacle was witnessed by about 15,000 persons. About April 1 robbery and rapine were so prevalent that the streets had to be paroled day and night. Next came the news of Lee's surrender; then, too, commissioners from Gen. Canby to talk with Gen. Smith arrived, and by May 10, 1865, the end of the Confederacy was known to citizens and soldiers; soon after the work of ransacking the government stores was commenced and carried on until the Missouri troops restored order, recovered much property and stored it in and around the courthouse. May 21 troops began leaving town, and on the morning of the 22nd the citizens were free to survey the week's work of disorganized legions. Two Louisiana cavalry companies were in Arkansas with Garland's Texas Brigade; Capt. L. M. Nutt's, of Caddo, ninety-one strong, and Capt. W. B. Denson's, of De Soto, eighty-four strong. Both were captured at Arkansas Post in January, 1863. When exchanged Nutt's company returned to Louisiana, and became headquarters' guards for Gen. Kirby Smith; while Denson's remained in Arkansas, and became a part of Pagan's Arkansas brigade. May 15, 1865, Gen. E. Kirby Smith issued his order for the removal of headquarters to Houston. He went thither at once, followed by his headquarters' train. Demoralization took hold of the citizens and then of the army, and anarchy reigned here.
In August, 1865, Col. F. M. Crandall assumed command at Shreveport. John A. Stevenson, S. P. Griffin and others were held prisoners here, under J. J. W. Starr, who refused to produce them before Judge Weems on habeas corpus or permit the district judge to visit them. In November, 1.865, the Forty-eighth and Seventy-sixth (Colored) United States Infantry were mustered out, after holding Shreveport for some time. Maj. A. Smith was assigned command of Western Louisiana, with the Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry, the Eightieth United States (Colored) Infantry and a squadron of Pennsylvania Cavalry at Shreveport. Martin Tally was commissioned brigadier-general of De Soto, Caddo and Bossier by Gov. Wells in December, 1865. The Eighth Illinois Infantry was mustered out at Shreveport about this time, and the carpetbag rule was introduced.
The Benevolent Association of Confederate veterans was organized in June, 1884. Capt. Utz presiding, with J. V. Nolan, secretary. The role of membership was signed by the following named veterans: Capt. George W. Kendall, Twenty- fifth Louisiana Volunteers; G. A. Bourquin, Watson's Louisiana Artillery; Lieut. E. S. Leonard, First Battalion Cavalry; Jacob Gall, Nineteenth Louisiana; Dave March, Third Louisiana; A. C. Hunter, First Louisiana Cavalry; Charles Sweeny, Third Texas; Capt. William Kenney, Third Louisiana Infantry; M. W. Haughton, Nineteenth Louisiana; S. C. Perrin, Ninth Kentucky Infantry; Maj. V. S. Allen, Fourteenth Texas; D. G. Holland, Gould's Battalion; John G. Horan, Crescent Regiment; Capt. J. W. Jones, Nineteenth Louisiana; H. Neeson, Forty-eighth Georgia Infantry; L. R. Simmons, Fenner's Battery; E. E. McDonald, Second Georgia; W. A. Pleasants, Richmond, Virginia Howitzers; G. Owens, Second Louisiana Cavalry; S. C. Head, Twenty-fifth Louisiana Regiment; John Lake, Hampton Legion, South Carolina; H. M. O'Meallie, Crescent Regiment; B. C. White, Seventeenth Virginia Infantry; John Spark, Morgan's Command; James W. Arnold, Third Texas Cavalry; William J. Nash. Catahoula Grays, Eleventh Louisiana; R. T. Vinson, Washington Artillery; B. P. Barker, Denson's Cavalry; T. B. Chase, Crescent Regiment; Thomas H. Jordan, Sixth Alabama: William H. Ferry, Second Louisiana; Ed M. Austin, Eufaula (Alabama) Light Artillery; L. P. Grim, Wither's (Mississippi) Artillery; W. C. Perrin, Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry; Capt. W. I. Brunei-, Third Mississippi Infantry; Samuel Adams, Seventh Louisiana Infantry: Rev. C. F. Evans, Crescent Regiment; Capt. J. F. Utz, Second Louisiana; Col. J. B. Gilmore, Third Louisiana; E. G. Hin kle, Pendall's Battalion; A. J. Reynolds, Thirty-first Louisiana Volunteers; Capt. J. L. Fortson, Second Louisiana Infantry; Fred Ball, M. Nihill and Frank Cain, Capt. Nutt's Scouts; John J. Scott. Bossier Cavalry, Eleventh Louisiana Squadron; Capt. J. L. Hargrove, Perrin's Mississippi Regiment; W. T. Dewing, Austin's Battalion; Dr. D. M. Clay, surgeon; Rev. J. H. Hackett, Eighteenth Mississippi; Capt. J. H. Nattin, Ninth Louisiana; J. B. Smith, Twenty-seventh Louisiana Infantry; J. A. Booty, Tenth Texas Cavalry; A. S. Jordan, Morgan's Command; Maj. C. Plournoy, Nineteenth Louisiana Regiment; J. L. Gill, Greenwood Guards. Second Louisiana; E. W. Lacy, Shreveport Grays, Dreux Battalion; Lieut. J. C. Egan, Ninth Louisiana; Pete Youree, Shelby's (Missouri) Regiment; M. S. Seegar, First Battalion, Texas Mounted Cavalry; V. Grosjean, Fourth Louisiana; James V. Nolan, Crescent Regiment; James M. Martin, Third Louisiana Cavalry; Maj. John C. Moncure, Eleventh Louisiana, H. P. Hyams, Eleventh Louisiana, and L. Gustin, Eleventh Louisiana. On July 15 the association was organized with James F. Utz president; James C. Egan, J. W. Jones, L. R. Simmons, A. J. Newman and William Kinney, vice-presidents; James V. Nolan, secretary; T. B. Chase, financial and corresponding secretary, W. C. Perrin, executive committee. The same officers, with a few exceptions, were re-elected for 1885, and with various changes of position held office until 1889, when V. Grosjean* was elected president; T. E. Jacobs, J. S. Young, J. V. Nolan,* J. H. Calvert and J. C. Egan, vice-president; William Kinney,* recording secretary; R. T. Vinson,* financial secretary; L. R. Grim,* treasurer; D. Holland,* M. at A.; J. F. Utz,* T. B. Chase, W. A. Pleasants, William Endres* and John Corbett, executive committee.
At the close of December, 1889, there were sixty members reported, while to this number a large addition was made prior to April 1, 1890. In August, 1890, the officers whose names are marked * were re-elected with J. V. Nolan, first vice-president; A. J. Newman, second vice-president, John Lake, third vice-president; John Corbett, fourth vice-president and W. H. Tunnard, fifth vice-president; J. H. Calvert and James Martin are the new members of the executive committee. The Caddo Gazette was the pioneer newspaper of all the territory embraced in Claiborne Parish as established in 1828. In October, 1841, it is mentioned on the records of the Parish Jury. This journal had its share of tips and downs, but was always faithfully carried on, and sometimes with marked ability, down to 1871.
On April 9, 1854, W. II. Scanland went to work on the Caddo Gazette, then edited by Col. H. J. G. Battle; R. S. Carnes and Windham were also compositors. In June, 1857, Col. Battle retired from the Gazette, and Dr. Samuel Bard, then State superintendent of education, purchased the office. Dr. M. Estes, formerly editor of the Shreveport Democrat, was appointed assistant editor. In the history of the Times, reference is made to its consolidation with the Flag and ultimate change of name. The Southwestern, Vol. I l l , No. 1, was issued August 23, 1854, by L. Dillard & Go., from their office at the corner of Texas and Edwards Streets, opposite Van Bibber's livery stable. It was first issued in 1851. The rescue of the large stock of cotton from destruction by fire in 1862 must be credited to this journal. It opposed its destruction effectually.
On June 21, 1865, the Southwestern placed the stars an 1 stripes which had been lowered February 0,1801, above the editorial column and folded up the stars and bars. The Daily Southwestern was issued October 15, 1868. Part of the files of this journal are now in possession of Andrew Currie. In later years it was consolidated with the Telegram, and issued under the title, Southwestern Telegram.
The Night Guard was issued at Shreveport February 21, 1858, by J. M. A. Scanland & Co., with J. M. A. and W. H. Scanland and T. B. Steele, editors. A paragraph from this little journal gives its character, "Mr. Smith, don't you think Mr. Skeesicks is a man of parts? Decidedly so, Miss Brown. He is part numbskull, and part knave and part fool." The Caddo Gazette, Jr., was the name given to the Night Guard on February 28, 1858. This was sold at 10 cents per copy, and continued in existence until August 15,1858.
The Commercial News was issued at Shreveport, February 17, 1859, by J. M. A. Scanland. On March 17 it was enlarged to a twenty-column folio. Mr. Scanland's valedictory appeared August 11, 1859, in leaded primer, between heavy mourning columns, and the office was moved to Carthage, Tex., by T. M. Cooley. The material of the Commercial News office was purchased from R. D. Sale, who purchased it from the Caddo News office, previously published by J. R. Marks and Evan Turner. Prior to the purchase by Sale, the material was used in the publication of a religious weekly, the name of which is forgotten.
The Flag followed the News, and was consolidated with the Gazette. The Shreveport Sentinel was another journal of some importance. T. G. Compton was the editor of the Sentinel up to its close, and was made postmaster in September, 1805. Mugginsvillain was issued at Shreveport in July, 1865, by Gilliland, Tabor & Hussey. Its peculiar name did not suggest permanency. The Weekly Shreveport Times was issued in December, 1871. On November 25, 1871, the following notice was issued by Drury Lacy and W. G. Barrett: We this day have sold and transferred the printing office of the Gazette and Flag to Messrs. A. II. Leonard, H. J. G. Battle, and C. W. Levis, for value received. The unexpired contracts, advertising and subscription will be completed by the new firm. All debts due this date to The Caddo Gazette or The Gazette and Flag are payable to Drury Lacy and W. G. Barrett.
Col. H. J. G. Battle was manager and Maj. H. J. Hearsey, later (1874) of the New Orleans States, was editor. A. D. Battle and W. A. Seay subsequently held this responsible position, and some changes in ownership were effected, J. H. Gilliland being proprietor for some time, then J. II. Shepherd, and then Shepherd & Young, with Mr. Shepherd editor. In 1885 A. Currie & Co. purchased the office, but some time later became sole owner, he and J. H. Gilliland being editors.
Charles McD. Puckette was appointed editor afterward, and he, with S. B. Johnson leased the office for three years. In 1887 Puckette retired to establish The Democrat, when V. Grosjean, S. B. Johnson and Charles Schaeffer purchased a half interest, and leased the half interest of Currie & Ogden for a term of three years. A. D. Battle was employed as editor, Mr. Grosjean being city editor, as formerly. The latter is now owner of the Caucasian, and J. H. Gilliland holds this position, with Capt. Tunnard editor.
The Daily Shreveport Times Vol. I, No. 14, is dated December 16, 1871. On this day the paper, known to readers for fifteen days prior to this date, was enlarged to a twenty-eight column folio. The issue of June 1, 1872, bears the names of H. J. G. Battle, G. W. Lewis and A. H. Leonard, proprietors, with A. D. Battle and H. J. Hearsey, editors, and E. Mason, commercial and river reporter. The staff changes noticed on the sketch of the Weekly Times apply to this paper. Mrs. Rule, who is so favorably known under the name of Pansy, has been connected with this journal for some years.
The Evening Telegram was issued May 15, 1872, from the office of the Shreveport Publishing Company, as an independent, conservative journal. The Union Herald followed the Telegram, but its days were of short duration, and the Shreveport Evening Standard, Vol. XI, No. 1, was issued May 1, 1879, with L. R. Simmons, publisher, E. Mason, river and commercial editor, and R. C. Crain, city editor. The Standard was changed to a morning paper October 19, 1879. In September, 1882, the "comps" of this office presented through foreman, Charles Schaeffer, a demand for an increase of 5 cents per thousand ems, or 35 cents. Mr. Simmons, the owner, in granting this, wished that the situation would warrant him in acceding to a demand for more than 35 cents.
The Southwestern Telegram was in existence in 1877, and the Baptist Chronicle was issued at Shreveport in 1886, by Rev. R. M. Boone. The Shreveport Morning Journal was established in April, 1886, by Col. A. D. Battle and J. H. Gilliland, and the Democrat was issued over the grave of the Evening Journal, by C. McD. Puckette.
The Shreveport Evening Journal, formerly The "Weekly Journal, was established in August, 1887, by C. W. Hardy, O. P. Ogilvie and R. P. Moore. Col. Battle was editor, and John F. Gilliland city editor. After publishing for six months, the office was sold to the Democrat Publishing Company. The Caucasian is the most successful evening paper ever issued at Shreveport. In October, 1889, V. Grosjean, one of the veterans of the newspaper circle of Louisiana, purchased the Evening Caucasian, and placing Col. A. D. Battle in charge as editor, entered on that policy of judicious work, which brought this paper into the front rank of daily journals. In July, 1890, Col. Battle moved to Alexandria, and Mr. Grosjean assumed editorial charge, with L. P. Jackson, assistant editor. Mrs. Mattie H. Williams writes for this journal on social and educational affairs, under the name of Busy Bee. The Fair News was issued in August, 1890, by C. D. Hicks and W. W. Battle.
The Shreveport Record was issued April 3, 1890, by L. F. Jackson, W. H. Bristol and C. W. Hardy, with the object of pointing out the industrial possibilities of Northwestern Louisiana. The Times and Caucasian being found to cover the field so well, the Record ceased publication. The New Orleans Picayune is represented in Northwestern Louisiana, by Capt. H. H. Hargrove. He is the statistician of the State par excellence, and has taken a very prominent part in all latter day measures for the development of one of the least known and yet one of the most fertile States in the Union.
The History of the Third Louisiana Infantry was written by Capt. W. H. Tunnard, in 1865-66, and published in 1860. It is a work which claims much attention even now. The ante helium Typographical Union disbanded when the Confederacy called for troops in 1861. The feeling against the abolition fanatics of the North was so bitter, that young and old who loved the Union intensely, smothered their feelings and entered the army. In October, 1870, Union No. 155 was chartered, but for some reason the organization fell through. It was reorganized October 29, 1882, with Charles W. Hutchens,* president; B. F. Gilliland,* vice-president; W. C. Copes, secretary; Charles Schaeffer, financial secretary, and J. B. Rachal, sergeant-at-arms. The presidents in the order of service have been; W. R. Black, H. A. Neville, John H. Gilliland, H. A. Neville, John H. Gilliland, Charles W. Hutchens,* John S. Goooh,* W. C. Co23es, John S. Gooch,* C. W. Hardy and the present president, John S. Gooch. Will A. Sutherland is now secretary and treasurer, and W. 0. Rawlins, recorder.
The names marked * are still on the roll, with J. E. Goodwin, present vice-president; D. R. Lyons, R. P . , and C. G. Moore, J. M. Murphy, E. R. Fleishman, J. L. Farmer, J. F. Leverett, J. T. Lovinggood, H. A. Nester, R. M. McCoy and W. H. Dougherty are new members. Many members of the old Press Circle of the city and surrounding towns are honorary members.
In Caddo Parish the school system is good. The public schools are limited in number, but the deficiency is more than supplied by private institutions. The schools, public and private, are under the management of thoroughly efficient teachers. The receipts of the treasurer of Caddo on account of school fund in 1853 were $5,620.08; in 1854, $4,872, and in 1855, $4,879.15, or a total of $15,371.83. Of this sum $11,084.25 was expended on the twenty-one districts, leaving District No. 22, with forty-eight pupils, out. The total number of school children in the parish on January 1, 1850, was 1,206. The enrollment of white pupils in the schools of Caddo for 1877 was 552; 1879, 864; 1882, 4,033; 1883, 2,073; 1884, 881; 1885, 879; 1886, 970, and in 1887, 994. The Colored enrollment for the years given, is as follows: 666, 600, 5,769, 2,326, 1,411, 1808, 1,742 and 1,673. The apportionment for 1889 was 1 mill, and it remains unchanged. This, with the increased assessment is equal to 1.5 mills. There is due the school board, and uncollected, some $7,000 or $8,000; this added to the amount to be collected in 1890 will give the school board $13,000 or $14,000, or more than enough to maintain more and better schools in the parish than heretofore, for twelve months in the year. The convent schools and other private educational establishments of the parish are held in high esteem and claim a largo enrollment, as related in the history of Shreveport.
The State Educational Society elected the following named officers in July, 1890: Judge A. A. Gunby, Monroe, president; J. A. Breaux, Iberia, and Col. Thomas D. Boyd, Natchitoches, vice presidents; A. C. Calhoun, secretary; Mrs. Mattie H. Williams, of Shreveport, corresponding secretary; Miss Kate P. Nelson, Shreveport, historian, and Mrs. T. S. Sligh, editor. I n former pages references are made to the physicians who were here in the early days of Caddo. The physicians who registered under the act of 1882 are named in the following list: Dennis, Hiram Smith, Atlanta Medical College, 1870. Calhoun, John Caldwell, Medical College of Georgia, 1861. Ashton, William Whitcraft, University of Louisville, Ky., 1859. Billon David Hall, University of City of New York, 1801. Blackburn, Gideon Emmons, Pulte Medical College, Cincinnati, 1879. Gray, Robert Archibald, University of Louisville, 1853. Ford, Thomas Griffin, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1870. Scott, John Joseph, Medical College of Georgia, 1856. Egan, James Cronan, University of City of New York, 1846. Clarke,* Ambrose Francis, Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati. 1837. Dickson, William Lipscomb, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. 1881. Allen, John Walter, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1881. O'Leary, James Francis, Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York, 1873.
*Dr. Clarke settled at Shreveport in 1840 or 1841. While en route hither, he wished to earn expenses, and hired himself to a roadside blacksmith. It was in this shop that lie lost the sight of one eye, owing to a particle of hot iron flying Into it. In 1846 lie enlisted in the Mexican War, was made prisoner at Ferro Gordo, hut was released after a few days. He died at Shreveport, April 6, 1890. Dr. Egan, Sr. a pioneer physician of this district, is referred to in the history of Bienville.
Coty, Henry Colquett, University of Louisville, Ivy., 1880. Johnson, Franklin Lafayette, Louisville Medical College, 1877. Lyon, Aurelius Augustine, St. Louis Medical College, 1861. Taylor, Joseph, University of Pennsylvania 1862. O'Bryan, Andrew Franklin, South Carolina Medical College, Charleston, 1860. Allen, Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. 1855. Fisher. Levi Hill, University of Louisiana, 1853. Whitworth, William Thomas, University of Louisiana, 1877. Egan, William Lucius, University of Louisiana, 1883. Billiard, Waller, University of Louisiana, 1869. Walker, Alexander Spann, Medical College of the State of South Carolina. 1861. Vaughan, Zachariah Edmunds, University of Louisiana, 1876, Moss John Robert, University of Louisiana, 1875. Dorey, Joseph Tabor, Memphis Hospital College, 1881. Dickey Fines Jackson, Pulte Medical College, Cincinnati, 1879. Booth, Augustine Rue, University of Louisville. 1874. Blackburn, Charles Hinton, Homeopathic Medical College of Michigan, 1883. Tillinghast, Edwin Lawrence, University of Louisiana, 1861. Alison, Hartwell, University of Louisville, 1872. Roquemore, Andrew Jackson, University of Louisville, 1886. Kimbell, John Lamar, University of Louisville. 1884. Dickson, Samuel Augustus, University of Louisiana, 1884. Walters, George Winn, Hospital College of Medicine, Louisville, 1876. Mooring, Christopher Madison, American Medical College. St. Louis, 1878. Grabill, Jacob D., Pulte Medical College, Cincinnati, 1878. Maclin, James Bullock, Central College of Tennessee, 1887. Curtis, John Sidney, Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery, 1878. Herron Francis Jett, Reform Medical College, Macon, Ga., 1859. Hunt, Randell, Tulane University of Louisiana, 1889. Allen, Ethan, George, Pulte Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1889. Yoakum, Finis Ewing, Texas Medical College, Galveston, 1874. The Shreveport Medical Society was reorganized in 1870, but the members assembled in regular session only twice in the succeeding six years. The officers, whose terms expired in December, 1883, were Dr. A. A. Lyon, president; J. J. Scott, vice-president; J. W. Allen, recorder; T. J. Allen, correspondent, and W. L. Egan, treasurer.
In 1872 the Shreveport Board of Trade did suggest the organization of an agricultural society. The Louisiana State Fair and Shreveport Exposition was organized June 13, 1883, under the title, North Louisiana Agricultural and Mechanical Association. J. M. Hollingsworth was president; J. C. Vance. L. L. Tomkies and J. M. Foster, vice presidents; J. G. McWilliams, treasurer, and R. T. Vinson, secretary. In 1886 E. B. Herndon was elected president, and held the office until 1889, when G. J. Foster succeeded him. J. G. McWilliams has been treasurer since 1883; E. T. Vinson, secretary until succeeded by Matt L. Scovell in 1887. In 1889 John J, Horan was elected secretary. The number of stockholders is placed at 250. The association has made rapid strides, and owns fair grounds equal to any in the South.
The Farmers' Union of Caddo is another very influential association. The officers elected July 4, 1890, are E. R. Fortson, re-elected to the office of president; AY. E. Wasson, vice-president; B. H. Bickham, secretary; I. W. Pickens, treasurer; W. M. Odum, lecturer; J. R. Herndon, assistant lecturer; J. M. Attaway, chaplain; R. D. Ansley, D. K.; Lewis Dick, assistant D. K., and Kemp Flournoy, steward. At this meeting the charter was adopted, the following unions being represented by their delegates: Nos. 271, 272, 274, 306, 448, 467, 529.
The North Louisiana Historical Society was organized in August, 1890, with the following named members: A. K. Klingman, of Claiborne; L. T. Sanders, of Bossier; Capt. T. P. Bell, Col. G. W. Stoner, J. Henry Shepherd, L. B. Carter, John Lake, W. McD. Roach, W. P. Ford, Frank R. Hicks, L. M. Cozart, W. Lee Wilson, John Monkhouse, Sr., J. H. Fullilove and C. D. Hicks, of Caddo, all of whom were appointed committees of one to solicit membership. The permanent organization was effected by electing G. W. Stoner, president; L. T. Sanders, vice-president, and C. D. Hicks, secretary.
The navigation of Red River is contemporary with the settlement of the valley by the Indians. In De Soto's time, the yawl boat was the only means of conveyance. In 1814 or 1815 Henry M. Shreve, the former bargeman of the Ohio and Mississippi, and the first to contest the exclusive rights claimed by Fulton and Livingston to steam navigation on the Mississippi, was also the first to bring a steamboat up Red River as far as Natchitoches, whence a military road was opened on the east bank of the river to within a few miles of Fort Towson in the Indian Territory, over which the supplies were hauled by wagons; the boat was named the "Enterprise."
Some years later cargoes were transshipped on keelboats at Natchitoches and those boats were hauled up Coushatta Bayou, through Lake Bistineau, Red Chute and Macks Bayou, into the Red River, two miles below Shreveport. Until the raft was formed above Willow Chute, the boats returned to the river through its channel. In 1834, the steamer "Rover," Capt. Ben Crooks, laden with supplies for Fort Towson came via this route, but as a raft had formed in the river channel above Shreveport, she was compelled to run up Twelve Mile Bayou, thence through Soto Lake, into Clear Lake through a canal cut by Capt. Sewall, U. S. E. C., and thence into the channel, fifty-six miles above. In 1882 Capt. Isaac Wright was ninety years old; John Smoker, who retired after the war, was residing at Arkadelphia; George Alban was on the United States boat " Florence; " James Crooks was still on the Upper River; Harry M. Summers, at New Orleans; E. S. Leonard and John Alban were in the river service; Capt. Ruth Edwards, who brought up the " Charleston," in 1830, brought up the first steamboat ever built for the Red River trade in 1837 (this was the " Brian Borhoime;" his name should not be forgotten).
The following are some of the noted captains of the river service: Capt. Joe Lodwick, of the " Robert T. Lytle" and "Belvidere," L. K. Vawter and Green K. Cheatem of the " Southwestern'' (built at Washington, Ark.); Sam Applegate of the ''Duck River" and "St . Charles;" Capt. Thomas Moore, who died in 1880; Capt. W. W. Withenbury, who commanded the "Llama," George Alban pilot, the first steamer that ever passed from Red River through Cypress Bayou to Jefferson, in 1845; Capt. J. R. Davis, of the "Rockaway;" Capt. Hinckley, of a snag boat; Capts. Aleck and John Dunn, respectively of the " Columbian " and " Caspian; "Capt. John Graham, of the "Caddo;" Capt. John Martin, of the "Compromise;" Capt. Cheney Johnson, of the "Louis D'O r ; " and Capt. A. Leonard, who died in this city in 1805. As early as 1823 he was running as engineer with Capt. Shreve between Natchez, Miss., and Alexandria.
After a long experience as steam boatman in southern and western waters, he wound up his career in that capacity as commander of the fine Red River steamer "Magnolia Branner," which was burned in 1855 on the Mississippi below Baton Rouge.
The first steamboat accident on the upper Red River brought into the courts was that of January 0, 1838, when Capt. C. B. Hurd of the " Blackhawk," tiled complaint against the steamer "Marmora." The former left New Orleans January 4, 1838, with a cargo of merchandise for Shreveport. She met the " Marmora " two miles above Bosley's plantation and fifty miles above Natchitoches on January 6, and there suffered the damages complained of. The burning of the " Mittie Stephens " in 1869, related in the history of Shreveport, is one of the tragedies of the river; while to the sinking of a boat-load of cattle in 1873, some persons attributed the yellow fever of that year. From July 1, 1885, to April 1, 1872, 221 steamers arrived at Shreveport, with an aggregate tonnage of 44,254 tons.
The Shreveport Coast Navigation Company organized in June, 1872, with R. H. Lindsay, president; James R. Arnold, vice-president; N. W. Murphy, S. J. Ward, D. B. Martin, Jerry H. Beard and Ben Jacobs, directors. The Red River and Coast Line Company and the Lower Coast and Alexandria Steamboat Company, run regular steamers between Shreveport and New Orleans.
The burning of the "Mittie Stephens" below Swanson's Landing, in Caddo Lake, occurred at midnight on February 11, 1869. Only forty-three of a large number of passengers, officers and crew were saved. Not a single lady passenger was saved, and it is said that between seventy and 100 persons perished; among them being Mrs. Jackson and three children; Mrs. T. L. Lyon and Frank Lyon, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis and three children, W. A. Broadwell, J. C. Christian, Mr. Boynkir, Mr. Ash, Mr. New, an unknown lady from Grand Ecore; George Remer, clerk; Charles Weir and Thomas Mulligan, engineers; James Johnson, Nancy Bradford and child, William and Amanda. Morris, Martha Williams, Henry Ashley, S. Ashley, Robert Phillips, John A. Phillips, James Phillips, Martha A. Phillips and Alex Phillips.
The contract for building the Shreveport & Vicksburg Railroad from Red River to the Texas line, was sold, in September, 1855, to Dr. A. Flournoy, Judge J. M. Ford, A. Flournoy, Jr., V. H. Jones, W. E. Dotey and David I. Hooks.
In February, 1866, the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas Railroad was sold by the sheriff, at Monroe, for $50,000. The work of grading the Shreveport & Pacific Railroad was completed to Red Chute, east of Shreveport, in May, 1882. Convict forces, under Capts. Husted, Lesage, Bradshaw and others, were engaged in this work, and the springs where they camped are known as convict springs to-day. The work of completing the gap between Monroe and Shreveport was completed in 1885, and the old Monroe and El Paso stage route abolished forever. This road forms a part of the Queen & Crescent system. The gap in the Southern Pacific Railroad, between Shreveport and Marshall, was closed July 28, 1860, and on the 29th the first train passed over the road. Work on the railroad bridge over Red River, at Shreveport, was commenced in July, 1882, by contractor Peter Scully. This is a modern iron bridge with turn-table.
The New Orleans Pacific Railroad Company was organized in June, 1875, to connect the upper Red River country with New Orleans. A sum of $354,000 was subscribed by New Orleans; $15,200 by Alexandria; $25,000 by Natchitoches; $15,000 by Mansfield; $100,000 by De Soto; $25,000 by Shreveport; $200,000 by Caddo Parish; $60,000 by Marshall, Tex., together with the charter of the Marshall & Mansfield Railroad Company, and its land grant of 286,720 acres. From 1875 to 1879 the work of construction was carried on. In July, 1880, the American Railroad Improvement Company took charge, and in October resumed work, and placed the last rail July 11, 1882. On September 19, of that year, the new road was turned over to the Texas Pacific under the articles of consolidation. In 1878 the Louisiana Construction Company did some work, but after the expenditure of $100,000, defaulted. The stockholders, however, paid that company fifty per cent of their investment. The total length of the road as completed, in 1882, is 171 miles, and the total cost $3,537,000. The first through train from Dallas to Shreveport over the Texas Pacific arrived August 11, 1873. In 1851 B. M. Johnson contributed to the old Gazette a sketch of the proposed railroad, of that year, from Shreveport to Trinity River. On August 13, 1873, the celebration of the opening of the road took place here. The first mail from St. Louis ever received at Shreveport, via the Jefferson & Texarkana Railroad, was that on January 21, 1874.
The Shreveport & Arkansas Railroad was completed April 0, 1888. On January 20, 1887, a number of citizens invited Col. Fordyce and Col. Hinckley to Shreveport to discuss the advantages of the road then proposed. In February this invitation was accepted, and on May 6 Attorney Phillips and Engineer Hinckley proposed that $40,000 aid be granted. On May 19 a company was organized, with S. W. Fordyce, president; S. J. Zeigler, vice-president; Ed Jacobs, treasurer, and T. B. Chase, secretary, to build sixty-one miles of track between Lewisville and Shreveport. Work was begun in August, 1887, by the contractors, McCarthy & Kerrigan, of Little Rock, and completed on the date given, R. N. McKellar, of the Cotton Exchange, assisted by Mrs. Rule, known under the nom de plume of " Pansy," driving the golden spike. Telegrams announcing the completion of the road were sent to the Chicago Board of Trade, the St. Louis Merchants Exchange, the Kansas City Exchange, and the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. The depots on this road, north of Shreveport, are named Shady Grove, Benton, Alden's Bridge and Gronsheim, in Louisiana, and Bradley and Lewisville in Arkansas. The company was organized August 18, 1873, with T. P. Dockery, president; B. M. Johnson, vice-president; S. B. McCutcheon, secretary and treasurer; Messrs. Johnson, Jacobs, Lindsay, Sale, Leonard, Adams, Roots and Dockery, directors.
The Shreveport & Houston (narrow gauge) Railroad runs from Shreveport to Houston, 250 miles. The road runs southwest through South Caddo and De Soto Parishes, and crosses the Sabine into Texas at Logansport. P. A. Lacy is agent at Shreveport. A road to connect Shreveport with Kansas City is not only possible, but probable. Shreveport is situated in latitude 32° 30' north, and longitude 10° 40' west, at the head of low water navigation on the Red River. The elevation above high water at New Orleans is 180 feet, according to the State signal service report, but local authorities claim for it an elevation of 200 feet on the river front and 355 feet on the bluffs.
The distances by river from Shreveport are as follows: Upper river, Gilmer, 50 miles; Spring Bank, 80; Cut-Off, 175, and Fulton, 350. The distances below are Loggy Bayou, 100 miles; Coushatta, 160; Campter, 235; Grand Ecore, 250; Alexandria, 350; mouth of Red River, 500; Baton Rouge, 580, and New Orleans, 700. By railroad it is only 330 miles from the last-named city, 172 miles from Vicksburg, Miss., and 330 from Galveston, Tex.
The estimate of population in June, 1890, by United States enumerators, shows 944 in the First Ward, 1,449 in Second, 1,023 in Third, 3,204 in Fourth, 3,005 in Fifth, and 1,287 in the Sixth Ward, or a total of 10,912.* Total official population for Caddo Parish census 1890, 31,555. Her trade by rail, river and wagon is drawn from North Louisiana, Southern Arkansas and Northeast Texas.
The business portion of the city is covered with brick buildings, all of them being occupied by substantial business firms. The levee front extends several blocks, 132 feet from sidewalk to natural landing, all of which is paved with rock. Texas Street is seventy-six feet in width, with twelve-foot sidewalk on each side. The old plank road, at one time a terror to teamsters, has been entirely removed and a solid rock-bed, extending fully a mile, has been laid. This street extends into what is known as Texas Avenue. Along this thoroughfare runs the City Railway. Market, the next principal, or business street, is sixty-six feet in * B. C. White was census enumerator, with Spence A. Alston, Frank Trice, John C. Eltsner, C. McCarthy and L. S. Crain, deputies. width, with ten-foot sidewalk on each side. It runs from what is known as Silver Lake to Cross Bayou, a distance of some twelve blocks. The blocks in the principal parts of the city are 320 feet square, with twenty-feet alleys running through same, the lots being 40 x 150 feet.
The city is modern in everything. Very few towns of even a greater number of inhabitants can point out so many public improvements, or claim so many accessories of civilized life. It is nothing if not modern. Vital and meteorological data are not wanting to abolish forever the old fallacy which points toward Red River as the home of malaria. Not many years ago the careless visitor or resident bowed down before the power of noxious exhalations from the lakes and bayous, but the moment knowledge showed a strong front to the armies of miasma, by outlining all the necessary conveniences and duties of life, the terrible, silent destroyer fled, leaving a healthy people to inhabit a healthy city. The total number of deaths reported for the year ending August 31, 1889, was 309, of which number 200 were colored persons and 109 white citizens, divided by sex into 182 male and 127 female. There were 121 deaths among children under five years of age, including 21 stillbirths. At least ten per cent of the deaths occurred at the Charity Hospital, where persons from every quarter of the State, and very often from Texas and Arkansas, are admitted and treated at the expense of the State. The meteorological data, spoken of elsewhere, applies particularly to this city, as here the record was made.
The sewerage system embraces two main lines, with sub-mains and system of laterals, altogether six and one-half miles in length. The sewers are provided with the necessary manholes and lamp holes, and automatic flush-tanks are located at certain points, which are supplied by water from the waterworks. The sewage is carried off into the Red River at a point just south of the waterworks, together with the sewerage system, representing an investment of $250,000. The pumping station is supplied with two vertical pumps, having a capacity of 1,000,000 gallons each, and two settling reservoirs, with a capacity of 3,000,000 gallons, are provided. The water passes from the basins through an immense filter (the Hyatt) to the standpipe, which is 110 feet high, 20 feet in diameter, and has a capacity of 250,000 gallons. There are fourteen miles of mains, and 114 public hydrants, which are used by the fire department and for other purposes. The works were put, four years ago, under the superintendence of John B. Crawley, who is now the superintendent.
The Shreveport Gaslight Company commenced the construction of their plant in June, 1859. The affair was primitive indeed up to the seventies, when some improvements were effected. The Shreveport Gas, Electric Light and Power Company was organized in recent years, with J. C. Hamilton, president; John B. Jones, vice-president, and W. E. Hamilton, secretary and treasurer. The capacity of the works is 25,000 cubical feet, and the length of mains about eight miles. In the electric light department are ten miles of arc wire and eleven miles of incandescent wire.
The Caddo Indians ceded their lands to the United States prior to 1835, but reserved a square mile for Larkin Edwards, who made his selection where Shreveport now stands. This tract of 640 acres they donated to Larkin Edwards, who resided with .them for several years, and was their interpreter as well as true friend in dealings with the whites. The place was known as Cane & Bennett's Bluff, and a large log-house or trading-post marked it as the site of a future city. Edwards sold his claim to Angus McNeil on January 24, 1835, for $5,000, and in July of that year Jehial Brooks, an agent of the United States, reported satisfactorily on the transaction, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court. In May, 1836, the United States surveyor found it to contain 634 acres and a fraction of an acre, and on May 27, 1836, the members who subsequently formed the town company joined McNeil in the ownership. Prior to this, in March, 1836, the Lake Providence & Red River Railroad was chartered, and the idea of it being built to the Bluffs affected the company favorably. The plat of Shreveport was recorded February 13, 1837, by C. E. Greneaux, judge of Caddo Parish. This document sets forth that Bushrod Jenkins, A. McNeil, William S. Bennett, James H. Cane (of Bennett & Cane), James B. Pickett (of South Carolina), Thomas Williamson (of Arkansas), Henry M. Shreve (of Kentucky), and Sturgis Sprague (of Mississippi), purchased from Larkin Edwards, of Caddo, a reserve on Bennett & Cane's Bluffs, on the south bank of Red River, a part of which was surveyed into lots to be called Shreveport. The original town was bounded by Silver Lake, Common Street, the line of blocks back of Caddo Street and Commerce Street running along the river bank from Lower Water to Upper Water Street. The original plat was drawn by E. D. Hobbs, and copied in 1858 by Surveyor Meriwether, when pages 444 to 457 of record L. were cut out and the new plat inserted.
On July 28, 1837, Angus McNeil, president of the Shreveport Town Company, deeded to himself five lots: No. 8, in Block 40; No. 1, in Block 50; No. 16, in Block 14; No. 16, in Block 33; No. 1, in Block 39, for $2,015; two lots to himself and John O. Sewall; one block (64) and four lots in Block 61, to Rufus Sewall, for $14,000; four lots in Block 22, to James B. Pickett, for $620; seven lots to T. T. Williamson, in January, 1838, Block 60 and Block 4, for $4,920; three lots in Block 49 to Seth Sheldon, for $1,200; two lots to Larkin Edwards, Sr., one in Block 60 and one in Block 01; two lots in Block 41 to W. D. Helm for $1,800. On January 8, 1838, M. E. Davis leased a house and lot to Sheldon & Beall; the town company sold three lots at the corner of Texas and Commerce Streets to Bennett & Cane on January 9, 1838; two lots were sold by T. T. Williamson to Thomas C. Porter; the saw-mill lot by Sewall to A. McNeil; Town Company to Henry C. McNeil; two lots to O. T. Brodward; one lot to G. W. Nichols; one lot to E. H. S. Lipscomb; two lots to John D. Barnhill; four lots to H. M. Shreve; four lots to W. R. Carter; one lot to Beall Randall; five lots to M. E. Davis; six lots to Robert L. Gilmer; two lots to E. Nott, and sundry small transfers. On May 10, 1843, the original town company was dissolved and a partition sale made of the property. The Legislative act, approved May 4, 1871, provided for the vesting of title to the Batture property in the city of Shreveport agreeable to the compromise of January 21, 1871, between the city and M. D. C. Crane, James B. Pickett, W. R. Carter, Amelia M. Hord, Robert L. Gilmer, John, L. K. and A. M. Grigsby and Ann M. Jenkins, administrators of succession of B. Jenkins. The act further provided for the survey of this property and also of the land recovered from F. C. Walpole. Messrs. Nutt & Leonard represented the succession in all this compromise matter.
The original company did not work without opposition. About the time Shreveport was surveyed a syndicate of Natchitoches capitalists conceived the idea of founding a town at the head of the "Great Raft," and took measures to carry out the idea, but did not push the enterprise with sufficient strength. In 1851 a second competitor for city honors was threatened, the opposition coming this time from within the fold of Caddo. It appears that James B. Gilmore brought hither in 1850-51 a number of negro mechanics, with the object of putting up buildings for himself first, and subsequently hiring this new form of slave labor to residents of Shreveport, who desired to build. His action was so unacceptable to the white mechanics that they induced the council to levy a license tax on all colored mechanics. This action drove Gilmer to adopt extreme measures, and he made plans not only to leave Shreveport high and dry, but also to build up a new town some distance away. Taking his slaves to the point where Tone's Bayou left the old river, he had a ditch 5,100 feet in length, excavated, connecting the river with Bayou Pierre, and grading the fall to about five inches per 300 feet, secured a natural excavator in the waters of Rod River, which soon wore out a good ship channel, formed Tone's Bayou and threatened to give effect to Gilmer's threat. His town of Red Bluff was never built. Mugginsville was where Cotton Street runs into Texas Avenue. The house from which the name was derived was torn down only a few years ago.
It is related that in the early days of Shreveport there resided, one and a quarter miles west of Shreveport (between the Cobar farm and the residence of Capt. Joseph Boisseau), a semi-recluse, who was known as Monsieur Richarde. He was old and eccentric, so that his departure for his native Prance, accompanied by his eight-year old son, awakened some curiosity in the settlement. He soon returned, it is alleged, fabulously rich, but no trace of his mysterious wealth did he portray. Returning to his garden he worked there as of old, until one morning he was found dead in his cot. During the latter years of the war some soldiers, who occupied the old tenement house, unearthed some French and Spanish coins, but the hiding place of Monsieur Richarde's golden pieces is not yet revealed. In 1835 the large force of raft removers, under Capt. Shreve, had headquarters here and to this date must be credited the beginners of the town. James H. Cane one of the members of the Shreveport Town Company was the first merchant here, opening a store in 1835 or 1836. He married the widow of his partner, Mrs. Bennett, who is today a resident of Bossier City. Her daughter married a Dr. McCormick, and one of Dr. McCormick's daughters married one Stockwell, who managed to obtain title to the Cane estate.
In 1858 work on the Vicksburg, Shreveport & Texas Railroad was begun, and before the war it was completed from Shreveport to Marshall, and from Monroe to the Mississippi, leaving the ninety mile gap over for better days. During the war fifty wagons were engaged in the cotton trade with Mexico. On December 24, 1861, the State capital was moved hither; in 1867 the yellow fever created terror here.
The first record of the town of Shreveport is dated September 2, 1839, when the officers elected on the first Monday in May, 1839, qualified before Angus McNeil, a justice of the peace. The trustees were John O. Sewall, chosen mayor; W. W. George, T. P. Hotchkiss and S. B. Hunter. S. E. Belknap was appointed secretary. Trustee C. A. Sewall declined to qualify, and on the 11th J. E. Smith* was appointed. John R. Smith, assessor; P. C. Hansborough, constable and collector, and A. B. Sterrett, surveyor. On September 11, the first ordinances relating to streets, appraisement of lots, ferry at foot of Caddo Street, licenses, drays and (* Appointed Washington Jenkins, Parish Judge of Caddo.) carts, and public printings were adopted. On September 30, S. C. Wilson was appointed treasurer.
The ordinance of October 14 provided that all slaves should retire to their homes before 8 P.M., and if found out after that hour without written permit from the master, would be fined $5 and jail fees. Another ordinance prohibited residence to free negroes or mulattoes. George Alborn's bond as proprietor of the ferry was accepted, and a lot of business transacted, which would do credit to a modern city. In April, 1840, $300 were ordered to be paid the secretary for his services. On January 22, 1840, the death of Mayor Sewall appears; Trustee Hunter was chosen chairman; Thomas I. Williamson was appointed captain of patrol, and also Seth Sheldon; W. F. Walmesley was appointed surveyor, vice Sterrett, resigned, and J. Clinton Beall, attorney. In May, 1840, the trustees elected were W. W. George, mayor; T. C. Porter, Thomas D. Gary, P. C. Hansborough and M. E. Davis. John W. Lewis was appointed clerk. In November, 1841, Cadwallader Lewis was clerk and Samuel W. Briggs, mayor. W. W. George was chosen mayor in May, 1842, with H. J. G. Battle, M. E. Davis, S. W. Briggs, trustees. William Terrill was trustee in 1843, otherwise the board was unchanged. Van Bibber and Howell were members of the board in 1843-44.
In May, 1844, J. N. Howell* was elected mayor, and served until 1845, when J. C. Beall was elected. The office has been filled from 1840 to 1854 by the following-named: 1846, L. P. Crain; 1847, R. N. Wood; 1848, John M. Landrum; 1849, R. N. Wood; 1849-50, John Bryce; 1850, Robert Cooke and 1851-54, J. C. Beall.
In November, 1854, the license question was brought forward, and the no-license ticket received a majority of seventeen votes. In 1855 J. W. Jones was elected mayor, and served until 1858, when Jonas Robinson was elected. J. W. Pennall was elected mayor in May, 1859, with R. A. Waller, C. R. Griswold, Dr. A. F. Clark, John Walters, Martin Tally, William Robson and F. Mulhaupt, trustees. (* John X. Howell, a North Carolinian, who moved to Caddo in 1835 and in 1837 married Jane Davis, died in June, 1882. In 1844 lie was mayor of Shreveport, and In 1SG8 representative of the parish.)
Pennall was succeeded, in 1863, by J. C. Beall, but Jonas Robinson was acting mayor prior to this. In 1864 Samuel Wells presided over the city, and John L. Gooch in 1865-66. In 1866-67 Aleck Boarman, judge, was mayor, and Martin Tally in 1868. J. B. Gilmore, 1869-71, and Moses H. Crowell,f 1871. The act incorporating the city of Shreveport was approved April 27, 1871, and a mayor, council and four administrators authorized, vice the old system of trustees. In April, 1872, the case of the State vs. Moses H. Orowell, mayor, Martin Tally, administrator of finance, Moses Sterrett, administrator of assessments, Prank T. Hatch, of improvements, and Charles O. Phelps, of accounts, was presented in the district court. The officers named were appointed by Gov. Warmoth, on May, 21, 1871, but the Senate refused to confirm them. In April, 1873, Joseph Taylor was mayor, but Mayor Levy took his place that year. M. A. Walshe served in 1874, and S. J. Ward in 1875. In 1890 Mayor Currie resigned, and a special election was ordered. Capt. R. T. Vinson received 562 votes on May 24, 1890, for the office of mayor, to till the vacancy caused by the resignation of Andrew Currie J. Pending the election, E. B. Herndon was acting mayor.
W. W. Case was clerk in 1847; W. W. Simmons, 1848; T. J. Fitzpatrick and R. A. Walker, 1849-50; W. G. Kerley, 1850; J. C. Trent, 1851; A. W. Magee. 1852; W. A. Sterrett, 1852, R. S. Games, 1853-50; W. H. Dashiell, 1857; A. H. Leonard, 1858-59; Emmett Rankin, 1860; Fred A. Leonard, 1801; J. W. Wheaton, 1803. W. W. George was comptroller in 1862; P. A. Leonard, 1804-06; W. P. Nicholson, 1867; C. H. (Moses Crowell was appointed recorder of Shreveport in March, 1869 by Gov. Warmoth. He formerly kept a negro grocery store, on the bank of Red River, fifty miles below the city. On March 27, 1890, resolutions on the resignation of Mayor Currie were adopted. The last of the series was as follows: "That the fact that we have the entire debt of the city now before ns, and are able to see our way clear to a large reduction of taxation at an early day is more attributable to Mr. Currie's drive and push than to any other cause. Thoroughly conversant with the financial affairs of the city, he has been a most zealous advocate of having the status of the entire city debt definitely and conclusively fixed. The Shreveport Bridge and the Shreveport Waterworks also stand as monuments to his enterprising spirit. Spilker, 1868; E. M. Sturgess, 1870; J. W. Wharton, secretary, 1872-73; R. B. Hawdey, 1874, and J. H. Alston, 1875. W. I. Bruner was succeeded in 1889, by the present comptroller, N. B. Mnrff. The former, on June 30, 1888, reported the expenditures of the city for the decade ending that day, to be $497,464.74, of which $91,563.12 was paid out for scrip issued prior to 1878, and $63-, 084.82 for railroads. As shown in other pages, the indebtedness of the city is $190,000, and of the parish, $35,000.
The Cottage Exchange was organized October 15, 1875, with the following-named officers: N. Gregg, president; R. H. Lindsay and J. M. Hicks, vice presidents; S. B. McCutchen, treasurer; E. Mason, secretary; and E. L. Dennis, S. J. H. E. Johnston, P. W. H. Cummings, Henry Florsheim, C. G. Thurmond and Joseph Boisseau, directors. In 1870-77 N. Gregg presided over the Exchange, with R. H. Lindsay vice-president, and the same treasurer and secretary as in 1875. S. B. McCutchen was elected president in 1878, and served, by re-election, until the beginning of 1884, when N. Gregg was elected president. In 1878 Ben Jacobs was chosen treasurer, Secretary Mason still holding the position to which he was elected in 1875, In 1879 J. V. Nolan was elected secretary, which position he has filled with marked success down to the close of 1890. J. G. Mc Williams was chosen treasurer in 1882, vice Jacobs, and still holds that position. In 1886 R. N. McKellar was elected president, and served until 1890, when P. M. Hicks was elected. In July, 1890, a report gained credence that this old organization was to be merged into the Board of Trade, but fortunately the report was set aside, and the Exchange, which has for so many years played such an important part in the drama of progress, resolved to continue the good work. Secretary Nolan, in connection with this organization, would alone warrant it a long lease of life. J. W. Soady is present vice-president, and C. H. Mingo, W. F. Taylor, S. J. Zeigler, Joseph Boisseau and R. N. McKellar, directors. The Board of Trade was organized June 1, 1889, with the following-named officers: President, J. F. Utz; vice-president, Isaac Barron; treasurer, W. C. Perrin; directors, W. B. Ogilvie, chairman, C. P. Rives, H. Youree, J. Dreyfuss, J. B. Ardis, L. M. Carter, S. B. Hicks, Levi Cooper and S. Herold, and secretary, H. P. Thomas. The objects of this association were formerly carried out under the auspices of the Cotton Exchange, but I the creation of new industries, and the inception of a greater number, suggested the organization of a society which would embrace not only those interested in the cotton product, but also those engaged in real estate, trade and manufactures, as well as agriculturists and stock-growers. R. H. Lindsay was chosen president of the old Board of Trade, in September 1872, and later in that year this body suggested the organization of an agricultural association's is a black, deep soil of unsurpassed fertility, producing, when above inundation, two bales of cotton and from 80 to 100 bushels of corn per acre as average annual crops.
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