VII Incidents of the Years, 1735-1742
In 1735 Justine de Louche was the first to settle in the area of Cloutierville, Louisiana.
In 1736 Manuel Flores and Carlos Bustimento demanded the same privileges allowed Sanchez, that the Spanish Governor of Los Adais give them title to their land. This was granted and soon to follow were grants to Solice, Toro, Rodriguez, Martinez and Garcia. These family men soon became independent and also became traders among the Indians.
In this same year Benites Franquis de Lugo replaced Sandoval as Governor of Los Adais. An old enemy of Sandoval, he placed him under arrest and stripped the ex-governor of his wealth and rank. He was charged with deserting the post at Los Adais and going to live at San Antonio de Bexar, thereby neglecting the duties of his office; and for recognizing the Arroyo Hondo boundary instead of the west bank of the Red River, thus allowing the French to build a new fort on that side of the Red River.
The friends of Sandoval appealed to the Viceroy to send witnesses to Los Adais to investigate the charges of Governor Lugo.
In 1737 Fernandez de Jauregui y Urritgua, who was at that time Governor of Nueva Leon, a region which adjoined the Coahuila and Tejas country, came to Los Adais as a visatador (witness). He questioned the population, visited the post at Natchitoches and made inquiries there. Lieutenant Gonzalez explained the conditions of the presidio, the shortage of manpower and food and how nearly all the necessities necessary to sustain life had to be obtained from the French.
Urritgua left Prudincio de Orbito as temporary governor, arrested Lugo, sent a message back to the Viceroy clearing Sandavol of all charges and requesting that the prisoner be restored to his position. In the same year San Antonious Bazaterra was sent as Governor of Los Adais and all of the Texas Region. Bazaterra was a merchant from Saltillo in Mexico, and he used his new position to transport his personal merchandise to the Adais frontier. He demanded that the Spanish cease trading with the French.
In April, 1738, he detained and arrested Jean Lagross, a French trader en-route to the Upper Caddos on the big bend of the Red River. According to the Arroyo Hondo agreement between Sandavol and St. Denis, the French traders were to be allowed to pass through the Spanish held Adais land during the wet season. Jean Lagross had a passport to that effect, but Bazaterra refused to recognize the passport and had Lagross’ merchandise burned in front of witnesses.
Word of his action soon reached St. Denis and messages were sent to Los Adais, to San Antonio and to Mexico City, by means of Indian carriers. Bazaterra was accused of trouble making and charged with making advances toward Lagross’ wife, who, although an Indian, had been legally wed to Lagross at La Mission Senora de Guadelupe at Nacogdoches. Therefore she was a French woman and had been recognized as such by the French at Natchitoches and by the Spanish at Los Adais since her wedding. St. Denis also reminded the Spanish officials that due to the fact that Lagross had taken an Ais maiden for his wife, in the eyes of the Caddo Federation of Indians, Lagross was a Caddo according to the Indian’s viewpoint, therefore, this injustice could lead to serious trouble if the Frenchman were not compensated for his loss. Much to the disappointment of Bazaterra, he was ordered to pay Lagross for his merchandise out of his own pocket. “Such”, remarked St. Denis, “is the power of the pen”.
Bazaterra, however, in spite of his difficulties, piled up the equivalent of forty thousand dollars during his nearly four-year tenure as Governor on the Adais frontier. It must be said on his behalf that he was an excellent tradesman. St. Denis admitted that he was glad to see him leave.
In 1741 Thomas Phillip Winthuisin replaced Bazaterra as Governor of Los Adais. The new governor was a civilian and lacking in the knowledge of the military. This in itself presented a dangerous situation on the Adais frontier. The inhabitants requested that a man of the military be sent to Los Adais.
And in 1742 the talk of the year was how two ex-French soldiers, Lavespere and Brossilier, maintained travasser (a kind of flat boat) service from New Orleans to Natchitoches, bringing additional medical supplies to Dr. Bonnafons. These two men had rigged their boat with pulleys which enabled them to pull the boat through the shallow places in the river at low-water stage.