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| Reproduction Arkansas Territory map, Arkansas State Archives |
When Arkansas Territory was established in 1819, Arkansas Post was
named as the territorial capitol. By then, the small settlement near the mouth
of the Arkansas River already had a history stretching back over 100 years.
In 1682, a French explorer named Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La
Salle, better known as La Salle, took an expedition to row the lower
Mississippi by canoe. Once he reached the mouth of the river, La Salle claimed
the land for France and named it “Louisiana” in honor of French King Louis
XIV.
La Salle had an enterprising young man named Henri de Tonti with
him. When the expedition ended, La Salle gave de Tonti land in the Mississippi Delta for a trading post. De Tonti created a small garrison
of 10 soldiers to establish a permanent settlement. That settlement later
became a version of the Arkansas Post.
This remote outpost was essential to the French. It served as an
intermediary fortification for merchants traveling the Mississippi River
between the Illinois River and New Orleans.
The Native Americans in the lower Arkansas River Valley were
divided into two tribes, the Quapaw and the Chickasaw. The Quapaw tribe was
small enough that the French didn’t consider them a major threat. The tribe
also was at war with the Chickasaws, which often pulled the fort into conflict.
At one point, the Quapaw sided with the colonists, which led to constant
friction between the Chickasaw and fort residents.
De Tonti also invited a Catholic missionary to evangelize to local Native American
tribes. One missionary, a Jesuit priest named Father Avond, lived in “a
makeshift hut,” according to the writings of another priest, Father Vitry.
Father Vitry wrote the hut’s “walls are made of split log, the
roof of cypress bark and the chimney of mud, mixed with grass which is the
straw of this country. I have lived elsewhere in such dwellings, but nowhere
have I had such fresh air. The house is full of cracks from top to bottom.”
The French moved Arkansas Post’s location as a colonial fort
three times. One move was due to the ongoing struggle
with the Chickasaws. A band of 150 Chickasaw warriors attacked the fort and
partially burned it in 1749. The tribe killed
six men and took many prisoners. After the attack, the French moved the fort up
the river.
Another reason the fort had to move was because the Arkansas River
constantly flooded. Initially, the French thought the land would yield enough
food to feed 30,000 families, but the flooding resulted in low harvests. In
1758, the commander of the fort wrote to his superiors in Paris that “The fort
is entirely flooded. On January 27 it rained hard, in the evening there was
hail and snow until morning… Today the
level of the water increased in such a way and so rapidly that there are only 5
inches [of ground] left in front of the ramp of the fort.” One farmer living
near the fort complained about losing his crop and said he “cannot guarantee
for his yard or garden, and begs [the King] to take pity on a poor family
head.”
The settlement also was remote, which meant there was a lack of
supplies. The problem was exacerbated by some people taking advantage of others
or providing poor-quality goods. One commander said he had to bribe people with
goods from his personal stock “to maintain peace in this establishment of over
300 men who could not be kept quiet even with 50 men if they were not given
presents from time to time.”
France ceded Louisiana to Spain in 1763. Spain renamed Arkansas Post to
Fort Carlos III.
Little changed in Fort Carlos III. Residents continued
to suffer from lack of supplies, and the Chickasaw
remained skeptical of the new fort rulers and continued to raid it
occasionally. Louisiana changed hands again when the Spanish ceded it back to the French in 1801. The exchange
had little impact on the daily lives of those at the Post.
The fort came under American control after the Louisiana Purchase
in 1804. The fort continued as a trading post and military garrison with little
success. Even so, the post was the only large, white settlement in the Arkansas
River Valley for many years, which led to the Post being named as the
territorial capitol.
