In St. Louis, Meriwether Lewis serves as a witness to the delivery and receipt of the Upper Louisiana from Spain to France. With speeches and ceremony, the Spanish flag is lowered, and the French flag raised.
Spanish Military Flag
Wikimedia Commons
At the close of the 18th century, this flag bearing the Cross of St. Andrew was the Spanish military flag, as well as the flag of Spain’s overseas territories. With its bold, simple but unique icon, it bore the authority of more than four centuries of Spanish national tradition. In 1796, Auguste Chouteau, a prominent trader on the lower Missouri, delivered five of them to the Company of the Upper Missouri in behalf of the territorial government, to be given to the Little Osage, Kansa, Otoe, Omaha and Ponca Indian tribes.[1]Baron de Carondelet, Governor of Spanish Louisiana, to Zenon Trudeau, Lieutenant Governor of Spanish Louisiana, May 11, 1796; Trudeau to Carondelet, May 22, 1796. A. P. Nasatir, Before Lewis and … Continue reading More complex designs, including portions of the royal coat of arms of Charles III, who ruled Spain from 1759 until 1788, might also have been seen along the Missouri by Lewis and Clark.
Upper Louisiana’s Transfer
Inhabitants of Upper Louisiana:
By the King’s command I am about to deliver up this poet and its dependencies.
The flag under which you have been protected for a period of nearly thirty-six years is to be withdrawn. From this moment you are relieved from the oath of fidelity you took to support it.
The fidelity and courage with which you have guarded and defended it will never be forgotten; and in my character of representative, I entertain the most sincere wishes for your perfect prosperity.[2]Walter Barlow Stevens, St. Louis: The Fourth City 1764–1911 (St. Louis: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911), 1:396
—Carlos Dehault Delassus, Lt. Governor
French Tricolor
1794–1815 and 1830–1958
Image in the public domain.
Delivery and Receipt
Now be it known that I, the above Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, in quality of Lieutenant Governor of the same, at the requirements duly made to me by the said Amos Stoddard, agent and commissary of the French Republic, have delivered. the full possession, sovereignty and government of Upper Louisiana, with the military posts, quarters and fortifications thereto belonging; and I, Amos Stoddard, commissary as such, do acknowledge to have received the said possession on the terms mentioned of which I acknowledge myself satisfied as possessed of on this day. In testimony whereof the Lieutenant Governor and myself have signed these presents, sealed with the seal of our arms, being attested with the witnesses signed below, of which proceedings six copies have to be made out, to wit, three in the Spanish and three in the English languages.
Given in the town of St. Louis, of Illinois, 9th of March, 1804.
Amos Stoddard.
CARLOS DEHAULT DELASSUS
In the presence of: Meriwether Lewis, Captain First United States Regiment Infantry; Antoine Soulard, Surveyor General; Charles Gratiot.[3]Ibid., 397.
Weather Diary
Therm at rise
weather wind Therm at 4 Oclk weather wind River 18 above 0 cloudy N W 28 above 0 cloudy N W rise 2 in. Cloudy in the morning
—Meriwether Lewis and William Clark[4]To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations.
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
Plan a trip related to March 9, 1804:
- Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois)
- Along the Mississippi (Inspiration Trip)
- Around St. Louis (Inspiration Trip)
Winter Camp at Wood River (Camp Dubois) is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service. The site, near Hartford, Illinois, is managed as Lewis and Clark State Historic Site and is open to the public.
In present St. Louis, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial “commemorates Thomas Jefferson’s vision of the continental expansion of the United States” and is a High Potential Historic Site along the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail managed by the U.S. National Park Service.
Notes
| ↑1 | Baron de Carondelet, Governor of Spanish Louisiana, to Zenon Trudeau, Lieutenant Governor of Spanish Louisiana, May 11, 1796; Trudeau to Carondelet, May 22, 1796. A. P. Nasatir, Before Lewis and Clark: Documents illustrating the History of the Missouri, 1785-1804, Bison Book Edition, 2 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990), 2:426, 430. The Cross of Burgundy still flies as a historical symbol over San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico, and at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument in St. Augustine, Florida. |
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| ↑2 | Walter Barlow Stevens, St. Louis: The Fourth City 1764–1911 (St. Louis: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911), 1:396 |
| ↑3 | Ibid., 397. |
| ↑4 | To assist the reader, the editor of this web page has omitted the date column, merged the “River” columns, and spelled out some abbreviations. |
