Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Eight days in New Orleans in February, 1847 By: Albert James Pickett |
---|
![]()
IN FEBRUARY, 1847, BY ALBERT J. PICKETT, OF MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA.
NOTE.
The following Sketches of New Orleans originally appeared in the
Alabama Journal of Montgomery. For the purpose of presenting them to
the perusal of his friends at a distance, the author has caused them
to be embodied in the present form. These pages were written from the recollection of only a few days
sojourn in the Crescent City. The period allowed the author of
collecting information was very limited. It is also his first essay at
descriptive and historic writing. The author fondly indulges the hope
that these things will be taken into consideration by his charitable
friends, and will cause them to cast the veil of compassion over
imperfections. MAY 18TH, 1847. CHAPTER I. A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. DESOTO'S
EXPEDITION, HIS DEATH, THE FATE OF HIS PARTY, ETC.
On a recent excursion to the Crescent City, I collected some facts
and statistics which are respectfully submitted to the public. In
attempting a description of this magnificent emporium of commerce,
as it exists at the present day, I will briefly allude to its early
history, commencing with the great "drain" of the western world, which
is destined to bear upon its turbid bosom half the commerce of the
American Union. Three hundred and thirty years ago the noble Mississippi rolled its
waters to its ocean home in native silence and grandeur, hitherto seen
by no European eye, when suddenly one morning HERNANDEZ DE SOTO stood
upon its banks. How awfully sublime must have been the contemplations
of that man. He had discovered it a thousand miles from its mouth, two
thousand from its source. No one had ever seen its rise, no one its
exit into the ocean. But it was reserved for the Governor of Cuba to
find it through a wilderness, at a place and under circumstances the
most thrilling and romantic. Four years previous to this discovery,
he embarked for Florida with an outfit of a thousand men, with arms,
munitions, priests and chains. His object, the conquest of a country
teeming with wealth and splendour, like that which his former Captain
found in the conquest of Peru. He penetrated Florida, Georgia and
Alabama, finding no gold no splendid Montezuma nothing but savages
breathing out an innocent and monotonous existence, inhabiting a
country in a state of nature alone. After hardships the most unheard
of, disappointments the most mortifying, the proud and enterprising De
Soto threw his troops into Mauville, a large town near the confluence
of the Bigby and Alabama. Here a most disastrous battle attended him,
for although he routed the enemy in the death of thousands, he lost
all his baggage and most of his horses. His fleet then lay at the bay
of Pensacola, awaiting his arrival, and by reaching it in a few
days he could have terminated his disastrous campaign. But the proud
Castilian was not to be subdued by misfortunes and disappointments.
He determined to find just such a country as he had constantly sought.
Fired with fresh intelligence of the magnificence of the people who
lived near the "Father of Waters," we find him pursuing his expedition
in a sun set direction in company with his jaded, reduced and
dispirited force, with a fortitude and courage which none but a
Spaniard knows. He surmounted innumerable difficulties, which both
nature and man interposed to arrest his progress; and finally, through
a dense and almost endless forest, he suddenly gratified his vision
with the majestic Mississippi. Crossing over the great river, he
toiled in the prairies and swamps of Arkansas and Missouri, until
wants and vicissitudes of the most trying character impelled his
return. Arrived once more upon its virgin banks, his lofty spirit
fell, and brooding over his fallen fortunes, a fever terminated his
existence far from home, in the American wilds! Just before he passed from life, he caused his officers to surround
his bed, appointed Luis de Muscoso his successor in command, and bid
them an affectionate farewell... Continue reading book >>
|
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|