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1774 Mississippi Map 1774 Mississippi Map “1774 Map of the Mississippi River, from Manchac to the Yazous River” by Robert Lee Hadden, retired map librarian of the US Army Geospatial Center and Dr. Matthew Pearcy, US Army Corps of Engineers, History Office. Special thanks are also given to Mr. Edward J. Redmond, Reference Librarian, Geography & Map Division of the Library of Congress, for his assistance in this article. The Map In May 1989, a number of records, files, photographs and other items were transferred from the US Army Museum at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to the Headquarters, US Army Corps of Engineers Office of History (CEHO). In Army parlance, this was a “lateral transfer” from one Army office to another. One of the items transferred was identified in the paperwork as “Map. ‘Course of the River Mississippi. 1765.’” In late 2010, the USACE Office of History sent this manuscript map to the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts, for preservation and conservation treatment. Through its own investigation, NDCC established that the map more likely dates to 1774, and not 1765, as indicated by Army Museum records. The title of the map is: “Part of the River Mississippi from Manchae1 to the Yazous River.” Its dimensions are approximately 6’ x 2’ (actual measurements are 72” x 27½”), and the map is hand colored using iron gall ink, graphite, water color and crayon on laid paper. The formal report tells the story of a very old and heavily used map that shows its age. The cloth backed map was received rolled. The paper support consisted of five irregular sheets of paper. The object was very dirty. The edges were tattered with tears and losses. There were larger losses at the upper left corner, lower left corner, and lower middle. There were cracked ridges throughout. The lower left corner had an old paper repair. There was water staining along the left side as well as chemical staining along the lower border that had caused paper deterioration. The inks were abraded and flaky and were illegible in many areas. There was an 11½” x 6½” tracing paper certificate mounted in the upper left corner with old discolored adhesive and numerous pieces of pressure sensitive tape. The certificate had losses and tears. Along the top and bottom edges of the map were pressure sensitive residues.2 The NDCC completed its superb preservation work in spring 2011 and returned the map in substantially improved condition to the Office of History where it currently resides. Provenance of the Map This map survived for most of its nearly 240 years as an engineering document and saw heavy use in the field. There are several references to this map or copies of it. “By an original English map, made for Goveror Chester, representing the grants of land under the English government, on the east bank of the Mississippi, from the Bayou Manchac up to the River Yazous, it appears that there were upwards of 400 grants made by the government of from 500 to 1 This refers to Manchac Bend, or the Bayou Manchac, located on the east side of the river, and explored by Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville in March, 1699. 2 Report of the Northeast Document Conservation Center to the US Army Corps of Engineers. 2011. Correspondence. Hadden Pearcy March 6, 2014 Page 1 1774 Mississippi Map 25,000 acres each. Governor Brown’s grant of 17,000,400 acres included a portion of the upper part of this parish, the “Milk Cliffs,” now Port Hudson, and “White Plains,” at present “Buhler’s Plains,” embracing the greater part of Menzie’s concession.”3 While much of the very early provenance is still unknown, one of the map’s 19th century owners took care to capture an important piece of it. Probably for the purpose of securing its provenance and to more firmly establish its value, he affixed a handwritten letter – now badly yellowed – to the upper right hand corner of the map. It identified its author and detailed the history of the map from 1848. Part of the River Mississippi From Manchac up to the River Yazous This is to certify that about the year 1848 I purchased from Maj. Stephen Roberts, Parish Surveyor of East Baton Rouge, an Old Map, Entitled: “Part of the River Mississippi from Manchac up to the River Yazous,” “for Governor Chester4 by Wm. Wilton” and have owned it ever since -- Roberts died in 1863, aged about 80 years; he had owned it for many years, and considered it an authentic and original map; as I always have; which I think, it appears justified; but at this late date I have no means of verifying its authenticity- It was, no doubt made, for the purpose of establishing the location of various Land Grants, which are shown upon it; as, at that time (1774), the Territory between the Manchac and Yazous, lying East of the Miss. River, was English domain and Gov. Chester represented the British Crown, and Wm. Wilton was an English Engineer or Surveyor- Wm G. Waller Parish Surveyor State of Louisiana, Parish of East Baton Rouge, April 4, 1881- personally came and appeared before me Wm. G. Waller, who, being duly sworn, declares the above statements are correct & true, according to the best of his knowledge & belief. H.N. Sherburn Judge of the 17th Dist. Court Parish of East Baton Rouge, La. Scale of Original map is 2 miles to one inch. Copied from description on Map File MRC/91 3 Carrighan, Judge. “Historical and Statistical Sketches of Louisiana.” In: “De Bow’s Review of the Southern and Western States. A Monthly Industrial and Literary Journal.” New Orleans. Volume XI, New Series, Volume IV. From July, 1851 through January 1852. Pages 252-263. See: http://books.google.com/books?id=3K9IAAAAYAAJ&dq. 4 Peter Chester, provincial British Governor of West Florida in 1773. He particularly wanted land to be given to the British officers and men who served during the French and Indian wars. “Those tracts which have been applied for since my arrival in the Province, have only been Granted to such persons as gave me the strongest assurances, in Council, of their intentions to Cultivate and Improve them, excepting such as have been granted in consequence of His Majesty’s Orders inn [sic] Council, and in consequence of His Proclamation of 1763, to reduced Officers who had served during the late War in North America.” Hadden Pearcy March 6, 2014 Page 2 1774 Mississippi Map The Wilton map eventually fell into the possession of the Mississippi River Commission (MRC) and was incorporated into its exceptional Mississippi River Valley map collection. The MRC’s interest in the map relates to its founding mission. Established by an Act of Congress on June 28, 1879, the MRC was tasked with developing plans to improve the condition of the Mississippi River, fostering navigation, promoting commerce, and preventing destructive floods. Given the scope of the problem and the limited technology and resources of the period, these constituted perhaps the most difficult and complex engineering problems ever undertaken by the federal government up to that point. The Wilton map remained with the MRC until it was transferred at some point to the Army Museum at Fort Belvoir. From there, it went to the Office of History and its current home. Piecing together the history of the Wilton map before 1848 required some investigative research. After a brief inspection of the original map and careful coordination with the Library of Congress’ Geography & Map Division, Army researcher Lee Hadden determined that there were striking similarities between the Office of History map and the published description of a map in possession of the Library of Congress. This second map was a slightly larger representation of the same part of the Mississippi Valley. Drawn by the British cartographer George Gauld in the spring of 1774, the LOC map had been produced by the government of the colony of West Florida as part of a quasi-military expedition to establish the northern border of that British colony. Other maps by George Gauld, including several of the Manchac Region and made at about the same time, are also held by the Library of Congress. With the two maps placed side-by-side, it became readily apparent that Wilton copied the original map by Gauld in order to establish British land claims along the Mississippi River. Some of the original notations by Gauld concerning the currents, depths, and river navigation were eliminated from Wilton’s version; however, most of the geographical information, including place names and the locations of Native American villages, were transferred. In addition, additional lands east of the river and along the tributaries were added to the Wilton map in order to show areas of land grant development and speculation by British subjects. It is unknown if this map remained in the Wilton’s possession or for how long until it was acquired by Major Stephen Roberts in 1848. However, there are corrections and additions to the map that accumulated over time. In the early period, there are some notations on land squabbles and ownership changes that continue until 1818. Probably many years later when the map was acquired by the MRC in 1881, additional corrections, such as the placement of new towns or changes in place names along the Mississippi River, were added in pencil. Purpose of the Map The expressed main purpose of the William Wilton map is to identify land holdings of a number of land speculators along the Mississippi River and tributaries. These lands were given as grants by the British Crown to veterans of the French and Indian War (also known as “The Seven Year’s War) that ended in 1763, and as a means of encouraging colonization by British subjects of the new lands.
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