No enemies were sighted, however, and at four in the afternoon the infant town of New Madrid came into view, on its pretty plain along the right bank, which as yet the river had not gnawed away. The place was one of the feeble efforts of the Spaniards to establish colonies in the Mississippi Valley.
For, although at the date of our story, the Spanish were in possession of New Orleans and the lower course of the river, this control was nominal and temporary, the outcome of treaty between France and Spain, rather than real or permanent. The two nations which, for the century prior to 1803, had so long and so bitterly contended for the mastery of this peerless region, were France and England; and, for a period of time as great as that which has elapsed since the War of the Revolution, the whole Mississippi Valley was virtually French territory. The Louisiana Purchase marked the close of an era, the end of a century of French sovereignty; this event transferred the control of by far the most important portion of what is now the United States, from the French to the Anglo-American people.
At New Madrid not less than a hundred river craft of every variety were tied up, either for purposes of trade or repair; “keels” and barges from Pittsburgh, the full-rigged brig from Marietta, four arks from Vincennes, flatboats from far up the Wabash, with a great number of skiffs, and pirogues from the various military posts. So diverse and heterogeneous a gathering of boatmen could hardly meet and mingle without friction; and, in strict point of fact, the first thing our arksmen saw, on veering to the bank, was a “rough-and-tumble” between the Marietta brig’s crew and some boatmen from up the Wabash.
The latter had a flatboat loaded with sugar, and live turkeys, not less than three hundred of which fine birds were confined in huge wooden cages on the roof of their craft. The brig’s crew, victorious in the scuffle, levied heavily on the flatboatmen’s turkeys.
At last, the little garrison at the post attempted to restore order, but with indifferent success; the brig’s crew threatened to sack the town if molested, and appeared able to make good the menace. Such was New Madrid in 1803.
Marion Royce’s only object in landing here was to procure two strong sweeps for the ark. Having accomplished this in the course of an hour or two, he resumed his voyage and continued for two hours longer before tying up in the eddy at the foot of an island for the night.