Spanish Louisiana's last captain general, CAROLS IV, 4 APRIL 1803

Spanish Louisiana's last captain general
Carols IV, 4 April 1803
CARLOS IV (1748-1819). Document signed ("Yo El Rey") Madrid, 4 April 1803.

Three pages, 304 x 216mm bifolum with wax seal affixed to the left of the signature.

Pierre Denys de la Ronde is appointed Captain General of Louisiana and the Floridas. Carlos IV executed the commission in Madrid less than a week before France offered the entirety of Louisiana to the United States (11 April 1803). The document is endorsed additionally by Pedro Aparici, Minister of the West Indies, Madrid, 6 May 1803; Marques de Somexuelos. Capitan General de Cuba, Havana, 27 July 1803; and by Intendant Juan Ventura Morales, New Orleans, 26 September 1803. The newly-installed Captain General would only serve in this capacity until 30 November, when Spain would formally convey Louisiana to France which in turn, would transfer it to U.S. jurisdiction on 20 December 1803. Pierre Denis de la Ronde (1762–1824) was a native of New Orleans born to a family that had arrived in Louisiana via Quebec. Following the transfer, he remained in Louisiana, where he established a sumptuous plantation, Versailles, which in late 1814 became the site of the Battle of New Orleans. Provenance: Don Carlos Dehault Delassus – by descent to Emile Delassus — Armand Hawkins – sold to Alonzo J. Tullock, 1901 – by descent to the consignors.

Pre-Lot Text
PROPERTY FROM THE DESCENDANTS OF A. J. TULLOCK
Post Lot Text
The Louisiana Purchase Collection of Alonzo J. Tullock (Lots 65-80)

The historical significance of the Louisiana Purchase cannot be understated. With the stroke of a pen, the addition of the vast territory west of the Mississippi nearly doubled the size of the still young United States. The purchase set the nation upon a seemingly inevitable course to dominate the North American continent while simultaneously setting the stage for the sectional disputes that would nearly destroy the Union six decades later. While much has been written on the Purchase itself, less attention has been devoted the actual mechanics of the transfer of sovereignty in the years 1803 to 1804. That story involves three powers: Spain, which had taken control of the French possessions west of the Mississippi at the close of the Seven Years War in 1763; France, which had been awarded the territory in 1800 as per a secret treaty with Spain, but had yet to assume formal administration; and the United States, which had recently lost its trading privileges in New Orleans—nearly going to war with Spain over the matter. While Napoleon's surprise offer of all France’s territory west of Mississippi rendered the prospect of war academic, the sudden acquisition presented a range of logistical issues for the federal government in Washington. Most pressing was the assumption of sovereignty and organizing a government.

In 1804 Congress designated the territory below the 33rd parallel, today the northern boundary of modern Louisiana, as the Territory of Orleans, while the lands northward became, temporarily, a district of the Indiana Territory. Thus the responsibility for overseeing the transfer of sovereignty in upper Louisiana, as it had been called by the Spanish, fell upon the governor of the Indiana Territory, an office occupied by William Henry Harrison (1773-1840), better known for his military exploits during the War of 1812 and for his single-month term in the White House that ended with his untimely death. Appointed by John Adams in 1800, Harrison enjoyed the trust of Adams' successor as well: Thomas Jefferson reappointed Harrison to the post in 1803. During his tenure, Harrison had come to know Charles DeHault Delassus (1764-1846) the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana. In 1794, the Belgian-born Delassus had been serving in the Royal Walloon Guards for Carlos III of Spain when he learned that his family had fled French political persecution and requested a transfer to the Louisiana Regiment. Upon his arrival, Governor Condelet appointed Delassus civil and military commander of New Madrid, allowing him to be close to his parents in New Bourbon. In 1799, Delassus became the lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana. Harrison's letters to Delassus begin in March 1803, delivering news of the secret treaty that transferred Louisiana from Spain to France, and concludes with the transmittal of the first governing structure for the newly-acquired Louisiana Territory. Most notable is Harrison's letter informing Delassus of the news of the Louisiana Purchase. This letter was the first news to reach west of the Mississippi River of the momentous event.

The Harrison letters are the centerpiece of the collection assembled by Alonzo J. Tullock (1854-1904), a civil engineer and successful bridge and pier builder based in Leavenworth, Kansas, who built many of the railway crossings over the Missouri River in the late nineteenth century, as well as the construction of the major wharf at Tampico for the Mexican government. Working closely with Andrew Carnegie, Tullock was instrumental in bringing the Carnegie Library to Leavenworth. In memorializing Tullock a year after his passing, the Journal of the Western Society of Engineers recalled that despite his "exceptionally busy" professional life, Tullock was also a voracious reader and avid book and manuscript collector—who paid "particular attention to the acquisition of books and papers relating to the Louisiana Purchase and his collection of these, diligently pursued for years, was unique.” (1905, p. 553).

Tullock acquired much of his collection from the noted New Orleans antique dealer Armand Hawkins in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Hawkins acquired the Harrison letters from Emile Delassus and his mother, direct descendants of Lieutenant Governor Delassus in the 1890s.
Christie’s honored to present this important historical collection assembled over a century ago.