The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 288
409 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
wife, Eudalie Malige, after the death of the second Mrs. Sibley
in North Carolina." Through all these many enterprises, the
most significant fact is that Sibley moved as a potent force
during the most turbulent years in the history of the Louisiana-
Texas frontier.
From 1803 to 1815, years crowded with history-making events,
Sibley in Natchitoches was a purveyor of news, as well as a
manipulator of diplomacy and statecraft. The United States,
possessing Louisiana with undefined limits, was claiming Texas.
In December, 1804, the Secretary of War requested Sibley "to
act occasionally as an Indian agent for the United States in the
vicinity of Natchitoches." For his occasional services he was
allowed four dollars a day, and was furnished with $3,000 worth
of goods for presents to the Indians." In his reports to the War
Department he advocated alliances with the Indians and the
establishment of an Indian factory at Natchitoches to divert
Indian trade from the Spanish factory at Nacogdoches.'o In May,
1805, he was instructed by the War Department of the United
States to direct his attention to all Indians as far west as San
Bernardo Bay, and was informed that a factory was to be
established at Natchitoches in the fall."1 In October, 1805, Sibley
was notified of his appointment as "Indian Agent of Orleans
Territory and the region South of the Arkansas River."'2 For
his services as permanent agent he was to receive a salary of
$1,000 per annum, and his subsistence at four rations per day.13
Sibley's prolific writings had paid. When President Jefferson
was seeking information about western Louisiana and the
Indians, Sibley, having made a survey as far west as Santa
Fe, sent reports to Jefferson in April, August, and December
of 1805. In April of that year he sent to Secretary of War
General Dearborn historical sketches of the tribes, and a copy
of his journal of the Red River expedition made in 1803. These
8G. P. Whittington, "Doctor John Sibley of Natchitoches, 1757-1837,"
The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, XX, 467-473.
9Clarence Edwin Carter, Territorial Papers of the United States, Orleans
Territory, IX, 352-353.
1OW. C. C. Claiborne, Oficial Letter Books, II, 273, 292, 342, 385; III, 33.
"Secretary of War to John Sibley, May 25, July 8, 1805, Letter Book B,
April, 1804-July, 1809, 80-81, 89, Department of Interior, Office of Indian
Affairs; hereafter designated by the abbreviation I.A.D.I.
"2Same to same, October 17, 1805, ibid., 122-123.
13Clarence Edwin Carter, Territorial Papers of the United States, IX,
514-516.288
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942, periodical, 1942; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146053/m1/322/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.