The Adventures of Jean Delacroix

Prologue

         The characters herein are ficticious except for the historical personages mentioned.  This work, being a work of historical fiction, is not primarily concerned with the precise chronological placement of these historical personages nor with the precise historical accuracy of the events herein associated with these personages.  There are however certain verifiable historical data and events woven within the fictional narrative.  The introduction of this book does try to set the historical context with the facts ascertained by the author to the best of his ability. The general historical context is early eighteen hundreds in the Territory of New Orleans.



Introduction

The state of New Orleans at the turn of the nineteenth century

         Turn of the century New Orleans was in a dizzied and barely manageable state.  The reasons for this are numerous and may be attributed to some of the following:  i) Originally founded and ruled by France for about fifty years it was given to Spain in 1763.  Later, formally in 1803,  it underwent an abrupt return transfer (from forty or so years of rule) by Spain to France.  No sooner had the formal ceremony taken place, of the transfer by Spain to the French Commissioner De Laussat on 1803 November 30th, when less than a month later on December 20th , Commissioners Clairborne and General Wilkinson  receive it for the United States from France.  It was, to understate the matter, a very chaotic period of transfer.  ii) The constant threats and actual occurances of slave uprisings along with  the constant influx of Haitian and French immigrants who had tasted freedom through revolution and the fact that New Orleans being a large critical port city continued to see increasing amounts of immigrants and travellers from every known culture and of every sort, from the noblest of character to the meanest of the mean.  iii) The constant threats of epidemics of  yellow fever, cholera, small pox, dysentery etc.  iv) The constant fear of threats of war and political intrigue and espionage (for this was a time when noone really new who's side – American, Spanish, French, English - the other was on).  The co-commissioner General James Wilkinson, who presided over the transfer of  the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States, appears to have been in communication with Spanish agents.  Aaron Burr the former Vice President of the United States seems to have been in communication with English agents.  v) The pirate problem from which the brothers Lafitte had emerged the leaders.  The Embargo Act of Dec 1807 prohibiting trade with England and Spain in all probability sent the brothers into smugglers euphoria.  Governor Clairborne was having an extemely difficult time convincing others, especially the ordinary inhabitants of New Orleans, how these privateers were undermining the social order of New Orleans life.  vi) There was  the constant threat of fire.  vii)  There was the  unsanitary conditions in the city especially during the rainy season when the roads were impassible and flowing with filth, along with flooding due to the breaking of the levee's by the powerful Mississippi.  viii) There was the fear of the native Indian threat including, the Choctaws and the Creeks.  ix) And there were increasing rumors that England may attempt an invasion of Louisiana.  All this makes it apparent that life in this territory was a struggle especially to newcomers not accoustomed to the climate, the social  turbulance or to the unconventional manner of life.  Governor  Clairborne himself had lost his wife and little daughter to Yellow Fever shortly after his arrival in New Orleans.



Slavery and free persons of color

         The Spanish had implemented a rather “leniant” code with respect to the population of color.  The Spanish authority with its permissive three tiered social order saw that the free persons of color held the proud and wealthy mostly white planters in check.  There were lenient manumission laws with very few restrictions.  Manumission was actually a ceremony celebrated on very important occasions such as marriages and anniversaries in the master's family.  It was also celebrated in religious services.  Slaves could purchase their own freedom and many would hire themselves out during off hours from regular labor to accomplish this.  European rule, especially Spanish rule with it's policy of tolerance for the mixed three tiered social structure had fostered economic and social mobility (though limited) sustaining the rise of Creoles and other free persons of color.



         The Louisana Purchase of 1803 along with the  Congressional act of 1804 forbidding slaves to be imported into the Territory,  shows that the  U.S. Congress initially had voted to ban the importation of slaves to Lower Louisiana from other American states.  President Jefferson however decided not to enforce this ban and allowed Louisiana to draw slaves from other states in order to exploit its full potential in the cultivation of sugar and cotton and so to appease the majority white Creole planters and elite.



         Decisions such as these (and others outlined in the appendix below) contributed to the eventual establishment and flourishing of the ruthless New Orleans slave market.  A Louisiana territorial government with an elected legislature was established in 1805.  It was made up entirely of white male landowners with at least 200 acres who had held United States citizenship for three years. 

         In 1806 the Louisiana Territorial Legislature enacted a code that erased all the “gains” that slaves had aquired during Spanish rule and attempted to severely restrict and end the support of the three tiered social system.  This code was constantly tampered with during this period depending on the social climate.  Commonly held after 1803 but by 1819 the Civil Code of Louisiana confirmed that slave marriages meant nothing under the law.  This was mostly due to the view that slaves were considered property.  Since slave marriages meant nothing under the law, “husbands” were frequently taken from their “wives” and children were often taken from their parents.  This also meant that all slave children were illegimate, with no legal rights and they could not inherit property.    Since slaves were no longer permitted to own or inherit anything, self-purchase was made impossible.  By 1807 they had prohibited any free black adult male from entering the city with severe penalties upon infringement.  It prohibited emancipation of any slave under the age of thirty unless that slave had performed some type of extraordinary heroism, like saving the life of his master.  The thiry years old stipulation ensured that the children of enslaved mothers would remain in the slave market at least until the age of thirty. 

         It seems like a great paradox that the Congressional ban on the international slave trade of 1807 actually hastened the formation of a vast “domestic slave market” in New Orleans and in the new western territories.  However, it appears that it was not just a moral hatred for the slave trade of many northern states that prompted Congress to outlaw the international slave trade in 1807.  This was also the result of the Southern elite's vast economic interests along with a growing fear of slave rebellion and the fear of the influx of refugees from the former French colony of revolutionary Saint Domingue that were pouring into Louisiana at an alarming rate.  At least one scholar has pointed out that it is also paradoxical that by Jefferson's great desire and success in expanding the domain of the United States and securing its borders he actually gave the South immense economic power and political might by adding territories to the existing slavocracy.  It was French speaking whites in 1809 that united to argue for the admittance of St Domingue refugees with their slaves.  This pressure was mounted in order to strengthen the influence of the dwindling French majority and the ever increasing  American presence.  By 1808 the Louisiana Civil Code required free persons of color to identify themselves on all public documents with the abbreviations of “f.p.c.”.  By 1816 theatres and public exhibitions had been segregated and by the 1820's the omnibus lines followed suit.



         Despite the attempted repression of the rights of the free persons of color in early eighteen hundreds Louisana by the Legislature they still retained many rights denied blacks in all the other southern states and even the slave-free North.  Persons of color could leave property by wills, they could bring suit against a white person in court and be a witness in court against a white person.



The religious sphere

         The religious climate was no calmer than any other sphere.  The Catholic church was the dominant religious force in the region that had been influencing events since the early 1700's.  Voodoo was now becoming a major force in the region and being woven with Catholic sacramental practices.    This strenthening of the Voodoo religion was due to the African slave trade along with the tremendous influx of Haitian refugees.  The first Protestant church to open in New Orleans was an Episcopal church in June of 1805.  Noone seemed to want the position of bishop of the diocese of New Orleans.  Pere Antoine the enigmatic and charismatic Catholic pastor of St Louis Cathedral wanted nothing to do with being appointed bishop of the Diocese.  He had written Bishop Caroll a few years back to please ignore any petition by his parishoners concerning his appointment to the office  of bishop.  Pere Antoine was extremely popular and well loved by his constituants.  Any aspiring bishop would have to contend with this tremendous popularity.  Also, the  religious situation was so complex that noone felt up to the task to reform a city that was seen by the Catholic heirarchy to be in religious chaos.  However, many others including Catholic religious nuns, would argue that Pere Antioine  was saintly and was spearheading a movement for equality and integration.  Add to this the problem that any diocesan head appointee would have their authority weakened by the fact that he would come, not as a bishop, but as an Apostolic Administrator. The reason for this was that Napoleon had kidnapped Pope Pius VII and held him as prisoner from July 5, 1809 to January 1814, thereby preventing normal Papal communications during this period.



         The tremendous popularity in the city of New Orleans enjoyed by Pere Antoine of course was  after 1791, which was his second coming and new birth to the city.  When Rev. Patrick Walsh declared himself head of the diocese in 1805 after the death of the Administrator Rev. Thomas Hasset, a body of church wardens was created and they elected Pere Antoine as the pastor of St Louis Cathedral.  This of course was relatively unheard of in the rest of  the Catholic church so Rev. Walsh formally declared Pere Antoine guilty of schism and he appealed to the Supreme Court of the Territory of Louisiana.  The court ruled in favor of the church wardens.  Rev. Walsh passed away in August of 1806.  Pere Antoine was the unofficial head of the church in New Orleans from 1806 until his death in 1829, with the exception of a brief period with the arrival of Rev. Dubourg in August of 1812.  Though he had some issues with Rev. Dubourg it seems incontestable that in 1818 Bishop Dubourg offered the Auxiliary Bishopric to Pere Antioine who in a humble and eloquent letter respectfully declines this position of eminence. 

         The devotion he elicited from the people probably stemmed from his immense tollerance.  It is well attested that he treated Freemasons and Jansenists (both condemned by the papacy) with respect and tollerance.  St Louis Cathedral under Pere Antoine may have well been one of the most integrated assemblies in the world at the time and has been celebrated as such by some scholars.  Celebrations were held without class and race distinctions.  The majority of the congregation were free woman of color.  It has been said that the Protestants loved him almost as much as the Catholics and that he had allowed a Protestant minister to address a large congregation in the Cathedral in 1817.  He accepted the democratizing influence of the time (and in many instances seems to have gone well beyond them).  It seems to be true that he was a major factor in forstalling the advance of proslavery forces within the Catholic Church and thus in the common life of New Orleans.  Against church doctrine he gave the sacraments to unmarried cohabitating slaves and free woman of color and to their illegitimate children.  He involved himself in court cases and testified on behalf of the enslaved and free persons of color much to the disfavor of his ecclesiastical superiors.







Chapter I  Jean's Roots                                                                                

         Jean turned a corner on the River Road as he headed toward the city of  New Orleans.  There was a mist in the early morning air and the orange sun rising through the dark clouds lended to the eeriness of the hour.  He noticed in the distance what seemed to be something suspended in mid air.  Then a little later he felt a sense of dread overwhelm him.  His mother's voice burst into his mind: “Jean, I saw him hanging on a pole like Jesus, and he was left there for days, just rotting. There's no limit to what man will do to his brother except for some kind of faith.”  Alayna, his mom, was then talking about the foiled April 1795 “Black Rebellion” in Pointe Coupe about 150 miles north west of New Orleans when 23 negroes were hung along the river road down to New Orleans.  Jean was about twelve at the time.

         Jean's mom and dad had come to New Orleans from St Domingue during the war of independence from Napoleon's France.  Pierre Delacroix, his dad, was of wealthy French lineage.  He had traveled to St Domingue to expand his business enterprise.  However, after meeting and falling in love with Alayna he remained and became concerned with the downtrodden or as he used to say those  “with their backs against the wall”.  Alayna was a well educated free person of color who's mother had been a freed slave.    Alayna and Pierre were married and had borne two sons by the time of the revolution.  The family had come to New Orleans when the violence of the slave revolt of 1791 had spread to the point that he sensed his family was in jeopardy.  Lianna,  Alayna's sister had a son named Luc who was more like an older brother rather than an cousin to Jean.  Luc had joined the forces to fight for a free St Domingue. Pierre had passed away from Yellow Fever not long after his arrival in New Orleans.

         Jean suspected that this brutal scene before him now must have to do with the uprising in Andry's Plantation.  Jean had heard of it at the end of his three month journey.  Charles, who was from San Domingue possessed a commanding personality.  He had spoken with Charles several times when he had journeyed as ambassador for the  committee (which had included Pere Antoine ) formed to seek relief for the victims of the floods, fires and sickness which constantly afflict the residents (especially the poorer ones) of New Orleans.

         Due to this uprising of 1811, the largest one so far in our history, Governor Claiborne would soon introduce the controversial (and what Jean considered pernicious) Act providing for the payment of slaves killed and executed on account of the insurrection.  The New Orleans City Council would soon pass a series of ordinances to regulate and restrict slaves' activities in the city. [Slaves not owned or temporarily hired by New Orleans residents could not be in the city. Those slaves who did live in New Orleans would not be allowed to congregate except for funerals or dances, and then only with the mayor's approval. They will be barred from gathering in the streets, public squares, meat markets, or tavern houses. Property owners who did not report illegal slave meetings could be heavily fined.]

         Now only a few yards from the appalling sight Jean, in the flash of a moment, noticed how the overall contours of this “child of God” was similar to his own excepting the black skin:  the round head, the full lips, the full curly black head of hair, the intensity of the strong boned forehead, the penetrating eye sockets (for the eyes had been gouged out) revealing a tenacious inner strength even in death.  And then came the sheer horror of the realization.  This was Luc, his own beloved cousin.  Jean’s face became an intense red, tears formed then pelted down his cheeks.  He felt an indescribable deep pain in the center of his being caused by a kind of rip or stripping off of some inner covering.  He fell over onto the head of his horse with his arms wrapped around its neck.  He shifted to the left side and fell to the ground.  Noir his companion immediately dismounted and not getting any responses from his shouts secured him to his horse and escorted him into the city.  Noir took him immediately to Anawim house.

         Sickness enveloped him for many days.  Laying in bed, fevered, unable to move and with constant tears streaming down his face he recalled a conversation he had with Luc.  Luc was recounting the details of the beginnings of the revolution in St Domingue and what had led him to become involved in the St Domingue revolt:



         “Luc, tell me what drew you to the revolution,” Jean had asked.

         “Jean, to sum it all up , Vincet Oge was in France as a member of The Societe des Amis des Noirs which had been founded by wealthy persons of color and had contributed much to the payment of debt the new government had inherited after the French revolution of 1789.  Because of this sizable financial contribution, Oge a leading member of the Societe and his companions had great expectations from the new French government.  But, Oge returned to St Domingue disillusioned and weary of the new government's failure to guarantee the liberty of the free persons of color in the colonies.

         Arriving back in St Domingue, Oge first tried to secure freedom for his people through negotiation.  This failed, so Oge, his brother, and Jean-Baptiste Chavannes organized a campaign of force which was fairly quickly crushed and Oge and Chavannes were captured.

         It was at Port au Prince on February 26th, 1791, I will never forget this scene my brother, Ogé and Chavannes, were taken to La Place d'Armes where they had their arms, legs, hips, and thighs broken, then they were tied to a wheel and left face upwards to bake and to die in the heat of the sun.  After their tortuous death, they were beheaded and their heads pinned to poles on the main roads, Oge's on the road to Dondon where he was born, and that of Chevanne on the road to Grande Riviere.  It was this monstrous cruelty that moved me to join the rebellion with the valliant general Biassou.  Biassou decided to join and remain loyal to Spain against the French.  He and some of his followers ended up in Florida.  I stayed and fought with Tousaint L'Ouverture then Desalines until the final defeat of the French forces.  Then, shortly after I came to New Orleans where I became involved with the cause of the enslaved here.”

         “Jean”, he said with a mixed sad smile, “I am a warrior, I fight for our oppressed people and for our people I will  die, it is what I was meant and what I must do. ”



         Jean would later relate that after the passing of the period of unbearable hatred he began to sense the meaning of the crucified Christ.  He began to sense an overwhelming compassion for those who suffer under the yoke of human slavery and the more common slavery of the spirit.  He would often say to those close to him that, “Slavery is an abomination to the Lord.  We are all free in Christ.  All of us made in the divine image. Yes, one family in the Lord.  In Christ there is neither white, black, brown, red, yellow, slave or free. ”

         These are familiar words.  These were dangerous sayings for this time, proclaimed from a heart with no guile.  Jean had to be very careful to whom he spoke such revolutionary and passionate ideas.  They might be tolerated up in the  northern states but here they were very dangerous indeed.  The ideas themselves were dangerous to the way things were but if you left them as ideas that would be one thing.  Jean of course could not stop there.