Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/214



of the rivers. All of the goods and implements to supply this region were transported from distant cities by the same expensive and toilsome methods. The introduction of steam navigation on the rivers was the dawning of an era of incalculable prosperity for the West.

On the 4th of June, 1812, the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as a State, under the name of Louisiana. William Clark, one of the commanders of Lewis and Clark's exploring expedition of 1804, was appointed Governor. The name Missouri was given to the remaining portion of the Territory of Louisiana.

During the War of 1812 the Mississippi Valley suffered but little. Colonel Nichols, the commander of a British fleet in 1814, attempted to revive the scheme for separating that region from the Union. He issued a proclamation in the name of the King of Great Britain to the citizens of Louisiana, calling upon the French, Spaniards, Englishmen, Indians and native Louisianians to rally to his standard and emancipate themselves from a usurping, weak and faithless Government. He declared that he had come with a fine train of artillery, experienced British officers and a large body of Indian warriors supported by a British and Spanish fleet. His avowed object was to put an end to the usurpations of the United States and restore the country to its lawful owners. To the Indians he offered a bounty of ten dollars for every scalp taken form the enemy. His address was distributed throughout the valley in the hope that the people of English, Spanish and French birth might be persuaded to conspire against the Government of the United States and aid Great Britain in her attempt to recover possession of the Mississippi Valley. A grim response to this appeal was given a few months later, when the loyal pioneers flocked to New Orleans with their rifles and met the British invaders on the field of battle. More than three thousand of Wellington's veterans fell before the unerring aim of the sturdy, loyal backwoodsmen under General Jackson.