Historian Don Sharp recently re-emphasized the importance of Lacombe area resident James Rumsey and his contributions to the founding American republic. Rumsey was friends with Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, served as George Washington's Chief Engineer, and contributed much to the prosperity of the young country by inventing steam-engine propelled watercraft. That was a discovery that only a few years later led to steamboats carrying cargo up and down the Mississippi River, opening up the vast Midwest to settlement.
While much is known about the last 12 years of Rumsey's life, Don Sharp has discovered a wealth of information about Rumsey's early life, how he was born in Bristol, England, how he fought in the French and Indian Wars, and how he ran a pioneer trading post in Illinois before coming down through Natchez, then to New Orleans, and finally to Lacombe in St. Tammany Parish. At that time this area was part of British West Florida, which has now become known as "The Fourteenth Colony."
Sharp's research helps correct some of the misinformation that had been given out regarding Rumsey's early life, and Sharp even explained why the misinformation was formulated in the first place by persons wishing to protect his legacy.
Rumsey, working in secret in Lacombe, explored various ways in which the newly-invented steam engine could be used to propel boats upstream against the current, which was a major problem at the time. To keep his secret designs safe, he moved from Lacombe to Pearl River Island at the mouth of the Pearl River. One of his visitors there was William Bartram, noted botanist, who stayed with Rumsey for a month while recovering from an illness.
When the American Revolution broke out, St. Tammany was a British colony subject to attacks, so with the help of some high-ranking Louisiana politicians, Rumsey was able to re-located the Baltimore, MD. That is where he perfected his steam-propelled watercraft, demonstrating it to the public for the very first time on the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, Virginia, in 1778.
Ten years later, Benjamin Franklin formed The Rumserian Society to honor the inventor and study his discoveries.
Who was Morgan Edwards and why is he a key figure in Mandeville history? That was the question that history researcher Don Sharp has tried to answer, only to find out that while Mandeville's "Morgan Edwards" was the American who wrote the famous Oath of Allegiance for Mandeville area residents in 1779, his last name was actually Huett (Hewitt.)
The first Morgan Edwards was actually a famous Baptist minister born in England and active during the American Revolution on the east coast. He was the mentor and/or benefactor of Morgan Edwards (Hewitt). While adoption papers were probably not filed in Dublin, Ireland at the time, Sharp's research revealed that the Baptist preacher "adopted" the young Morgan Edwards (Hewitt). He is the one that went on to play a key role in Mandeville history.
"And since the family name Edwards has played such a large part in Louisiana history," Sharp said, "This development is important as we approach the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution next year."
Click on the "Play Triangle" in the above video to
hear more about Don Sharp's research into the real Morgan Edwards
Hewitt was the man who penned the famous "Oath of Allegiance" to the United Stated signed by 19 Mandeville area residents in 1779. That oath made its way to the Continental Congress and was introduced as the first declaration by a group of people in Louisiana to swear allegiance to the new United States.
Mandeville's Morgan Edwards hired New Orleans surveyor Gilberto Guillemard to survey early Mandeville to settle a land boundary claim. This was after his important role in the months following the "Battle of Lake Pontchartrain." More information on that at this link.
Don Sharp recently sat down for an interview sharing more details on the lives of Gilberto Guillemard and Morgan Edwards (Hewitt). With the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, he feels it is important to recognize these two men and their families.
He tells about Guillemard's work in designing and building the three most iconic buildings in Louisiana, how and why he moved to Pensacola, FL, who he married and his only son's accomplishments. Millions of tourists visit New Orleans each year and marvel at Guillemard's buildings: St. Louis Cathedral, the Cabildo, and the Presbytere.
The story weaves in and out with yellow fever outbreaks and the volatile period of time after the Louisiana Purchase and its repercussions throughout Spanish West Florida. It involves the surveying and improvements of St. Michael's Cemetery in Pensacola, where Guillemard was most likely buried a few years after he completed the survey of the cemetery.
Characters involved include Governor Claiborne of Louisiana, General Andrew Jackson, and a host of others from New Orleans. It is a story of government ineptitude, failed financing, and broken promises, plus a few personal victories and disappointments along the way.
Click on the "Play Triangle" in the video below to watch his report.
The Boisdore Geneaology Chart
Click on the image to make it larger.
Guillemard Moves To Pensacola
Guillemard was born in Longwy, France, on September 17, 1746. He died at Pensacola, FL, on November 29, 1808. He was most likely buried in St. Michael's Cemetery, the same cemetery that he had been hired to survey when he first arrived in Pensacola.
It is believed that Vicente Sebastian Pintado, another surveyor and map maker, hired Guillemard to survey this cemetery and also put together what became known as the Pintado Plan, a street map of Pensacola. It helped locate public buildings and churches.
In honor of Guillemard's work, Pintado named a central square in Pensacola the Guillemard Square. There is also a Guillemard Streetin the city. St. Michael's Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Pensacola, and it is said to contain the bodies of many yellow fever victims. In all likelihood, Guillemard died of yellow fever himself even though his obituary does not mention it.
St. Michaels Cemetery location, downtown Pensacola
Google Street View
Although he was well-known throughout New Orleans and the northshore, mainly for his surveying work and designing and building St. Louis Cathedral, he and his wife had to move to Pensacola to be with his son when the politicians of New Orleans failed to pay him what they owed him. He was very familiar with the Gulf Coast, having drawn a map of Pensacola back in 1787.
Although his grave is not marked, Don Sharp believes he is buried in the same area with his son Arnould and other members of the Boisdore family (his wife's family.)
Sharp also spoke about the life of Morgan Edwards, a key figure in early Mandeville history.
The last confrontation of the American Revolution was recorded in the Florida Parishes some 27 years after the end of military hostilities and the subsequent political resolution, according to research done by historian Don Sharp. The final resolution of the conflict actually came with the raising of the American Flag in Madisonville in 1811.
Sharp feels that the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence is a great time to focus on the part played by pioneer residents of St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parish residents.
The Florida Parishes, which are now considered by historians as the "14th colony," were actually the last to throw off foreign rule, made possible by the establishment of the Independent Republic of West Florida. The lingering animosity between new Americans there and the residents who had been loyal to Britain was still festering, however, and fighting was still going on in many areas in the Northshore. To calm things down, they were then quickly annexed into the United States.
When America concluded the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Florida parishes became surrounded by American territory, the last vestiges of fighting between patriots and the British loyalists had to be quelled by American intervention.
Sharp lays the groundwork for the events leading up to the West Florida Republic representing the end of the American Revolution by listing the people who played an important part in the drama. Those people had lived through four different nations laying claim to the same area: from the French, the British, the Spanish and finally the Americans.
This map shows the British and Spanish Colonies in the period 1763-1775, just before the American Revolution. Click on the image to make it larger.
A close up look at what would become St. Tammany Parish
As a result, Sharp feels The Revolutionary War actually ended when the United States took over the Republic of West Florida.
It all started with the French period, when Bienville came in 1699. Bienville left in 1732, and Pierre Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil was appointed Governor of Louisiana. The Vaudreuil family was from Canada, and was well known in government circles there. Many Canadians settled in what would become St. Tammany Parish, around Lacombe.
Vaudreuil bought a plantation in New Orleans which later became Audubon Park, and he (as governor) also gave himself a 4800 acre land grant on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain between Lacombe and Mandeville. Later land grant records showed the parcel owned by Jean Pierre Cousin (and later Francois Cousin) and this was where Vaudreuil's property was originally situated.) Vaudreuil started an indigo plantation on the property, according to records researched by Sharp.
Vaudreiul's wife Charlotte had a relative who lived in Montreal, Canada, and she was married to a gentleman by the name of Jacques Hertel de Rouville. Rouville eventually became owner of this land grant, and he left his mark on the Lacombe area with a Bayou named after him as well as a street still in use today. It was Rouville who sold part of the property in the early 1770's to Rumsey for his use as a hideaway for developing his steamboat.
At that point in history, political anguish was mounting both in Canada and the 13 colonies on the Eastern seaboard, and Britain starting aggravating people with more and more restrictive mandates. Rouville left Lacombe to return to Canada to fight the political harassment against his family, and he turned over the Lacombe land grant to his wife.
When the American Revolution broke out, Rumsey's work was in danger of falling into enemy's hands, so he moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and continued to work in secret on his boat design. His day job was serving as Chief Engineer to General George Washington.
While the fighting in the 13 colonies may have ended militarily in 1781, for years after that emotions still ran high among those loyal to Britain during the war and the newly-minted American patriots. Bloody encounters continued to take lives among the inhabitants of the 13 colonies.
Sharp found that after the war ended in the 13 colonies, many of those who had been loyal to Britain left the eastern seaboard and came to settle in the Florida Parishes where Spain was still in charge, and they thought it would be more peaceful. Unfortunately, there were still hard feelings between them and those who had been cheering on the Americans. The hostility kept increasing between the two vengeance-minded groups.
So the years wore on, and while many were trying to forget the anguish of the war, others were finding it hard to forgive the atrocities that had occurred during the conflict. So even after Britain surrendered, many still remembered what horrors had been donein Georgia where they were from. When a number of British loyalists also fled the 13 colonies and came to the Florida Parishes, tempers of the locals flared and fighting broke out.
During the eastern seaboard war years earlier, one British commander had captured a number of revolutionaries in Georgia, burned their homes, killed their cattle, and hung them all, even a 13-year-old boy whose mother had pleaded for his life. That sort of thing was hard to forgive and forget. The residents of the Florida Parishes were surprised to find out that the very same British commander responsible for that atrocity now lived in the Bedico area. They found him, killed him, killed his cattle, and burned his crops. It was a time of great upheaval.
All this post-war fighting and discord resulted in efforts to create the Republic of West Florida, a free and independent country, Sharp stated. The republic didn't last long, since the United States "annexed" it within months.
The "annexation" was prompted by a need to help the Florida Parishes inhabitants cool off and work together, according to information found by Sharp. The American commandant in Baton Rouge John Shaw was becoming convinced he had to do something. Shaw's letters during this time period mentioned his concerns with the increasingly violent situation. He and his troops entered the area, confronted those still fighting the revolutionary war and told them the war had been over for years. "We are all Americans now," he said.
So when the American Revolution came to an end, it actually ended in three different stages: (1) with the cessation of military actions in 1781, (2) with the political paperwork signed by all parties in 1783, and (3) with the population all realizing that they were no longer French, Spanish or English. They were now indeed all Americans. And that realization fully occurred when the new United States took over the Republic of West Florida in 1811 and declared all its inhabitants "Americans."
Raising the American flag in Madisonville on January 6, 1811, was a fitting symbol of that new status for all those who lived there. It didn't solve all their problems; there were still people who wanted to continue being the free and independent Republic of West Florida. But the die had been cast and the Florida Parishes became part of the United States, legally as well as in spirit.
The timing was fortunate. Almost four years later to the day, General Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, after bringing together a diverse band of American patriots, Native Americans, and even a pirate to fight British troops to preserve the independence of the new nation. On his way to the battle grounds in Chalmette, Jackson had passed through Covington and Madisonville.
Click on the following link for more information about Andrew Jackson.
A plaque at the Chalmette Battlefield monument explains the importance of the Choctaw Indian nation participation in support of General Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans
Don Sharp recently recorded a video interview that helps wrap up the inter-connections between key figures in southeast Louisiana history. He specifically unveils the significant contributions made by Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent, Gilberto Guillemard, James Rumsey, Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville and Pierre Rigaud Cavagnial de Vaudreuil.
These five gentlemen are important to early Louisiana progress for a variety of reasons. Guillemard was architect and builder of the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, and the Presbytere; Rumsey invented the steam-engine propelled boat, and Rouville helped spotlight the early stirrings of the American Revolution both in Canada and the British Colonies on the east coast.
Sharp cites published works, news articles from the time, and maps of the area to weave his three part talk to show the connections between the men and expand on their importance.
Here is the video. Click on the "Play Triangle" below to view the video.
Don Sharp, local historian, is excited about the upcoming celebration of America's 250th anniversary, because he feels it will help once again show the close connections of the Lacombe area to the Canadian events and widespread disatisfaction that eventually resulted in the American Revolution.
That 250th year celebration will be held two years from now in 2026. Commissions are now being set up state-by-state to help plan local participation in the event.
Sharp believes that the story of how early Lacombe pioneers took part in the resistance to British Crown mandates placed on their friends and relatives back in Canada is an important part of American history.
His research into the Lacombe area history has convinced him that early settler Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville, whose wife had a large land grant plantation on Bayou Lacombe, was a major player in the key series of events when he returned to Canada to help fight the injustices being placed upon his former home.
A map of Lacombe showing Bayou Rouville
According to Sharp's research, Jacques-Michel Hertel de Rouville probably received the earliest land grant on the North Shore that we know of, and it appears to be the largest given in what is now the Lacombe area. The exact date and the description of the grant recorded by the French government are not known. It was described, in a sales document after his death, as "A tract of land lying and being on the Bayou Lacombe, alias Bayou Rouville, on the right hand, or easternmost side going up from Lake Pontchartrain, commencing by estimation about half a league from the said lake, containing fourteen square leagues fronting on the said bayou by a straight line of the distances of seven leagues with two leagues in depth, making in all the above named quantity fourteen square leagues.
However, when Britian began cracking down on the rights of citizens in the Canadian provinces, Rouville went back to Canada and helped organize resistance committees, according to Sharp's research and that of his writing partner Canadian historian Anita R. Campeau.
Rouville's actions 250 years ago prompt Sharp to conclude that those who say that Louisiana had nothing to do with the American Revolution are wrong. The settlers of the Lacombe area and across south Louisiana, those who originally came from Canada (and there were many) were undoubtedly active in Canadian resistance to British mandates and that helped bring about the American Revolution.
The present day Rouville Road in Lacombe commemorates the important role played by Jacques de Rouville in the early history of southern St. Tammany Parish, but it only hints at his key participation in the efforts to gain freedom for his friends and relatives in Canada and the northeast United States.
To hear Don Sharp provide details of Rouville's activities in Lacombe and Canada, click on the "PLAY TRIANGLE" in the above video.
Gilberto Guillemard is one of the most historic Louisiana personalities, having served as architect on three outstanding structures at Jackson Square in New Orleans: the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, and the Presbytere.
According to historian Don Sharp, he was not truly appreciated by the politicians of the day. His life story is complicated, and much controversy revolved around him not getting paid in full for his years of work designing and building those three buildings, possibly the most famous buildings in Louisiana. He left disheartened for Pensacola, FL, where he died a few years later.
"It is an important story," Sharp said. "for New Orleans, for Louisiana and the nation. Guillemard was a Frenchman by birth, but a loyal soldier in the Spanish Army. His work as a surveyor and architect was essential to early New Orleans, especially his work on designing and building the Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral and the Presbytere."
A postcard of Jackson Square
He even conducted an important survey of the young community of Mandeville on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain. That survey was done to settle a dispute about land grant boundaries between Morgan Edwards and Jacob Miller.
His Crescent City Contributions
Thousands of people come to the French Quarter every year and visit those three historic buildings, Sharp said. They enjoy the history of them and their beauty. Guillemard was also active in doing projects for the city regarding street work and drainage.
While there is no clear history of Lt. Col. Guillemard and the last few years of his life, Sharp has pieced together a convincing narrative: that he left the city in 1805 after not being paid in full for his work on the three historic structures. He went to Pensacola where he died a few years later, as recorded in the Sacramental Records of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Sharp believes that Guillemard died in Pensacola in 1808, most probably of yellow fever, and is buried in St. Michael's Cemetery there. He has contacted cemetery officials and reports that they are in the midst of a thorough examination of the gravesites using new technology so that an accurate map can be generated of the graves.
Here is a short interview with Don Sharp recorded on September 13, 2023, in which he explains his research and his conclusions about the last few years of Guillemard's life, his final resting place, and his impact on Louisiana history, especially regarding his highly accurate and detailed survey of Mandeville in its infancy.
Don Sharp Talks About Architect Gilberto Guillemard
Click on the "Play" Triangle above to view the video
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