A Selective Chronology of Louisiana History ~ Pawprints and Purrs

A Selective Chronology of Louisiana History

1541	Herman De Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1543, July 18	De Soto expedition survivors, under the command of Luis de Moscoso, become the first group of white men to travel down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
1673	Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet reach the Mississippi River, and later verify that it flows into the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Pacific Ocean.
1682, April	René-Robert Cavelier La Salle reaches the mouth of the Mississippi River and claims possession for France of the territory, which he names Louisiana.
1699, March	Pierre Le Moyne Iberville becomes the first European to find the Mississippi River from the open sea.
1700	Fort Maurepas established on Bay of Biloxi. Fort de La Boulaye established near Pointe á la Hache or Phoenix.
1701, August 22	Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Bienville succeeds Ensign de Sauvolle (Sauvolle's first name is unknown) as commandant of Louisiana.
1712, September 17	Antoine Crozat receives royal charter giving exclusive trading rights to Louisiana.
1714	Louis Juchereau St. Denis founds Fort St. Jean Baptiste on the Red River at site of present-day Natchitoches, the first permanent settlement in Louisiana.
1716	Fort Rosalie established at present-day Natchez.
1717	Company set up by John Law receives exclusive charter for development in Louisiana.
1718	New Orleans founded.
1719	The first large importation of black slaves. German families arrive in Louisiana.
1722, September	A hurricane destroys much of New Orleans.
1724, March	"Black Code" (restriction on former black slaves' freedom of movement, required them to labor, punishment of "insubordinate behavior", etc.) is declared in effect.
1727, August 6	Ursuline nuns arrive in New Orleans and begin a school for girls.
1729, November	Natchez Indians massacre 250 people at Fort Rosalie (Natchez).
1730-31	Governor Étienne de Périer leads successful battle against the Natchez Indians near Sicily Island.
1731, November	Company of the Indies resigns its monopoly. Louisiana returns to royal administration.
1732	King Louis XV names Bienville governor of Louisiana.
1736, June	(Forerunner of) Charity Hospital founded.
1743, May	Bienville leaves Louisiana for the last time.
1751	Jesuits introduce a strain of sugar cane that flourished in Louisiana; could only be used for molasses.
1762, November 3	By the Treaty of Fontainebleau, France cedes to Spain all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi.
1763, February 10	By the Treaty of Paris, France cedes to England all of Louisiana east of the Mississippi.
1764	Arrival in Louisiana of some of the first Acadians. Jesuits expelled from Louisiana.
1766, March 5	Antonio de Ulloa becomes the first Spanish governor of Louisiana; arrives in New Orleans but does not take possession.
1768, October 28	Superior Council orders Ulloa out of Louisiana.
1769, August 17	Alejandro O'Reilly arrives in New Orleans to take possession of Louisiana for Spain.
1771	Spanish government sets up public (state) schools.
1777	Governor Bernardo de Gálvez begins to lend Louisiana aid in the American Revolutionary struggle against England.
1788, March 21	Much of New Orleans destroyed by fire.
1793 April 3	Pope Pius VI establishes the first Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas.
1794, December 8	After a limited fire in 1792, a third fire ravages New Orleans.
1794, December 23	St. Louis Cathedral dedicated.
1795, April	A slave uprising in Pointe Coupée Parish suppressed.
1795, October 20	Treaty of San Lorenzo gives Americans free navigation of the Mississippi River. Work begins on Cabildo and Presbytere. Étienne de Boré develops a process for making sugar from Louisiana cane.
1800, October 1	Treaty of San Ildefonso provides for Spanish cession of Louisiana to France.
1803	Louisiana Purchase - dated April 30, signed May 2, ratified by US Senate October 19.
1803, November 30	As Colonial Prefect, Pierre Laussat formally receives possession of Louisiana for France.
1803, December 20	United States Commissioners W.C.C. Claiborne and James Wilkinson formally receive possession of Louisiana for the United States.
1804, March 26	Congress divides Louisiana Purchase into two parts (territories), with W.C.C. Claiborne as governor of the Territory of Orleans.
1810, September	West Florida declares its independence from Spain. Baton Rouge becomes the capitol of the West Florida Republic.
1810, October- December	West Florida Republic requests annexation to the USA. President James Madison orders Governor Claiborne to occupy.
1811, January	A massive slave uprising in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes suppressed.
1812, January	Arrival of steamboat New Orleans at the docks of New Orleans.
1812, January 22	Louisiana's first constitution is adopted.
1812, April 30	Louisiana is formally admitted to the union as the eighteenth state.
1815, January 8	Andrew Jackson's forces defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
1819, February 22	In the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain acknowledges the Sabine River as Louisiana's western boundary.
1831, August 16-17	Severe storms and floods batter New Orleans. Pontchartrain Railroad begins operation with steam locomotive.
1832	An epidemic of yellow fever and cholera kills more than 5,000 people in New Orleans.
1833, April 11	Captain Henry Miller Shreve begins clearing the Red River for navigation.
1837	Shreveport founded. The New Orleans Picayune established.
1838	New Orleans' first Mardi Gras parade occurs.
1850	John McDonogh bequeaths more than $750,000 to establish public schools in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.
1853	Louisiana's worst yellow fever epidemic kills more than 11,000 people in New Orleans alone.
1856, August 11	A hurricane kills more than 200 people vacationing at Isle Derniere (Last Island).
1859	New Orleanian Paul Morphy defeats the best chess players of Europe to become the unofficial world champion.
1860	John Breckinridge defeats John Bell and Stephen A. Douglas for Louisiana's popular vote in the crucial election of 1860.
1861, January 26	Louisiana's Secession Convention overwhelmingly votes for secession.
1862, March 17	Louisiana's Judah P. Benjamin becomes Confederate Secretary of State.
1862, April 25	New Orleans captured by Federal flotilla headed by Admiral David Farragut.
1863, May-July	Siege of Port Hudson ends in Federal capture of the fort.
1864, January 25	Henry W. Allen succeeds Thomas Overton Moore as Confederate governor of Louisiana.
1864, March 4	Michael Hahn becomes Federal governor of Louisiana.
1864, April 8-9	Battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill.
1864, July 23	New constitution (Reunion) abolishes slavery.
1865, June 2	Edmund Kirby-Smith signs a surrender to Federal forces.
1866, July 30	New Orleans: Attack on rump constitutional convention defended by black Metropolitan police degenerated from battle into race riot resulting in the deaths of 38 persons and the wounding of 146.
1867, March 6	General Philip Sheridan arrives in New Orleans to command the Fifth Military District (Louisiana and Texas) during Reconstruction.
1868, April	Louisiana's Resconstruction constitution adopted.
1868, June 25	Louisiana formally readmitted to the Union.
1868, August 11	The Louisiana State Lottery is established.
1870, June 30-July 2	Robert E. Lee beats the Natchez in the most famous steamboat race in history.
1872, March	Rex parades as King of Carnival.
1872, December	William Pitt Kellogg recognized as governor of Louisiana by the Grant adminstration.
1873, April	Colfax Riot: A pitched battle between whites and blacks that ended in a massacre that killed 25 blacks. In all, at least 63 and quite possibly more than 100 African-American men died violently during the riot.
1874, April	Severe floods ravage Louisiana.
1874, April 27	The White League (a paramilitary organization; its members wore no masks) organized to combat the Kellogg racial policies.
1874, August 30	Coushatta Massacre: The White League lynched five recalcitrant Republican officeholders. The Northern public expressed far more outrage of these five whites than over the deaths of many more blacks at Colfax a year earlier.
1874, September 14	The White League defeats the New Orleans Metropolitan Police in the Battle of Liberty Place.
1877, January 8	Both Democrat Francis T. Nicholls and Republican Stephen B. Packard claim victory in election for governor; both take oath of office.
1877, February	Packard relinquishes his claims to the governorship.
1877, April 20	President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws Federal troops from Louisiana, thus ending Reconstruction of the state.
1878	Yellow fever epidemic kills more than 5,000 people in Louisiana.
1879	Captain James B. Eads completes the jetty system at the mouth of the Mississippi River.
1884-1885	The World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition held in New Orleans.
1891, March 14	A New Orleans mob lynches 11 of 19 Italians charged in the murder of Police Chief David C. Hennessy.
1892	James J. Corbett knocks out John I. Sullivan to become the new world heavyweight boxing champion.
1893, October 1	A hurricane kills over 2,000 people in southern Louisiana and Mississippi.
1894, March 12	Edward Douglass White appointed to the United States Supreme Court.
1898, May 12	New constitution includes the "Grandfather Clause" to permit illiterate whites to vote; a poll tax and literacy test included to disqualify black voters.
1899, February 13	Record lowest temperature ever recorded for Louisiana: -16° F. at Minden.
1901, August	Louisiana's first oilfield discovered near Jennings.
1909	Commercial mining of sulphur begun near Sulphur, Louisiana. Louisiana's last yellow fever epidemic occurs.
1910, December 9	Edward Douglass White appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
1915, September 29	A hurricane and flood devastate New Orleans.
1916	A large natural gas field discovered near Monroe.
1921, June 15	Louisiana adopts a new constitution.
1926	The completion of waterways to the Gulf of Mexico enables Lake Charles to become a large seaport.
1927, April-May	The worst flood in United States history devastates 1,300,000 acres of land and leaves 300,000 people homeless.
1928	Huey P. Long becomes US Senator.
1934, May 23	Law enforcement officers and posse members gun down outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow beside the Jamestown-Sailes Highway, about eight miles from Gibsland.
1935, September 8	US Senator Huey Long shot in Baton Rouge on the steps of the state capitol.
1935, September 10	Huey Long dies.
1936, August 10	Record highest temperature ever recorded for Louisiana: 114° F. at Plain Dealing.
1939	Political scandals force resignation of Governor Richard W. Leche.
1940	Sam Jones and reform forces hand the Long machine its first political defeat in over a decade.
1948	Long machine regains control when Earl Long defeats Sam Jones in gubernatorial election.
1957, June 27	Hurricane Audrey kills hundreds of people in Cameron Parish.
1959, May-June	Governor Earl K. Long briefly confined to mental asylums in Texas and Louisiana.
1960, November	Two public schools in Orleans Parish desegregated.
1965, September 9-10	Hurricane Betsy devastates southern Louisiana.
1973	Corrine Claiborne "Lindy" Boggs becomes Louisiana's first congresswoman after her husband, Congressman T. Hale Boggs, is killed in a plane crash.
1977	Ernest N. "Dutch" Morial elected as New Orleans' first black mayor.
1979, October	David C. Treen elected as Louisiana's first Republican governor since Reconstruction.
1983, October 22	Edwin W. Edwards wins landslide victory over incumbent David C. Treen for governor of Louisiana.
1983, December	Coldest December on record in Louisiana.
1984, May 12	Louisiana World Exposition opens in New Orleans.
1984, June	Legislature passes $700 million tax increase.
1984, November 11	Louisiana World Exposition closes with financial loss.
1985, January 21	Governor Edwards indicted on federal racketeering charges.
1985, April	Tulane University discontinues basketball program because of point-shaving scandal.
1986, June	Governor Edwards acquitted of all charges.
1987, September 17	Pope John Paul II visits New Orleans.
1987, October 24	Congressman Charles E. "Buddy" Roemer III upsets Edwin W. Edwards in governor's election.
1988, August 15-18	Republican National Convention meets in New Orleans.
1989, February 18	Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke elected to legislature.
1989, February 18	Voters turn down Governor Buddy Roemer's fiscal reform and tax increase package.
1990, October	Voters approve state lottery.
1991, October	Edwards wins fourth term in landslide win over Duke. Edward's campaign slogan was "Vote for the Crook. At Least He's Honest!"
1992, June	Legislature authorizes riverboat and land-based casino gambling.
1993, July	Louisiana leads all 50 states in violent crime rate.
1994, April	Marc Morial (son of former Mayor Dutch Morial) elected Mayor of New Orleans.
1995, November	Mike Foster defeats Cleo Fields in governor's election.
1996, April	Legislature passes concealed weapons and tort reform laws.