Military Tradition Fort Miro Poste d' Ouachita in Colonial Louisiana 1783-1804

Description: Military Tradition of Fort Miro and the Poste D' Ouachita in Colonial Louisiana, 1783 - 1804 By E. Russ Williams, Jr. An Official Publication of the Monroe-Ouachita Valley Bicentennial Commission. Rare vintage paperback local Louisiana History. Preface: In 1976 during the celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States, the Louisiana Bicentennial Commission and the City of Monroe funded a research project on the history of the Poste d' Ouachita (Ouachita Post) and Port Miro. Data for this endeavor was procured from many repositories, but the major source of untapped information was found in the Archivo General in Seville, Spain. The major portion of Jean Filhiol's correspondence with the Spanish officials is preserved in that collection. It is most fitting that the 1976 findings, for the most part, are being presented in 1983 in conjunction with the Bicentennial Celebration for the Ouachita Valley and the City of Monroe. The year 1783 marks the commencement of a consistent and continuing effort to develop the area into a progressive and productive region. Filhiol can be given credit for the initial effort to convert the primeval status of the Quachita River basin into a well-organized and civilized locality. In the beginning, living standards were rude, housing was crude, governmental function was little known, and economic conditions were poor. Although Filhiol worked for 17 years, his labors did not produce the immediate results he hoped for. The Spanish commandants used the militia as the first medium for regional organization. The militia was a source of protection and the avenue through which the area residents could be taught discipline and have justice administered to them. On all early documents, the commandants noted that they were military and civil commanders. The Ouachita Post existed in the Spanish period for military reasons more than civil. Thus the present militia companies, now known as units of the Louisiana National Guard, can trace their origins to the early picquets or militia units formed by Filhiol in1783. All men of arms-bearing age first served in those militias under Spanish direction and continued to do so when the area became an American province. Some even served with Captain William Woodin the defense of Louisiana during the War of 1812. Later, grandsons of those pioneer militiamen saw service with the United States in the War with Mexico; served in the local companies of Confederate State service; and defended the democratic principles of the United States in World Wars I and II. In the last-named war, Monroe once again became the site of a military installation with the 10-cation there of a military training base.Thus the Ouachita Valley and Monroe have a long military tradition. This booklet is presented with the desire that it will aid in an understanding of the importance the region served geographically and militarily to the Spanish Empire in that bygone era.E. Russ Williams, Jr, Northeast Louisiana University 1982 51 Pages7"x8.25"Indexed

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