As historical events, the 1764 transfer of Louisiana from France to Spain, and the 1815 Battle of New Orleans were vital to the historical imagination of Creole New Orleans. Two plays written and produced in New Orleans--Les Martyrs de la Louisiane (1839) by Auguste Lussan and France et Espagne, ou La Louisiane en 1768 et 1769 (1850), by Louis Placide Canonge-- were based on the events of the 1768 revolt by French colonists against Spanish rule and the subsequent execution of the leaders of this revolt by the Spanish Governor O’Reilly. Written at a time when the economic and social power of Anglophone New Orleans began to eclipse that of the Francophone sections of the city, the two plays present patriotic Creole characters battling against the tyranny of an invading culture. In the first act of France et Espagne, we see a patriotic call to arms in a speech by Marquis, a French officer:

The title of Frenchman is the only title that we shall never renounce: it is our heritage, it is our glory! It is as necessary to us as the powerful and life giving sun is to the nourishment of these vast lands.

The characters in the plays reject Spanish rule and declare that the executed leaders of the revolt are martyrs for the cause of Creole Louisiana. Mil Huit Cent Quatorze (Eighteen-Fourteen) by Tullius St. Céran (1839), a book of poems about the Battle of New Orleans, and Refléxions sur la Campagne du Général André Jackson (Reflections on General Andrew Jackson’s Campaign) by Bernard Marigny (1848), a memoir of a veteran of this battle, demonstrate the importance that Andrew Jackson’s victory held for Creole New Orleans. These two works at once emphasize the Creole contribution to the American victory over the British at Chalmette, and contrast Francophone Louisianians with their English-speaking brothers in arms. Marigny’s memoir of the battle also describes an incident at a ball shortly after the Louisiana Purchase in which a group of Americans insisted that the musicians play a rill or a jig instead of the waltzes and cotillions that the Creoles preferred. A high-born Creole lady argued that during the thirty years of Spanish domination, New Orleans Creoles were never forced to dance the fandango, and that she expected the same respect from the newly-arrived Americans. The representation of these two events, these two creole foundation myths, demonstrates a conflicting impulse to both celebrate the Creole contribution to the American cause and to emphasize and reinforce the differences between the Creoles and their neighbors.

Case 4 Gallery:

Engraving. The Battle of New Orleans in A History of Louisiana. Vol.3. Alcée Fortier. (New York: Goupil & co. of Paris, Manzi, Joyant & co., successors, 1904).
[Hill Louisiana F369 F74 1904a V.2 c.3]

Drama. France et Espagne, ou La Louisiane en 1768 et 1769. Louis Placide Canonge. (New Orleans: 1850).
[Hill Louisiana Rare PQ 2203. C47 F7]

Engraving. Andrew Jackson in A History of Louisiana. Vol.2. Alcée Fortier. (New York: Goupil & co. of Paris, Manzi, Joyant & co., successors, 1904).
[Hill Louisiana F369 F74 1904a V.3 c.1]

Memoir. Réflexions sur la campagne du Général André Jackson en Louisiane, en 1814 et 1815. Bernard Marigny. (New Orleans, Sollée, 1848).
[Hill Louisiana Rare E355. 6 M37]

Drama. Les Martyrs de la Louisiane. Auguste Lussan (Donaldsonville, La.: E. Martin & F. Prou, 1839).
[Hill Louisiana Rare PQ 3939. L87 M3]

Engraving. "O'Reilley." in A History of Louisiana. Vol.2. Alcée Fortier. (New York: Goupil & co. of Paris, Manzi, Joyant & co., successors, 1904).
[Hill Louisiana F369 F74 1904a V.2 c.3]

Poetry. Mil huit cent quatorze et mil huit cent qinze. Tullius Saint-Céran. ( New Orleans: Gaux, 1839).
[Hill Louisiana Rare E 356. N5 S2 c.1]