Note 185 — Chapter XLIII

New Madrid was originally the site of a Delaware Indian town, at which two Canadians, named LeSueur, established a trading-house in 1780. Eight years later Colonel George Morgan attempted to obtain a large concession from the Spanish government to establish an American colony at this point, with rights of local self-government. Morgan brought out the first installment of colonists, but the arrangements at New Orleans which were to confirm his title to the grant failed of completion. The Spanish authorities sent Lieutenant Pierre Foucher, with a garrison of ninety men, to command here in 1789. A settlement of a heterogeneous character, as Cuming indicates, gradually grew up around the fort. The later history of New Madrid is chiefly concerned with the disastrous earthquakes of 1811-12, and the congressional grant of relief for the settlers.—Ed.