Historic Information |
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Brief Sabine Parish History The early American history buff will be fascinated learning about this West Central section of Louisiana, which has been under seven flags. Sabine was one of five parishes created in as many weeks by the Louisiana State Legislature March 7, 1843. It was created from Natchitoches Parish with the Sabine River as the international boundary between the United States and the Province of Texas as the western boundary. Following the Louisiana Purchase between the U.S. and Spain, Sabine Parish became neutral ground or "No Man's Land" as it was home to outlaws and renegade Indians, having no law or enforcement agencies. The "Neutral Strip" or "Sabine Free State", was a demilitarized zone provided for by the Neutral Ground Treaty between the United States and Spain in 1806. Both nations claimed ownership but neither exercised control. English speaking settlers from the older eastern states began moving into the section during the westward expansion years before the boundary was established. They settled on Spanish grants known as Rio Hondo claims. One of the earliest settlers was Thomas Arthur, who filed a claim for 640 acres on Negreet Creek. For more information and background on the "Free State" - check out the Florien Freestate Festival In 1819 Spain abandoned all claims to land east of the Sabine River and the United Stated moved in to establish law and order. Fort Jesup was founded in 1822 by Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor who later became the 12th President of the United States. Taylor's troops managed to establish law and order in this Neutral Ground. Fort Jesup has served as a vital part of Sabine Parish over the years and can be enjoyed by visitors today. It was an important frontier post until the annexation of Texas in 1845 and the focal point of the American expansionist movement. Great caravans of homeseekers marched over the old highways and many of them settled in present-day Sabine Parish. Small settlements began to make their appearances throughout the parish. In addition to Negreet, other early settlements still in existence today are Toro in the extreme south, site of one of Sabine's first pine pole school houses and Noble in the north, dating back to the 1830's. The two main highways of the southwest traversed the Neutral Strip and ran about four miles apart in the vicinity of the Town of Many, The San Antonio Trace, El Camino Real, extended from Natchitoches westward directly across Sabine Parish into the state of Texas. Since it was older and better known, a number of farmers and villages settled along it. Phillip Nolan's Trace crossed the Red River above Alexandria and ran through the Kisatchie country to join El Camino Real near the Sabine River crossing. The parish was created at a time when America had entered upon a new era of progress. A government survey in 1831 laid out the Sabine area in townships and sections and this, together with the clearing of the Red River "raft" by Henry Miller Shreve opened the Red River to steamboat traffic and gave impetus to the colonization of the area. Steamboats began to ply other rivers and their whistles were heard regularly on the Sabine. Popular landings were Columbus, Pendleton, and Carter's Ferry. About three miles south of Pendleton was the large and flourishing river port of Sabine Town. The influx of settlers reached its zenith just prior to the War Between the States. During the Civil War, Sabine Parish sent five companies to Virginia and was the scene of the last major engagement on Louisiana soil. The latter was fought April 9, 1864, at old Pleasant Hill and along the Sabine-DeSoto Parish line. The battle took place the following day after the Confederate victory at Mansfield. The action forced the withdrawal of Federal troops along the Shreveport-Natchitoches road, which cut across the northeast section of the parish. These clashes were regarded as vitally important. Although, they did not affect the ultimate outcome of the war, they frustrated the attempt by Union forces to capture Shreveport and split Texas from the rest of the Confederacy. Following the war the steamboat gave way to the railroad. The Texas-Pacific was completed in 1882 between Shreveport and New Orleans Realizing how important a railroad was to a town, Pleasant Hill moved itself out of DeSoto Parish to the railroad which was two miles away in Sabine Parish. The construction of the Kansas City Southern Railroad through the parish in 1896 led to the founding of the towns of Converse, Zwolle, Fisher and Florien. The area was mainly agriculture until the railroads brought lumbermen, who set up sawmills to convert the trees that blanketed the state into lumber to satisfy a worldwide demand for longleaf virgin pine. Three decades later the forest acres were barren and a great many sawmills, including Gandy and Peason moved out. Reforestation was innovated in the early 1940's and pulp and paper mills bought the thinnings. The payoff was the development of Southern Pine plywood and the opening of Vancouver Plywood, Inc., the first plywood mill in the state, in Florien. Reforestation lagniappe was the creation of Hodges Gardens in the 1950s, which opened a brand new industry. That was tourism, which was augmented with the completion of Toledo Bend Reservoir in 1968. The largest military maneuvers ever held in the United States were staged in and around Sabine Parish in May 1940. This Army Maneuvers in the Sabine River area brought the possibility of war very close as 40,000 officers and men of the Blue Army defended the Sabine River from 30,000 invading Red troops. Soldiers from 33 states took part in the games, which covered 10,000 square miles of cutover pinelands, hills, rivers, and valleys between Alexandria and Nacogdoches, Texas. Commanding officers and staff members passing through the area comprised a virtual "who's who" in the military. These included Lt. General Ben Lear, Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower, Lt. General Walter Krueger, General George S. Patton, Jr., and Major J. L. Benedict. Following the discovery of oil in 1928, crude oil and natural gas joined timber as leading natural resources until about 1934 when oil experienced a natural decline. Oil was not a major economic factor again until new reserves were brought in near Many in the 1950s. The "Free State of Sabine" may not be as free as it once was, but it's a lot more prosperous. Its 1,008 square miles contain some of the finest timber in the world. In addition, Sabine Parish is rich in other natural resources. Many - The Parish Seat The town of Many is the parish seat and the principle town of Sabine Parish. Dubbed the "land of Green Gold" the town was named for a commandant of Fort Jesup. The town was settled by a group of Belgians in 1937 and became the parish seat six years later. Act 46 creating the parish specified that the seat of government should be named Many in honor of Colonel James B. Many, beloved commandant of Fort Jesup. Many was located on El Camino Real. The act also specified that the seat of government should be located "within three miles of the center of the parish". El Camino Real, the King's Highway, runs down the main street of Many and crosses into Texas over the pendleton Bridge. Many was originally a rural town with its main purpose being to serve as a relatively large area of farms and small businesses with governmental and commercial facilities. This situation has changed due to massive Toledo Bend Lake, Hodges Gardens, festivals, and other tourist attractions. The area has become a haven for retirees and Many has flourished as a consequence. John Baldwin has been called the "Father of Many". He operated a tavern on El Camino Real at a junction with some minor roads where the parish seat was located; was a commissioner over the sale of town lots; was the first postmaster; and served also as the parish treasurer. In those days mail arrived weekly, brought from Natchitoches by stagecoach or horseback rider, weekly dispatches carried the mail and news further west into Texas. Colonel John B. Many commanded the strongest garrison in Louisiana. In November, 1823, that was four companies of the 7th Infantry, but by 1825 the strength of Cantonment Jesup was cut down to three companies, but this was surpassed in strength only by the garrison at New Orleans. |
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