Freeman-Custis Red River Expedition

Freeman-Custis Red River Expedition. April 19, 1806-August 25, 1806. , The United States doubled in size with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France under President Jefferson. The Purchase was based on an 1800 treaty land transfer from Spain to France. Jefferson determined that the SW boundary of the Louisiana Purchase was everything north and east of the Rio Grande, including all of Texas and half of New Mexico, as shown on the 1804 map by Nicholas King. Spain did not agree. Jefferson sent expeditions funded by Congress to explore the new lands with orders to avoid conflict., The Freeman-Custis Red River Expedition was to find the source of the Red River, map, scientifically describe the area, establish friendly relations, and inform the local population of the change in sovereignty, giving them gifts and U.S. flags with 15 stars and 15 stripes. Thomas Freeman, 35, surveyor and civil engineer of PA, and Peter Custis, 25, naturalist and medical student of VA, had a military escort which included Capt. Richard Sparks, Lt. Enoch Humphreys, 19 soldiers and a black servant. They later added soldiers and guides. They left from Fort Adams near Natchez, Mississippi Territory on April 19, 1806 and entered the Red River on May 2, 1806. , The Expedition crossed the Great Raft, an ancient logjam, in 14 difficult days through the Great Swamp. They were aided by Chiefs Dehahuit of the Caddo and Echean of the Coushatta. While the expedition was making its way 615 miles up the Red River through the present states of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas to Oklahoma, they heard reports of a 1000-man Spanish force pursuing them. The Freeman-Custis Expedition pressed on. The Nacogdoches Spanish force crossed through present-day Linden, Cass County, TX and the Texarkana area. On July 29, the Expedition reached “Spanish Bluff”, NE of now New Boston, Bowie Co., TX, where they found Spanish troops waiting. Capt. Francisco Viana insisted the U.S. territorial rights only extended to the 1719 Bénard de La Harpe French trading post near now Texarkana. The Expedition began the return the next day, arriving in Natchitoches, LA by August 25, 1806. Jefferson commended their zeal and prudence. , To prevent war after the tense interception, General James Wilkinson and Commandant Simón de Herrera y Leyva established the Neutral Ground on the Sabine River in November 1806. The U.S. claim to Texas remained until the 1819 Adams-Onís treaty. The Freeman-Custis Expedition helped open the West to U.S. traders and preserved a record of the 1806 Red River.