Panel #15
A.Claiborne Landing
Mile 188.3 AHP
This was the plantation home of William C.C. Claiborne. At the age of 21, Claiborne helped write a constitution for the new state of Tennessee and five years later President Jefferson appointed him Governor of the Mississippi Territory. He was one of the commissioners who took possession of the vast Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the President then appointed him Governor of the Orleans Territory. Claiborne bought his plantation in 1811, but his plan of becoming a planter was canceled when he was elected Louisiana's first Governor the following year. While in office, he offered a $500 reward for the head of a pirate, Jean Lafitte. Lafitte promptly responded by offering a $5000 reward for the head of Governor Claiborne.
B. Carville, Louisiana
Mile 189.3 AHP
The semi-tropical climate and uncertain sanitation of 19th Century Louisiana made it one of the few parts of North America in which leprosy was found. While never widespread, there were enough cases that Louisiana established a leprosy treatment hospital in 1894 at the Indian Cap Plantation near Carville. Up to that time, public superstition had relegated the disease's victims to a wretched "pest house" in New Orleans. The U. S. Public Health Service bought Indian Camp in 1921 and established a national facility for research and treatment of leprosy, now known as Hansen's Disease.
C. Belle Grove
Mile 191.0 AHP
Early boatmen named the snag-filled channel behind Island No. 89 "General Hull's Left Leg." General William Hull was a hero of the American revolution, but during the War of 1812, he fell into disgrace by surrendering the fort at Detroit without a fight. He was court-martialed and sentenced to the firing squad but the President intervened to save him. Island No. 89 is now part of the Arkansas mainland. The connection between the old channel and the General's leg is unknown.
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