PASSPORT ACROSS THE NATCHEZ DISTRICT GRANTED BY THE SPANISH GOVERNOR DON MANUEL GAYOSO DE LEMOS, ALLOWING THREE MEN TO "PASS UNMOLESTED TO THE UNITED STATES CARRYING WITH THEM SEVEN HORSES," signed and dated 6 June, 1797
[Natchez District, Spanish Territory: 1797]. Single sheet, 32.5 x 20 cm. Partly printed, completed in manuscript, and signed by both Manuel Gayosos de Lemos, Spanish Military Governor of Natchez District, and by his secretary Joseph Vidal. The passport gave permission to John Orr, Edward Newcom, and William Buchanan to cross Spanish territory with a group of horses. Governor's printed coat of arms in the lower left corner of the document. Old fold lines, some short separations along one fold (reinforced on verso with archival tape), encapsulated. OCLC lists a photocopy only at LSU. Item #71017
Manuel Luis Gayoso de Lemos was appointed by the Spanish Crown to the Governorship of Natchez in 1787, and arrived in the district in 1789. He strengthened fortifications in the area, further developed the town, and encouraged new settlers and new agricultural advances to help stabilize the economy. At the time, the Spanish controlled American access to the Mississippi River but shifting priorities of the Spanish government in Europe and the need to better protect their possessions on the American continent led Spain to negotiate the Treaty of San Lorenzo (also known as Pinckney's Treaty) in 1795. It fixed the boundaries of Spanish Florida, and allowed for free navigation of the Mississippi River by the Americans. The United States ratified the treaty in March 1796, followed by Spain in April, though several factors delayed Spain's final departure from Natchez until March 1798. In the meantime, Gayoso de Lemos had been reassigned to be Governor General of Louisiana and West Florida, taking office in August 1797, about two months after this passport was signed. He contracted yellow fever in New Orleans, and died there in July 1799. [see: the Mississippi Encyclopedia online and Jack Holmes' brief biography of Gayoso de Lemos in the Handbook of Texas].
Price: $1,500.00