St. Tammany Farmer from Covington, Louisiana • 6

fr-The St Tammany Farmer Covington Louisiana Thursday December 19 1974 Article Is Published On History Of Military Rd FUND LEADERS HONORED IN NO Leadership of the fall United Way campaign for the Greater New Orleans Area was honored with special citations of appreciation at the December 18 meeting of the United Way Board of Trustees according to Robert McIntyre president The meeting singled out group and committee chairmen who did an outstanding Job in the campaign Just completed A dog Is ranked higher thso a hone on the InteUSgence scale Live Plants Flowers will make Christmas last little longer- 315 1 dew Mnistin 192-4522 Chickasaws and Choctaws to use some of their trails as horse paths It was also arranged that the Natchez Trace could be used as a wagon road Once the Creeks were defeated by troops in 1814 the Kth they had designated came a vehicular road also Slowly the clearing out and improvement of a road from Baton Rouge to Muscle Shoals Tern was" started The road headed west from Baton Rouge to the Tchefuncte River then headed north to the intersection of the Bogue Chitto and Pearl River from there it went northward to Ten- Stanton Manolan Jr son of Mr and Mrs: 11 Marsolan of Covington is shown here at the right receiving his commission as an ensign at ceremonies at the Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola Fla Handing him the commission Is Captain Loux USN CO NASC Marsolan has started basic flight training He will be designated a Naval Aviator upon completion of more than a year of Intensive ground and inflight training He Is a 1974 graduate of Louisiana Tech In Ruston The history of Military Road has become of heightened interest locally and throughout the state and historian Powell Casey recently published an article in the publication History" concerning it The Military Road known as that comes through Covington from Bogalusa and extends down to Madison-ville played an important part in local history especially around the war of 1812 Casey had previously spoken to the St Tammany Historical Society about his research into the route and published the same address in an expanded well documented article In his article he noted that fifty years ago there were three routes in Louisiana 'tHatwenVundet the name of Military Road these three we General Road General Carroll 1 Road 'and General Jackson Road from New Orleans to Muscle Shoals It was the third one which transverses St Tammany Parish Casey explains that when troops under General Leonard Covington took i of Baton Rouge in iber' of 1810 better communication between New Orleans and federal officials on the east coast seemed possible Once the Florida parishes were taken from the i Spanish controled West Florida the tried to strengthen its position by building finis and improving roads throughout the area While old established In- dian trails provided much of the overland routes from the east coast westward there remained a lack of direct routes to New Orleans from the frontier of Tennessee Spain protested American acquisition of Casey writes Spanish governors hadj American mail-riders to go to New Orleans via Baton Rouge or via Madisonville and across Lake The numerous swamps in the area inhibited vehicular traffic however Though sometimes hostile Indians caused problems in establishing horse trails Hie government finally got an agreement with the Creeks Wtaiftai presumably Jackson's Road and another from Fort Hawkins Georgia to Fort Stoddert It was estimated that the building of roads at that time ran something like $200 a mile including bridges Casey reported By November of 1819 the road had been completed for 125 miles extending from Muscle Shoals to Columbia Miss where a military ferry was established Slow progress brought the road to the Mississippi-Louisiana line and the Pearl River by July of 1819 Then began the long effort at taking the road on to Covington a 75 mile stretch Log jams of timber debris prevented supplies from getting up the Pearl River and it took 12 days for a three yoke ox cart to make the round trip to Covington for supplies further complicate matters negotiations with Spain were deteriorating and the secretary of war told Jackson to be ready to move against Pensacola should hostilities break out The Congress had also cutback the approprfations for completion of the road The secretary of war warned that if the road was not completed soon the troops would be recalled and the work suspended On July 8 1920 General Jackson reported to Washington that the road had finally been completed Casey notes It covered 483 miles from Madisonville to Nashville allowing mail to be delivered from Washington to New Orleans in a mere 17 days Jackson in a letter predicted that the route would become the most important road in America implying that it would save the lives of many citizens by affording places of shelter and places of aid for the sick traveler Casey goes on to report that the southernmost 120 miles of the road crossed 25 streams and that 12000 feet of causeway were installed through low areas Once the road was completed it was recommended that more steamboats be put into service between Madisonville and New Orleans A spur road was built from the Pearl River to Pass Christian Miss where an army garrison was located In 1821 the acquired Florida and road lost its importance as a military road It continued to serve as a mail route however and was kept in good repair! After that local' residents were put in charge of keeping the road in shape with an 1822 state legislative act calling upon all persons living within five miles of Military Road to perform repair work on it Changes in settlement patterns and reforestation programs have all but obliterated some military roads Casey comments but one crosses the Tchefuncte River at Covington and travels northeastward along La 21 and La 1082 he can be sure of being on Military Omrtosstt mm Early maps show the road running from Baton Rouge and St Francis ville eastward to the site of the old St Tammany courthouse A number of old military records fail to show the route as accurately as historians would like and it is believed that another road began somewhere between the Tchefuncte and Tangipahoa River and headed north towards Natchez As a result some confusion still stands as to where some of the roads were located The Military Road bearing name was so entitled because he was the one who had it built not because he used it to return his troops from his victory in New Orleans Casey says Instead records indicate that Jackson left New Orleans via the river road next to the Mississippi This round-about way of leaving New Orleans reportedly convinced Jackson that a more direct way to get to the city was needed In a letter to the secretary of war in 1815 Jackson wrote of a need for a road tfr transput men and supplies from the Tennessee River to New Orleans a direct route he noted which would save 300 miles Jackson was to select the route which would facilitate the movement at troops The building of the road would be a way to keep his troops occupied also Congress in April of 1818 appropriated $10000 for the repair and maintenance of two roads one from Tennessee to New Orleans For a modern lady SAVE $80 NOW $295 after Christmas $375 For a modern man SAVE $100 NOW $565 after Christmas $665 Rings enlarged to show detail BOL 892-3412 THE EDWARDS 1 VHAT ABOUT THE VALUE OF DIAMONDS On the left we show you a 14 Karat Gold ring with a firie half carat diamond In 1883 It was advertised tar $2875 Today the same ring would cost at least 25 times as much One reason: the dollar buys less But more important the value of fine dia-1 moods goes up and up as the demand increases Today the entire world remembers the saying: diamond is forever'' If true! You see a lot of banks advertising the same interest rates on passbook savings Some banks will tell you there is no real competition that all banks pay the same rate on savings But all banks are not alike Some have a minimum deposit system They make you keep a certain minimum balance before they pay any interest at all 8 Well we are not that way at First National Bank First National pays you interest on every savings dollar you have on deposit In a regular passbook savings account that interest is compounded every day what some folks call "day-in day-out" interest At First National Bank your savings earn the maximum possible return because we pay you for every dollar every day Best Value for your Money DIAMONDS in our new 14 Karat Gold styles Drive So Fashion Your Future With First the Very First National Bank In St Tammany Parish we're Everywhere CANTATA PLANNED BY COLLINS CHRUCH The Collins Boulevard Baptist Church adult choir announced this week that their Christmas cantata entitled' About will be presented Sunday night December 22 at 8:30 pm and will be directed by mil Burns The cantata was arranged by Mrs Bonnie Dunn Rev Murphy Brantley is the pastor Immediately following the cantata gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering will be placed upon a tree by families of the church The public is invited to attend AGENCY INC i Charier9 Jewels Gifts Claiborne Hill BAC-MC-MR L-1 National A COMMERCIAL CAPITAL SYSTEMS BANK Covington New Hampshire Street Bogue Falaya Plaza Lacombe Madisonville Mandeville Pearl River Slidell Pontchartrain Gause Road Folsom i i i i i i i GENERAL INSURANCE 532 Ritland Street CoiliftM Ltaislni 892-5750 People Who Get Things Done We are a new agency in town and we would like to introduce ourselves We sell all types of insurance from Homeowners and Automobile to Commercial Package Policies Our Homeowners and Auto rates are some of the lowest in town and our Commercial Lines are very competitive We have a Life Department that is capable of handling all your Life needs from individual life contracts to corporate life contracts I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I buy Insurance give us a call 1 believe you with our service and delighted with our 'The next time will be plea products -U0.