Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer Who Defined America

By William J. Morton

This story is an important piece of American history and tells of a four year venture that fell on the shoulders of one man. His success would make a huge difference in the security and commerce of the struggling United States. The story involves the complex details of diplomacy in dealing with the dilatory Spanish, the technical and physical problems of measuring and marking a 530 mile line through dense woods and swamps and interacting with angry Indians through whose property they were trespassing.
Andrew Ellicott was a second generation Pennsylvanian who served as a major in the Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War. Without much of a formal education, he became the most famous astronomer-surveyor in America. Ellicott surveyed all of Pennsylvania’s boundaries and would eventually survey the boundaries of thirteen states, more than anyone before or since. President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson asked Ellicott to survey the ten square mile District of Columbia and he worked with Pierre L’Enfant, the architect of the City of Washington, to survey many of the boulevards and squares in the new federal capital. However, Ellicott's most ambitious task was in surveying the first international boundary line of the United States.
Rather than a biography, Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer Who Defined America is a close study of this unquestionably major achievement—the monumental United States/Spanish survey dividing the thirteen original states from the property owned by His Catholic Majesty, Charles V of Spain. This story provides a stunning record of a critical moment in American history. The dramatic stories of Ellicott's four-year-long efforts are the stuff of fiction. Here are adventures into unknown territory fraught with physical hazard and personal danger, encounters with hostile Indians, Spanish spies, and a cast of remarkable characters. Revealed in his letters home, there is also a warm tale of spousal devotion despite his having a washerwoman as a mistress.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William J. Morton
• Release date: May 29, 2015
• ISBN: 9780984159659

William J. Morton

Willaim J.Morton is a board-certified urological surgeon who practiced in Atlanta for 30 years.He is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine and did his post-graduate training at the Emory-Grady Residency Program in Atlanta.He served as a medical officer in the U.S.Air Force, sat on numerous hospital committees and has published over two dozen articles in medical journals. Bill received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree in 1985 and has been a member of the State Bar of Georgia since that time.He has taught courses,written papers and made presentations on medicolegal topics throughout the United States.He is also a part-time judge in the Magistrate Court of Fulton County,Ga. His wide interests include history, astronomy, ornithology and photography, and he has a commercial and multiengine pilot and U.S.Coast Guard captain licenses.He has already started doing research on his next book, a biography of Andrew Ellicott. Bill and his wife,Monna, both passionate about fly fishing, live in Atlanta, GA and Whitefish, MT.

Book preview

Andrew Ellicott

Th e Stargazer Who Defi ned America

BY THE SAME AUTHOR

The Story of Georgia’s Boundaries:

A Meeting of History and Geography

Medical Malpractice:

Handling Urology Cases

Andrew Ellicott

The Stargazer Who Defined America

William J. Morton

Georgia History Press

Atlanta, Georgia

iv

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Andrew Ellicott

Copyright © 2015 by William J. Morton

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Published by Georgia History Press, Atlanta, Georgia

www.georgiahistorypress.com

Maps by: John T. Nelson (johnnelson.com)

Book Design: Jim Bisakowski (bookdesign.ca)

Indexing by Clive Pyne Book Indexing Services

Library of Congress Control Number 2015901513

ISBN (hard cover) 978-0-9841596-3-5

ISBN (soft cover) 978-0-9841596-4-2

ISBN (ebook) 978-0-9841596-5-9

3rd Edition

Printed in the United States of America

History-Expeditions and Discovery 2. History-United States/Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) 3. History-United States/State & Local South 4. Technology & Engineering-Surveying

v

To my Wife and Best Friend

Monna Jean Morton

Thank you for tolerating my obsession with Andrew Ellicott.

Thank you for coming with me all over the United States looking into

Ellicott’s life. Thank you for giving me your solid advice about all the issues that arose in writing this book. And, most of all: Thank you for allowing me to share my life with you.

vi

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

vii

Contents

Preface & Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Who Is Andrew Ellicott? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

1. A Little History Lesson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Spain Controls More Land On The Continent Than

The New United States

2. Getting Ready . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Ellicott Gathers His Team And Supplies

3. To Pittsburgh And Down The Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Freezing Weather, Four Flatboats And A Military Escort

4. The Confluence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67

Stuck In The Ice For Six Weeks

5. Down The Mississippi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75

First Contacts With The Hostile Spanish

6. Natchez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Arriving After A Difficult Six Months

7. Stepping Ashore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Hoisting The American Flag In U.S. Territory

8. Natchez March 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

No Sign Of The Spanish Survey Team

9. Natchez April/May 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Dealing With Governor General Carondelet And

Commandant Gayoso

10. Natchez May/June 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Spain Issues A Proclamation And The Citizens Get Anxious

11. Natchez June 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Local Citizens Form Committees For And Against

The United States

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Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

12. Natchez July-September 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Ellicott And His Team Move To The Countryside To

Avoid The Fever

13. Summer 1797 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

U.S. Military Reinforcements Are Sent To Natchez

14. Natchez October-December 1797. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

A General Gets Exposed

15. Natchez January-March 1798 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

The Spanish Cooperate And Make Plans To Evacuate Natchez

16. Down The Mississippi To Clarksville. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Meeting The Spanish Survey Team

17. Union Hill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Governor General Gayoso Consecrates The

Beginning Of The Survey

18. Surveying And Astronomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

What He Did And How He Did It

19. Point Of Beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

The Survey Begins At The High Water Mark

20. Big Bayou Sara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

William Dunbar Surveys Back To The East Bank Of The

Mississippi River

21. Thompson’s Creek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Thomas Freeman Gets Fired

22. Darling’s Creek To The Pearl River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

A Change In Surveying Method

23. New Orleans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Building The Sally To Chart The Gulf Of Mexico

24. Mobile Bay And Estuary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Placing The Only Monument On The Boundary Line

ix

25. Pensacola And The Coenecuh River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

The Indians Pow-Wow With The Survey Teams

26. The Chattahoochee And Flint Rivers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Troubles With The Indians Escalate

27. Flint River Junction To St. George Sound . . . . . . . . . . . 311

The Indians Force The Teams To Split Up

28. Fort St. Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

A Surprise Meeting With The British

29. Sailing Around Florida. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

An Astounding Accomplishment

30. St. Marys Village . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Finding The Headwaters Of The St. Marys River

31. Cumberland Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Each Team Prepares Reports For The Spanish Government

32. Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Arriving Home

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Treaty Of Friendship, Limits, And Navigation Between

Spain And The United States; October 27, 1795

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Personalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

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Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Maps

East Florida 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

West Florida 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

West Florida 1767 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Southern Boundary of the United States after the

Treaty of Paris, 1783 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

United States/Spain Boundary after the

Pinckney Treaty of 1795 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Philadelphia to Pittsburgh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Ohio River to the Confluence with the Mississippi River . . . . 58

Confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Natchez . . . 78

Down the Mississippi River from Natchez

to the 31˚ Latitude North . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Latitude and Longitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Start of the Survey at Union Hil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Point of Beginning to the Pearl River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

New Orleans to Fort St. Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

Mobile Estuary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

The 31˚ Latitude North from the Mississippi River

to Pensacola . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Pensacola to the Flint River. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Sailing Around Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

xi

Chronology

1783 (September)

The Treaty of Paris ends the Revolutionary War.

1784 (June)

Spain closes the Mississippi River and Port of New Orleans to all who do not swear allegiance to His Catholic Majesty.

1795 (October)

The Treaty of Friendship, Limits and Navigation Between Spain and the

United States is signed.

1796 (March)

The United States ratifies the Treaty.

1796 (May)

President George Washington appoints Andrew Ellicott as

Commissioner and Thomas Freeman as Surveyor to survey the

boundary line between the two nations.

1796 (September)

Ellicott, Freeman and the survey team depart Philadelphia for

Pittsburgh.

1796 (October)

The team departs Pittsburgh and rows down the Ohio River.

1796 (December)

The team arrives at the Confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

1797 (February)

The team arrives at Natchez on the Mississippi River.

1798 (March)

The Spanish evacuate Natchez.

1798 (April)

Ellicott and the team departs Natchez for Clarksville.

1798 (May)

Ellicott and the team arrive at Union Hil .

1798 (May)

The Spanish team, headed by Captain Estevan Minor and William

Dunbar, arrives at Union Hil .

xii

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

1798 (May)

Governor Gayoso de Lemos arrives at Union Hill to commemorate the

beginning of the survey.

1798 (June)

The survey begins. The Point of Beginning is 2½ miles east of the

flooded bank of the Mississippi River.

1798 (June)

The teams advance to Little Bayou Sara.

1798 (July)

The teams advance to Big Bayou Sara.

1798 (August)

Dunbar returns to the Point of Beginning to proceed west to the bank of the Mississippi River to complete the survey. At the end of the month,

Dunbar leaves the survey to return to his plantation.

1798 (September)

The teams advance to Thompson’s Creek. Thomas Freeman is dismissed

from the survey team. David Gillespie is made chief surveyor for the U.S.

team.

1798 (November)

The teams advance to the Pearl River.

1798 (December)

Ellicott leaves the team to go to New Orleans.

1799 (January)

Ellicott arrives in New Orleans.

1799 (March)

Ellicott departs New Orleans and arrives at the Mobile River.

1799 (April)

Ellicott sets a monument on the banks of the Mobile River.

1799 (April)

The teams advance to Pensacola.

1799 (May)

Ellicott meets with the Creek Indians at Miller’s Farm and arrives at the Coenecuh River.

1799 (May)

Ellicott goes back to Pensacola.

1799 (June)

The teams advance to the Chattahoochee River.

xiii

1799 (July)

Ellicott, Minor and Hawkins meet with angry Seminole and Creek

Indians.

1799 (August)

Th e teams advance to the junction of Chattahoochee and Flint rivers.

1799 (September)

Major Estevan Minor dismisses his military escort, most of the laborers and sends away a large portion of the baggage.

1799 (September)

Indians plunder Ellicott’s camp and boat.

1799 (September)

Ellicott and Major Minor decide to split the teams up, with Minor

walking across Florida and Ellicott sailing around Florida to meet at St.

Marys Vil age.

1799 (September)

Ellicott sails down the Apalachicola River to St. George Sound and

arrives at Fort St. Marks.

1799 (October)

Ellicott leaves Fort St. Marks and sails around Florida.

1799 (October)

Minor and his group arrive at St. Marys Vil age

1799 (December)

Both teams meet at St. Marys Vil age and move to Point Peter waiting for the weather to improve.

1800 (February)

Th e teams sail and canoe up the St. Marys River to its headwaters.

1800 (March)

Th e teams depart St. Marys Vil age for Cumberland Island.

1800 (April)

Th e teams return to St. Marys Vil age and sail to Savannah.

1800 (May)

Ellicott’s team and Minor depart Savannah for Philadelphia on the Genet and arrive in Philadelphia on May 18.

.

xiv

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Preface & Acknowledgments 1

Preface & Acknowledgments

Six years ago I knew nothing about the topic of this book. I had only

briefl y heard of Andrew Ellicott, had never heard of the Pinckney

Treaty and didn’t know, or remember, that the Spanish ever had any

signifi cant presence on the North American Continent. And I was a

history major in college!

I fi rst started reading about Andrew Ellicott when I came across

his name doing my research for a book about how my home state of

Georgia’s boundaries were decided. Seems like a boring topic, but the

more I got into it, the more fascinating boundaries became to me. I

have a whole new understanding and respect for that mostly over-

looked, and absolutely necessary, occupation of surveying. Elliott sur-

veyed two of the corners of Georgia and the more I read about him,

the more I wanted to read about him. It was a delicious addiction.

Th is book isn’t a biography of Ellicott but certainly contains many elements of his life. Th is is the story of his most famous survey, that of the boundary line between the United States and Spain. Th e two sparring

nations signed a treaty agreeing to a common boundary line that set

the stage for the preeminence of our United States on our continent. It could be said that if Ellicott had not stayed the course, we might all be speaking Spanish.

2

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Beside learning about my topic and then putting it on paper, a

huge part of the process was finding and relying on all sorts of people to help me along the way.

Of considerable, if not utmost, importance is my team of assis-

tants who helped bring this book to fruition. I have learned more

than I wanted to know about how to get an idea into print, but the

following persons made it happen and without whom I would have

400 typed pages in my desk drawer. For obvious reasons, I am not

going to list them in order of importance. My editor, Mandee Mays

with her Master’s degree in publishing and years of book editing made

my words come alive. My il ustrator, John Nelson, has again drawn the

maps of Ellicott’s journey as he did for my first book.

I needed a real surveyor to help me with the technical language.

Tom Robertson, an accomplished surveyor, civil engineer, historian,

and published author, reviewed everything I wrote about latitude,

longitude and the technical part of surveying. His corrections gave

legitimacy to the chapters. Tom greatly improved (some would say he

rewrote) my chapter on Surveying and Astronomy. I’m glad I asked

him.I can’t leave out my favorite cousin, Bob Morton. I love this guy.

He listened to me pontificate about Andrew Ellicott and convinced

me that he was genuinely interested and that I was on to something.

He gave me excellent advice, thanks to his 40 years in the publishing

business. I must mention Dr. John Ferling, emeritus professor of his-

tory at the University of West Georgia and author of a dozen books on

the Revolutionary War, Jefferson, Washington, Adams and Hamilton.

Serious books. Best sellers. John has taken me under his wing, listened to me, gently corrected me and taught me much about writing a book,

history, baseball and cats. John fits the definition of mentor and clearly is a father figure for me although I am three years his senior.

Leaving the best for last is Monna Jean Morton, my best friend and

love of my life, who always, no matter what, encouraged me, corrected

me and believed in me. My life is infinitely more complete with her in it.

I owe thanks to many complete strangers and the least I can do is

to name them. I guess one could say all of them were only doing their

job, but their eagerness to help and to learn about what I was doing

Preface & Acknowledgments 3

always amazed me. The list is long and hopeful y each of them will

have an opportunity to see their name in print and understand how

important they were to me:

Amy Beach, Historian Associate

#, Local History and Genealogy,

Mobile Public Library, Mobile, AL; Tad Bennicoff, Asst. Archivist,

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Washington, DC; Donna C.

Barlow, Archivist, Madison County Records Center, Huntsville, AL;

Cindy Born-Mylo, Genealogical Research Services, Raleigh, NC;

Leonard Bruno, Science Manuscript Specialist, Manuscript Division,

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Jennie M. Burroughs,

Government Documents Librarian, Mansfield Library, University of

Montana, Missoula, MT; Suzanne Christoff, Associate Director for

Special Collections and Archives, United States Military Academy

Library, West Point, NY; Robert Delap, Rights and Reproductions,

New-York Historical Society; Kathy Fluehr, Director of Admissions,

Buckingham Friends School, Lahaska, PA; Sarah Good, Collections

Manager, Bucks County Historical Society, Mercer Museum,

Doylestown, PA; Roy Goodman, Assistant Librarian & Curator of

Printed Materials, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, PA;

Chris Goodwin, Mississippi Department of Archives and History,

Jackson, MS; Florence Greffe, Conservateur des Archives de l’Acad-

emie des Sciences-Institut de France, Paris, France; Elaine Grublin

and Heather Merril , Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA;

Michael Hardy, Librarian, Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Research

Annex, Landover, MD; James Hazard, Researcher, Friends Historical

Library, Swarthmore, PA; Howard County Historical Society, Ellicott

City, MD; Jamie Kingman Rice, Maine Historical Society, Portland,

MA; Bruce Kirby, Reference Librarian, Manuscript Division, Library

of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Tammy Kiter, New-York Historical

Society, New York, NY; Peggy Sheets Manning, Researcher, Lancaster

PA; Cheryl McCallips, Reference & Instruction Librarian, Pennsylvania State University Libraries, University Park, PA; Donna McCrea, Head

of Archives & Special Collections, University of Montana, Missoula, MT; Catherine Miller, Archivist, National Archives and Records

4

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Administration, Morrow, GA; Sandy Mueller, Legislative Librarian,

Maryland Department of Legislative Services, Office of Policy Analysis, Baltimore, MD; Stanley Nelson, Editor, Concordia Sentinel, Concordia,

LA; Daina Nobles, Store Administrator, Mississippi History Store,

Mississippi Department of Archive History, Jackson, MS; Joan Peck

O’Connor, Upper School Librarian/Academy Archivist, The Episcopal

Academy, Newtown Square, PA; Blynne Olivieri, Archivist and Head

of Special Collections Library, University of West Georgia, Carrol ton, GA; Laura Puls, Reference Intern, Manuscript Division, Library of

Congress, Washington, DC; Frederick Richey, Ph.D., Department of

Mathematics, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY; Michael

D. Sherbon, Associate Archivist, Pennsylvania State Archives North

Street, Harrisburg, PA; Carlene Stephens, Archivist, Smithsonian

Museum and Libraries, Washington, DC; Matthew Turi, Manuscripts

Research Librarian, Louis Round, Wilson Special Collections Library,

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil , NC; Steven Turner,

Curator, Physical Sciences, National Museum of American History,

Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC; Cynthia Van Ness, MLS,

Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Buffalo, NY; Lara Westwood,

Archivist, Maryland Historical Society’s Special Collections Library;

Scott Wixon, Collections Manager, New-York Historical Society, New

York, NY; Lewis Wyman, Reference Librarian, Manuscript Division,

Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Nezahualcoyotl (Neza)

Xiuhtecutli, Ph.D. Candidate and Research Assistant, Gainesville, FL

I am (still) astonished at the info

#rmation available online. The

amount of data grows everyday. The Avalon Project at the Lillian

Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School, is a treasure trove of docu-

ments in law, history and diplomacy from ancient to twenty-first-cen-

tury documents. The American Philosophical Society publications

include the Proceedings and Mendel Newsletter, and the Founders Early Access Documents of the University of Virginia provide hundreds of

papers of Washington, Jefferson, Adams and Madison. Google eBooks

provide downloadable free books that are not available, for the most

part, to buy.

Preface & Acknowledgments 5

For those historians who continue to write about Andrew Ellicott,

it is an absolute requirement to visit the Manuscript Division of the

Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., and the National Archives

and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland. Th e two insti-

tutions have several volumes of rarely seen letters between Ellicott

and dozens of the other persons involved in this story. Without this

information, the details of Ellicott’s four years cannot be understood.

In addition, the recent fi nding of the many Legajos of the Papeles

Precedents de Cuba provide a valuable new resource, from the Spanish

perspective, of the events in Natchez and on the boundary line. Most

of these papers are in Spanish, but there are many in English and

various Special Collection Libraries across the United States and the

Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress provide access to them.

Learning is good for my soul an

#d researching and writing this

book has been a marvelous experience. Hopeful y this book will be the

impetus for others to continue the investigation into the depths of the unique Andrew Ellicott, a ghost of America’s past.

6

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Prologue 7

Prologue

Boundaries which when lost by the carelessness or

destroyed by the caprice or wickedness of men may

be accurately renewed as long as Astronomy shall

be understood and the sun, moon and stars shall

continue to Shine.

Andrew El icott to Governor General Gayoso de Lemos,

Clarksvil e, April 22, 1798

8

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Prologue 9

This story, ignored by historians for two hundred years, is about

measuring and marking the fi rst southern boundary of the United

States as provided for in a treaty with Spain. Th e new nation, recog-

nizing Spain’s ambition to control the people and property in North

America as she had done in South America, was exhausted aft er her

breakaway war with Great Britain and now faced another powerful

adversary. Th e narrative involves the complex details of diplomacy in

dealing with the dilatory Spanish, the technical and physical problems

of measuring and marking a 530-mile line through dense woods and

swamps, and interacting with angry Indians through whose property

they were trespassing.

Integral to the story is a person unknown to most Americans

who was chosen by President George Washington to lead a team for

the survey of the line. As will be seen, his success would make a huge

diff erence in the security and commerce for the struggling young

nation. Washington chose Andrew Ellicott, a second-generation

Pennsylvanian and the most famous astronomer-surveyor in America.

He had no formal education and was self-taught in astronomy, the

earth sciences, mechanics and mathematics. Th e Pennsylvania legisla-

ture appointed him to survey all their state boundaries, and he would

eventual y survey the boundaries of 14 states, more than anyone in

the history of the United States before or since. President Washington

and Secretary of State Th omas Jeff erson asked him to survey the ten-

square-mile District of Columbia, and he worked with Pierre L’Enfant,

the architect of the City of Washington, to survey many of the bou-

levards and squares in the new federal capital. Perhaps his greatest

achievement, the subject of this book, was his survey of the fi rst international boundary line of the United States dividing the 16 states from the property owned by His Catholic Majesty, Charles V of Spain.

10

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

After the Revolutionary War, Spain controlled more property on

the North American Continent than any other nation, which included

the pre-Revolutionary War British colonies of East and West Florida,

the lower Mississippi River and New Orleans, the huge territory known

as Louisiana on the west side of the Mississippi, all the rivers drain-

ing into the Gulf of Mexico, and most of what would be California,

Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Spain? How did Spain get so power-

ful? Here’s how.

At the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, the 13 British col-

onies, now established as states, occupied only that small part of the

North American Continent south of the Saint Lawrence River down

to Georgia and as far west as the Mississippi River. Exhausted by the

war, heavily in debt and still working to design a viable federal government, the six-year-old United States paid little attention to Spain as she quietly grew her hegemony. The biggest problem: Spain was stopping

all U.S. commerce coming down the Mississippi River and passing

through New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain was a power to be

reckoned with.

For a dozen years after the end of the war, Spanish emissaries

and U.S. diplomats sparred over the use of the Mississippi River and

the exact boundary line between the two nations. Final y, in 1795,

both issues were resolved in great detail by the Treaty of Friendship,

Limits and Navigation between Spain and the United States – the

so-called Pinckney Treaty, aptly named for its chief U.S. negotiator,

Thomas Pinckney. The two major provisions of the treaty opened up

the Mississippi River for free trade and delineated the boundary line

between the United States and the Spanish-held territory of East and

West Florida. After the new Congress ratified the Pinckney Treaty,

President Washington appointed Andrew Ellicott as commissioner for

the survey and directed him to organize a team to meet the Spanish

survey team in Natchez, a small vil age with a Spanish fort on the banks of the Mississippi River, and perform the survey of the new boundary.

This is not a biography of Ellicott, but is a close study of what

is unquestionably a major achievement. His exploits in this monu-

mental United States/Spanish survey provide a stunning record of

a critical moment in American history. The dramatic stories of his

Prologue 11

four-year-long efforts are the stuff of fiction. Here are adventures into unknown territory fraught with physical hazard and personal danger,

including encounters with hostile Indians, Spanish spies, and a cast

of remarkable characters. Revealed in his letters home, there is also

a warm tale of spousal devotion (he addressed his wife as "Dearest

of All Earthly Beings") despite his having a washerwoman as a mis-

tress. The stories of Ellicott’s extraordinary work are peopled with men such as William Dunbar (a brilliant scientist and surveyor who lived in Natchez), Manuel Gayoso (the Spanish governor in Natchez and later

New Orleans), Anthony Hutchins (plantation owner, obstructionist

and English loyalist), Benjamin Hawkins (a former U.S. senator and

agent to the Cherokee Indians), and Thomas Freeman (a rival surveyor

who would make life miserable for Ellicott). Appearing in this story as well are officials at the highest level of the U.S. government who over-saw and financed his work.

After Ellicott finished the survey and returned to his home in

Philadelphia, the capital of the United States, he spent two years writing his manuscript and creating maps of all the rivers and import-

ant places in the unknown southwest territory. In 1803 he published

the 450-page Journal of Andrew El icott about his experience, which included a 300-page diary, 150 pages of astronomical observations and

mathematical calculations, and the maps he drew of his travels. This

book is based on the Journal and hundreds of his letters to and from contemporaries. All of Ellicott’s words taken from his Journal are presented in italics, while sentences or phrases taken from other corre-

spondence are in quotations. I have corrected all misspellings and put

my explanations for archaic language or missing words in brackets.

Most of the correspondence is only reproduced in part. The story is

made complete by hundreds of letters found in the National Archives,

the Library of Congress, Special Collection Libraries, and the rare

Legajos of the Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, which are thousands of

documents compiled by the Spanish governors during their tenure on

the North American Continent.

The six years spent in learning about Ellicott and his role in the

boundary survey taught me much and introduced me to strangers

and friends all willing to help me with my research. Perhaps the most

12

Andrew Ellicott: Th e Stargazer who Defi ned America

important lesson I learned was to do original research and not merely

replicate other authors. My role was to source the correct information

and weed out the errors. Th is book is not Boswellian, but there is a tan-talizing thought that a more detailed biography may be forthcoming.

My wish is that my work and this book will encourage others to go

further and expand our knowledge about this brilliant but imperfect

man. Th e great physicist and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton spoke for

me when he said, If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Who Is Andrew Ellicott? 13

Who Is Andrew Ellicott?

Dearest of All Earthly Beings,

I have now been in this place for Carnival or holiday

time. It is supposed that I have come on a visit

which I have been treated with singular attention

and parade. But this is not the case, my business is

diff erent from that of pleasure.

Andrew El icott to Sarah El icott, New Orleans,

January 10, 1799

14

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Who Is Andrew Ellicott? 15

Andrew Ellicott, a second-generation American, was born in 1754

into a Quaker family in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, some 45

miles northeast of Philadelphia. Th ere is little information about his formative years, but most likely he had only the simplest of school-ing. Self-taught, he would become a renowned scientist in mathemat-

ics, astronomy and surveying. He became fl uent enough in French to

correspond with two distinguished French scientists, Jean-Baptiste-

Joseph Delambre and Jérôme Lalande, regarding astronomical events.

A mechanical genius, Ellicott made his own surveying equipment:

compass, telescopes, sextants, transits and regulator clocks. Many of

his original instruments are available for viewing in the Smithsonian

Institution’s National Museum of American History.

Most of what is known about him begins with the record of his

marriage in 1775 to Sarah Brown, also a native of Bucks County. Very

shortly aft er the marriage, the young couple moved to Ellicott Mil s,

a family compound several miles west of Baltimore, where his father

and uncles constructed sawmil s, stables, fl our mil s and a grain distillery. Th ey were the fi rst to grow wheat in the area rather than tobacco, which depleted the soil. It was here that Sarah and Andrew began a

family that would eventual y include ten children, nine of whom lived

until late adulthood. Aft er ten years of living in the compound, the

young couple moved to Baltimore seeking more opportunities. During

the years at Ellicott Mil s, Ellicott volunteered for the Maryland Militia during the Revolutionary War and was given the rank of captain, soon

being promoted to major. Th ere are no records of how long he was in

the militia or whether he was involved in any combat.

16

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Andrew El icott 1809,

portrait by Jacob

Eicholtz (courtesy of

the New-York Historical

Society, New York)

Sarah (Sal y) El icott

1809, portrait by

Jacob Eicholtz

(courtesy of the New-York

Historical Society, New

York)

Who Is Andrew Ellicott? 17

Ellicott first came to the attention of the general public with his

Maryland and Virginia Almanack and Ephemeris, which he published from 1782 until 1791. His almanacs became successful because of the

reliable information he provided about weather forecasts and forth-

coming astronomical events for every month of the year. He provided

tables for comparing the currencies of the states of Pennsylvania, New

Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland to that of the other states, and he pub-

lished the names of the revenue officers and the days that the courts

were in session in Maryland and Virginia. Several pages covered the

treatments for such common ailments as excoriation, looseness and

inflammation of the bowels, and noise in the ears. Not the least of the reliable information he provided was the distance over the roads from

Baltimore to dozens of vil ages throughout the state.

In the eighteenth century, accurate astronomical observations

and complicated mathematical formulas were vital to the calculations

of precise points on the surface of the earth. Astronomer-surveyors

were experts in determining their location on land by making their

observations through primitive but reasonably accurate instruments.

In 1784, probably as a result of the accurate astronomical information

found in his almanacs, Ellicott came to the attention of the State of

Virginia, even though he lived in Maryland, and was appointed to be

part of a team to finish the survey between the states of Pennsylvania

and Virginia. That boundary line came to be known for the two

Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who had begun the

survey some 20 years earlier. Problems with angry Indians whose land

was being crossed caused the Mason-Dixon survey to be terminated,

but because of its importance it was taken up again.

With this assignment, Ellicott found himself in the company of

such well-known and accomplished men as Philadelphians Robert

Patterson and David Rittenhouse, both extraordinary individuals in

the field of astronomy and surveying. With the successful completion

of the Mason-Dixon survey, The Right Reverend Dr. James Madison,

also a member of the survey team and president of the College of

William and Mary, presented Ellicott with an honorary Master of Arts

degree from the college.

18

Andrew Ellicott: The Stargazer who Defined America

Title page of Andrew El icott’s 1789 Almanac (courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore)

Who Is Andrew Ellicott? 19

Ellicott’s reputation as an astronomer-surveyor grew because of

his precise calculations and his obsession for perfection. In 1785 he was engaged to survey the western boundary of Pennsylvania, separating it

from Ohio. This line, still known as Ellicott’s Line, served as the principal meridian for surveys of the new Northwest Territory of the United

States. In 1785 Ellicott was initiated into the American Philosophical

Society, where he published numerous scientific treatises over the next 20 years and in 1803 rose to the position of vice president. This organization, founded by Benjamin Franklin, based in Philadelphia, and still

in existence today, was the most prestigious scientific society in the

United States in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Pennsylvania and New York hired Ellicott to survey their common

boundary in 1787. Two years later Pennsylvania asked him to survey a

disputed area of land in western New York known as the Erie Triangle.

While working on the survey, he became the first person to measure

the latitude and longitude of Niagara Fal s and the Niagara River. With this work he began attracting the attention of the federal government

and in 1790 was appointed by President George Washington to survey

the boundary lines of the District of Columbia and many of the cir-

cles, squares and boulevards that were being designed by architect

Pierre Charles L’Enfant for the newly designed City of Washington.

Ellicott placed a stone monument marking every mile of the ten miles

square of the District, almost all 40 of which are still in place and can be readily seen. He spent