vannah
No Man’s Land
5,000 square miles and no law
Don Kingery
Two hundred and six years ago, high officials of two nations deliberately turned 5,000 square miles of Southwest Louisiana into a safe refuge for violent criminals who flocked to it from all over the young nation.
This is how it happened.
In 1803, the United States had paid France $15 million to abandon its claim to 828,00 square miles of land in the brand-new America. It was called the Louisiana purchase, but we didn’t actually buy the land. America and France both claimed the land, and we paid France $15 million to abandon its claim, leaving us as sole owners of the land.
When the Louisiana Purchase was announced, Spain protested, saying France had no right to include a 5,000-square-mile strip of land in what is now Southwest Louisiana in the Louisiana Purchase. Spain said the land had been found by Spanish explorers and claimed for Spain.
We argued that the Louisiana Purchase was history and we wouldn’t try to change it. Spain said it wanted its land. The argument got hotter. When both sides hinted they might use military force to support their claims, cooler but not wiser heads stepped in.
The cool heads suggested that the disputed land be set aside and belong to nobody until ownership was decided by peaceful negotiation.
Both America and Spain liked the idea. Thus was born the Neutral Strip.
The disputed land being put aside was bound on the West by the Sabine River in East Texas. It was bound on the East by El Arroyo, the Spanish name for what is now the Calcasieu River. It was bound on the South by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the North by the 32nd parallel, which was near Coushatta in Red River Parish.
The Neutral Strip included all or portions of the present Louisiana parishes of De Soto, Sabine, Natchitoches, Vernon, Rapides, Beauregard, Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis and Cameron.
The rules or the Neutral Strip were simple: l For whatever time it took to peacefully
5,000 square miles and no law
Don Kingery
Two hundred and six years ago, high officials of two nations deliberately turned 5,000 square miles of Southwest Louisiana into a safe refuge for violent criminals who flocked to it from all over the young nation.
This is how it happened.
In 1803, the United States had paid France $15 million to abandon its claim to 828,00 square miles of land in the brand-new America. It was called the Louisiana purchase, but we didn’t actually buy the land. America and France both claimed the land, and we paid France $15 million to abandon its claim, leaving us as sole owners of the land.
When the Louisiana Purchase was announced, Spain protested, saying France had no right to include a 5,000-square-mile strip of land in what is now Southwest Louisiana in the Louisiana Purchase. Spain said the land had been found by Spanish explorers and claimed for Spain.
We argued that the Louisiana Purchase was history and we wouldn’t try to change it. Spain said it wanted its land. The argument got hotter. When both sides hinted they might use military force to support their claims, cooler but not wiser heads stepped in.
The cool heads suggested that the disputed land be set aside and belong to nobody until ownership was decided by peaceful negotiation.
Both America and Spain liked the idea. Thus was born the Neutral Strip.
The disputed land being put aside was bound on the West by the Sabine River in East Texas. It was bound on the East by El Arroyo, the Spanish name for what is now the Calcasieu River. It was bound on the South by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the North by the 32nd parallel, which was near Coushatta in Red River Parish.
The Neutral Strip included all or portions of the present Louisiana parishes of De Soto, Sabine, Natchitoches, Vernon, Rapides, Beauregard, Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis and Cameron.
The rules or the Neutral Strip were simple: l For whatever time it took to peacefully