In February of 1804, Captain Amos Stoddard came to St. Louis, having been appointed to represent the United States and France at the transfer of the lands west of the Mississippi River. Stoddard found St. Louis pleasant, more like a town than a village, with “rich and hospitable” people.

His duty on March 9, 1804, was to transfer the land from Spain to France. This photo shows the official document, in Spanish, that records the transfer. It was signed by Charles Dehault Delassus, received by Stoddard, and witnessed by notable St. Louisans Meriwether Lewis, Antoine Soulard, and Charles Gratiot. It reads:

In consequence of a letter sent from New Orleans on the 31st of December of the last year of 1803 by the Senors Marques de Caso Calvo and Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo, Brigadiers of the Royal Armies and Commissioned for His Catholic Majesty, for the transfer of the Colony and Province of Louisiana to the French Republic, addressed to senor Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, Colonel of the same Royal Armies, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Louisiana and Commissioned by the said Senors for the return of it, according to the contents of said letter that he arrange to give full and entire possession of the aforesaid upper Louisiana consisting of the Military Posts of Sn Luis and its dependencies to Sr Pedro Clemente Laussat, Commisioned by the said French Republic to take possession of the mentioned Colony and Province of Louisiana, or any other person who may be charged and named to that effect, according to the last Treaty of Retrocession.

And as by letter sent from the same New Orleans, on 12th of January of this year, the proclaimed Delegate of the French Republic, confirmed, contituted and named as sole agent and Commissioner on the part of its Nation as Amos Stoddard, Captain of Artillery of the United States of America, to demand and to receive the aforesaid Upper Louisiana, comprising the denominated Military Posts of Sn Luis and its dependencies, in virtue of the respective Powers as explained above.

Now by these presents as I, the above Don Carlos Dehault Delassus, in the rank of Lieutenant Governor of the same, at the requisition duly made to me by the said Amos Stoddard, agent and commissioner of the French Republic, have delivered him the full possession, Sovereignty, and Government of the notable Upper Louisiana, with all the Military Posts, Quarters, and Fortifications thereto belonging; and I, the Amos Stoddard referred to, also Commissioner, do acknowledge to have received the said possession on the terms mentioned, of which I acknowledge myself satisfied and possessed on this day, in testimony whereof the undersigned Senor Lieutenant Governor and I have signed respectively these presents, sealed with the seal of our arms, attested by the witnesses signed below, of which proceedings six copies are made, three in the Spanish language, and the other three in the English.

Done in the Town of Sn Luis of Illinois the 9 of March of 1804.
Amos Stoddard
Carlos Dehault Delassus
Meriwether Lewis, Capt. 1st US Regt Infty
Antoene Soulard, Surveyor General
Charles Gratiot

After the territory came under French rule, the French requested that their flag be flown. We have no proof that this happened, though we know that the Spanish flag came down at 12:45 p.m. on March 9, and the American flag was raised the morning of March 10. Stoddard addressed the people of Louisiana that day and informed them that “the plan of a permanent territorial Government for you, is already under the consideration of Congress” and that he would be the first civil commandant of Upper Louisiana. He told them that they were “divested of the character of Subjects, and clothed with that of citizens…. It is confidently expected that you will not be less faithful to the United States than you have been to his Catholic Majesty.” He let them know that their customs may have been different from their neighbors’ but that they would be respected. Finally, he urged people to “draw the veil of oblivion over the past, and unite in pleasing anticipations of the future; embrace each other as brethren of the same mighty family.”

—Lauren Mitchell, Senior Editor