1. The enclosures (8 pp.; docketed by Wagner) are copies of (1) John Watkins to Claiborne, 26 July 1805, printed in Carter, Territorial Papers, Orleans, description begins Clarence Carter et al., eds., The Territorial Papers of the United States (28 vols.; Washington, 1934–75). description ends 9:481–82, stating that when he took possession of the mayor’s office, he discovered three city council resolutions which he was enclosing to Claiborne for a decision, adding that the “riotous conduct of the Town guard” showed they should be “confined to close quarters” and placed under the control of their officers, and agreeing with the other two resolutions asking that the city receive possession of the property where the old custom house and Spanish forts were located, which would enable the city to clear out the streets and fill in ditches of stagnant water; (2) a 20 July 1805 city council resolution, ibid., 482, asking that Claiborne order the old custom house destroyed and the materials carried away; (3) a 20 July 1805 council resolution, ibid., 483, requesting the same to be done to the “forts and batteries Surrounding the City,” thus allowing the city to expand and the water-filled ditches around the forts to be filled in; (4) a 20 July 1805 council resolution, ibid., 483, asking that the troops of the town guard be lodged in barracks as requested by their officers and that Claiborne order the removal of the regular army troops now occupying the guard house so the town guard could be housed there; and (5) Claiborne’s 2 Aug. 1805 reply to Watkins, printed in Rowland, Claiborne Letter Books, description begins Dunbar Rowland, ed., Official Letter Books of W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801–1816 (6 vols.; Jackson, Miss., 1917). description ends 3:143–45, stating that the old custom house had been delivered to him as national property, which he lacked the power to destroy, and suggesting that the council submit its request to the commissioners who would arrive soon to investigate the validity of land claims. He said that the same observation applied to the forts, but that since the stagnant water accumulating there did endanger public health, he would consent to the destruction of them all, except Fort Charles and Fort St. Louis, which were garrisoned by regular troops, and to the draining of the ditches around them. He added that he saw no need for a day guard at the city hall but that one might be needed at night to secure the property and the prisoners at the jail, to accommodate which he would consent to the removal of the regular troops; he further added that if it were determined that a guard was required both day and night, it might be more economical to use the services of the regular army for that purpose.

2. The English Turn, or English Bend, as it was better known, was a deep turn in the Mississippi about eighteen miles downriver from New Orleans (Carl J. Ekberg, “The English Bend: Forgotten Gateway to New Orleans,” in La Salle and His Legacy: Frenchmen and Indians in the Lower Mississippi Valley, ed. Patricia K. Galloway [Jackson, Miss., 1982], 214).