Historic Places: Prothro Mansion, 1964, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: May 21, 1964 Winn Parish Enterprise News-American Winn Parish As I Have Known It Article No. 364 by H. B. Bozeman Above Is The Picture Of The Prothro Mansion, The Most Historic Building Of Natchitoches, But Now Overlooked And Forgotten, Stands In Tragic Lonlieness Just Five Miles East Of The Downtown Section Of The City Of Natchitoches (Of course the Prothro Mansion or St. Maurice Plantation is in Winn Parish, but above, Mr. Bozeman refers to it "of Natchitoches" and simply means first that it was once in Natchitoches Parish, and second, that it is of the Natchitoches historical area.) Last week, when the City of Natchitoches celebrated its 250th founding birthday, thousands of people from far and near went to Natchitoches to see its historic buildings and landmarks. The people of Natchitoches did a wonderful job through the newspapers, magazines, and on TV, in publicizing and picturing historical points of interest, along beautiful Cane River, but I was disappointed at not seeing any reference made about the home of Dr. John Sibley at Grand Ecore, and that Campti was the home of Bernardo Gutierrez, and the Prothro Mansion at St. Maurice. After the United States acquired Louisiana in 1801, Dr. John Sibley was appointed United States Commissioner for the Natchitoches area. Dr. Sibley did not build his home in downtown Natchitoches, but four miles north at Grand Ecore on Red River. Here for many years important Anglo-Saxon Americans made their headquarters when visiting Natchitoches. In those early days there was not the friendly fraternal feelings between the French-Spanish descendants and the Anglo-Saxon Americans that exists today. They simply had not gotten acquainted with each other. Along about 1820, the Prothro family from Greenville, South Carolina acquired a large tract of fine fertile land between Cane River at Natchitoches and the Red River at the Indian Mission at St. Maurice. This land was part of a Spanish land grant, that the Spanish governor of Louisiana, Alexander O'Reilly, acquired from the Spanish Crown. The Prothros were a wealthy South Carolina family. They brought with them to Louisiana many Negro slaves, and in 1826 built the Prothro Mansion, slave quarters for their plantation workers that tilled their land between St. Maurice and Cane River at Natchitoches; on a the high bluff at St. Maurice. (Dennis Fort built what is most commonly known as the Prothro Mansion. It is not known if he built it for himself, then sold it to the Prothros, or if he built it for them initially). Around the Prothro Mansion they built a number of guest houses. The first mistress of the Prothro Mansion, before her marriage was a Miss Furman, a member of the famous Furman family of Northwest South Carolina, for whom Furman University of Greenville, S. C., is named. After the Prothro Mansion was built in 1826, and being just west of where the Harrisonburg Road section of the El Camino Real and the Natchitoches-Monroe Military highway intersected before crossing Red River by ferry of Natchitoches five miles west, the Prothro Mansion became the favorite for the VIP Anglo-Saxon Americans visiting Natchitoches until after the Mexican War of 1846-1848. Here at the Prothro Mansion Sam Houston organized his military expedition that gained Texas her independence. General Zachary Taylor, on his way to take command of his army in the Mexican War of 1846-48, was a guest at the Prothro Mansion. The Prothro Mansion was the social center of Natchitoches for VIP Americans from 1826 until after that part of Natchitoches Parish became Winn Parish in 1852. After 138 years, the Prothro Mansion still stands structurally sound in its present day tragic loneliness. It is possibly older than any residential building in the City of Natchitoches or along Cane River. For more than a quarter of a century, the Prothro Mansion was the most glamorous home of Natchitoches. Here many glittering social functions were held. Here many military plans were decided, that resulted in deeds that are recorded in our American history books, and here too, many big business deals were negotiated and comsumated. Soon after Winn Parish was created, and the Prothro Mansion was no longer in Natchitoches, one tragic event after another has come to the owners of this old mansion, once the most elegant home on Red River from its mouth to its headwaters in Northwest Texas and New Mexico. In 1853, yellow fever brought death to several members of the Prothro family and many of their slaves. Then after the Civil War, the notorious Dr. David Boult acquired the Prothro Mansion and much of the Prothro agricultural lands while he was the carpetbagger political boss of Natchitoches Parish and Ward Five of Winn Parish. Dr. David Boult while living at the Prothro Mansion in Reconstruction days was sheriff of Natchitoches Parish, and appointed his relatives to every Natchitoches Parish political office worth having, and one as postmaster of St. Maurice. (For details about Dr. Boult read the Natchitoches Parish chapter in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northwest Louisiana). Dr. David Boult while living at the Prothro Mansion after the close of the Civil War, and while he was sheriff of Natchitoches Parish was charged by many with playing "footsie" with the West Clan leaders. Anyway, Dr. Boult was the "big political wheel" of Natchitoches Parish for about 10 years during Reconstruction Days. However, he and his immediate family are reported to have taken off to California upon hearing in 1876 that President-Elect Rutherford B. Hayes was going to withdraw Federal troops from Louisiana and other Southern States. I am reliably informed that Dr. Boult left before the Federal troops left Louisiana. After Dr. Boult left, some of the Prothro family reacquired the Prothro Mansion, but soon it passed into other hands. The E. W. Teddlie family acquired it in 1897 and retained ownership until 1938, for 36 years, the longest ownership since the Prothros. Judge Thomas Milling, while vice president of the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana, bought the Prothro Mansion in 1933, and restored it to its original splendor and collected a large amount of data about the past history of the Prothro Mansion. After Judge Milling's death, his heirs disposed of the antique furniture, and apparently threw away the historical data that Judge Milling had patiently collected. Hon. Harry P. Gamble, Sr., for many years one of New Orleans' most prominent lawyers, and a native of St. Maurice, has often said it was a most tragic historical loss that Winn and Natchitoches Parishes or the State of Louisiana did not acquire the Prothro Mansion and preserve it, for this, and succeeding generations. I fully agree with Mr. Gamble that the Prothro Mansion is today, possibly the most historical building still standing intact, west of the Mississippi River, and if restored as Judge Milling once did, it would be a tourist attraction equal to any in Louisiana.