The Bizarre Day In History When One Missouri City Went From Spanish To French American

Originally the United States had only intended on buying New Orleans from the French, but the large piece of land would eventually be offered up to our country for a price that we couldn't refuse.

Because the French had only so recently acquired the land, the majority of it was still run by the Spanish.

After the deal went through, it took months for all of the needed arrangements to be made. Over the course of the summer and fall, money changed hands and Congress signed the needed papers to put everything into place.

An original Americanizing ceremony was held in the territory's capital of New Orleans, but because it was during the winter in the 1800s those living north of New Orleans didn't hear about the change until significantly after it had taken place. It would later be decided that in March of 1804, a second ceremony would be held in St. Louis.

It was quickly realized that in order to turn over the territory's new American identity, that two treaties would need to be put into effect, one at a time. First, the land would be transferred from the Spanish to the French, with the French then transferring the land to the United States afterwards.

After the announcement was made, the next day on March 9th the Spanish flag came down in St. Louis and the French flag went up to fly high. Because so many of the residents living in the area had French roots, excitement enthused as the flag waved in the air. The French flag was originally due to stay up for six hours, but because of all the excitement they allowed it to fly until noon the following day.

On March 10th, the French flag came down with the new American Flag rising up in town. Sadly, the American flag didn't cause as much of a friendly frenzy as the French one did. Now you know the story of why we refer to March 10th as Three Flags Day!