And there beneath the pine he sees
A vision of old memories;
At thought of realms he help’d to win,
Of his sweet France, of kith and kin.
—Theroulde.
The disastrous end of DeSoto’s expedition forever discouraged the Spaniards from making exploits in the valley of the Mississippi. They founded San Augustine, Florida (1563), on a veritable field of blood and conquered the Indian tribes of New Mexico, but no more armies from Spain came to meet the fierce Indian tribes of the Southern states. Spanish priests subsequently established missions in Texas and West Louisiana, but the conquerors were not in the vanguard; their swords were there unsheathed only in self-defense. A century had elapsed since the exploits of DeSoto ere a white man piloted a boat on the Mississippi or braved the pathless forests which extended from either bank. In that hundred years Canada had been settled by the French, English colonies dotted the entire Atlantic coast, the Spaniards had found their treasures of gold in Mexico and Peru, and their galleons (unless overtaken by “Admiral” Drake or other English privateers and gently relieved of their rich cargoes) peacefully ploughed through the waters of the ocean from America and the Orient to the ports of Spain. The Castilian dream of wealth and empire had become a reality and the foundation for our great republic was being laid on the Atlantic coast.
During the last years of the seventeenth century French missionaries blazed paths through the country bordering on the Great Lakes westward nearly to the source of the Father of Waters, but Louisiana was yet unknown to civilization. The explorers who had reached the Great Lakes often heard stories of a great river further west and believed that it flowed into the Pacific Ocean. One of the early missionaries to arrive on the western shore of Lake Superior was Father Marquette. He had heard of the stories about the Mississippi and in the spring of 1673 set out on a voyage of discovery, accompanied by Louis Joliet, a valiant French fur trader. Gliding down the Wisconsin, they reached the Mississippi River. They continued their voyage as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas and returned to the North the same year. Joliet proceeded to Canada to convey the news of their discoveries, but the venerable priest remained at his mission and spent his last hours preaching to the Indians. The kindness and humility of Marquette won the savage heart, while the armed conquerors stirred up the spirit of revenge. The calumet was Marquette’s passport among the Indians and his pious instructions were always welcomed by them.
Joliet’s report of his voyage with Marquette was spread throughout Canada. No one received the news more eagerly than Robert Cavalier de LaSalle, a young fur trader and governor of Kingston, Canada. He had just returned from an expedition to Lakes Erie and Huron and the Ohio River. In his mind was evolved a vast plan to explore the Mississippi to its mouth and claim the country on the west side for France. He planned to erect forts at necessary intervals to protect the country from the influence of the English whose colonies had now extended westward to the Ohio River. LaSalle went to France, submitted his plans to King Louis XIV, and secured the money necessary to proceed with the work of exploration. While in France he enlisted the services of Henri Tonti, a young Italian, whose loyal and faithful services were of much assistance to the great pathfinder and whose daring deeds adorn the annals of Louisiana.
Returning to Canada, LaSalle made two unsuccessful attempts to get his expedition under way. Desertions from his party caused repeated embarrassments and the loss of his boats and provisions exhausted his funds. But he was not the man who would abandon a task once undertaken. The stories of his trials and privations bear testimony to his wonderful determination and fortitude. The third expedition finally arrived at the Mississippi and, after experiencing many adventures, reached the village of the Kappas or Arkansas Indians, near Chickasaw Bluffs, about twenty miles above the villages which Marquette had visited a few years before. Here, on March 13, 1682, LaSalle, with much pomp and ceremony, took possession of all the land through which flows the Mississippi and its tributaries for the King of France and erected a wooden pillar which contained the following inscription:
“Louis the Great King of France and Navarre, 13th March, 1682.”
This was the real birthday of Louisiana. The occasion was made a feast day by LaSalle, and historians assure us that the Indians joined in the celebration. The banquet may have served to stimulate the enthusiasm of the Indians, but as their few hours’ acquaintance with the French was scarcely sufficient to enable them to understand the language of the explorers, it is possible that the Kappas joined in the real spirit of the occasion much as a Dahomey negro would at a modern political convention. However, this was the birthday of Louisiana, and it is a sad commentary on our gratitude for the services of one of America’s greatest pioneers that the anniversary of the christening of one of the grandest countries on earth is apparently forgotten. LaSalle was, indeed, one of the greatest French explorers, and he lit the torch of civilization in America’s richest field. Departing from the Indian village, he paddled toward the mouth of the Mississippi, which he reached April 9, 1682. Here, with much ceremony, he again took possession of Louisiana in the name of the King of France. He then began his return voyage to Canada. The following winter he built a fort on the site of an Illinois Indian village which he named Fort St. Louis. The following spring he turned the fort over to the command of Tonti and went to Canada. In the autumn of 1683 he went to France, reported his discoveries in person to the king and unfolded his plans for colonizing the vast territory. LaSalle was received with much favor at the French Court and His Majesty readily consented to grant any favor that would aid in the advancement of the enterprise. An expedition consisting of one hundred soldiers and as many colonists, with necessary equipment and two ships, were enlisted for the voyage to Louisiana. It was LaSalle’s intention to steer directly for the mouth of the Mississippi River and thus avoid the long and weary journey by way of Canada and down the river. Among the members of the expedition were LaSalle’s brother, Abbe Cavalier, and Henri Joutel, a priest. All went well with the voyagers until they reached Santo Domingo and started to sail across the Gulf of Mexico. Instead of steering to the mouth of the Mississippi they went westward, passing it, and were lost in the Gulf. Land was finally reached at a point in Southeast Texas, but, believing that they had only reached the coast of Florida, LaSalle ordered the vessels to continue a westward course and they finally anchored in what is now known as Matagorda Bay. In crossing the gulf LaSalle lost one of his vessels and while engaged in the task of landing the colonists another ship was sunk. And what made the situation extremely pathetic, many of the colonists were stricken with fever and died. In the face of dissensions in the colony and the attacks of hostile Indians, LaSalle constructed a fort. But he was anxious to find the Mississippi River and several expeditions were made in quest of it, on one of which the last ship was lost. There now remained less than half of the colonists that had sailed from France, with hopes of finding fortunes in the New World, and these were on the verge of despair. The loss of clothing and such articles as they needed to begin their pioneer life with, as well as their provisions, made their condition a sad one. At last LaSalle, with seventeen companions, started east in search of the Mississippi. He had planned to go to the river, build boats and proceed to Canada and procure assistance for the remnant of his destitute colony. They underwent many hardships from the start and there was much dissatisfaction among the men. They finally arrived at the Trinity River where lived the Cenis Indians. Here the great explorer was assassinated, in a most cowardly manner, by one of his men named Dehaut. Following a quarrel, Dehaut and another man had murdered a companion the day before and killed LaSalle to avoid censure for their crime. Later the assassins quarreled at an Indian village and both were killed. Father Joutel and LaSalle’s brother, with five other members of the party, started across the country and succeeded in reaching the Mississippi, then proceeded to Canada and France. LaSalle was buried near the scene of his tragic end and Texans have marked the spot where his remains are supposed to rest.
An effort was later made by the noble Tonti to lead an expedition to rescue the little band of colonists left at Matagorda Bay, but when he arrived at the village of a tribe of Indians known as the Caddodaquious on Red River, all but one of his followers had deserted him, and hearing that the colonists had been killed by Indians he abandoned his enterprise. While LaSalle’s attempts to colonize the Louisiana country resulted in failure, his plans still lived. King Louis XIV had become discouraged by reason of the failure of LaSalle’s expedition and had decided to attempt to send no more colonists to Louisiana, but his chief advisers, Ponchartrain and Maurepas, induced him to protect the territory. The king had just concluded a treaty of peace with Great Britain, still the English colonists were gradually pushing their settlements westward and had, in fact, already entered territory claimed by France. In 1699, a rumor that the English intended to send a fleet to the mouth of the Mississippi induced the French king to send an expedition to Louisiana in command of Charles LeMoyne Sieur de Iberville, who had won distinction as a commander in the French navy. Iberville was reared in Canada and was familiar with pioneer life. He was accompanied by his younger brother, Bienville, and both shared in the glories of Louisiana history. After exploring the country, he at last found the mouth of the Mississippi and proceeded up the stream as far as the villages of the Houma and Bayougoula Indians. Iberville then decided to go to France and left a gallant Frenchman, Sauvole, and Bienville in command of the fort. During Iberville’s absence the commandants employed their time in improving the fort on Mobile Bay.
In the winter of 1701 Iberville returned from France. A party of immigrants accompanied him, including his brother, Chateaugay, and Juchereau de St. Denys, a gallant young Canadian, who subsequently founded the town of Natchitoches and whose deeds added glory to the French regime in Louisiana. Iberville now planned to build a fort on the Mississippi River, about fifty miles from its mouth, and it was named Fort Maurepas. Here he was visited by parties of Canadians who had come down the river, among them being Tonti, the former companion of LaSalle. The exploration of Red River was now undertaken, but after a visit to several Indian tribes along the Mississippi, Iberville became ill at a village of the Tensas Indians and returned to Fort Maurepas. Bienville assumed command of the Red River expedition and with a small party of Canadians and Indians began the march. After swimming swollen streams, wading swamps and enduring many privations, the party arrived at the village of the Natchitoches Indians, near the site of the present city of Natchitoches (March 28, 1701). From that place, going up the river, they passed through the villages of the Yataches and some time during the month of April reached the country of the Caddodaquious tribe in the section which embraces the present parish of Caddo. Bienville then returned to Fort Maurepas and later assisted Iberville in building a fort on Mobile Bay. Iberville again went to France, leaving Bienville in command of the colony. He never returned, having died in Cuba four years later.
Back to: Sabine Parish – Louisiana History & Genealogy Project
Back to: Louisiana History & Genealogy Project
Source
Belisle, John G., History of Sabine Parish, Louisiana, Many, La. : The Sabine banner press, 1912.