|
|
Birth of an Expedition/Death of a Colony:
The LaSalle Expedition to Texas
|
| Robert Rene Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle was an enterprising Frenchmen. He left France in 1666 to seek his fortune in Canada. He and his brother, Abbe Cavelier, became interested in the fur trade. Natives in the area were adept at trapping animals. They were also willing to trade these furs to the Europeans for blankets, guns, and other necessities and trinkets. La Salle knew if he could ship the furs to Europe it would be profitable. He also knew that France would need to develop a series of trading posts in order to insure success. They would also need to establish ports for shipping the commodities back and forth between France and the trading posts. For 18 years, La Salle worked hard establishing trading posts and forts for the fur trade. However a year round seaport for Trans-Atlantic shipping proved more difficult. La Salle had heard stories among the natives of a mighty river the “Mesipi” that flowed west to the ocean. La Salle wanted to see this river for himself. In 1682, he and a small expedition of men with bark canoes launched themselves into the swift currents of the native’s “Mesipi”. After two months on this wide river, the men came to an area where the river split into three channels and intermingled with the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico. They were the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River. |
LaSalle Claims the Mississippi. Illustration by permission of Tom McNeely
Click Image to Enlarge |
America Settentrionale, Coronelli, 1688, UT Arlington Library Special Collections
Click Image to Enlarge |
After a brief survey of the land and a measurement of the river’s depth at the delta, La Salle realized it was the answer to the year round seaport problem for the French fur traders. In a brief ceremony La Salle claimed the area and the coastline for France.
La Salle knew he had to return to France and consult with King Louis XIV. La Salle was sure that the King would want to fund his endeavor to create a French port at the delta of this mighty river. He left a few men at the base of the river and began heading back to Canada, Along the way, he claimed the land surrounding the river for France. In honor of his King he named his claims Louisiana.
La Salle formulated a plan to present to King Louis XIV, but he was careful not to share the plan with anyone else, so that the Spanish would not find out about the plan. The King agreed to La Salle’s plan and supplied him with four ships, supplies, artillery, and men. |
On July 24, 1684, La Salle and his colonists departed from La Rochelle, and began their journey to the Gulf of Mexico. No one could foresee the great hardship and sorrow that was to befall the colonists.
The first signs of trouble began before the ships even left port. The King had commanded that the captain of the Joli, Sieur de Beaujeu, would have complete command of the expedition while at sea. La Salle would have command once they were on land. La Salle felt that he should have complete charge of the entire expedition. La Salle and Beaujeu began quarreling before the trip began, each man distrustful of the other.
The four ships set sail. It took three months for the ships to reach Santo Domingo in the West Indies. Many of the passengers, including LaSalle, were ill. Though ill, La Salle wanted to stop at the port for supplies; during the night Beaujeu intentionally sailed past the port and anchored on the opposite side of the island. One of the ships was captured by pirates. All supplies aboard this ship were now lost to the colonists.
Many colonists became disenchanted with the expedition, and some left the expedition while LaSalle recovered from his fever. In November, La Salle believed he was well enough to continue the expedition. The remaining ships began to sail around Cuba and then headed for the coastline of Florida. This tactic was supposed to help the men find the mouth of the Mississippi River. In January, some believed they had spotted the Mississippi, but La Salle refused to believe it was the right river and insisted they go on. Why La Salle did not stop and check the location is still a mystery to this day. Some historians believed he did it on purpose, trying to sail closer to Spanish Mexico, some believe he missed it due to dense fog covering the coastal area and islands, and some believe it was due to poor maps and faulty navigational equipment. We will never really know how or why La Salle missed the Mississippi River Delta.
With supplies running low, a quarrelsome ship captain, and ill passengers, La Salle spotted a large bay with a river entering, and declared it was the Mississippi. We know this area today as Matagorda Bay, near Galveston.
While trying to put the colonists ashore, one of the ships ran aground. The colonists worked to salvage what they could of the supplies aboard the vessel, but could not retrieve it all before night fell. During the night a storm occurred, and scattered the cargo contents along the coast. The colonists awoke to find Natives salvaging the supplies floating in the bay and along the shore. Seeing the colonists, the Indians scattered and left their canoes behind. The colonists took the canoes for their own use. Later the Indians returned for their canoes, and ended up killing two men and wounding others.
Beaujeu refused to unload the artillery the King had provided the colonists to set up a fort. Many more colonists were now discouraged and decided to leave with Beaujeu on the Joli when he set sail in March of 1865. LaSalle and the remaining colonists were left with the only the Belle, the ship that had been given to LaSalle by King Louis XIV.
|
Map of the Texas Coast by LaSalle’s Engineer, Minet
Click Image to Enlarge |
| The Colony on the Texas Coast |
Garcitas Creek, Site of the French Colony
Click Image to Enlarge |
LaSalle knew that he had to move inland from the coast and find a more suitable location for the colonists. Gathering 50 men, La Salle walked along the edge of the river waterway. About 5 miles inland, at present day Garcitas Creek, he found what he was looking for; an area near fresh, clear water, and a high bluff for defense. This is where they built Fort St. Louis.
La Salle soon realized that he had not found the Mississippi; he made several expeditions inland during this time, trying to find the Mississippi and obtain supplies for the colony. He made friends with Caddo tribes between the Trinity and Neches Rivers. His relationship with the local Karankawa was not friendly.
While La Salle was on one of his expeditions, the crew left on the Belle were derelict in their duties and lost the ship on a bar. With the last ship lost, the situation for the colonists was now desperate. La Salle decided he must return to Canada and bring supplies back if the colony was to survive.
La Salle and the twelve men he had chosen left the fort in January of 1687 on an overland expedition to Canada. In March of 1687, while still in Texas, La Salle was killed near present day Nacogdoches by one of his own men. The man wanted revenge for the death of his brother which occurred on one of LaSalle’s inland expeditions. Pierre Talon, 11 years old, fled to the Caddo Indian tribes along with several other survivors. Seven of the men including Henri Joutel and LaSalle’s brother Abbe Cavalier, reached Canada and eventually France, where they delayed telling about the death of LaSalle and the desperate plight of the colony left behind on Garcitas Creek.
The colonists left at Fort St. Louis, less than 25 in number, were massacred by the Karankawa Indians. The Indians chose to attack the fort when they learned of the death of La Salle and disunity among the remaining colonists. The only survivors of the massacre were the four Talon children, Marie Madeleine, Jean Baptiste, Lucien , Robert and another child, Eustace BremenEyewitness to History. These children were adopted by the Karankawas, with whom they lived until recovered by Spanish Expeditions in 1689-1691. With LaSalle dead, the fort destroyed and survivors brought back to Mexico, the Spanish believed that the French threat to their territory was removed. In the early 1700s, with the help of two of the now grown Talon Brothers, France would succeed in finding the mouth of the great Mississippi and claim the territory of Louisiana. |
|
|
|
)
)
)
)