USA > Louisiana > History of Louisiana, from its first discovery and settlement to the present time > Part 2
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
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ing a magnificent harbour. Leaving a party on Lemon Island, consisting of twenty-six men, to . keep possession of the country, and erecting a fort there, which he named Carolana, in honour of Charles IX., Ribault determined to return to France for supplies. On arriving there, however, he found the country distracted with civil war ; and, being unable to obtain the necessary succour for the colonists, they attempted to return home. They were taken by a small English vessel on their way, the feeblest of them landed on the coast of France, and the others carried to Eng- land. Thus disastrously terminated the first at- tempt of France to establish a colony in Florida, not far from the southern border of South Caro- lina.
1564 .- After the treacherous peace concluded. by Charles IX. with the Huguenots, Coligny re- newed his solicitations for the settlement of Flor- ida. The king granted him three ships for the purpose ; and Laudonnière, a man of intelligence, who had accompanied the former expedition, was appointed to conduct the present. Emigrants were easily induced to embark for a region where, according to rumour, the deliciousness of the cli- mate lengthened to twice its usual term the life of man; and where treasures were to be found by
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SETTLEMENT AT THE RIVER MAY.
all who sought them. A voyage of sixty days by the way of the Canaries and Antilles, brought the fleet to the American coast. They avoided Port Royal harbour, associated as it was with recollections of misery, and, after some examina- tion of the country, planted themselves on the banks of the River May. Here they joined in a hymn of thanksgiving, and, gathering courage from devotion, prepared to engage in the toils necessary to provide for their subsistence and safety. Their first care was to erect a fort, to which they also gave the name of Carolana The natives received them with kindness; and had not the colonists been chiefly men of disso- lute character, all might have been well. But some of them quitting the settlement under pre- tence of escaping from famine, entered upon a career of piracy against the Spaniards, which was soon, however, avenged ; their vessel was taken; and a few of them escaping in a boat, sought shelter at Carolana, where Laudonnière sentenced the ringleaders to death.
Meanwhile the scarcity increased, and they had forfeited the friendship of the natives; the winter passed without tidings from France, and, in despair, they resolved to construct some brig- . antines and return to Europe. Just at that time,
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
Sir John Hawkins, the slave-trader, arrived with a cargo of Africans. He furnished them liberally. with provisions, and giving them a vessel from his own fleet, they were on the point of embark- ing, when they discovered approaching sails. It was Ribault returning to assume the command, · bringing with him supplies of every kind, emi- grants with their families, garden seeds, imple- ments of husbandry, and domestic animals. The French rejoiced in the prospect of acquiring for themselves a peaceful and secure home; and Calvinism seemed about to be permanently es- tablished in the inviting regions of Florida.
1565 .- But Spain had never relinquished her claim to that territory. Philip II., therefore, de- termined on its conquest and colonization, and a bold commander, named Pedro Melendez Avilés, long accustomed to scenes of blood, undertook to accomplish his sovereign's wishes. He promised that in the following May he would invade Flor- ida with five hundred men, raised and supported at his own cost ; and that within three years he would complete its subjugation, explore its rivers, examine its coasts and harbours, settle a colony of at least five hundred persons, of whom one hundred should be married men, and introduce twelve ecclesiastics, besides four Jesuits : and he
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EXPEDITION OF MELENDEZ.
farther stipulated that he would import all kinds of domestic animals. The bigoted Philip had no scruples respecting slavery, and Melendez also agreed to bring five hundred men slaves into the country to cultivate the sugar-cane, which was intended to be the principal staple.
The king, in turn, granted various commer- cial privileges to the adventurers, conferring on Melendez the office of governor for life, with the right of naming his son-in-law as his successor, an estate of twenty-five leagues in the immediate vicinity of the settlement, a salary of two thou- sand ducats chargeable on the revenues of the province, and a fifteenth part of all royal per- quisites.
1764892
1565 .- In the mean time news reached Spain that the Huguenots had made a settlement in Florida, and that Ribault was preparing to sail with re-enforcements. A cry was raised that the heretics must be destroyed, the enthusiasm of fa- naticism was kindled, and Melendez readily ob- tained all the forces he required. It was on the day which the authority of Rome has consecrated to the memory of one of the sons of Africa, a most venerated father of the Church, that he came in sight of Florida. After sailing along the coast . for four days, uncertain where the French were
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
established, he landed on the fifth, and obtained - accounts of them from the Indians. To the beautiful harbour and river which he there dis- covered he gave, in commemoration of the saint - on whose anniversary he first saw land, the name. of St. Augustine.
At noonday, on the festival of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin, the governor went on shore to take possession of the country in the name of the Spanish king; and on this occasion Philip was proclaimed monarch of all North America. The solemn mass of Our Lady was celebrated, and the foundation of St. Augustine was imme- diately laid. This is, by more than forty years, the oldest town in the United States. Houses are yet standing here which are said to have been built many years before Virginia was col- onized.
The French deliberated whether they should strengthen their defences, and await the approach of the enemy, or take to their ships, and attack them by sea. Ribault resolved upon the latter course; but a dreadful storm arising, every ship of the French fleet was wrecked on the rocks, about fifty leagues south of Fort Carolana, though most of the men were saved. Meanwhile, the Spaniards made their way to the unprotected
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MASSACRE OF THE FRENCH.
fort, and massacred the feeble garrison without mercy; a small number only escaping into the woods, and, among them, Laudonnière, Challus, and Le Moine, who have left us an account of their sufferings. They at last found their way to the seashore, and were received on board of some ships that had remained in the harbour.
The shipwrecked men were soon discovered ; and, half famished, and exhausted by fatigue, · Melendez invited them to surrender, at the same time holding out to them hopes of mercy. The unfortunate Frenchmen yielded ; but, as soon as they approached the fort of St. Augustine, they were inhumanly massacred: not, as their murder- ers asserted, as Frenchmen, but as Calvinists. A few Catholics were spared, and some mechanics were also reserved as slaves. The number thus barbarously butchered was supposed to be not less than nine hundred. 1
1567 .- The French government heard of this outrage without even making a remonstrance; but the nation and the Huguenots did not share the apathy of the court. Dominic de Gour- gues, a bold soldier of Gascony, sold his prop- erty, and, being farther aided by the contributions of his friends, equipped three vessels, in which, with one hundred and fifty men, he embarked for
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
Florida. His sole object was destruction and revenge; and having succeeded in surprising two forts near the mouth of the St. Mateo Riv- er, the consternation of the Spaniards was ex- treme. But, not being sufficiently strong to maintain his position, he made a hasty retreat, and sailed for Europe; having first hung his prisoners on the trees, with this inscription placed over them : " I do not this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers, and mur- derers." The natives, who had been ill-treated both by the Spaniards and French, enjoyed the savage consolation of seeing their enemies butch- er each other.
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1568 .- France disavowed the expedition of De Gourgues, and yielded her pretensions to Spain ; which power, so far as discovery could give her any right, had certainly the best claim.
The history of the first discoverers and explo- rers of this New World shows that they were by no means fortunate. Columbus was loaded with irons ; Munez de Balboa and Sir Walter Raleigh were beheaded ; Fernando Cortez was reduced to a state of poverty at his death; Magellan, Diaz de Solis, and Ponce de Leon were pierced by Indian arrows; Pizarro was assassinated by rebels; two of his brothers were put to death,
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FATE OF FIRST DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA. 39
the one in prison, the other on a scaffold, where Almagro and his son also laid their heads; Cartier, Verazzani, and Gilbert perished in the waves; Hernandez de Soto and Herville were cut off by fever in the flower of their age, the one on the banks of the Mississippi, the other at the Havana; Ribault was massacred by the Spaniards ; La Salle met his death from an assas- sın ; Hudson, with his son, was thrown over- board by a mutinous crew ; and Baffin was slain in battle. Thus misfortunes and a violent death were, in almost every instance, the only reward of courage, perseverance, and genius.
The first colonies were no less unfortunate. The French, in endeavouring to establish them- selves in Canada, suffered so much from the se- verity of the climate and the attacks of the na- tives, that they several times gave up the under- taking in despair. A company of adventurers who had sailed for the St. Lawrence were never afterward heard of. We have already seen what was the fate of Ribault in Florida, and the course of this history will show that of the ex- pediton of La Salle.
But these were not the only obstacles that the new colonists had to contend with. Labour and hardships to which they had been entirely unac-
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
customed, combined with the diseases incident to new countries to thin their ranks; and thus the numbers of the survivers were wholly insuf- ficient to till the ground, and defend the sick and helpless against the hostile savages, who were constantly prowling about, and often, in the ab- sence of the father, murdered or carried off his wife and children. The colonists themselves added to the horrors of their situation by espous- ing the quarrels of the European powers, and by calling in the dreadful assistance of Indian war- fare in their battles with each other. It may safely be asserted, that more lives were lost in the settlement of America than the most popu- lous state in our Union now contains.
CHAPTER IV.
Expedition of Joliet and Marquette .- Hennepin .- La Salle.
1673 .- AT this period, France had permanent- ly established her power in Canada. The Rock of Quebec was surmounted by fortifications, Mon- treal had been founded, and forts were erected at Richelieu, on Lake Chambly, and Lake Cham-
CHARACTER OF FRENCH MISSIONARIES. 41
plain. The savage tribes, partly overawed by the military, and partly persuaded by the mis- sionaries, had placed themselves under French protection at a general assembly held at the Sault de Ste. Marie. . The church and army engaged with equal zeal in making discoveries, the one to win souls for heaven, the other to increase the power and riches of France. Fathers Marquette and Hennepin were conspicuous for the ardour and perseverance with which they prosecuted their undertakings; but many others, whose names are now forgotten, equalled them in chari- ty and self-devotion. One of these, who attached himself to a party of Indians driven from their homes by a hostile tribe, thus writes to his supe- rior : " Our company consists of fifty people, men, women, and children, all in the most destitute condition. For our provisions we depend on Him who feeds the young ravens; we bear with us a load of sins and sorrows, and have great need of the prayers of our Christian brethren."
1673 .- A Frenchman named Joliet, from Pic- ardy, who had recently arrived in Canada, ac- companied Father Marquette in an exploring expedition to the West. There the Indians, whose language Marquette partly understood, told them of an enormous river which they called Mescha-
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
cebe-Father of Waters. On their return they communicated the information to Talon, first in- tendant of New-France, who concluded that, by going up to the source of this river, a passage to China might be found ! and that, in following it to its mouth, the Gulf of Mexico would be reach- ed. Marquette and Joliet, both impressed with the same idea, offered to undertake its explora- tion. Engaging four Indians as guides, they were carried by them in their bark canoes across Lake Michigan to Green Bay, and thence they as- cended the Fox River, whose banks were inhab- ited by a tribe of Indians of the same name. Crossing some mountains, they came to the Wis- consin, and, following its course, on the 7th of July, 1673, they discovered the Meschacebe, whose poetical name has been since changed to Mississippi, a word taken from the Iroquois language. On arriving at its shore, the Indians offered arrows, calumets, and ears of corn to the Father of Waters; Joliet inspected the soil on its borders, exulting in its fertility, and Father Mar- quette, falling on his knees, offered up thanks to Heaven for so great a discovery. They now committed themselves to the stream, which bore them rapidly past the mouths of its three great tributaries, the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Ar-
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DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
kansas, at which last they stopped ; for, though they felt assured that this mighty river must have its outlet in the Gulf of Mexico, as their provis- ions were nearly expended, they resolved to re- turn. They at length got back, with incredible fatigue, to the mouth of the Illinois, whose stream they ascended till they reached the heights which separate it from Lake Michigan. Here the two. adventurers parted company, Father Marquette to return to his humble labours among the Miami Indians; and Joliet to proceed to Quebec to give information of their success to Frontenac, the governor of New-France. The tidings were re- ceived with enthusiastic delight. The bells were rung during the whole day, and the bishop, the clergy, and all the authorities of the place went in procession to the Cathedral, where Te Deum was sung and high mass celebrated.
1678 .- Notwithstanding the great excitement produced by this event, it did not lead immedi- ately to any farther undertakings. The good Father Marquette dying soon after, and Joliet becoming wholly occupied by commercial affairs, the Great River remained unnoticed in the wil- derness, and its discovery seemed almost forgot- ten, when attention to it was suddenly revived by another enterprising Frenchman. Robert
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
Cavelier de La Salle had belonged to the order of Jesuits ; but, leaving the society, and finding himself destitute of property in consequence of the civil death he had incurred by entering into a religious community, he embarked for Canada to seek his fortune. Courageous, enterprising, · and persevering, he was precisely the man to complete the undertaking so favourably com- « menced by Marquette and Joliet. He offered his services to the governor, promising to explore the Mississippi to its mouth if he were provided with the necessary means. Frontenac advising him to submit his proposals to the court of France, he returned immediately home, where gaining the influence of Colbert and of the Prince of Conti, Louis XIV. was easily persuaded to grant him the needed assistance. A ship, well manned and supplied, was equipped for him, and the Chevalier de Tonti, a brave Italian of- ficer, having joined him in the enterprise, he set sail from Rochelle on the 11th of June, 1678. La Salle had received from the king two sealed parchments, one giving him the command of Fort Frontenac, the other granting him a monop- oly of the fur-trade in all the countries he should discover.
On arriving at Quebec, he proceeded at once to
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EXPEDITION OF LA SALLE.
Lake Ontario, where he put Fort Frontenac in a state of defence, had another fort erected at the upper extremity of the lake, and employed him- self in exploring the surrounding country, while a vessel was building for him on Lake Erie. Every- thing being ready, he embarked on board of her in September of 1679, with forty men, among whom was Father Hennepin, a man fully worthy to be the successor of Marquette. They passed through the strait which connects Lakes Erie and Huron, and, entering Lake Michigan, erected a fort on the River St. Joseph. There they were met by Tonti, who had come by a different route. Passing over to the Illinois together, they built Fort Crèvecœur on its banks; and, descending with the current, reached the Mississippi.
La Salle resolved first to ascend the stream, ho- ping thereby to discover the supposed passage to China, and deeming it also advisable to attempt finding an easier line of communication between Canada and this important river.
Accordingly, Father Hennepin, with two other Frenchmen, went up its channel in a bark canoe, taking particular note of its numerous tributaries as they passed along. Some miles below the mouth of the St. Peter's they came to a cataract, which they called the Falls of St. Anthony, and,
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. HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
carrying their" canoe past it, embarked on the river above, to which they gave the name of St. Francis. At length they fell in with a party of Sioux Indians, who made them prisoners; but they were well treated, and adopted by some of the chiefs. They did not remain long with them, however; for, leaving them at the end of three months, they again descended the Missis- sippi, passed up the Wisconsin, from thence pro- ceeded to Michilimackinac, and returned to Canada.
1682 .- La Salle in the mean time remained among the Illinois, with the view of forming an establishment there. His efforts were baffled by the jealousy of the Indians, and even of some of his French companions, who, it is said, attempt- ed to poison him. A war among the Indians rendering his position insecure, he built, on a high bank commanding the river, a fort, to which he gave the name of St. Louis, for its protection. This was the germe of the future city of that name. Stationing most of his party there, he himself returned to Canada, engaged fresh ad- venturers, and, again embarking on the Mississip- pi, resolved to explore it in its whole extent. They passed the Arkansas, where Joliet and Marquette had terminated their voyage, and the
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LA SALLE DESCENDS THE MISSISSIPPI.
current rapidly swept them along through un- known countries. The distance appeared to them interminable; and all began to despair ex- cept La Salle, who encouraged them to persevere, until at length his constancy was rewarded with success : they finally found the river separating into seven branches, and soon after beheld it discharging its enormous volume of water into the Gulf of Mexico.
Nearly the entire length of the Mississippi had now been explored; and, according to the cus- tom by which discoveries were then regulated, the whole of the vast valley through which it flows was claimed for France. La Salle took pos- session of it with the usual forms, and gave to it the name of Louisiana.
The Mississippi, rising near the forty-ninth parallel of latitude, and separating the Missouri from the Northwest Territory, runs in a south- southeast direction, receiving the waters of innu- inerable tributaries both from the east and west, until it finally reaches its termination, after a winding course of three thousand miles. Next to the Amazon, it is considered the largest river in the world ; although the Missouri has certainly a better claim to that distinction, its length, before it joins the Mississippi, being one hundred miles
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HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
greater than that of the whole course of its rival. Not only is it as broad and as deep, but it com- municates its own character to it. Before their junction, the Mississippi is a transparent, gently- flowing stream, studded with numerous islands ; but when the Missouri rushes into it, it disturbs its whole current as far as the opposite bank ; then (owing, probably, to the greater density of its waters) it disappears for nearly ten miles, the colour of the Mississippi being but little changed by its new ally ; and it is not before you approach St. Louis that the two rivers are distinctly seen, flowing unmingled side by side, until at length they unite in a yellow, turbid torrent, running at a rate of about four miles an hour. The distance from the junction of the two rivers to the Gulf of Mexico is one thousand three hundred miles. There are no tides in the Mississippi. It fre- . quently overflows the country south of the Red River, which is a low alluvial tract, intersected with innumerable streams and lakes. The allu- vial lands bordering on the river are from one to ten miles broad, and extremely fertile, covered with cotton-wood trees, magnolia, honey locust, pawpaw, buckeye, and palmetto. On the sandy uplands, pines and oaks are seen. Towards the north these gradually give place to the Ken-
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LA SALLE RETURNS TO FRANCE.
tucky coffee-tree, pear, apple, maple, peach, va- rieties of oak, and all the trees of a northern climate. Wild grapevines hang from them in festoons ; wild rice grows in the northern parts of the country, and in the south the cotton-plant offers its stores of wealth. It would be impossi- ble to enumerate all the vegetable productions that grow spontaneously in this fertile region, or that have been, in the progress of cultivation, in- troduced into it; and there are probably few plants that would not find a congenial soil and climate in some part of this immense valley.
It will readily be supposed that La Salle was not a little elated by his discovery: he hastened back to Quebec, and immediately set sail for France. He had, indeed, nobly redeemed his promise, and given to his sovereign a territory unequalled in extent and importance ; which, spanning like a bow the American Continent, and completely hemming in the English possessions (as yet reaching but little beyond the seaboard), might have rendered France the mistress of the world.
1684 .- Preparations for colonizing Louisiana were made in the early part of this year. Four vessels were equipped to carry out two hundred and eighty persons. One hundred of these were
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- HISTORY OF LOUISIANA.
soldiers, commanded by Joutel, the brother of La Salle, and another brother, the Abbé Cavelier, and two nephews, were with him. Mechanics and a small number of women and children gave hopes of a permanent settlement ; and some thirty volunteers and a few ecclesiastics comple- ted the party. But those who undertake to col- onize a new country are rarely the best of their kind. The soldiers were undisciplined vagabonds, whom their commander, a man of sense and courage, was unable, with all his efforts, to man- age; the mechanics were ignorant and without experience; and, worst of all, the naval com- mander, Beaujeu, was totally unfit to be the as- sociate of the heroic La Salle, and by his jealousy and foolish pride he baffled and defeated his well-laid plans.
The voyage, in its commencement, was marked by disasters ; and it was not long before serious differences arose between Beaujeu and La Salle. Having passed the mouth of the Mississippi without observing it, La Salle soon discovered the error, and proposed to return ; but Beaujeu refused, and persisted in sailing to the west, till they had reached the Bay of St. Bernard. There he left · La Salle and the little colony on an unknown coast with a single vessel, and with the remain- der of the fleet returned to France.
SETTLEMENT OF LA SALLE IN TEXAS. 51
La Salle prepared to make the best arrange- ments he could for the safety and comfort of his companions, intending, after he had provided for their security, to embark in his boats in search of the Mississippi ; but, through the carelessness of . the pilot, the vessel was wrecked, and many of their stores lost. Though this disaster struck his comrades with despair, it had little effect on the firmness of La Salle, who calmly proceeded to select a site for a fortified post, to which he gave the name of St. Louis. This spot sloped gently towards the west, presenting the prospect of a beautiful country, verdant with luxuriant herb- age, and variegated with groups of trees; and south and east lay the Bay of Matagorda, skirted with prairies. The waters abounded with fish, flights of wild fowl filled the air, and the fields were alive with bisons, deer, and wild turkeys. The fort was erected, the arms of France were carved on the trees, and Texas was formally ta- ken possession of as a part of her dominions. Nor did she, so long as Louisiana was hers, ever re- linquish her rights to the territory thus colonized under her banners, but persisted in claiming it as far as the Rio del Norte; and her title, indeed, was considered so clear, that Bernard de la Harpe attempted at a later period to occupy the country
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