THE FRENCH IN LOUISIANA AND THE FAR NORTHWEST (1699-1762)
THE FOUNDING OF LOUISIANA
Applicants for La Salle's grant.--During the War of the Palatinate Louis
XIV showed little desire to develop La Salle's plan for a colony on the
Gulf. In the interim, however, a number of individuals proposed taking
up La Salle's work. In 1690 his brother, the Abbe Cavelier, strongly
urged that it be continued. In 1694 Tonty asked permission to carry out
the project. In 1697 De Louvigny, Captain of Marines in Canada, proposed
making an expedition against the Spanish mines by way of the Rio Bravo.
In the same year Sieur de Argaud, at Paris, sought a grant of the
territory between Florida and New Mexico, the Gulf and the Illinois
River. The control of the Gulf and the checking of the Spanish advance
were prominent among the arguments for all these projects.
Iberville.--But not until the treaty of Ryswick was signed did the king
again take up the plan. The founding of the proposed colony was then
entrusted to Iberville, a son of Charles Le Moyne, one of the great
seigniors of Canada. Iberville and his brother Bienville had already
distinguished themselves in their attacks upon the English on Hudson
Bay. Activities were hastened by reports that the English were preparing
to take possession of the mouth of the Mississippi. To forestall them,
Pontchartram, the Minister of Marine, in 1698 sent an expedition to the
Gulf of Mexico.
Pensacola founded by Spain.--News of Iberville's preparations reached
Madrid early in 1698, and again Spain proved that in an emergency she
could act. Assuming that Pensacola was the French objective, the viceroy
sent Andres de Arriola to intercept them, and in November he fortified
the place.
Biloxi founded by France.--The movement was timely. Two months behind
Arriola Iberville's fleet appeared before the harbor and demanded
admission (January, 1699). The request being politely refused, Iberville
established himself at Biloxi, after which he returned to France,
leaving Bienville in command. During Iberville's absence, the coast and
the lower courses of the Mississippi and Red Rivers were thoroughly
explored and friendly relations with the Indian tribes promoted. Shortly
afterward Iberville returned to the colony, and in 1702 the settlement
was moved to Mobile Bay where the Spaniards at Pensacola could be more
effectually checked, the new settlement being called St. Louis.
Alliance with the tribes.--An Indian policy was also developed. Tonty,
who had found it to his advantage to divert his fur trade to Louisiana,
was sent on a peace mission to the Chickasaws. This resulted in a
conference of Chickasaws and Choctaws at Mobile Bay, at which the
friendship and trade of those powerful tribes were assured. By alliances
with the interior tribes, Iberville hoped to be able eventually to check
and, if possible, annihilate the English settlements of Maryland,
Virginia, and Carolina. After the conference at Mobile Bay, Iberville
left the colony, and Bienville became the central figure in Louisiana.
Bienville's first administration.--The government of the colony was of a
military type. At the head was the governor, who was assisted by a
_commissaire_ who had charge of the stores. A council with judicial
powers was also established. Like Frontenac, Bienville was beset by many
difficulties, quarrels with officials and clergy being frequent. The
colony was threatened by an alliance of Cherokees, Choctaws, and other
tribes who were instigated to hostility by the English. In 1710 a new
site for St. Louis was selected, the settlement being located on the
present site of Mobile, and by that name it became known.
[Illustration: The French in Louisiana and the Far Northwest.]
Crozat.--The colony had not prospered, and the government desired to rid
itself of the expense of the establishment. In 1712 the king therefore
granted to Antoine Crozat, a wealthy merchant, a fifteen-year monopoly
of trade in the vast territory from Illinois to the Gulf and from the
Carolinas to New Mexico. He was also permitted to send a ship annually
to the Guinea coast for negro slaves. On the other hand, Crozat agreed
to send out two shiploads of settlers yearly. The executive powers were
vested in a council appointed by the king from nominations made by
Crozat; it consisted of a governor, intendant, and two agents of the
proprietor. The first governor was Lamothe Cadillac, the founder of
Detroit. At first a considerable number of colonists were sent over,
but the French commercial laws, the monopoly of Crozat, and the low
prices offered for peltries crippled the colony.
Natchitoches.--Cadillac attempted to open a trade with the Spanish
colonies. With this in view in 1713 St. Denis, the younger, was sent to
take possession of the Natchitoches country on the Red River and to open
an overland trade route across Texas into Mexico. A trading post was
established at Natchitoches, but the commercial results of the
expedition to Mexico were slight. St. Denis was arrested and the
Spaniards, alarmed at the French encroachments, began the permanent
occupation of Texas.
Fort Toulouse.--In 1714 Bienville built Fort Toulouse, on the Alabama
River, near the junction of the Coosa and Talapoosa Rivers, in the
country of the upper Creeks, Mandeville being made first commander. Fort
Toulouse was a depot where furs were bought from the Indians and floated
down the river to Mobile. Round about it the Jesuit missionaries worked
among the Creeks. The fort became the base for the control of these
tribes, and an outpost against the English of the Carolinas. When the
latter settled Georgia, feeling the menace of the French outposts, they
built Fort Okfuskee, on the Talapoosa River, fort miles away, and
induced the Creeks to destroy the Jesuit missions.
Natchez.--Difficulties arose with the Natchez Indians; in 1716 Bienville
was sent to subdue them, and Fort Rosalie was erected on the site of
Natchez. Cadillac was shortly afterward recalled. Crozat had found his
colony merely a bill of expense and in 1717 he surrendered his patent.
At that time there were about seven hundred Frenchmen in Louisiana.
LOUISIANA UNDER THE COMPANY OF THE INDIES (1717-1731)
The Mississippi Bubble.--When Crozat surrendered his patent John Law was
ushering in his era of speculation. Louisiana was taken over by the
Compagnie d'Occident, which was granted complete political and
commercial powers. The capital of the Company, amounting to one hundred
million livres, was divided into two hundred thousand shares. In 1719
the company received, in addition, a monopoly of the trade of Africa and
the Orient, and increased its capital by fifty thousand shares,
thenceforth being known as the Compagnie des Indies. Law made Louisiana
the center of his system, and represented the country as an earthly
paradise, fabulous in mines.
New Orleans founded.--Bienville was made governor and the capital was
established at New Biloxi. In 1718 New Orleans was laid out and named in
honor of the regent. A garrison was established at the Natchitoches
trading post, and Fort Chartres was built in the Illinois country.
Feudal seignories were not extended as in Canada, but extensive tracts
were granted to _concessionaires_, who agreed to bring out settlers. In
a short time many tracts had been granted on Red River, on the
Mississippi, and on the Yazoo. As colonists did not volunteer in
sufficient numbers, emigrants were secured from hospitals and jails, or
were spirited away from France. A few negro slaves had been previously
introduced, but Law's company brought large numbers; the first cargo,
landed in 1719, contained two hundred and fifty. With this introduction
of slavery, agriculture developed rapidly.
War with Spain.--At this time a brief period of war ensued between Spain
and France, due to the ambitions of Elizabeth Farnese and her advisor
Alberoni. An expedition from Mobile captured Pensacola, but it was soon
after retaken by the Spanish, who also attacked Mobile. Shortly
afterward the French again captured Pensacola, but at the end of the war
it was restored to Spain. At the same time the Spaniards were driven out
of eastern Texas and an expedition under Villazur was defeated by French
allies on the Platte River.
Growth of population.--In 1720 the Mississippi Bubble burst, stock in
Law's numerous enterprises fell rapidly, and the great financier left
France a ruined man. Though Louisiana ceased to be the center of the
financial system of France, the Company continued operations with
considerable success. The white population had increased to about five
thousand. New Orleans had a considerable population, and in 1722 it was
made the capital.
The government.--In order that the country might be better governed, it
was divided into the nine judicial departments of Biloxi, Mobile,
Alibamon, New Orleans, Yazoo, Natchez, Natchitoches, Arkansas, and
Illinois. The negro population increased so rapidly that there was
considerable fear of an uprising. To govern them, in 1724 a set of laws
known as the Black Code was promulgated by the governor. The legal
religion of the colony was decreed to be Catholic, and masters were to
give religious instruction to slaves. Intermarriage of whites and blacks
was prohibited. The slaves were forbidden to carry weapons or to gather
in assemblies. Masters were bound to clothe, protect, and give
subsistence to slaves, and negro families were not to be broken up by
sales. Masters were also responsible for acts of their slaves. The
crimes of those in bondage were punished by whipping, branding, or, in
extreme cases, by death. This code was the last important act of
Bienville, who shortly afterward returned to France. The central
government under the company was practically the same as that of Canada
in the time of Frontenac, and similar quarrels between governor and
intendant ensued. Ecclesiastically Louisiana was divided roughly into
three districts; the Mobile region was under the Carmelites, the Jesuits
ministered to those in the Illinois country and along the lower Ohio,
and the rest was under the Capuchins.
The Natchez War.--Owing to the French occupation of Natchez lands, the
tribe in 1729 formed a conspiracy, which embraced the Choctaws and other
tribes, for the purpose of exterminating the whites. In the first attack
two hundred and fifty French at Fort Rosalie were killed, and many women
and children taken into captivity. The Choctaws turned against the
Natchez. An army of French and Choctaws was collected, and finally
succeeded in dispersing the hostile tribe. A second expedition pursued
the fugitives, and the Natchez were so severely chastised that they
ceased to exist as a unit.
LOUISIANA UNDER THE ROYAL GOVERNORS
Bienville again governor.--The expense of the Natchez War convinced the
directors of the company that the Louisiana project could not be made a
paying investment, and in 1731 the king released them from their
charter. In 1731 the Company of the Indies withdrew from Louisiana and
it became a royal province. A council was organized to replace the
company and Bienville was again made governor.
The Chickasaw War: Fort Tombecbe.--After the Natchez War the remnant of
the tribe had fled to the Chickasaws. In 1736 Bienville made war on the
latter tribe, who had not only harbored the Natchez, but were in
alliance with the English and had formed a league to cut off French
activities along the Mississippi, Mobile, and Tombigbee Rivers.
Bienville led troops from Natchitoches, Natchez, Mobile, and New
Orleans, while D'Artaguette from the Illinois cooeperated. As a base of
attack Fort Tombecbe was built on the Tombigbee River in the Choctaw
country. The expedition against the Chickasaws ended in disaster, but
Fort Tombecbe continued to be important as a base for the control of the
Choctaws, who were kept hostile toward Chickasaws and English. In 1740 a
second attempt was made. At Fort Assumption, on the site of Memphis, a
force of thirty-six hundred was gathered. The size of the army
frightened the Chickasaws, who sued for peace. The French, however,
failed to secure their friendship, and they remained allies of the
English.
End of Bienville's rule.--In 1743 Bienville retired from the
governorship without having succeeded in making the colony a success.
The white population near the Gulf had declined to thirty-two hundred
and there were about two thousand slaves in the colony, while the
Illinois country contained about fifteen hundred people. During the
remaining twenty years of French rule in Louisiana the New Orleans
region showed but slight development.
The Illinois.--The Illinois district throve especially under the Company
of the Indies. At first the settlements had been governed from Canada,
but because of the Fox wars and difficulties of transportation, there
was little connection with Canada, and after 1717 the Illinois district
was attached to Louisiana. The settlement profited by the John Law
"boom" in 1719, eight hundred new colonists coming, chiefly from Canada
and New Orleans. In 1720 Fort Chartres, in 1723 St. Philippe, and ten
years later Prairie du Rocher, were established. Across the river St.
Genevieve and St. Charles were founded. Further east, the Wabash was
fortified to keep out the advancing English traders. In 1720 Ouiatanon
post was established at Lafayette. This post and Fort Miami, at Fort
Wayne, were attached to Canada, while Vincennes, founded in 1731,
belonged to Louisiana, as did Fort Massac founded later on the Ohio. The
dividing line between the districts was Terre Haute, or the highlands.
Ouiatanon was at the head of navigation on the Wabash for larger
pirogues. Here peltries for Canada were reshipped in canoes. Twenty
thousand skins a year were sent from Ouiatanon in the decade after 1720.
The Garden of New France.--The Illinois district became an important
agricultural center, whence large shipments of grain were made to
Detroit, the Ohio River posts, New Orleans, Mobile, and Europe. Negro
slaves were introduced and tobacco-raising was begun. At Kaskaskia there
was a Jesuit academy for white boys, and at Cahokia a Sulpician Indian
school.
The Missouri lead mines.--During the rule of the Company of the Indies
lead mines were opened in Missouri, where lead had been early
discovered, especially on Maramec River. While governor, Cadillac had
made a personal visit to inspect them. Mining was begun on an important
scale by Renault, who received grants on the Missouri in 1723. He is
said to have taken to these mines two hundred miners from France, and
five hundred negroes from Santo Domingo. He was actively engaged in
mining until 1746.
THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI WEST
French advance into the Far West.--Meanwhile the French explorers had
reached the Rocky Mountains. In or before 1703 twenty Canadians went
from the Illinois country toward New Mexico to trade and learn about the
mines. By 1705 Laurain had been on the Missouri and in 1708 Canadians
are said to have explored that stream for three hundred or four hundred
leagues. By 1712 salines were being worked in Missouri and settlers were
living about them. Under the Company of the Indies exploration and trade
were pushed for a time with vigor in the trans-Mississippi West, all
along the border from the Gulf of Mexico to Nebraska. From Natchitoches
French traders made their way among the tribes of eastern and northern
Texas, and sometimes reached the Spanish settlements. In 1717 St. Denis
the younger and several partners made a second trading expedition
overland from Mobile via Natchitoches to San Juan Bautista on the Rio
Grande. His goods being seized, he went to Mexico, where he was
imprisoned, though his goods were sold with profit. His associates, who
reached the border somewhat after him, made their way to Presidio del
Norte, disposed of their goods, and returned to Louisiana.
La Harpe on the Red River.--While St. Denis was in Mexico, Benard de la
Harpe was sent to establish a post on the Red River above Natchitoches.
He was urged to inform himself concerning the source of the Red River
and the tribes near New Mexico, and to open commerce with the Spanish
provinces. In 1719 he established his post among the Cadodachos. Du
Rivage was sent up the Red River, and La Harpe made an expedition to the
Touacaras near the mouth of the Canadian River, where he proposed to
found a post as a base for trade with New Mexico, the Padoucas, and the
Aricaras.
Du Tisne on the Osage and the Arkansas.--At the same time (1719) Du
Tisne was on the Missouri, Osage, and Arkansas rivers. He ascended the
Missouri River to the Missouri Indian village, on his way to the
Pawnees, but was unable to proceed. He returned to the Illinois, and
went to the Osage tribe on the Osage River. From there he continued
southwest to the Pawnees on the Arkansas. He made an alliance with the
Pawnees, bought Spanish horses from them, and established a French flag
in their villages. He was prevented by his hosts from going to the
Padouca, but he inquired about New Mexico.
La Harpe on the Gulf Coast.--In 1718 the company was ordered to occupy
the Bay of St. Bernard, discovered by La Salle. In 1719 and 1720
preliminary expeditions were made, and in 1721 La Harpe himself led an
expedition to a bay on the Texas coast, but he was expelled by the
Indians. The bay reached by him was the Bay of the Bidayes (Galveston
Bay) and not the St. Bernard of La Salle. La Harpe urged a new attempt,
to keep out the Spaniards, but the company abandoned the project.
La Harpe on the Arkansas.--After returning from the Gulf coast
expedition, La Harpe was sent from Mobile in December, 1721, to explore
the Arkansas River, with the idea of developing Indian trade, preventing
Spanish encroachment, and opening commerce with New Mexico. He ascended
the Arkansas about halfway to the mouth of the Canadian River, and on
his return recommended establishing posts at Little Rock, the mouth of
the Canadian, and the Touacara villages.
Bourgmont on the Missouri and Kansas Rivers.--In the years immediately
following the Spanish expedition under Villazur (1720), the French made
active efforts to communicate with New Mexico on the one hand, and to
forestall any hostile movement of the Spaniards on the other. Having
heard that Spaniards were preparing to return to avenge their defeat and
to occupy the Kansas River country, Bienville in 1722 ordered
Boisbriant, commander at the Illinois, to anticipate the Spaniards and
build a fort. The person sent was Bourgmont, who had lived among the
Missouris fifteen or more years, and had been made commander on the
Missouri. Late in 1723 he established Fort Orleans above the mouth of
the Grand River, in modern Carroll County, Missouri. From there in 1724
he went up the river among the Otos and Iowas, and then southwest to the
Padoucas in Western Kansas, taking with him Missouris, Osages, Kansas,
Otos, and Iowas. He made peace between these tribes and the Padoucas,
and arranged to send traders to the last named. A primary object was to
open a way to New Mexico. Shortly afterward Fort Orleans was destroyed
by an Indian massacre, and wars of the Foxes for several years
practically closed the lower Missouri.
THE ADVANCE TOWARD NEW MEXICO
The western fur trade.--For a decade and a half after the Bourgmont
expedition the French made no noteworthy western exploration. Meanwhile,
however, the traders quietly carried on their trade among the western
tribes. Important items in this trade were Indian captives, and mules
stolen from the Spaniards. French traders sometimes found a ready market
for goods smuggled into Spanish settlements on the northern frontier of
New Spain. From New Orleans, Opelousas, Natchitoches, Yatasi, Petit
Caddo, and Cadadocho posts they worked among the tribes of eastern and
northern Texas. By 1730 they had reached the lower Trinity to trade
among the Orcoquiza and Bidai tribes. Further north they traded with the
Asinai and Cadadochos, in the very face of the Spanish posts. By the
middle of the century they were well established among the Wichita
tribes of the Red River Valley, and northeastern Texas was virtually
under French control. The way to western Texas and the upper Red River
was barred by the hostile Apaches, but in 1753 Governor Kerlerec
proposed breaking through this strong barrier.
From the Arkansas post traders worked among the Quapaws and Jumanos, and
other tribes adjacent to the Arkansas River. From the Illinois, and from
lesser posts among the Osages, Missouris, and Kansas, traders worked
among these tribes, the Iowas, Otos, Pawnees of the Platte, and other
more northern bands of Indians.
Interest in New Mexico.--French voyageurs, _chasseurs_, and traders of
Louisiana and Canada continued to look with covetous eyes toward New
Mexico. To the adventurer it was a land promising gold and silver and a
path to the South Sea; to the merchant it offered rich profits in trade.
The natural avenues of approach to this Promised Land were the Red,
Arkansas, and Missouri Rivers. But there were obstacles to expeditions
bound for New Mexico. One was the jealous and exclusive policy of Spain,
which made the reception of such Frenchmen as might reach Santa Fe a
matter of uncertainty; another was the Indian barrier which stood in the
way. The Red River highway was effectually blocked by the Apaches,
mortal enemies of all the tribes along the lower valley; the Arkansas
and Missouri avenues were impeded by the Comanches for analogous
reasons. The Apaches and Comanches opposed the passage of the trader to
their foes with supplies of weapons. As the fur traders and official
explorers pushed rapidly west, one of their constant aims was to open
the way to New Mexico by effecting peace between the Comanche and the
tribes further east, an attempt at which had been made by Du Tisne and
Bourgmont at an earlier day.
The Mallet brothers.--After the cessation of the Fox wars, which had
closed the lower Missouri, traders again frequented the Pawnees and
Aricaras, and in 1734 one is known to have ascended the Missouri to the
Mandans, from whose villages a trade route was soon opened to western
Canada. In 1739 a party led by the Mallet brothers made their way, by
the Missouri and Platte Rivers, across Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado to
Santa Fe. After a nine months' stay they returned, part going
northeastward to the Illinois and part down the Canadian and Arkansas to
New Orleans.
Fabry's attempt: Fort Cavagnolle.--The Mallet party had succeeded in
getting through the Comanche country to New Mexico and had returned
safely and with good prospects for trade. Immediately there was renewed
interest in the Spanish border on the part of both government officials
and private adventurers. At once, in 1741 Governor Bienville sent Fabry
de la Bruyere with members of the Mallet party to open a trade route to
New Mexico up the Canadian River, and to explore the Far West. He failed
to reach New Mexico. Fort Cavagnolle was established among the Kansas,
and the Arkansas route was made safe by effecting a much-desired treaty
(1746 or 1747) between the Comanches and their eastern enemies.
New expeditions to New Mexico.--The effect of this treaty was immediate,
and at once there were new expeditions to New Mexico by deserters,
traders, and official agents. In 1748 thirty-three Frenchmen were
reported among the Xicarillas. Early in 1749 a party led by Pierre
Satren reached Santa Fe by way of the Arkansas River, conducted by
Jumano and Comanche Indians. They were kept in New Mexico to work at
their trades. Early in 1750 another party arrived by way of the
Arkansas. They were ordered sent to Sonora to prevent their return to
Illinois. In the meantime peace had been made between the Comanches and
Pawnees, and in 1751 traders reached New Mexico by way of the Missouri.
In the same year Jean Chapuis led a party of nine from Illinois with a
commission from St. Clair, the commander of Fort Chartres. Arriving at
Santa Fe in 1752, via Platte River, he proposed a regular caravan trade
with military escort. The intruders were arrested and sent to Mexico,
where they languished in prison for many months, and were finally sent
to Spain.
The French advance through the Comanche country gives significance to
the proposal of Governor Kerlerec in 1753 to break through the Apache
barrier and open up a trade with Nuevo Leon, Coahuila, and New Mexico.
As a means of doing so he proposed securing an alliance between the
Apaches and their eastern enemies. These intrusions of Frenchmen into
New Mexico were closely bound up in their effect on Spanish policy, with
similar infringements upon the Texas border.
THE FAR NORTHWEST
The Fox wars.--By the end of the seventeenth century Fox hostilities had
practically closed the Fox-Wisconsin trade route to the Mississippi.
Hostility was increased by the massacre of many Fox Indians at Detroit
in 1712. In 1715 De Lignery led a futile expedition against the tribe at
Green Bay. In the following year Louvigny with eight hundred men won a
partial victory at Butte des Morts, near Lake Winnebago. The European
war had now closed, and the Lake Superior posts--Green Bay, La Pointe,
Pigeon River, and Lake Nepigon--were reoccupied. The Fox-Wisconsin route
being closed, the western trade was divided between the Lake Superior
district and that of the Illinois.
The new Sioux posts.--A new movement into the Sioux country was
stimulated by the long standing desire to find a route to the Pacific.
In 1723 Father Charlevoix suggested finding it either by means of a line
of posts through the Sioux country or by way of the Missouri and over
the mountains. The former plan was adopted, and in 1727 Fort Beauharnois
was built on the west bank of Lake Pepin, with Perriere in command, and
with new missions in the vicinity. But, through another uprising of the
Fox Indians, the post was soon abandoned. New expeditions against the
Foxes and the Sauks, their allies, broke their resistance, and after
1733 the Fox-Wisconsin trade route to the Iowa and Minnesota country was
again open. After 1750 the Foxes were regular allies of the French in
their wars with the British.
The Verendrye and the Post of the Western Sea.--The search for the route
to the Western Sea was taken up by Gaultier de Varennes (the elder La
Verendrye), commander at Fort Nepigon, who planned a fine of posts
through the waterways northwest of Lake Superior. His movements were
stimulated by the activities of the Hudson's Bay Company in Canada, and
by those of the Spaniards in the Southwest. To pay the expenses of his
scheme he was granted a monopoly of the northwestern fur trade. In the
course of ten years he founded posts on Rainy Lake (St. Pierre, 1731),
Lake of the Woods (St. Charles, 1731), Lake Winnipeg (Maurepas, 1732),
Assiniboine River (La Reine), and on the Saskatchewan (Fort Dauphin,
1741). In 1742 La France had penetrated the Hudson's Bay Company
territory by crossing from Lake Winnipeg to York Factory.
From this line of posts the elder La Verendrye turned his attention to
the upper Missouri, leading an expedition southwestward to the Mantannes
in 1738. Four years later his son, Pierre de Varennes, made another
expedition to the Mantannes, where they heard of bearded white men to
the west. Setting out southwestward, they visited the Cheyennes, Crows,
Little Foxes, and Bows. On January 1, 1743, when in the neighborhood of
the North Platte River, they saw the Rocky Mountains.
After Verendrye died, his successor, Legardeur St. Pierre, extended the
line of posts up the Saskatchewan to the foot of the Rockies, where in
1752 he founded Fort La Jonquiere. The French had thus reached the
Rockies by way of nearly every important stream between the Red River
and the Saskatchewan.
READINGS
Bolton, H.E., _Athanase de Mezieres_, I, Introduction; _Texas in the
Middle Eighteenth Century_, 1-133; "French Intrusions into New Mexico,"
in _The Pacific Ocean in History_; Dunn, W.E., _Spanish and French
Rivalry in the Gulf Region of the United States, 1678-1702_: _The
Beginnings of Texas and Pensacola_; Fortier, Alcee, _History of
Louisiana_, I, 30-140; French, B.F., _Historical Collections of
Louisiana and Florida_; Gayarre, Charles, _History of Louisiana, French
Domination_; Hamilton, P.J., _Colonial Mobile; The Colonization of the
South_, 197-275; Heinrich, Pierre, _La Louisiane sous la compagnie des
Indies, 1717-1731_; King, Grace, _New Orleans; Sieur de Bienville_;
King, Grace, and Ficklen, John, _History of Louisiana_; LePage du Pratz,
_Histoire de la Louisiane_; Martin, F.X., _History of Louisiana_; Ogg,
F.A., _The Opening of the Mississippi_, 169-237; Parkman, Francis, A
Half-Century of Conflict, I, 298-368, II, 3-44; Phelps, Albert,
_Louisiana_, 20-105; Shea, J.G., _Exploration of the Mississippi
Valley_; _The Catholic Church in the United States_; Thwaites, R.G.,
_France in America_, 72-88; Villiers du Terrage, Marc de, _Les Dernieres
Annees de la Louisiane Francaise_, 1-48; Winsor, Justin, _The
Mississippi Basin_, 1-217; Burpee, Lawrence, _Pathfinders of the Great
Plains_.