Iberville’s Expedition—Settlement at Biloxi and Mobile—Amicable
Relations of the French and Spanish Colonies from 1700-1719.
The French expedition referred to in the previous chapter, the delay of
which was so fateful to the growth and commercial future of Pensacola,
appeared off the mouth of the harbor in January, 1699. But, observing
the Spanish flag flying from the mast-head of two war vessels lying in
the Bay and from the flagstaff of Fort San Carlos, they did not enter
the harbor, but cast anchor off the Island of Santa Rosa. Thence an
application was made to the Spanish governor for permission to enter,
which was promptly refused.
After that curt refusal of the Spaniards, the fleet, consisting of three
vessels under the command of Lemoine d’ Iberville, accompanied by his
brothers, Bienvielle and Sauville, which was taking out a colony with
the necessary supplies to settle southern Louisiana, sailed westward and
took formal possession of the country west of the Perdido river.
Iberville’s first settlement was made at Biloxi on the twenty-seventh of
February, 1699, but it was afterwards abandoned, in 1702, and removed to
Mobile.
To the accession of Philip V., a Bourbon prince, to the Spanish crown,
whilst Louis XIV. reigned in France, must be attributed the strangely
peaceful settlement of the Perdido as the boundary line between
Louisiana and Florida. For the politic, if not natural, harmony existing
between two kings belonging to the same royal family, a grandfather and
a grandson, both the objects of jealousy and suspicion to the other
nations of Europe, necessarily inspired a like feeling in their
respective colonial officers. Hence it was that we find that the
ineffectual expedition of Governor Ravolli of Pensacola, in 1700, to
expel the French from Ship Island, was the last instance of hostility
between the Louisiana French and the Florida Spaniards for a period of
nineteen years.
Indeed, so intimate were the relations between the two colonies, that
Iberville, coming from France, in 1702, with two war ships taking succor
to the French colonists, terminated their voyage at Pensacola, and
thence sent the supplies to Mobile in small vessels. Again, in 1703, he
began a voyage to France by sailing from Pensacola.
The War of the Spanish Succession, in which England was the antagonist
of Spain and France, tightened the bonds of amity between the colonies
of the latter. In 1702, in anticipation of an English expedition against
Pensacola, Governor Martino readily procured from Bienville a needed
supply of arms and ammunition. On the other hand, in 1704, Governor
Martino promptly furnished food from his stores at Pensacola to the
famine-threatened colonists at Mobile; that kind office being a just
requital of a like humanity which had been exercised by Bienville, in
1702, towards the starving garrison of San Carlos.
In 1706-7, eighteen Englishmen from Carolina, heading a large body of
Indians, made inroads upon the Spanish settlements in Florida, and,
strange as it may seem, extended their operations as far westward as
Pensacola. In the latter year, Bienville was applied to by the Spanish
governor to aid him in defending Pensacola from an impending attack by
the Englishmen and their Indian allies. Prompt and bold in action,
Bienville at once advanced from Mobile with one hundred and twenty
Canadians to assist the Spaniards. But no conflict occurred, for after a
few days of hostile demonstrations the enemy abandoned their enterprise,
owing to the want of necessary supplies.
In other ways, too, the good feeling and intimate relations of the two
colonies were manifested. We learn, from a letter of the mean, jealous,
and growling Governor Condillac of Louisiana to Count Pontchartrain,
that, in 1713, there existed a trade between Pensacola and Mobile, in
which the former was supplied by the latter with lumber, poultry and
vegetables—a petty traffic, but not too small to excite the jealousy of
the old grumbler.
Such were the friendly relations existing between the Florida Spaniards
and the Louisiana French up to 1719, being the year after Bienville had
founded the city of New Orleans; relations which must be borne in mind
to enable us to form an enlightened judgment upon the actions of the men
engaged in the bloody drama which was ushered in by the nineteen years
of kind offices and good fellowship which have been mentioned.
* * * * *
Lemoine d’ Iberville, a Canadian, esteemed the most skillful
officer of the French navy brilliantly distinguished on many
occasions, was selected to command the expedition to southern
Louisiana, designed to perfect by colonization the claim France
founded upon the voyage of La Salle. He and his brothers,
Bienville, the founder of New Orleans, Sauville, Sevigny and
Chateaugné presented a group of men seldom accorded to one
family.
During a visit to Havana, d’ Iberville died on the ninth of
July, 1706, leaving to his brothers the task of perfecting the
great enterprise to which the last seven years of his own life
had been devoted.
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