French colonial governor of Louisiana
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville
(
French pronunciation:
[???
batist
l?
mwan
d?
bj??vil]
;
; February 23, 1680 – March 7, 1767), also known as
Sieur de Bienville
, was a French-Canadian colonial administrator in
New France
. Born in
Montreal
, he was an early governor of
French Louisiana
, appointed four separate times during 1701?1743. He was the younger brother of explorer
Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne was the son of
Charles le Moyne
, born in
Longueil
, near
Dieppe
, and Catherine Primot (also known as Catherine Thierry), born in
Rouen
, both cities in the Province of
Normandy
. Charles le Moyne established his family in the settlement of
Ville-Marie
(present day
Montreal
) at an early age and had fourteen children total.
Exploration in the New World
[
edit
]
At the age of seventeen, Bienville joined his brother Iberville on an expedition to establish the colony of Louisiana. In 1699, the group explored the
Gulf of Mexico
coastline as far as Mobile Bay, which was too shallow to go further. At the site of Belle Fontaine, they discovered an
artesian spring
bubbling and leaping from the beach; this spring is now 300?400 feet out in Mobile Bay. Bienville played a significant role in charting the coast near
Mobile, Alabama
. He also discovered the
Chandeleur Islands
off the coast of Louisiana, as well as
Cat Island
and
Ship Island
off the
Mississippi
coast, before moving westward to sail up the mouth of the
Mississippi River
. Eventually, the expedition reached the modern-day site of
Baton Rouge
and
False River
. In April 1699, before heading back to
France
, Iberville established the first settlement of the Louisiana colony:
Fort Maurepas
or
Old Biloxi
, at present-day
Ocean Springs
,
Mississippi
. He appointed
Sauvolle de la Villantry
as the governor and made Bienville lieutenant.
Following Iberville's departure, Bienville took another expedition up the Mississippi River and encountered English ships at what is now known as
English Turn
. Upon hearing of this encounter on his return, Iberville ordered Bienville to establish a settlement along the Mississippi River at the first solid ground he could find. Fifty miles upriver, Bienville established
Fort de la Boulaye
.
Co-founder of Mobile
[
edit
]
On the recommendations of his brother, Bienville moved the majority of the settlers to a new settlement in what is now
Alabama
on the west side of the
Mobile River
, called
Fort Louis de la Mobile
(or "Mobille"). He also established a deepwater port nearby on
Dauphin Island
for the colony, as
Mobile Bay
and the
Mobile River
were too shallow for seagoing vessels.
[1]
The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years. In 1704, in part due to fear that fraternization of French soldiers with native females might lead to conflict, Bienville arranged for the arrival of twenty-four young French women. By tradition the young ladies were selected from
convents
, though most were likely from poor families. Because they traveled to the New World with their possessions in small trunks known as cassettes, they are known in local histories as
the casquette girls
in early accounts and by the English translation of casket girls in later tradition.
The young ladies were lodged in Bienville's home under the care of his housekeeper, a French-Canadian woman known as Madame Langlois. (By tradition she was a widowed cousin to Bienville and his brothers, but there is no confirmation of this.) Madame Langlois had learned from local
native tribes
the arts of cooking local produce and imparted this knowledge to her charges in what is generally heralded as the origin of
Creole cuisine
. The names and fates of most of the Casquette Girls is uncertain, but at least some remained in the colony and married French soldiers as intended, the first recorded birth of a white child occurring in 1705.
[2]
[
better source needed
]
The population of the colony fluctuated over the next generation, growing to 281 by 1708, but diminishing to 178 two years later due to disease. In 1709, a great flood overflowed
Fort Louis de la Mobile
: because of this and the outbreaks of disease, Bienville ordered the settlement to move downriver to the present site of
Mobile, Alabama
in 1711 where another wooden Fort Louis was built.
[3]
By 1712, when
Antoine Crozat
took over administration of Louisiana by royal appointment, the colony boasted a population of 400 persons. In 1713, a new governor arrived from France, and Bienville moved west where, in 1716, he established
Fort Rosalie
on the present site of
Natchez, Mississippi
. The new governor,
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac
, did not last long due to mismanagement and a lack of growth in the colony. He was recalled to France in 1716, and Bienville again took the helm as governor, serving the office for less than a year until the new governor,
Jean-Michel de Lepinay
, arrived from France. Lepinay's tenure was short lived, however, as Crozat had relinquished control of the colony and its administration to
John Law
and his
Company of the Indies
. In 1718, Bienville found himself once again governor of Louisiana, and it was during this term that Bienville established the city of
New Orleans, Louisiana
.
Father of New Orleans
[
edit
]
Bienville wrote to the Directors of the Company in 1717 that he had discovered a
crescent
bend in the Mississippi River which he felt was safe from
tidal surges
and
hurricanes
and proposed that the new capital of the colony be built there. Permission was granted, and Bienville founded
New Orleans
in the spring of 1718 (May 7 has become the traditional date to mark the anniversary, but the actual day is unknown
[4]
).
[5]
By 1719, a sufficient number of huts and storage houses had been built that Bienville began moving supplies and troops from Mobile. Following disagreements with the chief engineer of the colony,
Pierre Le Blond de La Tour
, Bienville ordered an assistant engineer,
Adrien de Pauger
, to draw up plans for the new city in 1720. In 1721, Pauger drew up the eleven-by-seven block rectangle now known as the
French Quarter
or the Vieux Carre. After moving into his new home on the site of what is now the Custom House, Bienville named the new city "La Nouvelle-Orleans" in honor of
Philippe II, Duke of Orleans
, the Prince Regent of France. New Orleans became the capital of French Louisiana by 1723, during Bienville's third term.
Father of Biloxi
[
edit
]
In 1719, during the
War of the Quadruple Alliance
(1718?1720), Bienville had moved the capital of French Louisiana from
Mobile
near the
battlefront
with Spanish
Pensacola
back to Fort Maurepas (
Old Biloxi
).
[6]
However, due to shifting
sand bars
, the settlement was moved across Biloxi Bay to found
New Biloxi
(or
Nouvelle-Biloxi
or
Bilocci
), in 1719. After the move, Fort Maurepas was burned (in the French custom to avoid resettlement by enemy forces). Also during 1719, the under-construction
New Orleans
had been entirely flooded (6 inches or higher), with the realization that higher ground or
levees
would be needed for the inland port of that
Crescent City
. The governing council wanted to keep the capital on the
Gulf of Mexico
at Biloxi. However, the sandy soil around Biloxi complicated agriculture, and storms also shifted sands into Biloxi harbor, while the New Orleans site could be considered a deepwater port, closer to agricultural lands. Eventually, in June 1722, Bienville began moving the capital to New Orleans, completing the move in August 1722.
[6]
The year 1723 was the first full year with New Orleans as capital of French Louisiana.
Chickasaw Indian War
[
edit
]
In 1725, Bienville was recalled to France. He left the colony in the hands of
Pierre Dugue de Boisbriant
, succeeded by
Etienne Perier
. Bienville resumed his post in Louisiana in 1733. This last term in office would be one of conflict, as relations with the
Chickasaw
had deteriorated. Bienville immediately began planning for a two-pronged offensive. He ordered the Governor of the
Illinois District
Pierre d'Artaguette
with all available force from that area to meet him in Chickasaw country to launch a coordinated attack. At the event, Bienville arrived late, so d'Artaguette attacked independently on March 25, 1736, and was crushed. After weeks of preparation, Bienville attacked from the south on May 26, and himself was bloodily repulsed. Humiliated, Bienville organized a second campaign and collected his forces at
Chickasaw Bluff
in 1739. The Chickasaws sued for peace, and a treaty was signed with Bienville in April 1740. After two campaigns falling so far short of expectations, Bienville requested that he be relieved of his duties as governor.
While waiting for a new governor to arrive, Bienville helped establish a
Charity Hospital
which had been endowed by a sailor named Jean Louis. He also headed a relief effort when two hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast in the fall of 1740. The new governor arrived in 1743, and Bienville sailed back to France. However, even in France, he did what he could to aid the colony he had worked so long to build, seeking unsuccessfully to prevent the transfer of the colony from France to
Spain
. Bienville died in
Paris
in 1767.
Legacy
[
edit
]
A monument was erected in New Orleans to recognize Bienville's role as founder of the city by the Louisiana Purchase Sesquicentennial Commission. Cast in 1955 by Angela Gregory, the monument features Bienville atop a pedestal facing north. On the east face, to his right, sits a Native American. To his south, a priest. On the west side of the monument, Gregory included the Le Moyne coat of arms.
[7]
Bienville is often described as "the Father of Louisiana."
[8]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Gomillion, Charles Goode; Norrell, Robert J. (2022).
"History of Alabama: European rivalry, settlement, and growth"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online
. Retrieved
2022-09-26
.
- ^
Middleton, Carol.
"The French Colonials on the Gulf Coast"
.
RootsWeb
.
- ^
"Other Locations: Historic Fort Conde"
.
History Museum of Mobile
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-02-28.
- ^
Monteverde, Danny (December 15, 2015).
"VERIFY: Does New Orleans have an actual birthday?"
.
WWL-TV
. Archived from
the original
on December 17, 2017.
- ^
Cariello, Dave (May 7, 2013).
"City of New Orleans Celebrates 295th Birthday"
.
Canal Street Chronicles
. Retrieved
2022-09-26
.
- ^
a
b
O'Neill, C. E. (1974).
"Le Moyne de Bienville, Jean-Baptiste"
. In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.).
Dictionary of Canadian Biography
. Vol. III (1741?1770) (online ed.).
University of Toronto Press
.
- ^
Bienville Monument Historical Marker
. Bienville Place, New Orleans, Louisiana: Louisiana Purchase Sesquicentennial Commission. 1955
. Retrieved
2018-01-09
.
- ^
Harvard, Gilles (May 2021).
"Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville | Patrimoines Partages - France Ameriques"
.
heritage.bnf.fr
. Retrieved
2023-09-01
.
References
[
edit
]
- Bienville, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de. "Account made by Bienville of his Expedition against the Chickasaws." trans. Caroline and Eleanor Dunn in
Indiana's First War
. Indiana Historical Society Publications 8. Indianapolis: Wm. B. Burford, 1924. 75?123.
- Davis, Edwin Adams.
Louisiana the Pelican State.
Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961.
LCCN
59-9088
.
- Hauck, Philomena (1998).
Bienville: Father of Louisiana
. Lafayette, Louisiana: Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwest Louisiana.
ISBN
9781887366250
.
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