A History of French Louisiana

Years of Transition, 1715–1717

Marcel Giraud, Joseph C. Lambert, Joseph C. Lambert, Brian Pearce

• Publisher: LSU Press
• Year: 1993
• eBook ISBN: 9780807156704
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The death of Louis XIV in 1715 and the accession of his more progressive younger brother as Regent of France might have brought some hopeful changes to Louisiana, France's tiny, struggling outpost on the Gulf of Mexico. However, the continuation of the debilitating regime of the merchant Antoine Crozat and the extreme impoverishment of the French Treasury Following the disastrous wars of Louis XIV meant that no radical changes were possible. Instead, these few years at the beginning of the Regency represented a period of transition for the colony, when the need for a new administrative regime for Louisiana was met in France by a growing awareness of the strategic and economic potential of the Mississippi settlements. All of these conditions prepared the way for the appearance on the scene of the Company of the West in 1717.

In his detailed survey of this brief but crucial period of Louisiana's history, Marcel Giraud assesses the new mood and conditions in France—the personnel and objectives of the Council of the Navy, which oversaw the colony's administration; the advances in scientific opinion and their impact on Louisiana; and the political, fiscal, and economic conditions that created a new appreciation of the colony of official circles—while describing actual conditions in the colony. Giraud portrays the Louisiana of 1715 as a few clusters of squalid buildings scattered along the Gulf Coast from Alabama to Natchitoches, inhabited by largely dispirited settlers and soldiers who for the most part lacked the barest necessities of life.

Crozat's essentially self-serving regime made this a period of virtual stagnation. Rivalries among the colony's administrative personnel, especially between the governors and the Le Moyne family and their supporters, impeded development, as did the inadequacy of the priests sent to minister to the colony; the paucity of women, farmers, and skilled workers; and the infertile soil around the sties chosen for the forts and settlements.

Relations with the indigenous populations were hindered by the lack of acceptable trade goods, as were efforts by the French colonists to establish commercial relations with the neighboring Spanish colonies. At the same time, Louisiana bore the encroachments of better-supplied British traders who were moving into Alabama and the Illinois country and developing regular trade with Indian tribes whom the French claimed as their own clients. With his customary thoroughness and scrupulous attention to documentary details, Marcel Giraud provides a vivid description of a struggling colony hovering between extinction and the spark of growth that would, in years to come, establish it as a viable French outpost in North America. Despite the obstacles facing Louisiana during these difficult years of transition, the colony survived to experience new expansion and development under the Company of the West.

Index

Académie des Sciences, 11-13, 17, 22

Académie Française, 11

Agriculture, 6, 132-35

Aimable-Marie, 182

Alain-Emmanuel, marquis de Coëtlogon, 1

Alarcón, Don Martin de, 191

Alberoni, Abbé Jules, 184-85

Alcohol use, 129

Alexandre, Jean, 124

Arkansas country, 160

Artaguiette Diron, Jean-Baptiste Martin d’, 24, 81, 105, 106, 185, 196

Artaguiette d’Itouralde, Chevalier d’, 105

Artus, Sieur, 13-14, 85, 104, 106, 108, 109, 119

Asiento monopoly, 178, 181, 186

Astronomy, 12

Bajot, aide, 106, 107, 109

Barbu, 168

Baudreau, Jean-Baptiste, 135

Beauharnais, 102, 107

Beaulieu, 188

Bécard de Grandville, Sieur Louis, 137

Béchameil, Louis, sieur de Nointel, 1

Bégon, Michel, 32

Bellisle, Gotteville, 8

Bellone, 182

Benoist, Sieur, 86

Bernard, Jean-Frédéric, 25

Bienville: charges against, 36-37

and Indians, 37, 77-80, 154-55, 164, 165, 168, 171-72, 186-87

payments to, 54, 85, 96

conflicts with Crozat, 75, 81

supporters of, 76

in Natchez territory, 77-80, 154

as provisional commander of Louisiana, 82, 91

conflicts with Lépinay, 90-93

inland command of, 90-93, 152, 175

purchase of ship by, 94

and Canadians, 121

and slavery, 130

interest in Horn Island, 135

confiscation of property of, 185

and territorial expansion, 192

Bignon, Abbé Jean-Paul, 13, 16

Bignon, Jérôme, 105

Biloxi, 153, 188, 197

Bisaillon, 176

Blacks: as slaves, 130-31, 132. See also

Slavery Bobé, Jean, 15, 16, 19-24

Bochard, Antoine, comte de Champigny, 1

Bodin-Miragouenne, Nicolas, 135

Boisrenaud de Roisneau, Marie-Françoise de, 124-25

Bonnille, Sieur de, 103-104, 121

Botany, 15-17

Bourbon, Louis Alexandre de. See Toulouse, comte de

Bourbon-Condé, Louis Henri de, 120

Bourdon, 158

Bourgmont, Etienne Véniard de, 158, 195-98, 198n

Broutin, engineer, 156

Buache, Philippe, 13, 14

Burel, Geneviève, 124

Cadillac, sieur de. See La Mothe, Antoine de, sieur de Cadillac

Canada, 12, 13, 25, 32, 39, 63, 81, 89, 94, 114, 118, 120-21, 162-63

Canadian traders, 78, 154, 155, 158, 176

Canary Islands, 12, 13, 145, 200

Cap Français, 45, 57, 64, 81, 121

Cape Breton Island, 13, 14, 33, 88, 136

Capsole, Abbé, 126

Capuchins, 159-60

Cartography, 13-15

Cassini, Dominique-Jean, 13

Castelain, 145

Catherine, 143-44

Cattle, 133-34, 136

Cayenne, 34, 63

Charlevoix, Father, 22

Chastelain, clerk, 86

Chateaugué, Sieur de, 37, 83, 91, 96, 120-21, 134

Chauvin, Jacques, 124

Chauvin, Joseph, 124, 188

Chavanne de Richebourg, Captain, 154

Christopher, Catherine, 124

Churches, 127-28

Code Noir, 130-31

Colonies. See Council of the Navy; Louisiana; and names of other colonies

Company of Saint-Domingue, 57, 66

Company of the Indies, 15, 34, 133, 201

Company of the West, 25, 68, 70, 82, 89, 93, 95, 109, 118, 201

Conseil Supérieur, 87-88, 96-98, 120, 125, 131

Council of Finance, 1, 5, 61, 94

Council of State, 84

Council of the Indies, 185

Council of the Navy: composition of, 1

governance of colonies by, 1-10, 27-37, 88, 200-201

expectations of, 3

trade policy of, 6-7, 56-58, 140-42, 147, 182

and frigates sent to Mississippi River, 7-8

and indentured servants, 8

and military defense, 9, 101-106, 107, 108, 110-13, 184

and scientific movement, 12, 13

and discovery of Western Sea, 19, 20-23, 198-99

interest in Louisiana, 24

Indian policy of, 30-31, 162-79

emigration policy for colonies, 31-34, 46-47, 115-18

on Bienville, 36-37

Crozat on, 39

and Crozat’s plans for Louisiana, 41-47

and changes in Crozat’s recommendations on Louisiana, 47-49

and financial difficulties, 51-52, 144-46

establishment of, 56

and Crozat, 58-62

and Crozat’s resignation, 67-68

and Company of the West, 68

and Raujon, 72-73

and Crozat’s criticisms of Louisiana government, 76

and La Mothe, 79-80, 82

and Lépinay, 86, 89-90

and Bienville, 90-92

and Hubert, 92-93, 95

and notarial records in Louisiana, 97

and supplies for colonies, 122

and agriculture in Louisiana, 132-34

and land tenure system in Louisiana, 135

and improvements in Louisiana, 149

and occupation of interior of Louisiana, 151-61

and relations with Spain, 184-85

Council of Trade, 1, 89

Couturier, 96-97, 119

Crozat: and Council of Trade, 1

and comte de Toulouse, 3

and Mississippi trade, 6-7

and discovery of Western Sea, 19

importance of, 25

and emigration policy, 34, 42-44, 120-23

on Bienville, 36

royal approval of, 38, 235

views and influence of, 38-49

reasons of Louisiana’s importance to France, 39-41

and military defense, 41-42, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109

plans for Louisiana, 41-47

and supplies and food for Louisiana, 45, 52-55, 59-61, 63-64

changes made by Council of the Navy on recommendations of, 47-49

authority of, 55

end of monopoly of, 56-71

monopoly of, 57-58, 85-86, 140-41, 149, 197

payments made by, 58-62

price policy of, 64-65, 86

resignation of, 65-67, 109, 111, 113, 115

failure to make payments after resignation, 66-67, 111

gains from monopoly in Louisiana, 68-71

criticisms of Louisiana government, 72-82

and Lépinay and Hubert, 85-86

and Bienville, 91

and sawmill in Louisiana, 142

and trade, 146-47, 162

and wealth of Louisiana, 151

and missionaries, 159-60, 161

and territorial expansion, 192

Cuba, 133-34, 145-46, 200

Dardenne, Gilbert, 124

Dauphin Island: uncertainties of inhabitants of, 7

cartography of, 13-14

fortification of, 45, 80, 106-10, 184

and Crozat’s monopoly, 56-58

supplies for, 63-65, 112

missionaries in, 77, 127

and Conseil Supérieur, 87

Hubert’s headquarters on, 90

hospital established on, 93, 110, 148

Raguet’s settlement on, 97

emigrants to, 119, 126-28, 130

church on, 127

animals on, 134

land concessions on, 136

possibility of abandonment of, 137-40, 148

storehouse on, 142-43

navigation confined to, 144

and trade, 146

relations with Illinois country, 159

importance of, 196

Saint-Denis’ description of, 197

Dauphine, 16, 64, 66, 69, 72, 90, 115, 126

Davion, Father Antoine, 126, 161

De Boisbriant, Major Pierre Dugué, 24, 54, 100

De La Tour, Lt., 172

De Lause de Villemarets, Captain, 101, 104, 114, 125-26, 126n

De Lery Chauvin, Joseph, 188, 190

De l’Isle, Claude, 11, 17-19, 21, 198

De l’Isle, Guillaume, 12-15, 17, 19-20, 23-25

De l’Isle, Joseph-Nicolas, 12, 13

De Louvigny, Sieur, 176

De VUle, Father Louis, 158, 175

De Vincennes, Sieur, 176

Derbanne, François, 78-79, 86, 137, 154, 188, 192

Derigoin, Basque, 24, 72, 75

Descoublan de Gillan, François, 105

Deslauriers, Clairin, 96

Desmaretz, Nicolas, 38

Desplaces, Sieur, 60, 66

Du Bourg, Sieur, 192

Du Mouchel de Villainville, 105

Du Sault, chevalier, 8

Du Sault, Lt. Simon, 14, 138, 146

Dubreuil, Vincent, 120, 147

Duché, Jean-Baptiste, 22, 58, 61, 103, 106, 151, 153, 160

Duelos, Jean Baptiste du Bois: on Indian policy, 31, 53, 153

failure to investigate Bienville, 36

and military defense, 53, 107

request for increased funds by, 53

recall of, 54, 80, 81, 87

and Crozat, 72, 75, 86

and Raujon, 74-75

appointment to St. Domingue, 81

compared with Hubert, 89, 90, 92

salary of, 90

inventory assigned to, 94-95

and employment of Raguet, 96

interest in inhabitants’ opinions, 98, 149

and slaughtering of animals, 133

Education, 124-25

Emigration policy, 31-34, 46-47, 115-31

Escoubet, Captain Jean, 57-58, 182

Estrées, Marshal d’, 1, 3, 11, 15, 19, 23, 30, 33, 45-48, 51, 58, 68, 121, 135

Fabvre, Jean, 124

Fay, Anthony, 126

Feuillée, Louis, 12, 13

Fishing, 134

Fleury, Charles, 144

Follart, Chevalier Jean-Charles de, 104, 151

Fort Bourbon, 20

Fort Crèvecoeur, 175

Fort Green, 20

Fort Louis, 87, 109, 110, 126, 128, 129, 140, 147, 153, 157, 161, 164, 165, 171

Fort Rosalie, 77, 155-57, 168

Fort Saint Joseph, 176

Fort Saint-Joseph-des-Tunicas, 187

Fort Toulouse, 157, 170-71, 174

France: colonies of, 1-10, 25, 27-37, 88, 181, 200-201

scientific movement in, 11-26

explorations of, 18-19

Crozat’s views on importance of Louisiana to, 39-41

financial difficulties of, 50-55

and trade, 140-42

Indian policy of, 162-79

tensions with Great Britain, 162-79

tensions with Spain, 180-201. See also Council of the Navy

Gallut, Sieur, 186, 200

Gauvry, Captain Joachim de, 101, 104

Geography, 12-15

Granville, Sublieutenant, 48

Graveline, Jean-Baptiste Baudreau, 94, 125, 135, 188

Great Britain, 35-36, 39-42, 46, 130, 147, 153, 162-79, 181

Guadeloupe, 118

Guénot de Tréfontaine, Philippe, 120, 147, 174

Guénot de Tréfontaine, Pierre, 120, 147, 174

Guérin, Louis, 86

Hennepin, Father Louis, 18, 25

Hersent, Lieutenant, 106, 119

Heureux, 144

Hidalgo, Father Francisco, 187

Hubert, Marc-Antoine: on increased interest in Louisiana, 3

reports requested from, 6-7

and Bienville, 36, 92-93

and price policy, 48

appointment of, 81

on La Mothe, 82-83

and Crozat, 85-86

and Lépinay, 89-90, 92

residence on Dauphin Island, 90

...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Maps
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• I. The Council of the Navy and Some New Personalities
• II. Louisiana and Scientific Opinion
• III. The New Tendencies
• IV. Crozat’s Views and Influence
• V. Financial Difficulties
• VI. The End of Crozat’s Monopoly
• VII. The Government and Its Personalities
• VIII. The Defense of the Colony
• IX. Emigration and Colonial Society
• X. Economie Stagnation
• XI. Occupation of the Hinterland
• XII. Native Policy and the Conflict with the British
• XIII. Tension Between France and Spain
• Bibliography
• Index