La Salle
La Salle, Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de
ACHIEVEMENTS: Discovered the Mississippi river and its route to the Gulf of
Mexico
NICKNAME/ALIAS: None
DISCIPLINE: Explorer
FIELD: Exploration
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: November 22, 1643, Rouen, France
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: March 19, 1687, near Brazos River,
TX. Aged 44
LANGUAGE: French
PARENTS: Unknown
SIBLINGS: Jean Cavelier
SPOUSE: None
CHILDREN: None
EDUCATION: Jesuit college, Rouen, France
MAJOR WORK: None
LIFE AND TIMES:
In 1668 La Salle sailed to Canada where his brother, Jean Cavelier, was at the Sulpician Seminary of Montreal in New France (present day Quebec). La Salle was granted a parcel of land on the Ile de Montreal. He farmed and set up a fur-trading station. Inspired by Indian tales of unknown territories, he decided to make his fortune by finding the Northwest Passage to China. He joined up with two Sulpician fathers, and together they reached the western end of Lake Ontario.
Seven years earlier, the young Louis XIV* of France and his minister Colbert*, decided to extend the French presence in New France, having heard reports from fur trappers and explorers like Radisson* about rich lands to the north and west. The Jesuits and the Sulpicians of Montreal were anxious to make the trek as missionaries. But Louis XIV's civil administrator Jean Talon did not want the Jesuits to have too much
power in any new territories and backed the Sulpicians, with whom La Salle had contacts, his brother being a member of the Order.
In 1670, La Salle agreed to be part of an expedition to investigate the area around Lake Erie and make friends with western and southern Indian tribes. La Salle already had cultivated a knack for communicating with the Indians. The Western Indians told him of a major river that ran west, and then entered the sea. This probably was the Mississippi system, and La Salle believed that this must be the passage to China. He soon discovered that the official expedition had no interest in finding a Passage to China or even a Western Sea, and he returned to Montreal.
In 1872, La Salle made friends with Count de Frontenac, governor of New France. Frontenac was an aggressive expansionist. He and La Salle established a fort on Lake Ontario, which became Fort Frontenac. They used military expeditions to hold back the Iroquois and were successful in interfering with both the Dutch and the English fur trade by intercepting Indians carrying furs between the Upper Lakes and the European
trading posts on the shores of Hudson Bay.
In 1674, La Salle went to France as Frontenac's representative. Louis appointed La Salle Seigneur of Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario.
But though he was making a lot of money in the fur trade, La Salle still yearned to find a Passage to China, and in 1677 went back to Paris for permission to explore the western parts of New France and to build forts on lands he discovered. He was granted a monopoly on buffalo hides and when he returned, Frontenac gave him a monopoly of all fur trade in Illinois country.
La Salle ordered the building of the sailing vessel, the "Griffon", the first commercial vessel on Lake Erie, and in the autumn of 1679, the "Griffon" set out from Lake Michigan for Niagara laden with furs and materials for another ship La Salle was having built on the Illinois river. But the "Griffon" never reached Niagara.
In search of his ship, La Salle set out on foot in March, 1680, from Fort Crevecoeur on the Illinois headed for Niagara, with six companions and an Indian guide. He left French explorer Henry de Tonty *, who had accompanied him from France, in charge of the Illinois fort.
He walked from the Illinois to the St. Lawrence in just over eight weeks under treacherous conditions. The mission was fruitless. The "Griffon" was never found, probably lost in a storm. Meanwhile, back at Fort Crevecoeur, de Tonty's men deserted him and the Fort was destroyed by Iroquois. Tonty escaped and reached Lake Michigan by the end of 1680.
In 1682, La Salle finally realized his dream. In January, with de Tonty, about 20 Frenchmen, and a team of about 30 Indian men and women, La Salle set out for the Mississippi, reached it, and arrived at open sea on April 9.
La Salle planted a cross and raised the flag of France, in effect claiming the Mississippi, its tributaries and the land bordering them for France. They named the region Louisiana, after the French king.
In 1683, La Salle built Fort St. Louis on the Illinois and established a colony of Indians.
Frontenac had been succeeded as governor of New France the year before, so La Salle asked the new Governor, Antoine Lefebvre de la Barre, for support and supplies, but Lefebvre, who did not like or trust La Salle, refused. In fact, he ordered La Salle to surrender Fort St. Louis.
La Salle went to France to appeal directly to Louis XIV, and the King gave him back Fort St. Louis. The King also gave La Salle permission to found a French colony between Florida and New Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi, intended to form a base for expeditions against the Spanish colonies and to prevent the Dutch and English from taking a share of the new Mississippi route.
With France then at war with Spain, the King provided La Salle with four ships and a force of about 100 hundred French soldiers, some colonists and some artisans. They sailed from France in July, 1684, and reached Matagorda Bay in Texas early in 1685. Whether by error or design, La Salle insisted Matagorda Bay was the mouth of the Mississippi, when in fact the mouth of the Mississippi was 500 miles to the east. They had sailed past it. In any event, the naval commander took his ships off at Matagorda, and La Salle built a fort.
The colonists soon became sick, La Salle's erratic orders and harsh discipline caused trouble. In 1865, La Salle unsuccessfully looked for the Spanish mining districts to the south and west. In 1686, he made an expedition north and east, across nearly impassable terrain, (saying he wanted) to look for the Mississippi, again without success.
In January, 1687, La Salle took a group of 16 men to get help for the colony. The terrain was hazardous and the Brazos and Colorado valleys were flooded. The men were dispirited and resentful. La Salle was sullen and paranoid. On March 19, when one of the hunting teams did not return to the group on time, La Salle went out looking for the men and was shot as he reached their camp.
ASSESSMENT: La Salle's vision and determination outstripped that of his contemporaries in North America and his journey down the Mississippi laid the foundations for the later establishment of a French colony there.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: He opened up territory exploited by Law*
ONELINER: La Salle, discoverer of the Mississippi
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Brebner, John Bartlett, The Explorers of North America, 1492-1806, Adam & Charles Black, London, 1964
Osler, Edmund B, La Salle, Longmans, Canada, 1967
Terrell, John J, La Salle: The Life and Times of an Explorer, Wybright & Talley, 1968