Jean L'Archevêque

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Jean L'Archevêque (1672–1720) was a French explorer and soldier. One of the few survivors of the ill-fated French colony Fort Saint Louis (Texas), L'Archevêque was one of the men who ambushed and killed René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. He died as part of the Villasur expedition.

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[edit] Fort Saint Louis

L'Archevêque was born to Claude and Marie (D'armagnac) L'Archevêque on September 30, 1672 in Bayonne, France.[1] In 1684, aged twelve, L'Archevêque joined the expedition of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle.[1] Two years previously, La Salle had led the first expedition down the Mississippi River from New France to the Gulf of Mexico, claiming the entire Mississippi River watershed for France as the new territory of Louisiana.[2] La Salle returned to France and proposed establishing a French colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, between Spanish Florida and New Spain.[3] The colony would provide a base for promoting Christianity among the native peoples as well as a convenient location for attacking the Spanish province of Nueva Vizcaya and gaining control of its lucrative silver mines.[4]

On July 24, 1684, the expedition left La Rochelle for the New World. L'Archevêque was one of 300 people aboard the 4 ships. The members included 100 soldiers, 6 missionaries, 8 merchants, over a dozen women and children, and artisans and craftsmen.[5][6] Fifty-eight days later,[6] the expedition stopped at Santo Domingo, where one of the ships, the St-Francois, which had been fully loaded with supplies, provisions, and tools for the colony, was captured by Spanish privateers.[7] In late November 1684, the three remaining ships continued their search for the Mississippi River delta.[7] A combination of inaccurate maps, La Salle's previous miscalculation of the latitude of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and overcorrecting for the currents led the ships to be unable to find the Mississippi. Instead, they landed at Matagorda Bay in early 1685, 400 miles (644 km) west of the Mississippi.[8]

On February 20, the colonists finally reached shore, their first feel of land in the three months since leaving Santo Domingo. They set up a temporary camp near the location of the present-day Matagorda lighthouse.[9] While trying to navigate the shallow pass into the bay, one of the ships, L'Aimable, was grounded on a sandbar.[9] For several days the men attempted to salvage the tools and provisions that had been loaded on the Aimable, but a bad storm prevented them from recovering more than food, cannons, powder, and a small amount of the merchandise. By March 7, the ship had sunk.[10]

The following week, the ship Le Joly, which had been loaned to La Salle by the Louix XIV, returned to France, leaving the colonists with only one ship, La Belle.[11] Many of the colonists chose to return to France aboard Le Joly,[12] leaving approximately 180 behind.[13] La Salle searched for a more permanent settlement site and found Garcitas Creek, which had fresh water and fish, with good soil and timber along its banks, and named it Rivière aux Boeufs for the nearby buffalo herds. Fort Saint Louis would be constructed on a bluff overlooking the creek, 1.5 leagues from its mouth. The men found a source of salt nearby and constructed a community oven.[13]

In early June, La Salle summoned the rest of the colonists to the new settlement site. Seventy people began the 50-mile (80 km) overland trek on June 12. All of the supplies had to be hauled from the Belle, a physically draining task that was finally completed by the middle of July.[14] Although trees grew near the site, timber suitable for building was found several miles inland, and the trees were transported back to the new building site. Some timbers were even salvaged from the Aimable.[15] By the end of July, over half of the settlers had died, most from a combination of scant rations and overwork.[14]

With their permanent camp established, the colonists took several short trips within the next few months to further explore their surroundings.[16] At the end of October La Salle decided to undertake a longer expedition from January until March 1686, La Salle and most of his men searched overland for the Mississippi River, traveling towards the Rio Grande, possibly as far west as modern-day Langtry.[17][18] It is unknown whether L'Archevêque accompanied La Salle or remained behind.

While La Salle was gone, La Belle was wrecked in a storm.[19] The destruction of their last ship left the settlers stranded on the Texas coast, with no hope of gaining assistance from the French colonies in the Caribbean Sea.[11]

By early January 1687, fewer than 45 people remained in the colony.[20][21] La Salle believed that their only hope of survival lay in trekking overland to request assistance from New France,[19] and sometime that month he led a final expedition to attempt to reach Illinois.[20] Fewer than 20 people remained at Fort Saint Louis.[21] Seventeen men were included on the expedition, including La Salle, his brother, two of his nephews, and L'Archevêque. While camping near present-day Navasota on March 18, several of the men quarreled over the division of buffalo meat. That night, one of La Salle's nephews and two other men were killed in their sleep by another expedition member. The following day, La Salle was killed while approaching the camp to investigate his nephew's disappearance.[20] Infighting led to the deaths of two other expedition members within a short time.[22] Two of the surviving members, including L'Archevêque, joined the Caddo. The remaining six men made their way to Illinois Country as quickly as possible and met several of Henri de Tonti's men near the Arkansas River. During their journey through Illinois to Canada, the men did not tell anyone that La Salle was dead. They reached France in summer 1688 and informed King Louis of La Salle's death and the horrible conditions in the colony. Louis did not send aid.[23]

[edit] Rescue

L'Archevêque quickly tired of his life with the Caddo. In 1689, he and his companion, Jacques Grollet, wrote a note asking for rescue. They gave the note to the Caddo, who passed it on to the Jumano Indians while trading. The Jumano were allied with the Spanish and brought a packet of papers to Spanish authorities in New Mexico. The papers included a parchment painting of a ship, as well as a written message from L'Archeveque. The message read: "I do not know what sort of people you are. We are French[;] we are among the savages[;] we would like much to be Among the Christians such as we are[.] ... we are solely grieved to be among beasts like these who believe neither in God nor in anything. Gentlemen, if you are willing to take us away, you have only to send a message. ... We will deliver ourselves up to you."[24]

Alonso De León rescued L'Archeveque and Grollet. On interrogation, the men maintained that over 100 of the French settlers had died of smallpox, and the others had been killed by the Karankawa.[24] The only people known to have survived the final attack were the Talon children, who had been adopted by the Karankawa.[25] According to the children, the Indians had attacked around Christmas in 1688, killing the remaining settlers.[24]

[edit] Spanish citizen

L'Archevêque and Grollet were taken first to Mexico City and were then imprisoned in Spain for 30 months. After swearing an oath to Spain, the men were allowed to return to North America. L'Archevêque joined a group of colonists and arrived in Santa Fe on June 22, 1694. Three years later he married a widow, Antonia Gutiérrez, who bore him two children, Miguel and Maria.[1]

It is likely that Antonia died in 1701. That year, L'Archevêque purchased an estate in Santa Fe, but continued to serve as a soldier. He served as a scout in 1704 under Juan de Ulibarri, and in 1714 he became a member of a junta. After retiring from the military, L'Archevêque became a trader, with operations as far south as Sonora. His sons, Miguel, and illegitimate son Agustin, assisted him with his business.[1]

In 1719 he became a father again, as a servant girl gave birth to his illegitimate son. Later that year, on August 16, he married Manuela Roybal, the daughter of alcalde Ignacio de Roybal. The year following his marriage, L'Archevêque joined the Villasur expedition on an expedition against the Pawnees. The Pawnee force was supposed to be led by a Frenchmen, so L'Archevêque was to assist in interpreting letters from the Frenchman. The Pawnee attacked suddenly on August 20, 1720, and killed most of the Spanish, including L'Archevêque. His body was left on the banks of an unknown river.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Blake, Robert Bruce, Jean L'Archevêque, Handbook of Texas, <http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/LL/fl'1.html>. Retrieved on 7 February 2008 
  2. ^ Chipman (1992), p. 72.
  3. ^ Chipman (1992), p. 73.
  4. ^ Calloway (2003), p. 250.
  5. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 13.
  6. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 16.
  7. ^ a b Chipman (1992), p. 75.
  8. ^ Chipman (1992), p. 76.
  9. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 23.
  10. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 24.
  11. ^ a b Chipman (1992), p. 77.
  12. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 25.
  13. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 27.
  14. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 28.
  15. ^ Bruseth and Turner (2005), p. 27.
  16. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 29.
  17. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 30.
  18. ^ Chipman (1992), p. 83.
  19. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 31.
  20. ^ a b c Chipman (1992), p. 84.
  21. ^ a b Weddle (1991), p. 35.
  22. ^ Weddle (1991), p. 38.
  23. ^ Bannon (1997), p. 97.
  24. ^ a b c Calloway (2003), p. 255.
  25. ^ Calloway (2003), p. 256.

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