250 Years Ago* ... November 3, 1763, Laclede Arrives in Ste. Genevieve

On November 3, 1763 Pierre Laclede and young Auguste Chouteau arrived at the village of Ste. Genevieve, on the west bank of the Mississippi River in what is now Missouri.  They had been on the river since the beginning of August, traveling slowly upstream from New Orleans with the royal convoy bound with supplies for Fort de Chartres.

Ste. Genevieve was the most northern French settlement on the west bank of the Mississippi, or at least the most northern settlement downriver from the confluence with the Missouri River.  Although the town of Ste. Genevieve still remains, the original settlement was a victim of Mississippi River flooding. By the 1790's, the residents had moved the entire town back from the river to where it exists today.

According to Gregory M. Franzwa, in his Ste. Genevieve: An Account of an Old French Town in Upper Louisiana; its People and their Homes, Ste. Genevieve was located where it was because of its easy access to the river (there were higher cliffs along the river north of Ste. Genevieve) and the route to the lead mines located northwest of the village.

In the early 1700's, the Royal Company of the Indies appointed a man named Philippe Francois Renault to explore and exploit the mineral resources of Louisiana.  The Company of course hoped he would locate gold and silver mines to rival those in Mexico.  Renault found no gold and silver, but he did find some of the best lead mines on the continent. As part of his arrangement with the company, Renault was granted a concession of land just north of Fort de Chartres and there he founded what became known as the village of St. Philippe.  According to Franzwa, Renault opened Mine La Motte on the Missouri side of the river and by 1725 was producing 1,500 pounds of lead per day.

Renault may be indirectly responsible for the founding of Ste. Genevieve on the west bank.  Sometimes the date given for the founding of Ste. Genevieve is the early 1730's but other times the official founding date is given as occurring after 1750.  Some historians, however, believe that there were people living on the site of the original village soon after Renault arrived, for the simple reason that workers would not want to cross the wide Mississippi every night to go home. But whether these, probably, itinerant workers constituted a village is open for debate.  Without a doubt, Ste. Genevieve was permanent French settlement by the 1750's.

Carl J. Ekburg, in French Roots in the Illinois Country, states that Ste. Genevieve, as a permanent agricultural community, first appears on the 1752 census of the Illinois Country (the French did not do a census every year or even every 10 years and they were not always accurate).   This census reflected eight permanent households with a total population of 23 (free and slave).

Presumably the early itinerant mine workers were superceded by permanent French Canadian families.  Ekburg, in his Francois Valle and his World, says:

Most of the residents of the Old Town [Ste. Genevieve] were a closely knit group of French Canadian habitants, or children of such habitants, who migrated from the east to the west bank of the Mississippi in pursuit of agricultural land. Multiple ties of blood, friendship and shared experiences bound these colonists together. 

By the time Laclede landed in 1763 the population would have grown. In fact, the 1760's saw an influx of French settlers relocating from what was now British Illinois to what they thought was French Illinois.  In 1765 a British captain reported Ste. Genevieve contained 50 families. By 1770 the British were reporting that Ste. Genevieve had 170 families.  French families clearly were not comfortable staying in British dominated lands, but in 1763 the only option for French families who did not want to live under Protestant British rule was to move across the river to Ste. Genevieve or head downriver to Arkansas Post or New Orleans.

In any event,  when Pierre Laclede stepped ashore in 1763, Ste. Genevieve was an established community.  Ekburg speculates that the original Ste. Genevieve was a "string town", a village laid out along one street, La Grand Rue, that would have run north/south more or less parallel with the river.  At the southern end of the village was La Petite Riviere, a stream that ran into the Mississippi.  It was here that the ferry across to Kaskaskia was located.  Secondary streets would have crossed La Grand Rue and homes, situated on lots of one square arpent, were laid out along La Grand Rue and the secondary streets.

Ekburg claims that the original town was a planned community, although no plan exists to tell us what it looks like.  Land grants made by the commandant at Fort de Chartres were not haphazard but were in accordance with a plan made by the royal surveyor, Francois Saucier. Saucier had arrived in the Illinois Country to design the new (and last) stone fort for Fort de Chartres.

Outside the village was a 7,000 acre agricultural area known as La Grand Champ, which was divided into strips of land that were owned by the villagers.   The whole area was enclosed by a large fence to keep animals out of the field.   After the harvest, the gates would be opened so that livestock could graze. As was typical throughout French North America, the French lived in their villages and traveled out to work their fields.

Although Ste. Genevieve was in French Illinois, it was directly across the river from the towns that would now be under the rule of the new British masters. This could not have been a comfortable feeling.  The French thought of the Mississippi River exactly as  we think of it today - a river located in one unified country, to be freely traversed without harassment from either bank other than from, sometimes, Indians.   As soon as the British arrived on the east bank, the river would turn into an international boundary.

The first thing that Laclede would have noticed about Ste. Genevieve when he arrived was that it was not a military establishment.  The same week that Laclede arrived in Ste. Genevieve, the French governor of Louisiana wrote to his predecessor that he intended to order the commandant at Fort de Chartres to carry off everything from the Fort when it was handed over to the British and deposit the artillery either in New Orleans or at the French post in Arkansas because "in Ste. Genevieve the  English would carry them off on their own perogative."

Governor D'Abbadie also remarked, in that November 6, 1763, letter that "the English officer assigned to command at the Illinois appears to me to be an alarming and seemingly completely dogmatic man" and D'Abbadie suggested that it would be best to warn the French commander in Fort de Chartres of this fact in advance.  Certainly this would not have made the French in the Illinois Country feel any better about the coming transfer of power.

Laclede had arrived in the Illinois Country, but his stay in Ste. Genevieve would be short lived.  Ste. Genevieve was not fortified and there was no secure location to store all of his trade goods.  Fortunately Commander de Noyes at Fort de Chartres (the brother-in-law of ex governor Kerlerec) was on the lookout for Laclede and Chouteau.  According to Auguste Chouteau's later memoir, Commander de Noyes sent a soldier over to Ste. Genevieve to tell Laclede that he was willing to assist Laclede and store his goods in the fort.  Since Fort de Chartres was another 18 miles upriver from Ste. Genevieve it is possible that Laclede and his party spent the night in Ste. Genevieve, but that is just speculation.

According to J. Frederick Fausz in his Founding of St. Louis,former Governor Kerlerec had sent an overland messenger to his brother-in-law, Commander de Noyes,  that had arrived at the Fort on October 25, 1763.  So de Noyes undoubtedly knew that Laclede, the partner of the richest merchant in New Orleans, was on his way.  According to Fausz, Governor D'Abbadie had "loaned" Laclede 300 pounds of the King's gunpowder.  The safest place to store gunpowder would be in the magazine at Fort de Chartres. (Clink this link for a view of the restored magazine building at Fort de Chartres, thought to be the oldest building in Illinois.)  Fausz sees this as evidence that Maxent & Laclede had the backing of the French colonial government in their endeavor to establish a trading post at the Missouri/Mississippi confluence.

Fausz thinks it is clear that the French colonial powers realized that there was going to be an exodus from the eastern bank of the river.  The day before Laclede arrived in Ste. Genevieve, de Noyes had treated with a group of Indians who were requesting French assistance against the British, including a request for gunpowder.  De Noyes had to deny the request because, as far as the French were concerned, the war was over.  He urged the Indians to cease waging war on the British and "retreat under French wings to the other side of the Mississippi River."  The following year, many French would "retreat" to the west side of the Mississippi to the new trading settlement that Laclede would found near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.

Although Laclede's visit to Ste. Genevieve was short, it was important.  It marked his official arrival in the Illinois Country.   By the 1780's the people of Ste. Genevieve were beginning to move to higher ground where the flooding of the Mississippi River could not reach them.  Today Ste. Genevieve remains one of the oldest existing communities west of the Mississippi River and it has the largest concentration of French Colonial Buildings in the country.  In 2008 it was selected by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as one its "Dozen Distinctive Destinations" and some of the old homes are open to the public including The Bolduc House.  Although built in the 1790's, it gives some idea of the type of homes that Pierre Laclede would have encountered in Ste. Genevieve and in the Village of Nouvelle Chartres during his stay there. If you are ever in the area, I strongly encourage a visit.

In 2008 Sainte Genevieve was selected as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Dozen Distinctive Destinations.” - See more at: http://www.greatriverroad.com/SteGenHome.htm#sthash.V6wqJmne.dpuf

Ste. Genevieve holds the distinction of the having the largest concentration of French Colonial buildings in the country. In 2008 Sainte Genevieve was selected as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Dozen Distinctive Destinations.” Each year the National Trust for Historic Preservation selects 12 cities that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a commitment to historic revitalization. Sainte Genevieve’s strength was its preservation, with more than 150 pre-1825 structures. Three of these buildings - the Amoureux, the Bolduc, and the Guibourd-Valle houses - are open to the public. The Felix Valle Home is open to the public and demonstrates the effect of the American influence. - See more at: http://www.greatriverroad.com/SteGenHome.htm#sthash.V6wqJmne.dpuf

Ste. Genevieve holds the distinction of the having the largest concentration of French Colonial buildings in the country. In 2008 Sainte Genevieve was selected as one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “Dozen Distinctive Destinations.” Each year the National Trust for Historic Preservation selects 12 cities that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a commitment to historic revitalization. Sainte Genevieve’s strength was its preservation, with more than 150 pre-1825 structures. Three of these buildings - the Amoureux, the Bolduc, and the Guibourd-Valle houses - are open to the public. The Felix Valle Home is open to the public and demonstrates the effect of the American influence. - See more at: http://www.greatriverroad.com/SteGenHome.htm#sthash.V6wqJmne.dpuf

*Part of my continuing blog series leading up to the 250^th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis in February 2014.

250 Years Ago ... Meanwhile, somewhere along the Mississippi River

When we last left our story about the founding of St. Louis, Governor D'Abbadie of Louisiana had confirmed the trading license for Maxent and Laclede's company granting them the exclusive right to establish a trading post at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and to trade with the Indians in the area.  At that time Maxent must have already been putting together the merchandise that would be taken upriver to be used as presents for the Indian tribes and for trade. Laclede, as the partner who would be "on the ground",  must have already been making final arrangements for the journey.  Laclede would take with him 14 year old Auguste Chouteau, the son of Laclede's life partner Marie Therese Bourgeois. There is a myth that Laclede also took colonists with him, but this was a merchant trading trip.  The colonists would arrive later.

A good account of the journey may be found in Frederick Fausz' book Founding St. Louis, First City of the New West. On August 10, 1763 (which Fausz assures us was a Wednesday) Laclede left a power of attorney with Judge Nicolas Forstall of New Orleans so that his affairs in New Orleans could be handled in his absence. He and Chouteau were to leave with the royal convoy that carried provisions upriver to Fort de Chartres.  Despite the surrender of the French and the subsequent treaties, the Fort was still under the control of the French military as no British troops had yet arrived in the Illinois to take possession of it.

According to histories, five bateaux left New Orleans in the royal convoy in the "first days of August" that year.  A bateaux was a shallow draft boat which could carry up to 40 tons of merchandise.  Fausz writes:

The typical crew of each "king's boat" consisted of a patrone (experienced skipper), a "royal slave" as an expert pilot and at least twenty well-armed marines, who rowed and defended the convoy. 

According to Fausz, the merchandise that Maxent & Laclede were sending upriver was valued at nine thousand livres which "was enough to provide lavish presents for twenty Indian nations."

Presents for the Indian nations were essential.  Indians only traded with allies and anyone who wasn't an ally was an enemy.  Enemies could be robbed and even killed.  Friends presented each other with presents as symbols of their goodwill.  Being on the good side of the Indians was essential for trade and also for safety.  Reports of the attacks on the British in Detroit and throughout the Illinois country in May of 1763 by Pontiac and the formerly French allied tribes reached New Orleans just before the royal convoy was scheduled to depart. Neyon de Villiers, the commandant at Fort de Chartres, reported that Pontiac and his warriors had captured seven British forts, beseiged Detroit and seized "a hundred thousand pounds" of English merchandise including ammunition. Villiers urged the Governor to maintain a full complement of troops at Fort de Chartres until the British could arrive to take control.  But the French evacuation of Louisiana was underway and would not be stopped.

Laclede and Chouteau were bound for Ste. Genevieve, the French settlement almost directly across the river from Kaskaskia and just downstream from Fort de Chartres.  Ste. Genevieve was primarily an agricultural community which also housed some French who worked the lead mines on the western side of the Mississippi.  Ste. Genevieve was the only port on the Mississippi, above the Ohio River, that the French still legally controlled (although, of course, the King had already secretly ceded the land to Spain). Laclede planned to winter in Ste. Genevieve while he selected a site further north for his trading post.

By the end of October of 1763, the royal convoy was still on its way upriver but getting near Ste. Genevieve. Laclede's journey to Ste. Genevieve took 85 days, which wasn't particularly long in the days before steam powered vessels had been invented.  The convoy would have made only about one mile per hour, operating under human power.  The boatmen had to row or pole their way against the current.   A large portion of the trip involved cordelling, a process by which ropes would be tied to trees along the shore slightly upriver from the location of the bateaux and the men would pull the boats along.  This sometimes involved zigzagging back and forth across the Mississippi.  And always they were laboring against the strong current of the Mississippi River.


The bateaux itself would have little shelter from the elements (whether hot sun or rain) - only a tent. Anyone who has lived through the heat of August along the Mississippi (not to mention the mosquitos) can imagine how hellish the trip must have been. But travel in late summer was preferable to travel during the winter when ice flowed down the Mississippi, or travel during the spring floods.  And throughout the trip the men in the convoy would be under constant pressure to keep watch against attacks from Indians allied with the English.

There is no record that this royal convoy was attacked by Indians. But perhaps the attention of the English-allied Indians was directed east during this period.   

In September, a month or so after the convoy left New Orleans, a British infantry captain arrived in New Orleans to begin the process of the handover of the land east of the river, beginning with Mobile.  On October 16, former Governor Kerlerec would report:  "The English have at last taken possession of Florida, where I think the Indians will give them some work." Also in October Kerlerec reported that the British were planning the process of taking possession of Fort de Chartres via the long trip up the Mississippi:

The English are intending to go and take possession of the Illinois and dependencies by way of the river, and according to the conferences that I have had on this subject with the captain of infantry whom Major Farmar has dispatched to me, it has been arranged that the latter will deliberate about this operation at Mobile with M. D'Abbadie and that they will be able to have the English convoy depart toward the first days of January.  They will be at the Illinois about the 20th of March, and our troops will return here at the end of April.

Laclede and Choteau were unaware of this as they continued their long journey upstream.  By this time in October they would probably have been somewhere near or above the confluence of the Ohio and the Mississippi.  They knew that Ste. Genevieve was not much further upstream.  I imagine they were dreaming of the day that the journey would be complete. But the leg of the journey between the Ohio River and the Kaskaskia River contained, in Fausz' words, the greatest navigational challenges, partly because quicksand lined the river's edges.  Often bateaux would make only one mile in two hours. Once they reached the mouth of the Kaskaskia River, it would only be 15 miles to Ste. Genevieve. The end was near.

*Part of my continuing blog series leading up to the 250^th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis in February 2014.

September Reading

September's reading was quite enjoyable even if not particularly difficult.  Lots of my favorite mystery writers had newish books that I discovered were out and that's what I mostly read.  Genre fiction?  Comfort fiction?  Commercial fiction?   Whatever.  Totally enjoyable. 

1.  A Question of Honor by Charles Todd.   The mother/son writing duo called Charles Todd has two series that occupy the same universe.  I prefer the series about Inspector Rutledge over the series about Bess Crawford.  This is a Bess Crawford novel and so far I think it's the best in that series.  I'm not sure exactly why I liked it better, but maybe because it seemed clear that Todd is moving WWI toward its conclusion as soon as possible, possibly since it is difficult to have his main character investigate mysteries amidst her duties as a battlefield nurse. 
2.  How the Light Gets In  by Louise Penny.  Another book in her Inspector Gamache series, we return to the little village of Three Pines, south of Montreal.  Gamache is asked to investigate why a friend of one of the residents did not turn up as expected.  Penny has moved away from simple mysteries into the psychology of her characters which makes it much more interesting. 
3. The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde.   This is the second in Fforde's YA series featuring orphan Jennifer Strange.   Not quite as good as the first novel but still fun. 
4. Island of Bones and Circle of Shadows by Imogen Robertson.   I realized that not only was there a newish Crowther and Westerman novel but I had missed the last one.   This series is set in the years during and after the American War for Independence.   I really like the relationship between Mrs. Westerman and Mr. Crowther and am glad that so far it has remained a working partnership and not a romance.  Highly recommended. 
5. Shadow of the Crown by Patricia Bracewell.  I was interested in reading about Emma of Normandy.  She featured as a major, but offstage, character in Dorothy Dunnet's King Hereafter.   I was slightly disappointed to find that this novel tended toward the historical romance than historical fiction.  I haven't read historical romance in quite a while and this was a good one - I just am not that interested in forcing historical facts to fit the romance genre.  But I enjoyed it despite that disappointment.  Recommended with some reservations. 
6. The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to his White Mother by James McBride.  An unusual memoir by a man about his mother.  Recommended. 

In October I plan on starting my "50th anniversary of World War I" reading.   A number of historians are beginning to release books, beginning with Catastrophe: 1914 by Max Hastings.  And I'm looking forward to the end of the month, when Margaret MacMillan's new book will be released in the USA.