Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, January 26, 1999

Frenchman sent by god to rule among the Indians

Jeau Gery turned out to be crazy

by Jim Bradshaw

Augustine came across a large Indian camp ruled by a white chief, about 50 years old, naked and painted like his followers, Using signs and interpreters, the chief told Augustine that he was a Frenchman sent by God to lead these Indians. He gave Augustine some pages from a French book to carry back to the Spanish.

When he heard the story, De León jumped to the conclusion that the Frenchman must have been sent out to win over the Indians and to prepare the way for a French invasion of New Spain. He decided that he had to capture the mysterious white chief.

De León and 18 men set out in the middle of May 1688 and reached the Rio Grande in about a week. About 20 leagues farther, he found a group of Indians hunting buffalo. They said they knew the white chief well. In fact, he was their chief. They led the Spaniards to him.

De León, Captain Martin de Mendiondo, and Father Bonaventura Bonai pushed their way past the Indian guards and into the chief's house. They found him just as Augustine described him. As the priest approached, the chief knelt and kissed his robe. He shook hands with De León and Mendiondo.

The Frenchman said his name was Francisco (which is Spanish), but that his countrymen called him "Captain Yan Jarri." He said he had been sent by the governor of a town built on a large river and that he was to win over the Indian tribes for France. He had been among the Indians for three years, he said, and had married into the tribe he now headed.

"Francisco" said the town he had come from was founded about 15 years before, and that it was protected by two castles, one belonging to the French and one belonging to the Flemish. The French castle had 20 cannons and was garrisoned by six companies of soldiers, he said. He said the town also had a Capuchin convent and a church with 10 bells.

De León thought he finally had proof of the long-sought French settlement. He decided to send the white chief to Mexico City for a talk with Spanish officials there. In Mexico city, the Frenchman said his name was Jean Gery. Under Spanish questioning, his tale became more and more incoherent, and the Spanish officials finally decided that he was crazy. But they were also convinced of two other things: He was assuredly French, and he had been found deep inside Spanish territory.

It was time to begin another search for a French settlement on a big river.

Two ships left Veracruz on Aug. 8, 1688. They explored the Rio de Palmas just north of Tampico. They went up the Rio Grande. They went back to San Bernardo Bay, and spent 14 days exploring the vicinity. Most the rivers flowing into the bay were dry. Just as it did the first time the Spanish visited it, the whole region appeared so uninviting that they refused to believe that the French would choose to settle there.

The expedition returned to Veracruz with the same report as always: No French settlement, no sign of one. But the rumors continued.

Among the Indians who were friendly to the Spanish were several wandering bands from the Jumano and Cibolo tribes. Their head chief was called Juan Xaviata. Each spring, he led his people on a long journey to the east to hunt buffalo and to take part in an annual trading fair with friendly tribes from Texas.

In late 1687, some of the Indians who had just returned from the Texas country reported "other Spaniards" who were living near the Texas Indian tribe. They later reported that these "Spaniards" carried on a regular trade with the Texas Indians, but that they always returned to their wooden houses near the sea. One of their "houses" on the water had been lost, the Indians said.

The Spanish went to take another look. This time Juan de Tetana and Alonso De León led an overland expedition. When they reached the Rio Grande, Tetana sent scouts ahead to find the best routes. They returned a few days later, reporting that the big chief of the area tribes was on his way, bringing letters that would explain everything.

The big chief was Juan Xaviata. He said that all of the "other Spanish" had been killed and their settlement had been destroyed. He showed Tetana some sheets of paper bearing French writing and a piece of parchment with the picture of a ship on it. The Indians' story left no doubt that the French colony had been wiped out. Tetana turned around for home.

But De León did not hear the news. He kept going, and began searching near San Bernardo Bay. The half-wit Jean Gery was with him.

In mid-April 1689, De León captured an Indian who said that four white men were in his camp, just a short distance away. They had come from a settlement near the coast, the Indian said. De León found this Indian camp deserted, but then he found another camp where the Indians said that the French from La Salle's Matagorda settlement were all dead. Many were killed by smallpox. The rest were killed by Indians. These Indians said that the four Frenchmen who were in the vicinity had left several days ago and were headed for the Texas country.

On April 16, De León wrote a letter to the four strangers, in French, asking them to meet him at the Matagorda settlement. He sent along blank paper for a reply, giving all of it to an Indian who promised to deliver it.

On April 22, De León found the remains of the settlement that had worried New Spain for nearly four years. No one was there. All that was left were six small huts that were falling into ruin. It was apparent that there had been an Indian attack. The place was littered with broken guns, pages torn from French books, and other debris.

After staying at the ruined settlement for two days, De León decided to explore the coast, about five miles away. Jean Gery seemed to know the lay of the land and acted as a guide. They reached Matagorda Bay after a round-about journey, then returned to the old French fort. When they got there, an Indian was waiting for them with an answer from the four Frenchmen. Two of them were tired of living with the Indians and wanted to join up with the Spaniards.

De León took 30 men with him and marched north. He found the two Frenchmen at Texas Indian camp. They were Jean de l'Archevêque and Jacques Grollet. They and the Texas chief were taken to Guadeloupe and questioned by officials there. At last, the full details of La Salle's failed colony were told.

The Frenchmen said they were alive because they stayed behind when La Salle went on one of his searches for the Mississippi River. They said La Salle had been killed by one of the men who had gone on that expedition. The few other survivors of the settlement were scattered among the Indians in the surrounding countryside.

La Salle's feared "army," De León found out had been reduced quickly to no more than 20 colonists. Half of those died of smallpox and most the rest had been slaughtered by Karankara Indians. Four children were spared. The Karankara were keeping the children as pets. (They would eventually be rescued.)

Strangely enough, neither l'Archevêque nor Grollet knew Jean Gery. They said he must have wandered from Henri de Tonti's fort on the Illinois River.

The mystery of the French colony on Espiritu Santo Bay had finally been solved. There was no French stronghold to threaten the precious silver and gold of New Spain. But the Spanish saw other threats -- of a French alliance with the Indians that would one day mean trouble, and of the problem of unwanted settlers in that long, vacant stretch of land between Florida and Mexico. They immediately began to set up missions among the Texas Indians to hold on to the western side of that unsettled land. On the eastern end, they built a new fort at Pensacola Bay, from which they could watch for signs of new settlement.

It would be here that those who began to settle French Louisiana would first meet the Spanish who claimed the place.