Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, January 26, 1999

Spanish preoccupation lets France get foothold

by Jim Bradshaw

But when Arriola got there in February 1698 he found the government of New Spain preoccupied with another threat. The viceroy had received word that a large, number of settlers from Scotland were planning to found a colony at Isle de Oro, on the isthmus of Darien, as Panama was called them. The viceroy said he needed every available Spanish ship to turn back this threat, which was much closer to the sources of Spain's American wealth. His decision took on greater urgency when he received word that five Scottish vessels carrying 4,000 men had arrived on the continent and that another 6,000 settlers were on the way.

Panama represented a vital land link through which the wealth of Peru flowed from New Spain to the Old World. A steady stream of mules plodded across the narrow neck of land carrying sacks filled with gold and silver.

The French threatened no source of wealth. In fact, Spain was pretty sure that there was no gold or silver to be found on the northern Gulf coast. The Scots threatened gold and silver mines that were in production. Besides, the viceroy thought that Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville had meant to settle at Pensacola Bay and that be had probably sailed back to France when he found that the Spanish were already there.

The French may or may not pose a threat, he argued, but the Scottish settlement was real and immediate. From there, it would be an easy crossing to the Pacific and that meant a new threat to Spanish galleons sailing from the Philippines as were as those in the Gulf and Caribbean.

Despite his arguments, all of the viceroy's advisors were more concerned about the French. But, just as they were about to convince him that the French represented the greater threat to New Spain, the viceroy got the news that 9,000 Scots were actually settled at Darien. That settled it. The French could wait.

As it happened, the Scots found Panama inhospitable, and went home before the Spanish even assembled a fleet to drive them away. The Spanish fleet that had been pulled together to take on the Scots could have easily been used to overwhelm Iberville's tiny French garrison. But the viceroy was distracted again, this time by rumors that the English were going to settle in Florida. Once again, this was more fiction than fact, but the French had settled in by the time Spain investigated the British rumor.

The little French colony, ignored for too long by the Spanish, was able to take root. But it would be slow to grow.

In late May 1700, Iberville sailed back to France, returning to Louisiana in December 1701. By the time he returned, 50 colonists were dead. Supplies were short. Some of the settlers had gone to live with the Indians. Iberville decided to move the colony to a place near Mobile Bay, where he built a larger fort called Fort Saint-Louis-de-Mobile.

Iberville left Louisiana for the last time on April 27,1702, when he was sent to the West Indies because of the outbreak of the war of Spanish Succession (also known as Queen Anne's War) between France and England over the accession of Philip of Anjou to the Spanish throne. In this war, the French and Spanish, traditional enemies, were allies against Great Britain. Iberville was sent to Havana to link up with Spanish forces there. Instead, he contracted yellow fever and died on July 6,1706.

Iberville's brother, Jean Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, struggled to keep the tiny French colony alive. By late 1704, there were fewer than 200 settlers still alive. They lived in crude huts, dressed in rags, and lived on corn, roots, wild game, birds, and fish. By 1706, the colony had dwindled to only 85 people.

New arrivals in 1706 brought the population back to nearly 200, but a series of floods wiped out much of the little settlement. Bienville decided to move the settlement again. This time he re-established it on the site of what is today the city of Mobile, Ala. This settlement, along with Dauphin Island in Alabama and Biloxi in Mississippi, would constitute the "Louisiana" colony for the next several years.

By 1711, the colony was a bit more stable, but the little settlements strung along the Gulf shore still had only about 400 people, including 100 soldiers and handful of black slaves. Few of the settlers raised crops. Some worked for the military authorities. Some traded with Indians. Some ran saloons.

The land near Mobile and Biloxi was sandy and not very fertile. Dauphin and Ship islands were worse. Fort de la Boulaye flooded with every hard rain, and hard rains were just as frequent then as they are today.

The French Court began to wonder about its Louisiana adventure. No Spanish mines had been captured to loot for gold and silver. No gold or silver or pearls had been found near its own settlements. But much gold had been spent trying to keep the colony going. The king thought it was time to cut his losses and to turn over the whole thing to private enterprise.

On Sept. 14,1712, King Louis XIV, nearing the end of his 72-year reign as king of France, gave the rights to Louisiana to Antoine Crozat, Marquis de Chatel. Crozat was given all of Louisiana south of the Illinois country. He had the right to import African slaves and to use them to open mines and export the ores metals, precious stones, and pearl that were yet to be found but were still the lure to Louisiana.

Crozat did not go to Louisiana himself. He sent a governor, Antoine de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, who arrived at Dauphin Island on May 17, 1713. He brought papers showing that he was now the man in charge of the colony. He brought supplies to keep it running for a while and he brought 25 prospective brides for the colonists. According to the old accounts, some of the brides were so ugly that no one would have them. It's likely that by then, the largely unwashed menfolk, most of them former prisoners, were no prizes themselves.