The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999 Page: 22
559 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
caused me to lose all the liquors, meat, beans, and a great portion of the
iron, some lead, and almost all the tools intended for the post, four
large cannon, all the cannonballs, grenades and a quantity of arms,
clothing for the soldiers, and commodities necessary for the Indians."6
Over the next few days, the colonists salvaged what they could from
the rapidly disintegrating ship and stockpiled everything on the beach.
Sentinels were placed to keep curious Indian onlookers from going near
the many barrels of powder. Joutel observed that the expedition now
"had eight guns and not a single cannonball." All that was salvaged from
the wrecked ship was placed in a camp situated back in the dunes from
the beach, and trenches were cut around the stockpile to ensure the
safety of the supplies. Wood salvaged from the wrecked ship was used to
build a sort of fort for protection. This "Grand Camp" was sufficiently
hidden by dunes to escape detection by a Spanish ship that came along
the shore, but close enough to the pass that the French could see Span-
ish sailors on the ship's deck. The Spanish ship, a trading galley under
Capt. Juan Corso, was specifically searching for the French ships but
failed to detect either the barque La Belle, which had entered the bay, or
the camp in the dunes.7
From the beginning, the French treated the Indians, numbering some
three hundred in this vicinity, in a heavy-handed fashion, and the Indi-
ans' natural suspicion of intruders in their territory soon turned to open
hostility. On March 5, two of La Salle's men, Oris and Desloges, were
slain by the natives. La Salle had the men brought in and buried with
honor, with either firing or striking of the cannons substituting for the
traditional tolling of funeral bells, which were lacking in the camp. A
large band of Indians later came to visit the camp, and some of the
French wanted to kill them to avenge the death of their companions.
Joutel would not permit it, and made a sign for the Indians to leave. "A
few musket shots fired in the air, set them running, and a shot from a
cannon, which I pointed towards the height on which the others were,
put them all to flight."8Joutel's narrative thus indicates that the cannons
were used by the colonists for a variety of purposes from the very begin-
ning of their odyssey.
Leaving Joutel in charge at the Grand Camp, La Salle set out during
the third week of March, in five canoes acquired from the Indians, to
find a spot suitable for settlement. Upon his return, he said that he had
6 "Official report of Sieur de La Salle on the wreck of the store-ship Asmable," in Margry, Eng-
lish translation, 533; La Salle to Marquis de Seignelay, Mar. 4, 1685, ibid., 536-537 (quotation).
7Joutel, "Narrative," 136, 141 (1st quotation), 146 (2nd quotation); Robert S. Weddle, The
French Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea, 1682-1762 (College Station: Texas A&M Universi-
ty Press, 1991), 43, 357-
8Joutel, "Narrative," 148.July
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 102, July 1998 - April, 1999, periodical, 1999; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101219/m1/47/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.