The Belle

The French explorer, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, had a dream of colonizing the area at the mouth of the Mississippi River, invading and conquering Spanish provinces in Mexico, and claiming the land in the name of France.

One previous expedition had taken him from France to Canada, and down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. He had claimed the entire Mississippi basin for France and named it Louisiana. He then returned to France to sell King Luis XIV on his plan to return by ship with the supplies and manpower needed to begin his settlement.
Not only was the mission a series of missteps and failures, but La Salle’s personality was sometimes irrational, demanding the most of himself and of others. He was never on friendly terms with most of his men, especially his naval commander. Most agreed he was never considered a good leader.
He left France with 300 people aboard four ships, L’Aim able, La Belle, Le Joly, and Saint-Francois. Saint-Francois was captured by pirates after a stop in the West Indies.

The three remaining ships sailed towards the Mississippi, but La Salle’s maps showed the river’s mouth incorrectly. Because of this, La Salle eventually landed at Matagorda Bay in Texas, nearly 500 miles away from his destination.

The Belle safely entered Matagorda Bay, but L’Aimable ran aground trying to enter the narrow channel. Many of the supplies he needed for the founding of the colony were lost.
A large contingent of his followers were overwhelmed by the run of bad luck, and chose to return to France aboard Le Joly. About 180 people stayed to found the colony.

After searching for a suitable site to build a settlement, construction began on Fort St. Louis in what is now Victoria County.

Knowing by now this was not the mouth of the Mississippi, La Salle and a group of 50 set out in canoes to search for the elusive river; the Belle followed with 37 men, but there was no contact between the two groups for a month. Eventually, the land party found Belle’s captain and his men murdered in their sleep.

La Salle left the Belle again to explore by land, and upon his return, discovered it had been wrecked in a storm. Despondent, he traveled north with a handful of men to seek assistance, leaving only 20 people behind at the fort. Illness and hostile natives had already claimed the rest.

La Salle was assassinated by his own men before he ever reached help. The remaining colonists at Fort St. Louis, weakened by smallpox, were captured and murdered by Indians who had heard of La Salle’s death. Only a few children survived.

Shortly thereafter, a Spanish expedition found the remains of La Belle and Ft. St. Louis, and mapped their locations.

In 1995, the Texas Historic Commission, working from these maps, finally found La Belle’s watery grave. More than a million artifacts were extracted, many of which are on display at this and six other Texas museums.

---Next Section: "The Belle: Artifacts"