Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (February 23, 1680 – March 7, 1767) was a colonizer and governor of Louisiana. He was a younger brother of explorer Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville. He is also known as Sieur de Bienville.

Early years

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne was the son of Charles le Moyne and Catherine Primot. Originally from Dieppe, France, le Moyne established his family in Canada at an early age and had fourteen children total.

At the age of eighteen, Bienville joined his brother Iberville on an expedition to establish the colony of Louisiana. Bienville and Iberville during this expedition explored the north-central Gulf of Mexico coastline, discovering the Chandeleur Islands off the coast of Louisiana as well as Cat Island and Ship Island off the coast of what is now the state of Mississippi before moving westward to sail up the mouth of the Mississippi River all the way to what is now Baton Rouge and False River. Before heading back to France, Iberville established the first settlement of the Louisiana colony, Fort Maurepas in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, and appointed Sauvolle de la Villantry as the governor and Bienville as Lieutenant and second in command.

Following Iberville's departure, Bienville took another expedition up the Mississippi River and had an encounter with English ships at what is now known as English Turn. Upon hearing of this encounter on his return, Iberville ordered Bienville to establish a settlement along the Mississippi River at the first solid ground he could find. Fifty miles upriver, Bienville established Fort de la Boulaye in 1699. After Sauvole's death in 1701, Bienville ascended to the governorship of the new territory for the first of four terms.

Governor of Louisiana

By 1701, only one hundred and fifty persons remained in the colony, the rest having died from malnutrition and disease. On the orders of Iberville, Bienville moved the majority of the settlers to what is now called Dauphin Island in early 1702. He also established another settlement on the west side of Mobile Bay thirty miles from the Gulf called Fort St. Louis de la Mobile. The population of the colony fluctuated over the next few years, growing to 279 persons by 1708 yet descending to 178 persons two years later due to disease. In 1709, a great flood overflowed Fort St. Louis de la Mobile, so Bienville ordered the settlement to move down the reiver to the present site of Mobile, Alabama. By 1712, when Antoine Crozat took over administration of the colony by royal appointment, the colony boasted a population of 400 persons. In 1713, a new governor arrived from France, and Bienville moved west where, in 1716, he established Fort Rosalie on the present site of Natchez, Mississippi. The new governor, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, did not last long due to mismanagement and a lack of growth in the colony. He was recalled to France in 1716, and Bienville again took the helm as governor, serving the office for less than a year until the new governor, Jean-Michel de Lepinay, arrived from France. Lepinay, however, did not last long due to Crozat's relinquishing control of the colony and the shift in administration to John Law and his Company of the Indies. Bienville found himself once again governor of Louisiana, and it was during this term that Bienville established the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Father of New Orleans

Bienville wrote to the Directors of the Company in 1717 that he had discovered a crescent bend in the Mississippi River which he felt was safe from tidal waves and hurricanes and proposed that the new capitol of the colony be build there. Permission was granted, and Bienville set off in 1718 to start construction. By 1719, a sufficient number of huts and storage houses had been built that Bienville began moving supplies and troops from Mobile. Following disagreements with the chief engineer of the colony, Le Blond de la Tour, Bienville ordered an assistant engineer, Adrien de Pauger, to draw up plans for the new city in 1720. Pauger drew up the eleven-by-seven block rectangle now known as the French Quarter or the Vieux Carre. After moving into his new home on the site of what is now the Custom House, Bienville named the new city "La Nouvelle-Orléans" in honor of Louis Phillipe, Duke of Orléans and Prince Regent of France.

Chickasaw Indian War

In 1725, Bienville was recalled to France. He left the colony in the hands of Pierre Dugué de Boisbriant. However, it was only a few years before he was called back by the colonists to serve as governor. Bienville resumed his post upon arrival in Louisiana in 1733. This last term in office would be one of conflict, as relations with the Chickasaw had deteriorated. Bienville ordered the commandant in Illinois, Pierre d'Artaguette and François-Marie Bissot, the Sieur de Vincennes, to meet him in Chickasaw country in 1736 to launch an attack. However, D'Artaguette arrived early and attacked before Bienville arrived. Their attack was rebuffed, and the captured D'Artaguette and Vincennes, along with fourteen of their men were burned to death. Bienville finally arrived and attacked but was defeated. Bienville was distraught by his defeat and withdrew to reorganize for a fresh assault. However, before he could prepare for another attack, the Chickasaws sued for peace. Bienville made a peace treaty with them in April 1740. Because of his losses against the Chickasaw, Bienville requested that he relieved of his duties as governor.

While waiting for a new governor to arrive, Bienville helped establish a Charity Hospital which had been endowed by a sailor named Jean Louis. He also headed a relief effort when two hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast in the fall of 1740. The new governor arrived in 1743, and Bienville sailed back to France. However, even in France, he did what he could to aid the colony he had worked so long to build, seeking to prevent the transfer of the colony from France to Spain. Bienville died in Paris in 1768.

External links

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Bienville biography at University of South Alabama Archaeology website
Bienville biography at the Library of Congress' France in America digital library (English and French)

References

Bienville, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de. "Account made by Bienville of his Expedition against the Chickasaws." trans. Caroline and Eleanor Dunn in Indiana's First War. Indiana Historical Society Publications 8. Indianapolis: Wm. B. Burford, 1924. 75-123.

Davis, Edwin Adams. Louisiana the Pelican State. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961. LCCN 59:9088.

1680 births | 1767 deaths | French nobility | Governors of Louisiana | People of New France

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville | Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville | Jean Baptiste le Moyne