Robert de lasalle biography

They were finally rescued by an Iroquois who offered to guide them to the Ohio by way of Lake Erie. But before they got as far as Lake Erie , La Salle became sick with fever and the two missionaries were lured away to visit the Potawotami tribe. Because of his illness, La Salle told his companions he was returning to Montreal. However, he did not reach the settlement until the fall of There is no record of his travels during —70, but many of his later supporters claimed that he discovered the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers during this time.

Evidence shows, however, that this is almost certainly not true and that the Mississippi was not found until by the French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette see dual entry. La Salle made other unknown trips from to In the fall of he returned to Montreal. Once there, he allied himself with Louis de Buade also known as the Count of Frontenac , the governor of New France, in a dispute that was then going on in the colony.

The following September, La Salle started the expedition by constructing a fort on the Niagara River. He was accompanied by several other French explorers who were to gain fame as well, including Henry de Tonti and Louis Hennepin. La Salle was forced to spend the winter of —79 at Fort Frontenac at Kingston. Upon his return he discovered that his men had built a ship, the Griffon, for exploration of the Great Lakes.

They sailed on August 7, Leaving the Griffon, they went south on Lake Michigan in canoes. In the middle of winter they reached a village of the Illinois tribe near the present-day city of Peoria, Illinois. Discouraged by Native Americans from continuing, several of La Salle's men deserted. La Salle's return trip to Canada was beset by disaster after disaster: the Griffon got lost, then La Salle discovered the fort on the Niagara had been burned down and that a supply ship had sunk.

Making matters even worse, many of his men had deserted and were returning to Canada, robbing his supply posts along the way. Setting an ambush, La Salle captured them at the beginning of August. Since Tonti was not among the corpses left behind at the burned fort, La Salle assumed he was alive. When the two explorers finally met the following May, La Salle discovered that Tonti had escaped by rowing a canoe back to Michilimackinac.

In La Salle returned once again to Montreal, where he tried to calm his creditors as well as defend himself against his enemies, who were spreading rumors about his mismanagement of the expedition. They built canoes and rowed down the river, passing the mouth of the Missouri. La Salle finally sighted the Ohio River, which had been his goal when he set out on his first expedition thirteen years earlier.

On the site of present-day Memphis, Tennessee, he also built a fort called Prud'homme. In March, La Salle and his men were threatened with attack by a party from the Arkansas tribe. Leaving Prud'homme, La Salle's party continued down the river and passed the farthest point reached by Jolliet and Marquette. They spent time among the Tensas and Natchez tribes before reaching the Gulf of Mexico on April 9, He claimed the territory for France, calling it Louisiana and erecting a great cross.

As they started back upriver the next day, however, they were attacked by Native Americans and La Salle again became seriously ill. Remaining at Fort Prud'homme to recuperate, he sent Tonti on ahead to report back to the governor of New France on their discoveries. After a five-month recovery, La Salle continued his journey to Michilimackinac, where he was reunited Tonti and sent dispatches about his successful ventures in Quebec to France.

In the meantime, while La Salle was recovering from his illness, a new governor had arrived in New France. The governor was quickly influenced by La Salle's enemies, who charged the explorer with mismanagement of the expedition and mistreatment of his men. March 30, Retrieved March 21, The Discovery of the Great West. France and England in North America.

Boston: Little, Brown and Company. In Brown, George Williams ed. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. I — online ed.

Robert de lasalle biography

University of Toronto Press. October 30, Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved November 4, Retrieved August 12, New York: Robert Appleton Company, The Cataraqui Archaeological Research Foundation. Archived from the original on August 15, Ontario Heritage Trust. Archived from the original on September 24, December 7, Fort Crevecoeur Park and Campground.

April 1, Archived from the original on November 12, Iowa PBS. Retrieved November 12, History Museum. Park History, NPS. La Salle concentrated thousands of Indians as part of his ambitious plan to protect and exploit the vast new territory that he claimed for France. Retrieved March 30, Texas Historical Commission. In Hayne, David ed.

II — online ed. The Great Lakes. March Winterthur Portfolio. ISSN S2CID The Low Major. Retrieved November 23, August 4, Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Archived from the original on March 16, Louis Excavations". Subsequent investigation of the site by the Texas Historical Commission discovered the vessel likely dated to the late 18th or early 19th centuries.

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Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. More From encyclopedia. Updated Aug 24 About encyclopedia. Related Topics La Salle. Robert Burns Woodward. Robert Buchanan Trial: Robert Brandt von Mehren. He also built a seven-cannon barque that he used to navigate throughout the Northwest. He explored present-day Wisconsin, and most of the coastal cities around the Great Lakes list him as the first European to set foot on their land.

He established more forts around Lake Michigan and continued to build his network. La Salle reassembled a party for another major expedition. At what later became the site of Memphis, Tennessee, he built the small Fort Prudhomme. On April 9, , at the mouth of the Mississippi River near modern Venice, Louisiana, he buried an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory for France.

He appointed Tonti to command the fort while he traveled to France for supplies. On July 24, , He departed France and returned to America with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They had four ships and colonists.