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OLD BILOXI

The First Settlement in Mississippi
An Address Delivered at the
Dedication of a Monument, Commemorating the
Settlement of Old Biloxi and Fort Maurepas
April 8, 1920

BY
DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D.
State Historian of Mississippi

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HEDERMAN SROS., JACKSON, MISS.

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OLD BILOXI
The First Settlement in Mississippi
An Address Delivered at the
Dedication of a Monument, Commemorating the
Settlement of Old Biloxi and Fort Maurepas
with the Compliments of the
MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
DUNBAR ROWLAND, Secretary,
The Capitol,
Jackson, Mississippi.
August 7, 1920.

BY
DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D.
State Historian of Mississippi

OLD BILOXI
The First Settlement in Mississippi
An Address Delivered at the
Dedication of a Monument, Commemorating the
Settlement of Old Biloxi and Fort Maurepas
April 8, 1920

BY
DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D.
State Historian of Mississippi

OLD BILOXI, THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN MISSISSIPPI
An address delivered on the occasion of the dedication of a
monument commemorating the settlement of old Biloxi and Fort
Maurepas, April 8, 1920, the two hundred and twenty-first an
niversary of the first settlement in Mississippi.
Mr. Chairman, DaugMers of tJie American Revolution, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
Let me at the outset express to this impressive gathering of
patriotic and State-loving Mississippians, who have joined hands
with the Daughters of the American Revolution in celebrating
our natal day, my deep appreciation of the courteous invitation
to be present and to speak on this most interesting occasion. I
assure you that I count it a high honor to have a place on your
program. It gives me very real pleasure to also have this op
portunity of expressing my sincere appreciation of the encour
agement which you have always given the State Historical De
partment in the preservation and publication of the notable his
tory which our forefathers made, and in creating and stimulating
a true historical spirit throughout the State.
To the Daughters of the American Revolution of this State
I wish to say that I congratulate you on your loving, well di
rected and effective efforts to keep alive in the hearts of this and
future generations the deepest veneration for the patriot soldier
of the American Revolution and for his great history. This has
been your primary purpose, but you have not been unmindful of
other historical activities. Your Society is the pioneer in the
work of marking early historical sites in Mississippi. You have
been busy in erecting memorials to commemorate the notable
events in our history from the Tennessee line to these blue Gulf
waters. Through your efforts travelers can follow the first
great trail that brought us much of our early population, and we
thank you in the name of the Historical Society for this evidence
of your devotion to the high ideals that have placed us among the
leading civilizations of the world.

But however important have been all other occasions in
commemorating events in our history, the event which we have
assembled here today to celebrate is the most important. On
this beautiful Biloxi Bay, April 8, 1699, history chronicles its
first fact in connection with the settlement of our State. It was
here two hundred and twenty-one years ago that the adventurous
and gallant spirits of France laid the foundation stones of what
is now Mississippi, and established the capitol of a domain whose
territory, according to the best authorities, covered that part of
North America bounded on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, on
the east by Carolina and part of Canada, on the west by New
Mexico, on the north in part by Canada and extending as far as
tlie unknown lands on Hudson Bay. It is no small honor to
ha\-e been tlif seat of government of such a vast empire known
as the Province of Louisiana which is sometimes referred to as
Ancient Louisiana. It was often, too, in that far distant day
called the Mississippi Country.
If I shall be able to present for your entertainment some
thing of the historical importance and significance of this partic
ular locality in the dawn of our history, the struggles that went
on here for existence, and the establishment of a Christian civ
ilization, if I can with you be stirred by its past romance, and
feel the influence of its charm and poetic beauty, I shall return
to my daily tasks with the keenest sense of a day well spent. And
it is good for a people to sometimes have Red Letter Days of
their own making.
When I speak of the historical import of this first coloniz
ing effort in the history of the Lower South I do so with a full
sense of its reality. We of the Southwest have ever been mod
est in claiming our rightful place in the colonial history of Amer
ica, but we can with truth say that but for the founding of the
Louisiana Province half of its history would never have been
written. And the history of this entire Gulf Coast makes not
only an important but a highly romantic and pleasant story.
The romance that lingers here, the traditions that saturate and
color its history, will ever throw about it a charm for all who
breathe its atmosphere. That we see and cherish the beauty in
the early fashioning of our civilization, and feel an epic force in

— 5 —
the story of our fathers as it leads from the wilderness to the
farm, from the settlement to the city, and from outdoor worship
to the temple is characteristic of the temperament of our people ;
that we have made so little of it in outward expression is a fact
that we are just beginning to realize. But all of this goodly
heritage belongs to us, is a part of us, and our story will only be
half told if we fail to record it. The history of the exploration
and colonization of this entire region is one of gripping fascina
tion, and of all of that early company of pathfinders through the
mighty waters and dim forests of America, none has left more
stirring chapters in its history than the heralds who took their
way through its vast interior or anchored their ships in its sunny
harbor. Long before our northern shores had attracted the
hardy seamen, the valley of the Great River had haunted their
dreams of other worlds.
The springs of our civilization unlike those of Asia and Eu
rope and Africa lie revealed. We can accurately trace the mak
ing of our civilization from the weak settlements of Jamestown,
Plymouth Rock, Roanoke Island, Charleston, St. Augustine, Bi
loxi, Mobile, New Orleans and Natchez and other footholds that
remain to remind us of the first spirits who laid the foundations
in the civilization of this great Republic. In these bold and ad
venturous efforts to conquer and master an unknown continent
inhabited by savage tribes three of the most powerful nations of
Europe took the leading role. Their adventurous and indomitable
seamen and soldiers, and ardent, faithful priests unveiled the sec
rets of an unknown world, occupied its primeval forests, traced
and mapped out its streams, planted their Christian emblems,
built their forts and claimed all things for their own. Their con
tention for the mighty prize was fierce and bitter, but the under
lying current for world dominion by the fittest races went stead
ily on. Spain had won imperishable glory by the discovery of
a Western Hemisphere, later England with her dogged determi
nation and known aspiration for colonization soon possessed the
Atlantic seaboard, France had occupied Canada and the Valley
of the Great River was sought by all.
In the contest of these three great nations of Europe for the
occupation and control of the Mississippi Valley, Spain slept on

— 6 —
her rights of discovery and exploration, and in 1682 France un
der the leadership of La SaUe, took possession of the entire val
ley under the authority and in the name of Louis XIV., King
of France, and it is to the bold daring and initiative of the
French that we owe the beginning of civilized life in the Lower
South. In our pride of Anglo-Saxon achievement we should not
forget this, and in acknowledging our obligation to the French
we feel grateful that in our infancy we were influenced by such
a race, and that through it our institutions have felt the impress
of the noblest form of civilization. In this connection may I
express the satisfaction which I, in common with you, feel in the
fact that we owe the founding of our State to the nation which
produced Martel, Napoleon, Moliere, Hugo, Dumas, David, La
fayette, Joffre and Foch, and thousands of other spirits of a like
nature. The blood of France is a blend of the Roman, the
Gaul, the Celt, the Norman, the Iberian and Basque, and the
qualities and characteristics of these great races have made the
men and women of France a people of genius, culture, heroism
and endurance, and the possessors of all other marvelous virtues
known to men.
One of the great lessons that history teaches is that it is only
when nations are animated by their highest ideals that they are
sound in thought and deed, and their true story can always be
traced in the ideals that control them. It is to her cherished
ideals, her sentiment, her beneficent laws, her culture and aspi
ration and her love of liberty and justice — ^the etrnal verities of
her civilization, that France owes its preservation today. From
the sacred heights of Verdun and from the consecrated fields of
the Marne, she looks with steady eye and undaunted courage to
the future. Noble Mother of a great, historic race! we salute
her today and pay homage to her as one of the most faithful con
servators of civilization. Since the time of Roland and his pala
dins beautiful, enduring France has been a supreme guardian of
freedom and liberty among the races of the world. In our own
time of trial when we were fighting for the etrnal principles of
freedom and self government, she stood by our side with sword
and buckler and when dark days came upon her we sent our best
and bravest to help her drive the foe from her sacred soil.
Brothers we are and brothers we shall ever remain.

— 7 —
France in the fulfilment of her purpose to control and col
onize the Mississippi Valley was fortunate in having at her call
two masterful super-men, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, whose en
during fame lies in his voyage to the mouth of the Mississippi
River in 1682 and Pierre le Moyne de Iberville, the great found
er of the State of Mississippi. Of all the first colonizers of the
New World none can surpass the founder of our State. Capt.
John Smith and Miles Standish were small in ability and prow
ess in comparison with Iberville. He was the third of eleven
sons of the brave Charles le Moyne, Seigneur of Longueil, Lower
Canada, all of whom were distinguished soldiers of France. Born
at Montreal, July 20, 1661, he entered the service of his country
at an early age. In his life of our hero, Charles B. Reed has
this to say: "Pierre le Moyne Sieur d 'Iberville was the third
and most interesting member of the remarkable Le Moyne fam
ily. From boyhood he was distinguished for his energetic and
hardy spirit and his extraordinary force of character. As the
children grew up, the family feeling became very strong, but all
recognized and bowed to the qualities of leadership which Pierre
possessed for he early showed his restless and monarchial dis
position. ' ' He was said to be a proud, high spirited, impulsive
lad, loyal to his brothers and friends and intensely patriotic. In
a time and community which largely reflected such life he excell
ed in all rude sports and games. His biographer records that
he was ' ' resolute and ready to espouse a cause and having accept
ed an issue he, far more than his brothers, was willing, nay eager
to pursue it to the bitter end." This latter quality, however,
was very apparent in his younger brother Bienville in his pun
ishment of the Indians when Governor of Old Biloxi. But pow
erful as these traits were in the brothers, Iberville was more ro
mantic and was possessed of more personal magnetism and charm
than Bienville and both the Biloxi and Natchez Indians were
said to have greatly admired him. His biographer gives a
charming picture of his youth when leading his brothers in all
manly sports usual to pioneer life. "In his fortitude, endur
ance, courage and quick intelligence lay the claims of leadership
which all accepted. Thus in warm emulation but definitely un
der his guidance, they hunted in pairs, and one or more of the
brothers in an associated or subordinate capacity was found in

— 8 —
every expedition made by Iberville. ' ' Possessing qualities that
made leaders of men, the le Moyne brothers impressed themselves
upon their time and history, and were called and known as the
Canadian Maccabees. Iberville is described as having even in
youth a fine commanding figure. With dashing blue eyes and
flowing tawny hair, he was a most perfect specimen of the
French Canadian.
After completing his education in Canada Iberville was
recommended by Frontenac, the Lieutenant-General and Gover
nor of New France, for appointment as midshipman in the
French navy. He was drilled for five years in all the naval
science of the age which made him a highly accomplished officer.
This was the beginning of a career the pursuit of which made
him at the age of thirty-eight one of the great founders of Col
onial America. To him belongs the unique distinction that he
courted renown and carried to victory the banners of France
upon each of the widely separated waters of Hudson Bay, the
Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Gulf of Mexico. After a bril
liant career in the wars with England and Holland he returned
to France in 1697 and was created a Knight of St. Louis in recog
nition of his eminent services.
During the visit to the Court of France Iberville took occa
sion to urge the necessity of prompt action in sending a fleet to
the Gulf of Mexico to take possession and plant a colony in
Louisiana which had been neglected since the death of La Salle
in 1687. Accordingly orders were issued by Louis XIV. for the
dispatch of an expedition of colonists to the Mississippi Country
of which Iberville was given command with the title of Governor-
General. France was now to play her part in the great game of
strategy with Spain and England for the control of the Missis
sippi Basin. Forts and settlements on the Lower Mississippi
and the Gulf of Mexico would provide Canada with a double out
let to the sea, and secure to France the free navigation of these
important waters, and the English colonies on the Atlantic
would be hemmed in between the great French possessions of
Canada and Louisiana. It was an undertaking of the greatest en-

— 9 —
terprise and statesmanship. Spain, after two centuries of oppor
tunity had failed to seize the control of the Lower Mississippi and
had fastened her grasp only on the islands and mainland to the
South. France, in actual possession of the coveted territory,
could ignore her title based on early discoveries. The need of
haste, however, was apparent. Spain was already in possession
of the Bay of Pensacola and was engaged in establishing a colony
there. To Iberville was given the great task of bringing to pass
the dream which had filled the King's mind for years — to secure
to France this garden spot of the world.
Without going into the details of Iberville's arrangements
for accomplishing the great object he had in view we take up at
once the important incidents of his voyage. His squadron set
sail from Brest on the 24th of October, 1698. It was composed
of two frigates each carrying thirty guns and two smaller ves
sels bearing about two hundred colonists and a company of ma
rines. Among the colonists were many women and children,
the families of the soldiers who had been offered liberal induce
ments to join the expedition. There were also farmers and me
chanics and a full supply of provisions, and all necessary imple
ments were provided. When they arrived in the bay called by
the Spaniards Santa Maria de Galvez de Pensacola on January
28, 1699, they did not deem it prudent to remain in the harbor as
two Spanish frigates were already there, and the Spaniards had
been engaged four months in planting a colony. Iberville
writes: "This is certainly a most beautiful port equal at least
to that of Brest and has been lost to us by delay. "
After exploring the Bay of Mobile and Dauphine, Horn and
Dog Islands the squadron finally came to anchor in the harbor
south of Ship Island which they called Surgeres in honor of one
of the French commanders who discovered it. It was the in
tention of Iberville to locate his colony on the Mississippi River.
He learned from the Biloxi Indians of a large river to the west
ward which they called the Malabouchia and inferring that it
was the wonderful stream about which there had been so many
strange stories, he decided to leave his vessels in safe anchorage
and go in search of it. He thus describes the discovery of the
mouth of the Mississippi: ".At this moment we perceived a pass

— 10 —
between two banks which appeared like islands. We saw that
the water had changed ; tasted and found it fresh, a circumstance
that gave us great consolation in that moment of consternation.
Soon after we beheld the thick, muddy water. As we advanced
we saw the passes of the river, three in number and the current
of the stream was such that we could not descend it without diffi
culty although the wind was fair and favorable." He further
records: "On Tuesday the 3rd, mass was performed and a Te
Deum sung in gratitude for our discovery of the entrance of the
Mississippi." He ascended the river one hundred leagues but
failed to find a suitable location for his colony. Returning to
Ship Island, he proceeded to explore the mainland in the vicin
ity of the island. He finally decided to locate the colony on an
elevated site on the northeast shore of the Bay of Biloxi where
there was a narrow channel of deep water leading to a safe and
comfortable harbor between the mainland and an island, and ex
tending back to a beautiful little bay.
A decision having been made the colonists went to work and
cleared a place for the fort upon a strip of silvery sand among
the beautiful live oaks and magnolias for which this coast is so
famous. May I say by way of digression that I know of no
coast in all the world where such beautiful trees grown down to
the very water's edge. The plan of the fort was laid out and
the work of erection begun, but the work went on too slowly for
the impatient Iberville. The colonists were re-inforced by men
from the crew and the boats were constantly busy carrying men
and material while the people on shore dug, built and planted.
At length the work which was begun on April 8, 1699, was com
pleted on May 1, and named Fort Maurepas in honor of Count
de Maurepas, Minister of Marine. In the meantime, the boats
were actively engaged transporting the powder, guns and am
munition, as well as the live stock, such as cattle, hogs, turkeys
and other fowls.
The fort was made with four bastions, two of them squared
logs from two to three feet thick, placed one upon the other with
embrasures for portholes and a ditch surrounding it. The oth
er two bastions were stockaded with heavy timbers, it taking

— 11 —
four men to lift one of them. The fort was defended by twelve
cannon. The infant colony having been established Iberville sailed
for France on May 3 to report the discovery of the mouth' of the
Mississippi, location of his colony and the general success of his
undertaking. Sauvole and Bienville were left in command of
the fort with a garrison of seventy men and boys.
Biloxi, as the settlement at Fort Maurepas was known in all
correspondence, was founded at a time when France was the
most powerful nation of Europe. Louis XIV. had reached the
highest pinnacle of his brilliant reign. His word was law not
only in France but in many of the surrounding nations. He was
ambitious to extend his empire beyond the sea. He had been
told that Louisiana had a climate like that of Prance where his
thrifty people could engage in the same industries and lead the
same life that they did at home. With two such leaders as
Iberville and Bienville to carry out his plans he believed i hat his
venture in the New World would be successful. With ihese
hopes animating the mind of the king Biloxi was founded, and
for sixty-four years France devoted herself to the settlement tmd
development of Louisiana. The effort was attended l)y suffer
ing, sorrow, famine and death. The story of every colonizing
attempt in America is something the same. Biloxi exTJerienced
all the ills known to infant colonies. Sauvole, the gallant young
commander, depressed and sick at heart by the many misfortunes
that afflicted the colony, fell a victim to yellow fever and his
ashes make sacred forever this soil. In despair at times the help
less handful strove to maintain themselves ; seed planted prompt
ly sprouted and then withered and died in the hot sun. Droughts
came and burned up the sparse fields and gardens, and famine
followed quickly. Water was so scarce that the streams dried up
and great suffering from want of it ensued until a bountiful
deep spring was finally discovered. Plagues of snakes were
experienced and alligators were killed at the very gate of the
fort. We cannot enumerate the privations and perils of the
colonists. But it was also a life of romantic adventure and hero
ism and though their fortunes were battered, their stern spirits
were never wholly baffled.

— 12 —
Having secured to the king and his country the great Val
ley of the Mississippi, Iberville determined to leave his brothers
to guard and protect and develop the infant colony that he
might make the claim of France more secure. Feeling that it
was only a question of superior prowess as to whether England
or France would dominate and become supreme in the New
World, in a last great effort to crush the English, he gathered
about him a splendid fleet and planned to attack every British
stronghold between Charleston and Boston. But, alas, while at
Havana preparing to go to sea once more, he was seized with a
second attack of yellow fever and died July 9, 1706.
The administrative center of the colonly remained at Old Bi
loxi until 1701, when the headquarters were transferred to Mobile
Bay. About the year 1717, the harbor at Dauphine Island had
become choked with sand and it was determined to make Ship
Island the principal anchorage for ships from France and to
erect a new fort upon the mainland opposite the island. The
exact site of the new fort was one league west of Old Biloxi op
posite the anchorage of Ship Island and the settlement was call
ed New Biloxi and the fort called Fort St. Louis. In 1719, the
capitol of the Mississippi Country was removed from Mobile
back to Old Biloxi. On November 13, 1721, the capitol was re
moved to Fort St. Louis or New Biloxi where it remained until
1722 when headquarters were removed to New Orleans.
We have in the State Historical Department complete tran
scripts of the original French archives in the Ministry of the
Colonies in Paris, concerning the dominion of France over Mis
sissippi and Louisiana, from May 12, 1678, when the King of
France gave his royal permission to La Salle to discover the west
ern part of New France, to November 22, 1763, the date of a docu
ment which gives the plan and estimation of Fort Conde when
given over to the English.
In course of time, the rivalry of France and England became
so intense that they could no longer remain at peace in the oc
cupation of North America. War was declared, France lost,
and the great Louisiana Province east of the Mississippi by
the treaty of 1763 became an English possession.
From 1699 to 1763, and even long after the English occu-

— 13 —
pation, French manners, customs and modes of life prevailed in
Mississippi, with only such changes as the necessities of the sit
uation required. The old records give a perfect picture of the
official life of those in authority as well as of the daily life of the
people. Governor Bienville writes to the Minister of the Col
onies that the people are in distress for want of provisions and
again that the soldiers are without clothing. It is recommended
that cattle be sent to feed the people. In another letter of
March 1, 1707, we have the complaint of a young French girl
that Governor Bienville would not allow her to marry a young
major of the French garrison. We are not advised that the
officer eloped with his girl in defiance of such social and official
tyranny, but if he was as gallant as the proverbial Frenchman,
in all probability he did. The Minister of the Colonies is grave
ly informed, June 2, 1710, that "the Paris girls are a good-for-
nothing lot," and that "farmer wives are wanted." It seems
that they wanted "the files a la cossette" home-makers rather
than dress models, two things for which France is rather famous.
We cannot honor too greatly the Le Moyne family, for to
them is due the credit in the making of our earliest history, since
all of this remarkable "brotherhood" were associated with the
illustrious Iberville in the colonization of Louisiana, with the
exception of Maricourt, who remained in Canada with his father.
Bienville especially must be numbered among our heroes. For
forty years, he served his country well and faithfully and laid
the foundation for the Paris of America, in the historic old city
of New Orleans. His remains rest in the beautiful cemetery
of Montmartre. But it is to his illustrious brother, Iberville,
warrior, conqueror, explorer, and colonizer that we must ac
knowledge our greatest indebtedness. His name will always
light up the pages of French history in America. In the rec
ords of the first colonial possession of France in the newly dis
covered continent, he will always rank as the first great Ca
nadian. In our own history, he will be revered throughout its
annals as the founder of what has since become the State of Mis
sissippi. AVTiile it bore for him the charmed name of Louis-

— 14 —
iana, it is pleasing to us to know that he too knew it as the Mis
sissippi Country.
And now a word as to your future as a particular section of
our great commonwealth. The waters that wash these shores
are teeming with historical associations and inspiring traditions.
Such glories as color your past are sure to make you a world-wide
influence. The Panama Canal opens up to you a new gate
way to the Pacific and the Orient and the commerce of the world
is certain to include you in its grasp, and the captains of indus
try will look to you as one of the indispensable ports of the world.
But giving these things full value in the story of your future, it
is the irresistable charm of your history, enriched by a thousand
romances of daring, constancy and courage, that fascinates the
mind of those who study you and note in your present strength
and achievement the subtle beauty of your past.

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