La Salle Expeditions
Encyclopedia
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Ohio Valley by French explorers led by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...
that began in the late 1660s and continued for two decades. Much of the area that was explored was land that no European had ever ventured into. The expeditions led to the establishment of an overland trade route connecting French colonies in Canada with French colonies in Louisiana. All of the land covered in the expedition was claimed on behalf of Louis XIV, King of France, and initiated a period of French control in the region that would last for nearly a century.
Background
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
in 1666. He was the son of a wealthy merchant family from Rouen, France and came to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
to setup trade with Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
populations. He went immediately to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, which was then the furthest inland post the French controlled. At that time the post was little more than a mission where his brother served as a Jesuit priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
who was working to convert the local Huron to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. At that time the region was in the height of the Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...
, a brutal conflict between the French
Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France was one of the most powerful states to exist in Europe during the second millennium.It originated from the Western portion of the Frankish empire, and consolidated significant power and influence over the next thousand years. Louis XIV, also known as the Sun King, developed a...
backed Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
tribes fighting against the English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
supported Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
Confederacy.
La Salle purchased a large tract of land near modern Lachine, Quebec
Lachine, Quebec
Lachine was a city on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is now a borough within the city of Montreal.-History:...
. There he setup a thriving trading post, purchasing furs from the local tribes and serving as a middleman, selling the furs to European merchants who transported them back to France. From Seneca
Seneca nation
The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
traders La Salle first learned of the Ohio country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
and that a river flowed from there all the way to the a great sea. The possibility of such a river intrigued La Salle because of its obvious value to trade. If such a route existed, it would make trading trips deep into the possible and considerably more easy than overland routes. If discovered, the trade from such a route could also be very lucrative. At the time, most Europeans still thought that they were very near the source of the Asian spices, and La Salle thought that perhaps this route would lead to India.
First expedition
On July 6, 1669, La Salle set out with his first expedition to explore the region he had heard of. He put together a group of twenty-four men and canoes and set off up the St. Lawrence River and into Lake OntarioLake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. After thirty-five days they reached the mouth of the Seneca River
Seneca River (New York)
The Seneca River in central New York flows from west to east, from Seneca Lake, through the Montezuma Marsh at the north end of Cayuga Lake to the Seneca's confluence with the Oneida and Oswego rivers at the Three Rivers area north of Syracuse. Much of the river has been channelized to form part...
on the south shore of Lake Ontario. A Seneca village was located there, but they discouraged him from continuing his expedition westward and told him his presence in the Ohio Country would be unwelcome. Despite their warning and refusal to provide a guide, he continued towards the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
where he encountered a group of Seneca returning to their territory with a Pottawatomie prisoner captured in a raid. He paid a ransom for the captive after he agreed to lead the explorers into the Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
.
From there the party continued westward reaching Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
where they turned toward the south. They continued moving overland until they reached a branch of the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
which they canoed down to reach the main channel of the river. Upon reaching the Ohio, La Salle continued westward reaching the Falls of the Ohio near modern Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
. There his men refused to go any further and deserted him to return to Canada. La Salle continued to explore only briefly on his own, and returned to Canada on his own.
During his trip, his group became the first Europeans to see the Ohio River. He had also traveled further into the Ohio country than any previous expeditions. Despite his lack of success in finding the "southern sea", what he did find only intrigued him more and he soon decided that he wanted to launch a second attempt to find the outlet of the river.
Second expedition
In 1670 La Salle set out on another expedition. He led a group of men west across Lake Erie and ending up at the southern tip of Lake MichiganLake Michigan
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...
. From there he moved south and encountered the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
. He sailed down the river all the way to the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
. With his discovery, he came to the conclusion that he had in fact arrived back at the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
at a more southern point. His trip made him the first European to travel the length of the Mississippi, but it had been visited by Europeans at its southern end possibly as early as the voyages of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
, and its mid section by Hernando De Soto a century earlier.
La Salle did not lead another expedition for seven years, but he never forgot the rivers and continued to form plans for more expeditions. The land he discovered was all claimed in the name of Louis XIV and added to New France. The French Crown expanded on his exploration by claiming the entire Mississippi River Basin, and New Orleans was later created to control the southern end of the river.
Third expedition
Fort Frontenac
Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in 1673 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was positioned at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario , in a location traditionally known as Cataraqui...
at Cataraqui (now Kingston
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
) on Lake Ontario. In 1679 he built Fort Conti
Fort Conti
Fort Conti was built in early 1679 at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario as a post for the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Because of the fort's location, the French hoped to control the fur trade in the upper Great Lakes...
at the mouth of the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
on Lake Ontario. Near the fort he constructed a sailing ship he named Le Griffon
Le Griffon
Le Griffon was a 17th century sailing ship built by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle in his quest to find the Northwest Passage to China and Japan....
and used it to explore much of the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
. He voyaged as far as modern Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
in the following summer where he setup a trading post. The region was still locked in the Beaver Wars
Beaver Wars
The Beaver Wars, also sometimes called the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, commonly refers to a series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern North America...
and this new route over the lakes allowed the French to bypass the dangerous countryside and trade with the tribes beyond the front lines of the war. While he remained at the post, he sent two men with an Indian guide westward in search of the Mississippi River. Two men eventually located the Falls of St. Anthony before returning.
In September of 1679 he began the return trip to Niagara but stopped at the mouth of the St. Joseph River
St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)
The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan...
on the east shore of Lake Michigan. They paddled upstream and there they built a small fort to serve as a base of operations for continued expeditions into the Illinois
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
and Ohio Country
Ohio Country
The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...
. There they waited for supplies and men which were traveling overland to meet them. He sent the Griffon and crew back to Montreal, but they never arrived and were believed to have died on the return journey.
On December 3, 1679 a party of twenty-men started out for the Illinois Country
Illinois Country
The Illinois Country , also known as Upper Louisiana, was a region in what is now the Midwestern United States that was explored and settled by the French during the 17th and 18th centuries. The terms referred to the entire Upper Mississippi River watershed, though settlement was concentrated in...
. They set out to search for the Kankakee portage, an overland path that connected the St. Joseph River to the Kankakee River
Kankakee River
The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the...
, but they missed the portage and La Salle became separated from the rest of his men. The group spent the night separated in a snow storm, but the next morning La Salle was able to relocate the river and rejoin his men. They continued searching and finally found the path and started overland to the Kankakee River. Once reaching the river they took to their canoes and traveled westward and then down the Mississippi. Their supplies began to run low, but they found a bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
stranded in a mud pool which they were able to kill and eat, replenishing a large part of their supplies. They continued downstream and encountered a large Indian village where they stopped to build a fort he named Fort Crèvecoeur
Fort Crevecoeur
Fort Crevecoeur was founded near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680.-Founding:...
.
Using his new fort as the start of a trading post, La Salle invited the local tribes for negotiations. There he established a trading agreement with the tribes and also discovered that they were also locked in the war with the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
who had been frequent raiders in the area. The area contained numerous tribes, including the Miami tribe
Miami tribe
The Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...
to the east, the Wea
Wea
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe originally located in western Indiana, closely related to the Miami. The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their many recorded names...
and Piankeshaw
Piankeshaw
The Piankeshaw Indians were Native Americans, and members of the Miami Indians who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation. They lived in an area that now includes western Indiana and Ohio, and were closely allied with the Wea Indians...
to the south-east, the Illinois tribe in the immediate area, and the Peoria tribe to the farther west. There were even several groups of refugees from as far away as Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
who had fled into the region hoping to avoid the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
who had invaded their own homelands. Most of the country east of the fort, which was the Ohio Country, was empty according the local tribes, most of the inhabitants had fled into the Illinois Country and beyond to escape the Iroquois.
The remainder of the winter was spent collecting furs from the surrounding area and after spring arrived a group of men was sent to deliver the furs to Montreal via the trade route that had just been established. The men returned and sold the furs, but deserted and did not return. La Salle then set out for Canada to discover what had become of his men. On the return trip he encountered the new governor of New France who was coming to take possession of the outposts La Salle had established for the crown and to put in garrisons. Upon his return to his outpost he discovered it had been destroyed by his own men who mutinied not long after his departure in the autumn of 1680. The local tribes were nowhere to be found and had fled to the west of the Mississippi River, likely because of continued Iroquois raids.
Fourth expedition
In 1681 La Salle returned again to the Illinois Country and rebuilt his fort. This time he began negotiations with the tribes to return and setup an alliance. He immediately began trade with them and through the next two years he began to import firearms and other metal tools that the tribes never had previous access to. In 1682 La Salle began to establish a post he named Fort Saint Louis on the Mississippi. He used the post as an even more forward base into the countryside. He spent the next several years establishing posts and trade throughout the Illinois Country. Although the Iroquois returned to again destroy the French posts, the plan succeeded in the years after La Salle's death in 1687. Using their new arms, the odds were evened with the Iroquois and the tribes were eventually able to reclaim their homeland following the 1701 Great Peace of MontrealGreat Peace of Montreal
The Great Peace of Montreal was a peace treaty between New France and 40 First Nations of North America. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representatives of 40 aboriginal nations of the North East of North America...
.
Fifth expedition
Fort Crevecoeur
Fort Crevecoeur was founded near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680.-Founding:...
with eighteen Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
, he canoed down the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
in 1682, naming the Mississippi basin "La Louisiane
Louisiana (New France)
Louisiana or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–03, the area was named in honor of Louis XIV, by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle...
" in honor of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
. At what is now the site of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
he built a small fort, Fort Prudhomme
Fort Prudhomme
Fort Prudhomme, or Prud'homme, was a simple stockade fortification, constructed on one of the Chickasaw Bluffs of the Mississippi River in West Tennessee by Cavelier de La Salle's French canoe expedition of the Mississippi River Basin in 1682...
. On April 9, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, near modern Venice, Louisiana
Venice, Louisiana
Venice is an unincorporated community in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is 130 km south of New Orleans on the west bank of the Mississippi River at . It is the last community down the Mississippi accessible by automobile, and is the southern terminus of the Great River Road...
, La Salle buried an engraved plate and a cross, claiming the territory for France. In 1683, on his return voyage, he established Fort Saint Louis of Illinois, at Starved Rock
Starved Rock State Park
Starved Rock State Park is a state park in Illinois, characterized by the many canyons within its 2360 acres. Located just southwest of the village of North Utica, in Deer Park Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, along the south bank of the Illinois River, the park hosts over two million visitors...
on the Illinois River, to replace Fort Crevecoeur. Tonti was to command the fort while La Salle traveled again to France for supplies.
On July 24, 1684, La Salle sailed again from France and returned to America with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They left France in 1684 with four ships and 300 colonists. The expedition was plagued by pirates, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies, a second sank in the inlets of Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay
Matagorda Bay is a large estuary bay on the Texas coast, lying in Calhoun and Matagorda counties and located approximately northeast of Corpus Christi, southeast of San Antonio, southwest of Houston, and southeast of Austin. It is separated from the Gulf of Mexico by Matagorda Peninsula and...
, where a third ran aground. They set up Fort Saint Louis of Texas, near Victoria, Texas
Victoria, Texas
Victoria is a city in and the seat of Victoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 60,603 at the 2000 census. The three counties of the Victoria Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 111,163 at the 2000 census,...
. La Salle led a group eastward on foot on three occasions to try to locate the Mississippi. During another search for the Mississippi River, his remaining 36 followers mutinied, near the site of modern Navasota, Texas
Navasota, Texas
Navasota is a city in Grimes County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,789 at the 2000 census. In 2005, the Texas Legislature named the city "The Blues Capital of Texas," in honor of the late Mance Lipscomb, a Navasota native and blues musician....
. On March 19, 1687, La Salle was slain by Pierre Duhaut, one of four attacking him, "six leagues" from the westernmost village of the Hasinai
Hasinai
The Hasinai Confederacy was a large confederation of Caddo-speaking Native Americans located between the Sabine and Trinity rivers in eastern Texas...
(Tejas) Indians. The colony lasted only until 1688, when Karankawa
Karankawa
Karankawa were a group of Native American peoples, now extinct as a tribal group, who played a pivotal part in early Texas history....
-speaking Indians massacred the 20 remaining adults and took five children as captives.
Impact
Beginning in 1700 the French Government began to become interested in the discoveries made by La Salle. The land was better for farming and settlement than lands in Canada and the government began plans to colonize the region. The land gained further importance with the growing power of the English colonies on the eastern seaboard. To counter the English colonies' growth a series of forts and outposts was built along the important trade routes pioneered by La Salle, including a new post named St Louis, this time on the west shore of Mississippi River. The French continued to control parts of La Salle's discoveries until as late as 1803.La Salle's expedition began written history for most of the Midwest and his contact with the tribes of the west served as an important record of the early history of North America.
LaSalle Texas expedition between 1685 and 1688 triggered a series of events that culminated in Texas with all its wealth joining the United States of America.
LaSalle was never reported to have problems associating or interacting with the indigenous people in North America except for the Karankawa Indians of the gulf coast of Texas. Soon after his arrival in Texas in Jan 1685, LaSalle was able to determine from the tool marks on human bones at old Karankawa campsites that they practiced cannibalism as a matter of course. Thereafter, likely as a matter of self preservation, LaSalle and his settlers viewed themselves in a state of war with the Karankawas. In fact, many settlers were lost to the Karankawas in the years that followed and the settlement itself, Fort St Louis, was overrun by the Karankawas in Dec 1688 and all remaining adults killed. In early 1689, a Spanish column searching for the French settlement happened upon the devastation that had been the fort and buried the remains of the dead which, inter alia, consisted of bones with tool marks scattered about the site.
LaSalle triggered a Spanish effort to settle Texas with colonists of their own to deny the French entry and generally establish their sovereignty over the area. Any colonists moving north through the lands of the Karankawas in east Texas had to be protected by accompanying soldiers at great expense and each settlement had to have a small garrison of soldiers as well. Eventually new settlers from Mexico became but a trickle while the influx of Americans from the north increased.
In 1823, Steve Austin organized the Texas Rangers for the protection of settlers mainly from the depredations of the Karankawas.
The immigrants from the USA and Mexico gradually evolved into Texicans all having one interest – their Texas and freedom from Mexican occupation. When Generalissimo Santa Ana crossed the Rio Grande with 6000 men in 1835 intent on reinforcing Mexican sovereignty in Texas, the Texicans declared independence. Santa Ana, at first, enjoyed success in his invasion by winning a number of battles. His most dramatic success was his victory at the Alamo in San Antonio. But he had expended men and material without achieving his end goal being the defeat of General Houston and his forces. After the Alamo, he unwisely split his forces and went looking for Houston. This was a major military blunder. Elements of the two armies met at San Jacinto on 21 Apr 1836. Houston with 900 men attacked Santa Ana and his 1400 troops during the siesta in the afternoon of that fateful day. Eighteen minutes after contact, it was over. Mopping up continued for the rest of the day and into the next day. Half the Mexican force was killed and the other half, including Santa Ana, taken prisoner. In the result, Santa Ana agreed to the independence of Texas and his army moved south of the Rio Grande leaving Texas free and independent in its wake. As history records, a few short years later, Texas became a state of the United States of America bringing into the union its phenomenal oil, mineral and agricultural assets that fueled the massive industrialization of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In his Texas period, LaSalle lost his life and failed to find a route to the Pacific or to found a permanent settlement that would establish a claim for the King of France over the area. But he had set in motion a chain of events that ended with Texas and its huge land mass and riches becoming a part of the USA.
The Karankawas continued their lawlessness, their looting and killing of settlers, until armed retribution by the settlers reduced their numbers to 59 by 1855 forcing them finally to withdraw to safety south of the Rio Grande into Mexico, never to return.