Painting of Lasalle claiming mouth of Mississippi for France by Jean-Adolphe Bocquin.
And now they neared their journey’s end. On the sixth of April [1682] the river divided itself into three broad channels. La Salle followed that of the west, and Dautray that of the east, while Tonty took the middle passage. As he drifted down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, the brackish water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the salt breath of the sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on his sight, tossing its relentless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely as when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life.
La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then the reunited parties assembled on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above the mouth of the river. Here a column was made ready, bearing the arms of France, and inscribed with the words, “Louis le Grand, Roy de France et de Navarre, règne; le neuvième avril, 1682.” [Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre reigns; April 9, 1682.]
René Robert Cavelier de La Salle
The Frenchmen were mustered under arms; and while the New England Indians and their squaws looked on in wondering silence, they chanted the Te Deum, the Exaudiat, and the Domine salvum fac Regem. Then, amid volleys of musketry and shouts of Vive le Roi, La Salle planted the column in its place, and, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice,—
A 1688 map of the region explored by La Salle. Map by Vincenzo Coronelli
“In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that name, I, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty, which I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, ports, bays, adjacent straits,, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio,…as also along the river Colbert, or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves thereinto, from its source beyond the country of the Nadouessioux…as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, and also to the mouth of the River of Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said river Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples, or lands, to the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else needful, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary here present.”
La Salle presenting a petition to Louis XIV, King of France. Drawing by Adrien Moreau.
Shouts of Vive le Roi and volleys of musketry responded to his words. Then a cross was planted beside the column, and a leaden plate buried near it, bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription, Ludovicus Magnus regnat. The weather-beaten voyagers joined their voices in the grand hymn of the Vexilla Regis:—
“The banners of Heaven’s King advance,
“The mystery of the Cross shines forth;”
And renewed shouts of Vive le Roi closed the ceremony.
Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1897), Vol. II, pp. 50-52.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 249
