Jackson County Mississippi
Biloxi In 1699 a body
of Frenchmen under d'Iberville established the town of old
Biloxi. It was situated across the bay from the place of the
same name. There are at least two places claimed as the site of
old Fort Maurepas. One is a kind of picnic ground considerably
to the north and on the eastern stretch of what is called the
Back Bay. The other is on a little bluff not far north of the
Louisville and Nashville Railroad Bridge, within the grounds
occupied by a Mr. Portevant, who lives about half a mile from
Mississippi City.38 He owns a
number of relics which have been dug up or found otherwise on
his place, among them the iron shoe of a flag staff. This place
looks out upon the entrance to the bay and is an ideal site for
a fort. The claim of this latter place as the place where the
first French settlement was made in Mississippi is further
substantiated by a map drawn by F. Joussette and preserved in
the Archives of the Maune at Paris.39
This shows the place to be just about where Mr. Portevant lives.
An earth work is indicated on the map further south, but this
was not the main fort, which so far as the writer knows has not
been identified. Mr. Portevant's home is a pleasant suburban
place with flowers, vines, trees, and spacious grounds.
La Harpe tells of the establishment of old Biloxi in the
following words:
He (d'Iberville) concluded to fix his settlement at Biloxi.
Here he built a fort with four bastions, which he mounted with
twelve cannons, and gave the command of it to his brothers,
Souvolle and Bienville, and having manned it with a force of
thirty-five, he set sail for France on the 4th of May."
An account of the events which happened at this place from May
3, 1699, until 1701 will be found in French's Historical
Collections of Louisiana, pp. 223-24040
Acting under orders from the home government, M. d'Iberville
removed from Biloxi, Jan. 5, 1701, to Dauphin Island at the
mouth of the Mobile Bay, "leaving but twenty men under the
command of M. de Boisbriant, to man the fort" at Biloxi. In 1720
a vessel brought over 'a troop of young women, sent by force,
except one, who was called the Damsel of Good-Will." Dumont says
''They were landed first on Dauphin Island, but the marrying
mania had subsided, and there was no demand for them. As,
moreover, the commandant had resolved to abandon the island
soon, he put them all in boats and sent them over to Ship
Island, thence to old Biloxi, where most of them got married."41
The events which led to the abandonment of old Biloxi are
related by Dumont as follows:
'There was at Old Biloxi a sergeant,
who, having drunk a little and lain down, took it into his head
to light his pipe, as he did in fact with a stick from the fire;
but as he was lying on his bed, instead of getting up to put the
stick back, he threw it, unluckily, not in the middle of his
cabin, but against the posts that surrounded it, so that the
wind, blowing through the posts, soon fanned a blaze, which in a
moment caught the palisades of pine, a very resinous wood, and
easily inflamed. In an instant the fire spread to the next
cabin, and from that to another, so that, though fortunately the
wind was not high, the conflagration soon became so violent,
that to check it and prevent its progress, they had to throw
down two cabins on each side. The sergeant escaped as he was,
not being able to take anything from his cabin; in all, eleven
were burned or thrown down. The commandant had no thought of
restoring them, as he was already disposed to transport his
colony once more, and make a third establishment.
"A new reason decided him to do so. Although great care was
taken in France to send abundantly provisions of every kind to
the colony, yet all their care could not prevent want being felt
there. It was so great that the commandant was obliged to send
the soldiers, workmen, and even officers, to the nearest Indians
of the country, that of the Biloxis and Pascagoulas, who
received them with great pleasure, and supported them quite
well, not indeed with bread, but with good hominy and sagamity,
boiled with good store of meat or bear oil. At the same time the
commandant raised at New Biloxi a third establishment, which
being soon after completed, he transported the whole colony to
it, abandoning Old Biloxi, where his stay had been marked only
by disastrous events."
Extinct Towns|
AHGP Mississippi
Footnotes:
38. This seems to
correspond with the view of Bancroft History of the United
States, III., p. 201), Martin (History of Louisiana,
I., p. 145), and Gayerre (History of Louisiana, I., p.
45) though Stoddard (Sketches of Louisiana, pp. 24, 26,
42, 136, 137) thinks that it was on the Perdido Bay, "twelve
miles west of Pensacola River or bay." Charlevoix (History
of New France, V., p. 123) says that it was "three leagues
from the Pascagoulas," and Dumont (Historical Memoirs of
Louisiana, ch. VII., p. 3) says that it was across the
water "a good league" from New Biloxi.
39. A copy of this map
will be found in Colonial Mobile, pp. 3233. The writer of this
sketch is indebted to Peter J. Hamilton, Esq., author of
Colonial Mobile, for information on this point.
40. Journal Historique
de Establissement des Français a la Louisiana. By M. De
Souvolle.
41.Dumont's Historical
Memoirs, ch. vi.
Source: The Mississippi Historical
Commission Publications, Volume V, Edited by Franklin L. Riley,
Secretary, 1902.
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