Lives of Fort de Chartres: Commandants, Soldiers, and Civilians in French Illinois, 1720-1770

Lives of Fort de Chartres: Commandants, Soldiers, and Civilians in French Illinois, 1720-1770

by David MacDonald
Lives of Fort de Chartres: Commandants, Soldiers, and Civilians in French Illinois, 1720-1770

Lives of Fort de Chartres: Commandants, Soldiers, and Civilians in French Illinois, 1720-1770

by David MacDonald

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Overview

Winner, ISHS Annual Award for a Scholarly Publication, 2017

Fort de Chartres, built in 1719-1720 in the heart of what would become the American Midwest, embodied French colonial power for half a century. Lives of Fort de Chartres, by David MacDonald, details the French colonial experience in Illinois from 1720 to 1770 through vivid depictions of the places, people, and events around the fort and its neighboring villages.
 
In the first section, MacDonald explores the fascinating history of French Illinois and the role of Fort de Chartres in this history, focusing on native peoples, settlers, slaves, soldiers, villages, trade routes, military administration, and the decline of French rule in Illinois. The second section profiles the fort’s twelve distinctive and often colorful commandants, who also served as administrative heads of French Illinois. These men’s strong personalities served them well when dealing simultaneously with troops, civilians, and Indians and their multifaceted cultures. In the third section, MacDonald presents ten thought-provoking biographies of people whose lives intersected with Fort de Chartres in various ways, from a Kaskaskia Indian woman known as “the Mother of French Illinois” to an ill-fated chicken thief and a European aristocrat. Subjects treated in the book include French–Native American relations, the fur trade, early Illinois agriculture, and tensions among different religious orders. Together, the biographies and historical narrative in the volume illuminate the challenges that shaped the French colonies in America.
 
The site of Fort de Chartres, recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1966, still exists today as a testament to the ways in which French, British, Spanish, and American histories have intertwined. Both informative and entertaining, Lives of Fort de Chartres contributes to a more complete understanding of the French colonial experience in the Midwest and portrays a vital and vigorous community well worth our appreciation.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780809334612
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
Publication date: 02/24/2016
Series: Shawnee Books
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 262
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

David MacDonald is an emeritus professor of history at Illinois State University, where he taught for thirty-five years. He has published over fifty articles on Greek and Roman history and is the author of several books, the most recent of which is Overstruck Greek Coins: Studies in Greek Chronology and Monetary Theory. In retirement he has expanded his interests to include French colonial Illinois and Missouri and has published five articles on that subject. 

Table of Contents

Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Figures List Preface Acknowledgments Part One: French Illinois The Land Native Peoples Settlers Slavery The French Settlements Military and Civilian Administration The Four Forts de Chartres Convoys The End of French Illinois Part Two: Commandants of Fort de Chartres First Commandant: Pierre-Sidrac Dugué de Boisbriand (1718–24) Second and Fifth Commandant: Claude-Charles Dutisné (1724–25, 1729–30) Third Commandant: Jean-Charles de Pradel (Interim 1725) Fourth Commandant: Pierre-Charles Desliette (1725–29) Sixth Commandant: Robert Groston de St. Ange (1730–33) Seventh Commandant: Pierre d’Artaguiette d’Itouralde (1733–36) Eighth Commandant: Claude-Alphonse de La Buissonnière (1736–40) Ninth and Eleventh Commandant: Jean-Baptiste Benoist de St. Clair (1740–42, 1749–51) Tenth Commandant: Jean-Gaspard de Bertet de La Clue (1742–49) Twelfth Commandant: Jean-Jacques de Macarty Mactique (1751–60) Thirteenth Commandant: Pierre-Joseph Neyon de Villiers (1760–63) Fourteenth and Last French Commandant: Louis Groston de St. Ange de Bellerive (1764–65) Part Three: People of Fort de Chartres Marie Rouensa-8cate8a: The Mother of French Illinois Étienne de Véniard de Bourgmont and Ignon Ouaconisen (Françoise Missouri): An Explorer and an Indian in Paris Terrisse de Ternan: A Restless and Worrisome Personality Claude Chetivau: The Man Who Wanted to Go to Canada (François-)Pierre Boucher de Boucherville: Escape to Fort de Chartres Claude-Alphonse de La Buissonnière and Marie-Thérèse Trudeau: Marriage Woes Jacques-Sernan Voisin: A Hero of the Chickasaw Wars? Jean Ducoutray: The Chicken Thief of Kaskaskia Jean-Bernard Bossu: Officer and Travel Writer Philippe-François de Rastel de Rocheblave: A Man of Many Flags Afterword Notes Lexicon Bibliography Index About the Author A Shawnee Book: Also available in this series . . . Back Cover
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