Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LASALLE, ANTOINE CHEVALIER LOUIS COLL...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 231 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

LASALLE, See also:ANTOINE See also:CHEVALIER See also:LOUIS COLLINET , COtNT (1775-1809), See also:French soldier, belonged to a See also:noble See also:family in See also:Lorraine. His grandfather was See also:Abraham See also:Fabert, See also:marshal of See also:France. Entering the French See also:army at the See also:age of eleven, he had reached the See also:rank of See also:lieutenant when the Revolution See also:broke out. As an aristocrat, he lost his See also:commission, but he enlisted in the ranks, where his desperate bravery and innate See also:power of command soon distinguished him. By 1795 he had won back his grade, and was serving as a See also:staff-officer in the army of See also:Italy. On one occasion, at See also:Vicenza, he rivalled Seydlitz's feat of leaping his See also:horse over the See also:parapet of a See also:bridge to avoid See also:capture, and, later, in See also:Egypt, he saved See also:Davout's See also:life in See also:action. By 'Soo he had become See also:colonel, and in one combat in that See also:year he had two horses killed under him, and broke seven swords. Five years later, having attained the rank of See also:general of See also:brigade, he was See also:present with his brigade of See also:light See also:cavalry at See also:Austerlitz. In the pursuit after See also:Jena in '8o6, though he had but 600 hussars and not one piece of See also:artillery with him, he terrified the commandant of the strong fortress of See also:Stettin into surrender, a feat rarely equalled See also:save by that of See also:Cromwell on Bletchingdon See also:House. Made general of See also:division for this exploit, he was next in the See also:Polish See also:campaign, and at See also:Heilsberg saved the life of See also:Murat, See also:grand See also:duke of See also:Berg. When the See also:Peninsular See also:War began, Lasalle was sent out with one of the cavalry divisions, and at See also:Medina de Rio Seco, Galnonal and See also:Medellin broke every See also:body of troops which he charged. A year later, at the See also:head of one of the cavalry divisions of the Grande Armee he took See also:part in the See also:Austrian war.

At See also:

Wagram he was killed at the head of his men. With the possible exception of Curely, who was in 1809 still unknown, See also:Napoleon never possessed a better See also:leader of light horse. See also:Wild and irregular in his private life, Lasalle was far more than a beau sabreur. To See also:talent and experience he added that power of feeling the See also:pulse of the See also:battle which is the true See also:gift of a See also:great leader. A statue of him was erected in See also:Luneville in '893. His remains were brought from See also:Austria to the Invalides in 189'. LA SALLE, RENE See also:ROBERT CAVELIER, SIEUR DE (1643-'687), French explorer in See also:North See also:America, was See also:born at See also:Rouen on the zznd of See also:November '643. He taught for a See also:time in a school (probably Jesuit) in France, and seems to have forfeited his claim to his See also:father's See also:estate by his connexion with the See also:Jesuits. In 1666 he became a settler in See also:Canada, whither his See also:brother, a Sulpician See also:abbe, had preceded him. From the See also:Seminary of St Sulpice in See also:Montreal La Salle received a See also:grant on the St See also:Lawrence about 8 m. above Montreal, where he built a stockade and established a See also:fur-trading See also:post. In '669 he sold this post (partly to the Sulpicians who had granted it to him) to raise funds for an expedition to See also:China 1 by way of the See also:Ohio,2 which he supposed, from the reports of the See also:Indians, to flow into the Pacific. He passed up the St Lawrence and through See also:Lake See also:Ontario to a See also:Seneca See also:village on the Genesee See also:river; thence with an See also:Iroquois See also:guide he crossed the mouth of the See also:Niagara (where he heard the See also:noise of the distant falls) to Ganastogue, an Iroquois See also:colony at the head of Lake Ontario, where he met Louis See also:Joliet and received from him a See also:map of parts of the Great Lakes.

La Salle's missionary comrades now gave up the quest for China to preach among the Indians. La Salle discovered the Ohio river, descended it at least as far as the site of See also:

Louisville, See also:Kentucky, and possibly, though not probably, to its junction with the See also:Mississippi, and in '669-167o, abandoned by his few followers, made his way back to Lake See also:Erie. Apparently he passed through Lake Erie, Lake See also:Huron and Lake See also:Michigan, and some way down the See also:Illinois river. Little is known of these explorations, for his See also:journals are lost, and the description of his travels rests only on the testimony of the See also:anonymous author of a Histoire de M. de la Salle. Before 1673 La Salle had returned to Montreal. Becoming convinced, after the explorations of See also:Marquette and Joliet in 1673, that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of See also:Mexico, he conceived a vast project for exploring that river to its mouth and extending the French power to the See also:lower Mississippi Valley. He secured the support of See also:Count Frontenac, then See also:governor of Canada, and in 1674 and 1677 visited France, obtaining from Louis XIV. on his first visit a patent of See also:nobility and a grant of lands about Fort Frontenac, on the site of the present See also:Kingston, Ontario, and on his second visit a patent empowering him to explore the See also:West at his own expense, and giving him the See also:buff alohide See also:monopoly. See also:Late in the year 1678, at the head of a small party, he started from Fort Frontenac. He established a post above Niagara Falls, where he spent the See also:winter, and where, his See also:vessel having been wrecked, he built a larger See also:ship, the " Griffon," in which he sailed up the Great Lakes to See also:Green See also:Bay (Lake Michigan), where he arrived in See also:September 1679. Sending back the " Griffon " freighted with furs, by which he hoped to satisfy the cle ims of his creditors, he proceeded to the Illinois river, and near what is now See also:Peoria, Illinois, built a fort, which he called Fort Crevecceur. Thence he detached Father Hennepin, with one See also:companion, to explore the Illinois to its mouth, and, leaving his lieutenant, See also:Henri de Tonty (c. '650-c.

1702),3 with about fifteen men, at Fort Crevecceur, he returned by See also:

land, afoot, to Canada to obtain needed supplies, discovering the See also:fate of the " Griffon " (which proved to have been lost), thwarting the intrigues of his enemies and appeasing his creditors. In See also:July '68o See also:news reached him at Fort Frontenac that nearly all Tonty's men had deserted, after destroying or appropriating most of the supplies; and that twelve of them were on their way to kill him as the surest means of escaping See also:punishment. 1 The name La Chine was sarcastically applied to La Salle's See also:settlement on the St Lawrence. 2 The Iroquois seem to have used the name Ohio for the Mississippi, or at least for its lower part ; and this circumstance makes the See also:story of La Salle's exploration peculiarly difficult to disentangle. 3 Tonty (or Tonti), an See also:Italian, born at See also:Gaeta, was La Salle's See also:principal lieutenant, and was the equal of his See also:chief in intrepidity. Before his association with La Salle he had engaged in military service in See also:Europe, during which he had lost a See also:hand. He accompanied La Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi, and was in command of Fort St Louis from tha time of its erection until 1702, except during his journeys down the Mississippi in See also:search of his chief. In '7o2 he joined d'Iberville in lower See also:Louisiana, and soon after was despatched on a See also:mission to the See also:Chickasaw Indians. This is the last See also:authentic trace of him. These he met and captured or killed. He then. returned to the Illinois, to find the See also:country devastated by the Iroquois, and his post abandoned. He formed a See also:league of the Western Indians to fight the Iroquois, then went to Michilimackinac, where he found Tonty, proceeded again to Fort Frontenac to obtain supplies and organize his expedition anew, and returned in See also:December 1681 to the Illinois.

Passing down the Illinois to the Mississippi, which he reached in See also:

February 1682, he floated down that stream to its mouth, which he reached on the 9th of See also:April, and, erecting there a See also:monument and a See also:cross, took formal See also:possession in the name of Louis XIV., in whose See also:honour he gave the name " Louisiana " to the region. He then returned to Michilimackinac, whence, with Tonty, he went again to the Illinois and established a fort, Fort St Louis, probably on Starved See also:Rock (near the present See also:Ottawa, Illinois), around which nearly 20,000 Indians (Illinois, Miamis and others seeking See also:protection from the Iroquois) had been gathered. La Salle then went to See also:Quebec, and La See also:Barre, who had succeeded Frontenac, being unfriendly to him, again visited France (1684), where he succeeded in interesting the See also:king in a See also:scheme to establish a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi and to seize the See also:Spanish posts in the vicinity. On the 24th of July 1684, with four vessels under the command of himself and See also:Captain See also:Beaujeu, a See also:naval officer, he sailed from La Rochelle. Mistaking, it appears, the inlets of Matagorda Bay (which La Salle called St Louis's Bay) in the present See also:state of See also:Texas, for the mouth of an See also:arm of the Mississippi, he landed there, and Beaujeu, soon afterwards returned to France. The expedition had met with various misfortunes; one vessel had been captured by the Spaniards and another had been wrecked; and throughout La Salle and Beaujeu had failed to See also:work in See also:harmony. Soon finding that he was not at the mouth of the Mississippi, La Salle established a settlement and built a fort, Fort St Louis, on the Lavaca (he called it La Vache) river, and leaving there the greater part of his force, from See also:October 1685 to See also:March 1686 he vainly sought for the Mississippi. He also made two attempts to reach the Illinois country and Canada, and during the second, after two months of fruitless wanderings, he was assassinated, on the 19th of March 1687, by several of his followers, near the Trinity river in the present Texas. His colony on the Lavaca, after suffering terribly from privation and disease and being attacked by the Indians, was finally broken up, and a force of Spaniards sent against it in 1689 found nothing but dead bodies and a dismantled fort; the few survivors having become domesticated in the See also:Indian villages near by. Some writers, notably J. G. Shea, maintain that La Salle never intended to fortify the mouth of the Mississippi, but was instructed to establish an advanced post near the Spanish possessions, where he was to await a powerful expedition under a renegade Spaniard, Penalosa, with whom he was to co-operate in expelling the Spaniards from this part of the See also:continent.' La Salle was one of the greatest of the explorers in North America.

Besides discovering the Ohio and probably the Illinois, he was the first to follow the Mississippi from its upper course to its mouth and thus to establish the connexion between the discoveries of Radisson, Joliet and Marquette in the north with those of De See also:

Soto in the See also:south. He was stern, indomitable and full of resource. The best accounts of La Salle's explorations may be found in See also:Francis See also:Parkman's La Salle and the See also:Discovery of the Great West (See also:Boston, 1879; later revised See also:editions), in See also:Justin See also:Winsor's See also:Cartier to ' Although La Salle and See also:Don Diego de Penalosa (1624–1687) presented to the French See also:government See also:independent plans for an expedition against the Spaniards and Penalosa afterwards proposed their co-operation, there is no substantial See also:evidence that this project was adopted. Parkman is of the See also:opinion that La Salle proposed his expedition against the Spaniards in the See also:hope that the conclusion of See also:peace between France and See also:Spain would prevent its See also:execution and that he might then use the aid he had thus received in establishing a fortified commercial colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. See E. T. See also:Miller, " The Connection of Penalosa with the La Salle Expedition," in the Quarterly of the Texas State See also:Historical Association, vol, v. (See also:Austin, Tex., 1902). Frontenac (Boston, 1894), and in J. G. Shea's Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley (New See also:York, 1852) ; see also P. Chesnel, Histoire de Cavelier de La Salle, explorations et See also:con quite du bassin du Mississippi (See also:Paris, 1901).

Of the See also:

early narratives see Louis Hennepin, Description de la Louisiane (1683); Joutel, See also:Journal historique du dernier voyage que See also:feu M. de la Salle See also:fit clans le Golfe de Mexique, See also:ea's. (Paris, 1713) ; and Henri de Tonty, Derniers Decouvertes dans l'Amerique septentrionale de M. de La Salle (Paris, 1697). See also:Original narratives may be found, translated into See also:English, in The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, as related by his Faithful Lieutenant, Henri de Tonty, &c. (2 vols., New York, 1905), edited by I. J. See also:Cox; in See also:Benjamin F. French's Historical Collections of Louisiana (6 See also:series, New York, 1846–1853), and in Shea's Early Voyages Up and Down the Mississippi (See also:Albany, 1861) ; and an immense collection of documents See also:relating to La Salle may be found in See also:Pierre Margry's Decouvertes et etablissernents See also:des See also:Francais clans l'ouest et daps le sud de l'Amerique septentrionale, 1614–7754; Memoires et documents originaux recueillis et publies (6 vols., Paris, 1875–1886), especially in vol. ii. (C. C. W.) • LA SALLE, ST See also:JEAN See also:BAPTISTE DE (1651—1719), founder of the See also:order of See also:Christian See also:Brothers, was born at See also:Reims. The son of a See also:rich lawyer, his father's See also:influence early secured him a canonry in the See also:cathedral; there he established a school, where See also:free elementary instruction was given to poor See also:children. The enterprise soon broadened in See also:scope; a See also:band of enthusiastic assistants gathered See also:round him; he resolved to resign his canonry, and devote himself entirely to See also:education.

His assistants were organized into a community, which gradually rooted itself all over France; and a training-school for teachers, the See also:

College de See also:Saint-See also:Yon, was set up at Rouen. In 1725, six years after the founder's See also:death, the society was recognized by the See also:pope, under the See also:official See also:title of" Brothers of the Christian See also:Schools "; its members took the usual monastic vows, but did not aspire to the priesthood. During the first See also:hundred years of its existence its activities were mainly confined to France; during the 19th See also:century it spread to most of the countries of western Europe, and has been markedly successful in the See also:United States. When La Salle was canonized in 1900, the See also:total number of brothers was estimated at 15,000. Although the order has been chiefly concerned with elementary schools, it undertakes most branches of secondary and technical education; and it has served as a See also:model for other See also:societies, in See also:Ireland and elsewhere, slightly differing in See also:character from the original See also:institute. LA SALLE, a See also:city of La Salle See also:county, Illinois, U.S.A., on the Illinois river, near the head of See also:navigation, 99 m. S.W. of See also:Chicago. Pop. (1900) 10,446, of whom 3471 were See also:foreign-born; (1910 See also:census) 11,537. The city is served by the Chicago, See also:Burlington & See also:Quincy, the Chicago, Rock See also:Island & Pacific, and the Illinois Central See also:railways, and by the Illinois & Michigan See also:Canal, of which La Salle is the western See also:terminus. The city has a public library. The principal See also:industries are the smelting of See also:zinc and the manufacture of See also:cement, rolled zinc, bricks, sulphuric See also:acid and clocks; in 1905 the city's factory products were valued at $3,158,173.

In the vicinity large quantities of See also:

coal are See also:mined, for which the city is an important See also:shipping point. The See also:municipality owns and operates the waterworks and the electric See also:lighting plant. The first settlement was made here in 1830; and the See also:place which was named in honour of the explorer, Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was chartered as a city in 1852 and rechartered in 1876.

End of Article: LASALLE, ANTOINE CHEVALIER LOUIS COLLINET

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LAS VEGAS 		[next]
LASAULX, ARNOLD CONSTANTIN PETER FRANZ VON (1839—...

Site © 2006 - Net Industries