The French in Texas
Texarkana, Bowie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Were explorers and traders for about a century. Claimed coastal Texas early as 1685 when La Salle established his Fort Saint Louis colony. Another Fort Saint Louis, among Nassonite Indians, a few miles northwest of this marker, was founded in 1719 by a French captain, Benard de La Harpe, who came up the Red River. This fort was a center for trade with the Cadodacho (Caddoes) of northeast Texas and the Wichita, Tawakoni, Tonkawa and other tribes of North Texas. Over 250,000 French and Caddo Indian artifacts have been found near here-- including two millstones used in a flour mill near the fort. Although Spain claimed Texas earlier and during the time of La Harpe, this did not discourage the French; they traded as far south as the mouth of the Trinity until Louisiana was ceded to Spain in 1762. The chief French influence in east Texas was the Cavalier Saint Denis (1676-1744), who controlled Red River area of Louisiana, frequently coming into Texas. At first he prospected for silver and gold, as Spain had done. Later he found trading with the Indians was very profitable. The French had no policy against trading guns to Indians; partly for that reason they were more popular than the Spainards. (1966)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
For roughly a century after La Salle planted his ill-fated Fort Saint Louis on the Texas coast in 1685, French explorers and traders pressed into a land Spain claimed but barely held. In 1719 the French captain Bénard de La Harpe came up the Red River and built a second Fort Saint Louis among the Nassonite Indians, turning this stretch of northeast Texas into a busy trading crossroads with the Caddo, Wichita, Tawakoni, Tonkawa and other nations. The French traded freely — guns included — which made them more welcome than the silver-hunting Spanish, until Louisiana passed to Spain in 1762. Tens of thousands of French and Caddo artifacts recovered nearby, down to millstones from a frontier flour mill, still testify to that vanished commerce.
Why it matters
It marks a rarely-told chapter of the American story — a French, not Spanish, imprint on Texas — and the deep trade networks that bound European newcomers to the powerful Native nations of the southern plains.
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Related people
- · Bénard de La Harpe
- · Louis Juchereau de St. Denis
- · René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
Related events
- · Founding of Fort Saint Louis among the Nassonite (1719)
Themes & tags
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