Charles Levasseur dit Ruessavel

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Levasseur

Charles Levasseur was the son of a carpenter and master Parisian carpenter called Jean Levasseur dit Lavigne from the parish of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs in Paris who married Marguerite Richard April 23, 1645 in Paris. His parents emigrated to Canada around 1650 . Charles Levasseur grew up in the city of Quebec , where his father participated in the founding of the Brotherhood of Saint Anne. He took himself the nickname Ruessavel by reversing his name, and it became over time a nickname sometimes added to his name.

Charles Levasseur received his name from his godfather, the rich and powerful merchant of New France Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye , who arrived from Picardy in 1655 , and who befriended his father. He had, moreover, as godmother, Marie-Barbe Boullongne, wife of Louis d'Ailleboust de Coulonge , governor of New France 2 .

Charles Levasseur took part alongside Henri de Tonti in René-Robert Cavelier's La Salle expedition on the Mississippi River and the territorial recognition of French Louisiana . In 1700 , he was charged with the recognition of the Bay of Mobile in order to implant there a fort for the protection of Louisiana vis-à-vis possessions and pretensions Spanish. He went on an expedition with four other Canadians on June 19, 1700. He surveyed the Mobile River and recognized the shore he ascended by discovering five Amerindian villages populated with about half a thousand inhabitants. in the first he noticed a cross which the Amerindians told him to have been planted by the Spanish troops under the direction of Governor Andrés de Arriola . This was not a real surprise, the French Cavelier de La Salle expedition knew the limits of the Spanish colonies of America. But the strategic nature of the Mobile River prompted La Salle to entrust Levasseur with a reconnaissance mission called the "Levasseur Exploration Mission" 3 .

He chose a place, which he thought propitious to establish a fort. He established good neighborly relations with the Native American tribes of this low Mobile Valley and planted a large cross visible along the coast to locate the place to return. In 1701 , he built on the site of the so-called cross the first wooden fort at a place called La Mobile, which was named soon Fort Louis de la Louisiane. A small colony was organized around the fort and took the name of Mobile named the Native American tribe that lived in these parts.

At the beginning of the year 1702 , d'Iberville embarked aboard " La Renommée " for the colony of La Mobile. With Bienville, Roy's lieutenant at Bilox Fort, and Levasseur, Commander of the Canadians, they officially took possession of the Mobile River in the name of the King of France. They invited the leaders of the Choctaw tribes Thomes, Chickasaw and Mobiliens, to whom they offered gifts and in return received their unwavering support as an ally against the English 6 .

On September 5, 1704 , Levasseur, who had contracted yellow fever , died at Fort Louis , Louisiana , the very day after the death of his explorer Henri de Tonti , who had also died of the same disease. They were buried next to each other.

Notes and references

• Jay Higginbotham, Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702-1711 , Library of Alabama classics.