Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville

• Sources:
  • Drouin Institute (Archived baptismal record - see attached in Media tab)

Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville

Known as the "Father of Louisiana," Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville (1680-1767) aided his brother, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, in establishing French control of the Gulf Coast region. A naval officer, he advanced rapidly, eventually becoming French Governor of Louisiana and founder of the city of New Orleans.

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Pierre Le Moyne Iberville's efforts at establishing a French presence on the Gulf Coast were ably aided by his younger brother Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, who was baptized in Montreal on February 24, 1680. Bienville began his naval service in 1692 as a midshipman and fought in the battles for Newfoundland and Hudson Bay between English and French forces. Wounded in action at Hudson Bay, he recuperated in France and then joined Iberville on the expedition to rediscover the mouth of the Mississippi and to protect France's vast territory from its archrivals, Spain and England. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_William%27s_War

The Spanish had already established a stronghold at Pensacola, and the British followed close on the heels of the Le Moyne fleet. In late 1699, Captain William Bond entered the Mississippi Delta, but he was repelled by Bienville, who audaciously ordered him to abandon the area. When Iberville returned in January 1700, he ordered the construction of Fort La Boulaye on the river south of present-day New Orleans and named Bienville commandant.

The post was Bienville's first position of authority. He was only 20 years old, but despite his youth proved a talented leader and worked well with the local Indian nations—the Mobile, the Biloxi, and the Pascagoula—all of whom helped support the colony. In addition, Bienville, a talented linguist, was able to persuade members of several tribes, the Chato in particular, to settle near Mobile and serve as buffer villages against the Spanish—an effort made all the more important by the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–13). Bienville successively served as commandant of Fort La Boulaye on the Mississippi, Fort Maurepas, and finally Fort Louis at Mobile.

Despite Bienville's achievements, he made a number of enemies in the colony. Many of these strained relationships stemmed from the questionable business activities of his brothers Iberville and Sérigny, both of whom made substantial fortunes from profiteering. The ill will resulting from their dealings damaged Bienville's credibility as a leader among the colonial authorities in France. Bienville weathered these storms and continued to help the young Mobile colony grow, but the repercussions continued for some time. When Iberville, then governor of Louisiana, died in 1706, the French government passed Bienville over for the post and instead named Nicolas Daneau de Muy as the territory's new governor.

For the next quarter-century Bienville served in a top leadership capacity in Louisiana. In 1711, he oversaw the relocation of the territorial capital from Old Mobile at Twenty-Seven-Mile Bluff down to its present site, and in 1717 he established Fort Toulouse near present-day Wetumpka, Elmore County. A severe hurricane that year ruined Mobile's chief port at Dauphin Island, and Bienville moved the capital back to Ocean Springs in present-day Mississippi, near where Fort Maurepas had once stood. Two years later he moved the capital to New Biloxi, and two years after that moved it to New Orleans, where it would remain until 1763.

Bienville commanded extreme respect among the settlers of Mobile, Dauphin Island, Biloxi, and New Orleans as well as among the local Indian leaders, and his abilities were highly regarded. It was not until 1732, however, that Bienville was officially appointed governor of the colony, a post he had long sought. Three years later, he oversaw construction of Fort Tombecbe, near present-day Epes, Sumter County, which would serve as a trading post and military outpost. Bienville launched two unsuccessful campaigns against the Chickasaws from the fort in 1736.

Through great difficulties, and with meager support from the French Court, Bienville overcame many obstacles to create a vast French colony. In 1743, after 44 years as one of France's most important colonial leaders, Bienville retired from public duty. He journeyed to Paris that same year, began a long, uneventful retirement, and died in Paris in 1767 at the age of 88. Unlike his brothers, Bienville never married and left no offspring. His career in Louisiana lasted for nearly four and a half decades, far exceeding that of any other colonial leader. Although Iberville is remembered as the founder and first governor of Mobile, Bienville, by virtue of his long and admirable service, can rightfully be called the "Father of Louisiana."