Pioneer; brother of
Le Moyne Iberville, who founded a French settlement at
Biloxi, near the mouth of the
Mississippi, in 1698; born in
Montreal, Feb. 23, 1680.
For several years he was in the
French naval service with
Iberville, and accompanied him with his brother Sauville to
Louisiana.
In 1699
Bienville explored the country around
Biloxi.
Sauville was appointed governor of
Louisiana in 1699, and the next year
Bienville constructed a fort 54 miles above the mouth of the river.
Sauville
[
340]
died in 1701, when
Bienville took charge of the colony, transferring the seat of government to
Mobile.
In 1704 he was joined by his brother Chateaugay, who brought seventeen settlers from
France.
Soon afterwards a ship brought twenty young women as wives for settlers at
Mobile.
Iberville soon afterwards died, and
Bienville, charged with misconduct, was dismissed from office in 1707.
His successor dying on his way from(
France, bienville retained the office.
Having tried unsuccessfully to cultivate the land by Indian labor,
Bienville proposed to the government to exchange Indians for negroes in the
West Indies, at the rate of three Indians for one negro.
Bienville remained at the head of the colony until 1713, when
Cadillac arrived, as governor, with a commission for the former as lieutenant-governor.
Quarrels between them ensued.
Cadillac was superseded in 1717 by Epinay, and
Bienville received the decoration of the Cross of
St. Louis.
In 1718 he founded the city of
New Orleans; and war breaking out between
France and
Spain, he seized
Pensacola and put his brother Chateaugay in command there.
He was summoned to
France in 1724 to answer charges, where he remained until 1733, when he was sent back to
Louisiana as governor, with the rank of lieutenant-general.
Having made unsuccessful expeditions against the Chickasaws, he was superseded in 1743, and returned to
France, where he died in 1765.
