On this Day...

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<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.net/images/stories/wiki.gif" border="0" class="linked-image" />On this date in the year 1687, famed French explorer, Robert de LaSalle, was killed in an ambush which is explained in detail from an excerpt taken from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page" target="_blank">WIKIPEDIA</a> a little later in this writing.  LaSalle, whose given name was Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was an explorer who explored the Great Lakes region of both the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.  He also claimed the entire Mississippi basin for the French crown.

Here is the Wikipedia excerpt detailing La Salle's final explorations and eventual murder by his fellow explorers: 

 <!--coloro: #000000 fontfamily #39webkitsansserif#39 lineheight 21px classApplestylespan--><span style="color: #000000 fontfamily #39webkitsansserif#39 lineheight 21px classApplestylespan"><!--/coloro-->On July 24, 1684,<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->^{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle#cite_note-HTsalle-7" target="_blank">[8]</a>} La Salle sailed again from France and returned to America with a large expedition designed to establish a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_colony" target="_blank">French colony</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Mexico" target="_blank">Gulf of Mexico</a>, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They left France in 1684 with four ships and 300 colonists. The expedition was plagued by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate" target="_blank">pirates</a>, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies" target="_blank">West Indies</a>, a second sank in the inlets of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matagorda_Bay" target="_blank">Matagorda Bay</a>, where a third ran aground. They set up <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Texas" target="_blank">Fort Saint Louis</a> of Texas, near <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria,_Texas" target="_blank">Victoria, Texas</a>.^{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle#cite_note-HTsalle-7" target="_blank">[8]</a>} La Salle led a group eastward on foot on three occasions to try to locate the Mississippi.

<!--coloro: #000000 fontfamily #39webkitsansserif#39 lineheight 21px classApplestylespan--><span style="color: #000000 fontfamily #39webkitsansserif#39 lineheight 21px classApplestylespan"><!--/coloro-->During another search for the Mississippi River, his remaining 36 followers mutinied, near the site of modern <!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc--><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navasota,_Texas" target="_blank">Navasota, Texas</a>. On March 19, 1687, La Salle was slain by Pierre Duhaut during an ambush while talking to Duhaut's decoy, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_L%27Archev%C3%AAque" target="_blank">Jean L'Archevêque</a>,^{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle#cite_note-HTsalle-7" target="_blank">[8]</a>} two of four attacking him "six leagues" from the westernmost village of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasinai" target="_blank">Hasinai</a> (Tejas) Indians.^{<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle#cite_note-HTsalle-7" target="_blank">[8]</a>} The colony lasted only until 1688, when <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karankawa" target="_blank">Karankawa</a>-speaking Indians massacred the 20 remaining adults and took five children as captives. Tonti sent out search missions in 1689 when he learned of the expedition's fate, but failed to reach a fort with survivors. 



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