Vincennes, Indiana - History - New France

New France

The first trading post on the Wabash River was established by the Sieur Juchereau, Lieutenant General of Montréal. With thirty-four Canadiens, he founded the company post on 28 October 1702 to trade for Buffalo hides with American Indians. The exact location of Juchereau's trading post is not known, but because the Buffalo Trace crosses the Wabash at Vincennes, many believe it was here. The post was a success; in the first two years, the traders collected over 13,000 buffalo hides. When Juchereau died, the post was abandoned. The French-Canadian settlers left what they considered hostile territory for Mobile (in present-day Alabama), then the capital of Louisiana.

The oldest European town in Indiana, Vincennes was officially established in 1732 as a second French fur trading post in this area. The Compagnie des Indes commissioned a Canadian officer, François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, to build a post along the Wabash River to discourage local nations from trading with the British. de Vincennes founded the new trading post near the meeting points of the Wabash River, White River, and the overland Buffalo Trace. De Vincennes, who had lived with his father among the Miami tribe, was able to convince the Piankeshaw to establish a village at his trading post. He also encouraged Canadien settlers to move there, and started his own family to increase the village population. Because the Wabash post was so remote, however, Vincennes had a hard time getting trade supplies from Louisiana for the native nations, who were also being courted by British traders.

In 1736, during the French war with the Chickasaw nation, de Vincennes was captured and burned at the stake near the present-day town of Fulton, Mississippi. His settlement on the Wabash was renamed Poste Vincennes in his honor.

Louisiana Governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville next appointed Louis Groston de Saint-Ange de Bellerive to command Poste Vincennes. With little help from the colonial government, St. Ange was able to build up the small village and attract new tribes to trade. In 1742, he received a grant from the Piankeshaw for 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km2) to the north and east of Poste Vincennes. The opportunity for land attracted many new Canadien settlers, and the growing village was sometimes called St. Ange.

As the French colonials pushed north from Louisiana and south from Canada, however, the British colonists to the east continued to push west. In addition, British traders lured away many of Indians who had traded with the Canadiens. This competition escalated in the Ohio Country until the eruption of the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years War between England and France.)