c. 1818
Description
This imaginative print testifies to the French presence in Texas through a short-lived colony of French Bonapartist refugees along the Trinity River in 1818. Barons (and brothers) Henri and Charles Lallemand received a grant in 1817 from the United States government to create a “Vine and Olive Colony in Demopolis” of French refugees in present-day Alabama, with two purposes: to expand agriculture and to strengthen the presence of allies in the southeastern United States in the wake of the War of 1812, which demonstrated its vulnerabilities to British assaults. Soon, this group of French soldiers, and a few women, children, and servants, expanded to Galveston, where they were guests of the Lafittes, who provisioned them. This group of over 100 people traveled up the Trinity River to build a fortress and munitions, some scholars believe, to serve for a base for overthrowing Spanish Rule in the Southwest and installing Napoleon’s brother, Joseph on the throne in Mexico. The colony failed for many reasons, including the fact that the Lafittes were spies for the Spanish and informed them of the French colonists’ plans. Rumors of a Spanish attack on the colony prompted the French to abandon their project, and the colony removed to Galveston, where they were struck by a devastating hurricane. Eventually, the group dispersed to New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Alabama, where they joined the Vine and Olive Colony Demopolis. Such United States government-sponsored colonies to settle the West lost their appeal, and western settlement was left to individual pioneers, giving rise to the national story of rugged frontier individualism.
Additional Makers: after Charles Abraham Chasselat (French, 1782–1843)
Descriptive Medium: Engraving and aquatint with watercolor hand coloring
Image Licence
Public Domain
Image Credit
Courtesy of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Location
Texas, USA
Country
USA
Medium
Print
Tags
Category
People & Society
