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'I give theft: Books
for the foViMin^ of a^GoUigf in thh Colony'''

Bequest of
Prof, Edward G, Bourne
1908 

THE REAL SAINT-DENIS.

LESTER G. BUGBEE.

Reprinted from tfie Quarterly oft/ie Texas State Historical
Association for April, i8g8.

Aa,.'Sii!i

268 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
¦was in command of a fort on the Mississippi from 1703 to 1705,^
that the fort was abandoned by order of the governor in the latter
year,^ that Saint-Denis then returned to Mobile and soon after
retired from service and took up his residence at Biloxi,^ -vrhere he
remained till Jjamothe Cadillac arrived in Louisiana in 1713.*
In the year following occurred the journey to which so much
of romance has since become attached. According to the common
account, this journey was undertaken for the purpose of establish
ing commercial relations with Mexico. John Henry Brown states
that Saint-Denis reached San Juan Bautista in August, 1714, fell
in love with the commandant's daughter, and soon became her ac
cepted suitor. Gaspardo de Anaya, the governor of Coahuila, also
a suitor for the hand of the fair Maria, had Saint-Denis seized and
threw him into prison. An offer of release on condition of re
nouncing the lady's hand was rejected by the Canadian "with
scorn." In the meantime Anaya pressed his suit with Maria, de
manding her promise to marry him and threatening to put her
lover to death in case of her refusal. In reply to this threat she bade
the messenger tell the governor that, if he had Saint-Denis exe
cuted, "by my own hand or that of a trusted friend, a dagger shall
be planted in his cowardly heart." At the end of some six months
the viceroy interfered, Saint-Denis was released, received with favor
at court, and even offered high rank in the Spanish army; but
proffered favors could not make Saint-Denis "forget his mission
or his fidelity to the woman who had saved him." While waiting
for a reply from the king of Spain upon the business which had
brought him to Mexico, he returned to San Juan where he found
ihe Indians "abroad in arms." He "pursued them alone," and
such was the persuasive power of his eloquence that he had little
difficulty in putting down the insurrection. "The young Cas-
tilian beauty was his reward." After two years' delay, an un
favorable reply of the king to his propositions finally reached him
' P^nicaut's Relation in Margry 's D^couvertes et htablissements , vol. V,
pp. 425, 431, 439, 459.
2 Ibid. , pp. 459, 460.
^ Ibid., p. 460.
* Ibid. , pp. 476, 495. P^nicaut says Lamothe Cadillac arrived in
¦J.712, an error of a year.

The Real Saint-Denis. 269
and he returned to Mobile. On a second trip to Mexico, he had
all his goods seized and was again imprisoned. Once more the
heroine came to thfe rescue, her influence aroused her relatives, se
cured the forcible release of her husband, and compelled the -vice
roy to pay for the misappropriated goods.* '
*John Henry Brown, History of Texas, vdl. I, pp. 13-18. It is in
teresting to speculate on the origin of this story. It is told k by
Charles Gayarr^ in his The Poetry, or the Romance of the History of
Louisiana, and it is probably from this source that it has made its way
into Texas history. Yoakum refers to both Gayarr^ and Le Page du
Pratz, but he is indebted to the former for the greater and least trust-*
worthy part of the narrative. Gayarr^'s The Poetry, or the Romance
of the History of Louisiana must be carefully distinguished from his
second and third series of lectures on the history of Louisiana. These
works appeared originally as three distinct series of lectures, but,
bound together, they make up that author's four-volume History of
Louisiana. The first series of these lectures, The Poetry, or the Ro
mance of the History of Louisiana, which contains the story of Saint-
Denis substantially as related above, is avowedly unhistorical; Gayarr^
confesses {History of Louisiana, vol. II, Preface), that he was gambol
ing with his imagination in these lectures, and that he looked upon the
series ' ' at the time as nugae seriae, to which I attached no more impor
tance than a child does to the soap bubbles which he puffs through the
tube of the tiny reed, picked up by him for the amusement of the passing
hour." {History of Louisiana, vol. II, Preface.) He claims that the
second series of lectures, Louisiana; Its History as a French Colony,
is at least founded on facts; the third series, the last three volumes of
the History of Louisiana, is reliable, and is the work on which tlie
author's reputation rests.
I quote below two passages from Gayarr^'s version of this story in
order to furnish an example of the heroic style of this part of his work,
and at the same time afford, in a small way, a basis for comparison
with Brown's account. Referring to Anaya 's offer of release to Saint-
Denis, Brown is content to say that the proposition was rejected "with
scorn. " This is too tame for Gayarr^, who puts it thus: How swelled
the loyal heart of the captive at this base proposal! He vouchsafed no
answer, but he gave his oppressor such a look-as made him stagger back
and retreat with as much precipitation as if the hand of immediate pun
ishment had been lifted up against him,. (Vol. I, p. 170.) Again, com
pare the reply of Maria to the proposal of Anaya as given above with
the following as recorded by Gayarr^: "Tell Anaya that T can not
marry him as long as St. Denis lives, because St. Denis I love; and tell
him that if St. Denis dies this little Moorish dagger, which was my
mother's gift, shall be planted, either by myself or m.y agent's hand, in

270 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
It is not my purpose to say caustic things about the writers of
Texas history. Mr. Brown's book, from which the above account
is taken, is, in very many respects, a most excellent and creditable
production. Nor is he the only author that has accepted this pleas
ing story of love and adventure. It is to be found, with more or
less variation in the works of Yoakum,^ Kennedy,^ Mrs. Penny-
backer,^ and perhaps others. Suffice it to say that the story has
little or no foundation in fact, and even what little truth there is
in it has been distorted almost beyond recognition by these ac
counts. A more serious criticism is that the real importance of
Saint-Denis' mission to Mexico has been obscured, indeed totally
neglected, in an attempt to capture the imagination with the de
tails of an heroic incident. It is difficult to find moderate terms
in which to express one's condemnation of the methods of investi-
the middle of his dastardly heart, wherever he ?nay be." This was said
with a gentle voice, with a calm. m,ien, as if it had been an ordinary mes
sage, but with such a gleam in the eye as is nowhere to be seen except in
Spain's or Arabia's daughters. The words, the look, and the tone, were
minutely reported to Anaya, and he paused. ('Vol. I, p. 171.) I hope
that some one may be able to prove that our historians did not accept as
serious such an account as this.
But where did Gayarr^ get the story? Very probably it is an elabor
ration of the account given by P^nicaut in his Relation, which I have
already mentioned. Pfeicaut, so far as I know, is the only contempo
rary authority tjiat introduces the Governor of Coahuila into the narra
tive, or calls the commandant at San Juan tjy the name of Vilesca fnpt
Villescas, as Gayarr^ has it, nor Villesecas as it occurs in Browp).
Many of the particulars of the long story of Saint-Denis' adventures in
Mexico told by P&icaut are repeated by Gayarr^ in almost the same
language and, I believe, are to be found nowhere else. Sufifice it to say
that P^nicaut is our least reliable authority for this portion of tlie story,
and even he does not say a word about the rivalry between Saint-Denis
and the Governor of Coahuila. That portion of the story, and conse
quently most of the romance, is probably an invention, pure and simple,
of Charles Gayarr^. That Brown drew his account from Gayarr^ and
not from Pfeicaut is evident from the fact that he copied the romantic
details added by Gayarr^, which do not appear in the Relation.
' Yoakum, History of Texas, vol. I, pp. 47-50.
^Kennedy, Texas, vol. I, pp. 218, 219.
'Mrs. Pennybacker, A New History of Texas, revised edition, pp.
22-24 and note.

The Real Saint- Denis. 271
gation that have allowed such a tale to become a part of our serious
history. In the reconstruction of this chapter in our early history we
must, of course, depend upon the accounts left us by the con
temporaries of Saint-Denis. Besides the Historical Journal and
P6nicaut's Relation which I have already mentioned, the most im-
poi-tant of these from the French point of view are the memoirs
of Dumont,! Charlevoix' Nouvelle France,^ and the Histoire de la
Louisiane of Le Page du Pratz. The last mentioned, who lived
m Louisiana from 1718 to 1734 and who used the memoirs of Saint-
Denis in compiling his work,^ is probably our best authority on
this incident. A very important Spanish authority which I have
used in the preparation of this paper is the Testimonio de un Pare-
cer, a summary of events in Texas from the time of La Salle
to 1744, at which date the document was written. The author
evidently had access to rehable reports concerning Saint-Denis
and it will be seen that the Spanish account substantially confirms
the French.*
According to Le Page du Pratz, the immediate occasion of the
journey of Saint-Denis to Mexico was a letter which reached the
French governor from a Spanish ecclesiastic, Ydalgo (commonly
¦written Hidalgo) by name, in which the father asked the aid of
the French in establishing a mission among the Assinais (or Cenis)
Indians.^ This seems to have been precisely the opportunity which
the governor was seeking. It will be remembered that in 1713
Louisiana had passed under the control of Anthony Crozat, who
looked upon it merely as a commercial establishment and cared lit
tle for the claim which France held to the great territory of Texas.
^ Dumont, a French officer, was stationed in Louisiana during at least
the last years covered by this paper. The full title of his work is
IHitnoires historigues sur la Louisiane ; I have had access only to the
translation of a part of the work in vol. V of B. F. French's Historical
Collections of Louisiana.
* I have not had access to this work.
*Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, p. 178.
*It has been printed in Spanish in Yoakum's History of Texas, vol. I,
Appendix, pp. 381-402.
^Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, p. 10.

272 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
If the trade of Louisiana could be increased by winking at the
Spanish occupation of Texas, Crozat's governor was ready to be
-seized with impenetrable blindness in that direction. He believed
a Spanish mission in what is now eastern Texas would be of great
commercial advantage to the French, particularly in the matter of
furnishing Louisiana with horses, cattle, and silver;* hence Saint-
Denis was despatched to Mexico to assist the Spaniards in making
the establishment in Texas on the condition that the trade of the
country should be opened to the French, f Accompanied by ten
men, he finally reached the presidio San Juan, near the Eio
Grande. J The commandant of this post, Don Diegue (Domingo
*Ibid., p. 11.
\Ibid., p. 11.
% The Historical fozirnal {French'' s Historical Collections of Louisiana,
vol. Ill, pp. 43, 46) says that Saint-Denis was sent to Texas to learn
all he could concerning the Spanish missions in that country. Nothing
is said about trade. After satisfying himself that there were no Span
iards among any of the tribes that lay between the French settlements
and the Assinais, he returned to the Natchez on the Mississippi. Five
Canadians joined him, and he again entered Texas. At the village of
the Assinais his party was increased by the addition of twenty Indians
of that tribe, who accompanied him to San Juan.
According to the Testiinonio de un Parecer (^Yoakum, vol. I, Ap
pendix, p. 390), Saint-Denis was sent to Texas to purchase live stock
from the missions which he expected to find somewhere in that country.
Disappointed in this, he sent back most of his men and continued the
journey to San Juan with three companions.
Pfeicaut (in Margry's Dicouvertes et itablissements, vol. V, pp.
494-500), who was one of the party, states that Saint-Denis was engaged
by Lamothe Cadillac to go to Mexico and attempt to open commercial
relations with the Spanish; he set out with a quantity of goods and
twenty-two men; a halt was made among the Natchitoches and ten men
were left to hold a post established there; the Assinais furnished guides
and after nearly two months of travel from Natchitoches, the party
reached San Juan.
According to the statement made by Saint-Denis on his arrival at San
Juan, the substance of which is given by Margry {Dkcouvertes et €tab-
lissemerits, vol. VI, p. .218), twenty-one of his men returned to Mobile
from the Assinais, and he was attended on the rest of his journey by
only three Frenchmen and twenty-five Indians.
We learn from an extract from a letter written by Lamothe Cadillac
(Margry, D&couvertes et itablissements, vol. VI, p. 197) that Saint-
Denis told the viceroy "conformably with his instructions that his gov-

The Real Saint- Denis. 273
or Diego) Eaimond^ (or Ramon), e-vidently regarded his mission
¦with favor; but as the Spanish law forbade the intrusion of for
eigners, he detained Saint-Denis while a messenger set out for
Mexico to ask permission for the Canadian to present himself .at
the viceroy's court.^
In the meantime Saint-Denis succeeded in winning his way into
the affections of the family at the presidio. A widowed daughter
of the commandant is said to have called into exercise her match
making skiU, and before Saint-Denis left San Juan he was engaged
to the granddaughter^ of Don Diego, the niece of the match-maker.
The desired permission to proceed to Mexico was at last re
ceived, and he found himself in that city on the Sth of June, 1715.
The viceroy Linares is represented as very favorably inclined to
wards the French, though there was a strong party in Mexico that
cherished bitter feelings against their old enemy. It may be that
Linares was really disposed to favor the scheme of the Cana
dian, or it may be that his professions were only pretended in or
der to secure the inacti-vity and even gain the help of the French, —
at any rate, acording to Le Page du Pratz, an agreement was soon
reached that Saint-Denis should assist the Spaniards in establish
ing missions in Texas, and the promise was held out that commer
cial pri^vileges would then be granted to the French.*
ernor had sent him with twenty- five men to Father Hidalgo" to buy
cattle, and, not finding the padre, he had continued his journey to
Mexico. Le Page du Pratz is, I think, the only authority who mentions the
letter from Hidalgo to the governor of Louisiana. Le Page du Pratz
probably reflects Saint-Denis' own version of the story, so we should be
cautious about accepting the motives attributed to Lamothe Cadillac,
with whom Saint-Denis was not always in harmony.
1 Not Villescas or Villesecas, according to the common story.
*Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, pp. 12, 13.
^Ibid., p. 14. The Historical fournal (French's Historical Collections
of Louisiana, vol. Ill, p. 46) and the Testimonio de un Parecer {Yoakum,
vol. I, p. 391) say that this lady was the niece of the commandant.
Brown {History of Texas, 'Vol. I, p. 13) calls her the commandant's
daughter. *Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, pp. 14, 15. The
Testimonio de un Parecer (Yoakum, vol. I, p. 391) says nothing of the
promises made to Saint-Denis.

274 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
On his return to San Jiian the marriage with the granddaughter
of Don Eamon was celebrated, and soon after Saint-Denis joined
the Spanish expedition which had for its object the occupation
of Texas. On reaching the country of the Assinais, the Indians
were called together, and Saint-Denis, who had great influence
among them, exhorted them to receive the Spaniards and to treat
them well.^ On August 25, 1716, he was again at Mobile.^
In this way the group of missions between the Trinity river and
Natchitoches came into existence with the aequiesence of the
French. There is no trace in this story as told by the contem
porary French chroniclers, except Penicaut, of anything but the
best of treatment. Certainly there is not a word about imprison
ment, and the governor of Coahuila^ is not even mentioned.
The governor of Louisiana was "charmed" with the success of
Saint-Denis' mission, in spite of the fact that it involved the tacit
abandonment of French claims to the country west of the Red
river. He proposed to Saint-Denis to return to Mexico at once,
this time with goods. But goods were not easily obtained. The
warehouses of Crozat were well filled and he was growing every
day more discouraged because of the difficulty of disposing of
them. Yet on this occasion SaintrDenis' application was declined
by Crozat's agents, and even the interference of the governor could
not open the stores to him. Probably such a venture was regarded
as too hazardous. Finally, in October, 1716, some two months
after Saint-Denis' return from Mexico, a company was formed of
the most substantial men in the colony, and the agents of Crozat
agreed to advance merchandise to the amount of 60,000 livres.*
The commercial privileges which perhaps had been half prom
ised by the viceroy had not yet been extended to the French, and
^Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, pp. 16, 17.
^Historical fournal (French's Historical Collections of Louisiana,
vol. Ill, p. 47.)
'Martin de Alarcon, not Gaspardo de Anaya, was governor of Coa
huila during the years covered by this story. (Bancroft, North Mexi
can states and Texas, vol. I, p. 604.)
*Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, pp. 17, 18. The
amount of goods and the dates are taken from the Historical fournal
(French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. Ill, p. 47).

The Real Saint-Denis. 275
Spanish law forbade even the entrance of a foreigner into Mexico.
Any goods introduced in the manner here proposed were, of course,
contraband and subject to seizure. The harsher term which we
apply to such an act as the French traders contemplated is smug
gling. The character of this second trip is, to some extent, cleared
up by the significant fact that the goods were made to appear as
belonging whollv to Saint-Denis.* He probably depended upon
his connection ¦with the family of a Spanish officer and the favor
¦with which he was regarded by the -viceroy to protect him in the
¦violation of the law. It is very probable, too, that he sought to
quiet suspicion by spreading the report that he had returned to en
ter the service of Spain, and that the goods which he brought with
him were his personal effects, f This supposition at least clears up
many of the difficulties, and it is not at all inconsistent with the
character of the man; we learn from Lamothe Cadillac that Saint-
Denis "was not very zealous in the service of the king" of France, J
and Bancroft declares that he was paid by the Spanish government
for lending his aid in establishing the missions in Texas. ||
The winter of 1716 was passed by the traders among the Assinais
Indians and the following March found them again on the road
for San Juan, Saint-Denis probably going on in advance. § It
seems that a disagreement occurred among the members of the
company while at San Juan, perhaps as to the price which should
be paid the Spanish officials as hush money, and the secret as to
the o-wnership of the goods leaked out. As a result, confiscation
¦*Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, p. 19.
Saint-Denis opposed the organization of this company, particularly
when he learned that some of its members proposed to make the trip
with him. He insisted that these members be instructed to make it ap
pear that they were his employees and that the goods belonged to him
alone. The Historical fournal does not mention this.
f Testimonio de un Parecer, Yoakum, vol. I, p. 391.
:t Letter from Lamothe Cadillac in Margry's Dkcouvertes et Uablisse-
ments, vol. VI, p. 197.
\North Mexican States and Texas, vol. I, p. 611.
§The Historical fournal, (French's Historical Collections of Louis
iana, vol. Ill, p. 49) states that Saint-Denis reached the presidio in
advance of the company, lost his goods by seizure, and had already set
out for Mexico when the rest of the party arrived. The dates in the
various accounts do not agree.

276 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
was imminent, and it is not unlikely that some of the goods were
actually seized. To prevent total loss, Saint-Denis hurried on to
Mexico to secure the intervention of his friend the viceroy.*
But affairs went ill for the trader. The friendly -viceroy had
been superseded by one whose attitude, says Le Page du Pratz, was
as hostile as that of Linares was favorable. Priestly jealousy had
also raised up an enemy in the person of Padre Olivarez, who is
represented as jealous of the ecclesiastics who had successfully
made the establishments in Texas under the protection of Saint-
Denis, f Don Martin de Alarcon, the governor of Coahuila and
Texas, was also unfriendly, and reported that Saint-Denis had en
tered the province without the proper passport and had brought
goods with him whieh were not wholly his own.J Circumstances
thus combined to wreck the hopes of the Canadian. He was ar
rested and imprisoned as a suspicious character. Most of his goods,
which had been sent on to Mexico by Don Ramon, were seized as
contraband, and it seems that he lost all but a bare sufficiency to
satisfy certain expenses of justice. || He was kept in prison some
two months, and when released was ordered to remain ¦within the
limits of the city; nine months more elapsed, and he finally suc
ceeded, after forcibly dispossessing a Spaniard of his horse, in
effecting his escape. He passed by San Juan, but stopped only
to clandestinely visit his wife in the garden of the fort, and arrived
safe in Louisiana on April 2, 1719. §
*Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, p. 19.
The Historical fournal and the Testimonio de un Parecer do not men
tion these details.
f Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, p. 20.
XHistorical fournal, in French's Historical Collections of Louisiana,
vol. Ill, p. 63. Of course, even if the goods belonged wholly to Saint-
Denis, their introduction would still be illegal, unless he was really
removing, with permission, to enter Spanish service.
[According to the Historical fournal, he obtained the release of his
goods, but lost the proceeds through the faithlessness of <i friend, who
squandered the money entrusted to him.
§Le Page du Pratz, Histoire de la Louisiane, vol. I, pp. 20, 21. The
Historical fournal says he was aided in making his escape bythe rela
tives of his wife. There is no foundation for the story that his wife
accompanied him from San Juan to Louisiana. She was sent to him
later.

The Real Saint-Denis. 277
There are few incidents in the early history of Texas which have
a greater importance than the one that I have sketched above. An
impartial observer living in the first years of the eighteenth cen
tury would have found the greatest difficulty in forecasting the
future of the extensive, but then unoccupied, domain which wo
now call Texas. Its situation made it the logical battle ground of
the French and Spanish in America. Both claimed it and both had
made ineffectual attempts to occupy it. The important feature,
then, of this jotimey of Saint-Denis, even more interesting and
certainly more essential in determining the destiny of Texas than
the stage-Uke declamation of Dona Maria, is the good under
standing that was seemingly established between the French and
the Spanish, and the aequiesence of the former in the foxmding of
the Spanish missions almost at their very door.
We have seen from the above sketch that commercial ideas were
then dominant in the government of Louisiana; both Spanish and
French sources agree that Saint-Denis warmly advocated the plant
ing of the Spanish missions near the French settlements — ^indeed,
it is not improbable that he was sent to Mexico for the express
purpose of re-introducing the friars into Texas; we have seen that
the Governor of Louisiana was "charmed" -with the result of the
first trip, and we further learn from Le Page du Pratz that a little
later Saint-Denis was made a Knight of St. Louis in recognition
of and as a reward for his services. The meaning of aU this seems
to be that the business-Hke Crozat cared little for the French claim
to Texas, and -willingly relinquished it in return for the prospect
of a friendly trade with Mexico through the Spanish missions.
On the other hand the Spaniards were made to realize the danger
which might arise from the proximity of the settlements in Louis
iana, and so took immediate steps to secure the country to Red
river. The year 1715. says Yoakum, "may be considered the year
of missions in Texas." The occupation was permanent; San An
tonio and other posts which were founded on this occasion were
never afterwards abandoned.
However charitably we may be inclined to view the matter, we
must severely criticise certain of our Texas historians for becloud
ing this really important episode with a mass of romantic details,
and for failing to point out the true bearing of Saint-Denis' jour-

278 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
ney to Mexico upon the final destiny of Texas. Yoakum especial
ly should not have gone astray in this matter, as he seems to have
had access to reliable sources of information in both Spanish and
French; indeed, he is often on the point of assigning to Saint-
Denis his true place in our history, but the brilliant fiction of
Gayarr6, in the end, proved too fascinating to be omitted; after
reading many pages of interesting matter, truth mingled -with fic
tion, we close Yoakum "with an uncomfortable feeling that Saint-
Denis' importance- consists in his having laid out the San Antonio
Road.* In censuring the historians of Texas for accepting this story
on insufficient e-vidence and for failing to interpret correctly the
larger movement of events during these years, an honorable ex
ception should be made of the work of H. H. Bancroft. The
materials used by this author so far as concerns the story of Saint-
Denis were mostly Spanish, including a number of documents
which have never been printed. The facts derived by Bancroft from
the Spanish sources are substantially in accord ¦with the statements
of the French ¦writers whom I have followed in this article. There
is no imprisonment of Saint-Denis on his first visit; his love affair
is indeed mentioned, but it is not given more importance than
is accorded to the occupation of Texas by the Spanish; we learn
from Bancroft, too, that the Spanish authorities were aroused to a
better realization of the value of Texas and to a clearer understand-
in of the danger that threatened from Louisiana, and, in conse
quence, at once bestirred themselves to take possession of the coun
try. Bancroft also agrees with the French account that Saint-
Denis' arrest occurred on his second trip and for the reason that
the Spanish officials had grown suspicious of his intentions, f
It must be a matter of keen regret to all who feel an interest
in such questions as this that the State of Texas has, as yet sho-wn
little interest in collecting the sources of our early history. Docu
ments in Mexico, in Spain, and in France must be copied and made
* Yoakum, History of Texas, vol. I, pp. 47-52; 65-66. Mrs. Penny-
backer {A New History of Texas, Revised Edition, p. 24) seems to ar
rive at the same conclusion.
f H. H. Bancroft, Norih Mexican States and Texas, vol. I, pp. 609-614.

The Real Saint-Denis. 279
accessible to Texas -writers before this period can be satisfactorily
¦understood and explained. Other states have spent large sums
in procuring historical data from the archives of the European
countries. The State of Texas, the University of Texas, and the His
torical Association of Texas can not with impunity long shirk this
duty, which the world demands and expects of them. If one ques
tions the importance of such matters he has but to look into our his
tories and read the story of Saint-Denis. Even the children in our
schools are taught the pretty tale of love and adventure and leave
the subject -without knowing that they have been studying an event
which materially influenced the ultimate destiny of the State in
which they live, — which, in a great measure, decided that Texas
should be Spanish and not French, that the boundary between the
United States and Mexico should be the Sabine and not the Rio
Grande. Fictions of adventure and of heroic and manly deeds are
good things for children, and even for mature men, to read and en
joy; but they should not be read in text-books of history. The story
of Saint-Denis is but one of a large number of such fictions that
have embedded themselves in our serious histories where one ex
pects to find scholarly investigation and accurate statement. They
can be weeded out only by bringing together and making accessi
ble the books and documents from which we must derive our in
formation of the Spanish period of our history.
The documentary sources relative to the subject of Saint-Denis
seem to be especially abundant. I have already mentioned at some
length Dumont's memoirs, Penicaut's Relation, Le Page du Pratz's
Histoire de la Louisiane, the Historical Journal of the Establish
ment of the French in Louisiana, and some others; these are con
temporary French accounts; they are by no means all the French
sources on this subject, but, so far as I know, they are the most
important. The Spanish accounts relative to this period are also
particularly abundant. The Testimonio de un Parecer has been
mentioned. The sworn statement which Saint-Denis made on his
arrival at San Juan as to the object of his journey now probably
reposes in the archives of the Mexican RepuWic. The minutes of
the junta de guerra of Dec. 3, 1716, held to discuss questions as to
the defence of Texas which Saint-Denis' appearance had aroused,
rests in the repository; this document covers several manuscript

280 Texas Historical Association Quarterly.
pages and is styled by Bancroft "the best narrative extant of Texan
annals from 1789."* The account of the return of Saint-Denis to
Texas accompanied by the Spanish friars and soldiers, and of the
actual occupation of the country by the Spanish, is contained in
the voluminous official report of Don Ramon who commanded the
troops on that occasion. The same story is told from the ecclesi
astical point of view in the works of thepadre Espinosa who was
one of the friars in charge of founding the missions among the
Texas Indians. The works of this friar have been published, but
I . doubt ,if there exists to.-day jn the /entire State/ 0/ Texi
!a£;., ^ as **4^ «rtM'>'^vf* rr(<'^<A fie '
a thft worlio ox the pa.dib Espxnu.'.a

-.y^-^j -^ Texag a.
¦who wao

among the church archives at Qneretaro and Zacatecas may
unearth reports that will throw much new light on this subject.
Saint-Denis' Declaracion, the minutes of the junta de guerra, and
Don Ramon's report have, I believe, never been published.
It is not my purpose here to follow the history of Saint-Denis
beyond his return to Louisiana in 1719. This can be done suc
cessfully and in detail only when more of the sources are available
than I have at hand. I may be pardoned, however, for calling
attention to another conspicuous error which has become a part
of at least two of our histories of Texas. At the time of the great
Natchez uprising against the French in 1738, it seems that Saint-
Denis was in command of a small garrison at Natchitoches. Dur
ing the progress of the war the Indians sent a force to destroy this
post and dispose of one of their most dreaded enemies. They at
tempted to gain entrance into the fort under pretence of restoring
a captive woman, but their intentions were suspected and admission
to the fort denied them. They then burned the captive before the
eyes of the French, constructed some kind of fortification, and
began a siege. I compare below in parallel columns the account
of the fight that followed as given by Bro^wn's History of Texas
and the story of the same incident as told in Dumonfs memoirs.
* Bancroft, North Mexican States and Texas, vol. I, p. 613. 1789 is
evidently a misprint for 1689.

The Real Saint-Denis.

128

BRO^WN.
St. Denis hastily sent messen
gers to his- friendly Indians, and
with twenty men from the fort at
once made a furious attack upon
the Natchez. At the first on
slaught all his men but eight were
killed. For two hours he fought
against desperate odds, hoping
that reinforcements would arrive.
"He was seen," says an historian
of the time, "springing like a lion
among the crowd of warriors,
forcing them back. He looked
like an angel of vengeance ac
complishing his work of destruc
tion, invincible himself in the
terrible fray. He fell at last hit
by three bullets in his head and
two arrows in his breast." There
were but two survivors. The
Natchez ceased firing and retir
ed. -f

DUMONT.
They [the friendly Natch
itoches who came to aid St.
Denis] reached the fort, and
were brought in by night, and
the commandant [Saint -Denis]
having armed them, sallied out
at the head of his troops the next
morning at daybreak, entered the
Natchez intrenchment and fell
upon them sword in hand. Many
were killed; the rest awakened by
the noise, fled, but were pursued
with muskets, and after killing
about sixty of the savages, the
commandant returned to his fort
in triumph, ¦without ha^ving had
a single man wounded, giving
the survivors liberty to return to
their -village and tell what recep
tion they got at Natchitoches.*

* History of Louisiana, translated from the Historical Memoirs of M.
Dumont, in B. F. French's Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. V,
pp. 97, 98.
t John Henry Brown, History of Texas, vol. I, pp. 18, 19. "Who was
the "historian of the time" referred to by Brown? Certainly it was not
one of the contemporary writers whose journals have been published in
French' s Historical Collections of Louisiana, or in Margry's Dkcouvertes
et etablissements. Le Page du Pratz gives substantially the same ver
sion as Dumont Bancroft, who was familiar with the Spanish sources,
evidently knew nothing of the version given by Brown, or else regarded
it as untrue. It is not found in Gayarr^ or Yoakum. Rev. Edmond J.
P. Schmitt ( Who was Juchereau de Saint Denis? the Quarterly, Jan
uary, 1898, p. 206) calls attention to this error of Brown's, and mentions
a letter that was written by Saint-Denis in 1735, some six years after
the above described attack on Natchitoches.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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