Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand
7th Commandant of the Illinois Country
In office
1718–1725
MonarchLouis XV
Preceded byPierCarlo Di Lietto
Succeeded byRobert de Saint-Ange
7th French Governor of Louisiana
In office
1724–1726
MonarchLouis XV
Preceded byJean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville
Succeeded byÉtienne Perier
Personal details
Born(1675-02-21)February 21, 1675
Ville-Marie, New France
DiedJune 7, 1736(1736-06-07) (aged 61)
France
Parent
RelativesPierre Le Moyne d'Iberville (cousin)
Military service
AllegianceKingdom of France Kingdom of France
Branch/serviceFrench Army
Years of service1694–1726
RankFirst King's Lieutenant
Battles/warsNine Years' War

Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand (21 February 1675 – 7 June 1736) was a French Canadian soldier, politician, and aristocrat who commanded several areas in North America colonized by New France in the early 18th Century and who served as the seventh governor of the French colony of Louisiana.

Biography

Pierre Dugué de Boisbriand was born 21 February 1675 to Michel-Sidrac Dugué de Boisbriand and Marie Moyen Des Granges in Montreal, New France.[1][2]

He began his military career in 1691 as half pay ensign during King William's War.[2] In 1694, he was promoted to full ensign. In 1695 he served as the second-in-command to Captain Saint-Ours. The next year, he participated in an attack on Newfoundland alongside his cousin Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville and in 1697 he joined d'Iberville's expedition to recapture Fort Bourbon.[1]

In September 1697 de Boisbriand traveled to France after the Peace of Ryswick. In 1699, he accompanied Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville on the frigate Renommée and helped found Fort Mississippi. In 1699, he served as the town major for Biloxi.[1] In 1700, he moved to Mobile and aided in the construction of Fort Louis de La Louisiane.[2] In 1702, he received a grant of land in the Mobile. In 1704, he and 25 French soldiers escorted members of the Chickasaw tribe to a peace conference with the Choctaw tribe. During the conference the Choctaw delegates killed the Chickasaw delegates and they later escorted the French soldiers back to Mobile. In 1714, he was considered by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville for the position of commander of Fort Saint-Jérôme, but Louis Poncereau de Chavagne de Richebourg was appointed to the position instead. In 1716 he was promoted to garrison adjutant for Mobile and the next year he was appointed commandant of Mobile. In 1717, he traveled to Paris; he returned to Louisiana in spring of 1718 with a commission as first king’s lieutenant and as a member of the council of Louisiana. By the end of the year he was the commandant of the Illinois County.[1]

In 1718, Dugué led an expedition to the Jesuit mission at Kaskaskia, Illinois. The next year established Fort de Chartres near the town.[1] From 1725-1727, Dugué served in New Orleans as Governor of Louisiana after his predecessor Bienville was removed over mismanagement allegations.[1][2] Dugué was recalled to France in the 1729 to answer charges of mismanagement. He lost his military commission, but was later awarded a pension by the king. He died in France on June 7, 1736.[1]

While commandant of Fort de Chartres, Dugué conveyed land nearby to his nephew, Ste. Therese Langlois, who founded the town of Prairie du Rocher ("Prairie of the Rock") on the site. The town is one of the oldest French colonial communities to survive into the 21st Century in the American Midwest.

Further reading

  • Excavations at the Laurens Site, Probable Location of Fort de Chartres I, (Jelks, Ekberg and Martin, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 1989)
  • Fort de Chartres — Its Origin, Growth and Decline by Joseph Wallace, M. A. (Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1903)
  • Davis, Edwin Adams. Louisiana the Pelican State. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1961. LCCN 59:9088.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stanford Reid, W. "DUGUÉ DE BOISBRIAND, PIERRE". biographi.ca. University of Toronto. Retrieved 23 October 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cowan, Walter Greaves; McGuire, Jack B (2008). Louisiana Governors: Rulers, Rascals, and Reformers. University Press of Mississippi. p. 24. ISBN 1604733209.
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