Our Catholic Heritage in Texas
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sibly for the purpose of going in search of Father Hidalgo and to s~cure some greatly needed cattle and horses for the colony of Louisiana. The leader had, perforce, to be a man of experience, shrewd, tactful, coura- geous, resourceful, and capable of dealing both with the natives and the Spaniards. There was but one man who possessed these qualifications. The governor called Louis Juchereau de St. Denis, commander of Fort St. John, at Biloxi, to come to Mobile. The young commander was only too glad to undertake the dari~g enterprise. He immediately entered into a contract with Cadillac by which he agreed "to take ten thousand livres of merchandi·se from the public store, to transport it across Texas to Mexico, and to endeavor there to dispose of it." 66 Armed with a passport which read: "The Sieur de Saint-Denis is to take twenty-four men and as many Indians as necessary and with them to go in search of the mission of Fray Francisco Hidalgo in response to his letter ofJanuary 17, 17u, and there to purchase horses and cattle for the province of Louisiana," the adventurous Canadian set out from Mobile in September, 1713. 61 Going first to Biloxi, he waited there for Penicault and a few com- panions, who went to secure·some Indian guides from a party of Natchi- toche Indians who were living on the Mississippi at this time. It seems that unexpected trouble developed with the Indians and it was not until early in 1714 that the party finally set out for the village of the Tonicas, located two leagues above the mouth of the Red River, where they again halted to collect provisions. The chief of the Tonicas was induced to join the expedition with fifteen of his best hunters, and the party now ascended the Red River for a distance of about eighty leagues to a village of the Natchitoches, where they built two storehouses wherein to store part of their merchandise. A guard of ten men was left at this place. Taking thirty braves from the Natchitoches, St. Denis continued overland on his way to the village of the Asinai. 68 Here it seems they stopped for some time, perhaps four or six months, disposing of a considerable amount of 66 /bid., 9. 67 The passport was dated September 12, 1713, San Francisco el Grande Archive, VIII, 26. But news of the projected expedition leaked out before this date and preparations must have been made much earlier because on August 29, 1713, Salinas Varona, Governor of Pensacola, warned the viceroy in a letter, that twenty- two Frenchmen, fifty Indians and six pirogues loaded with merchandise intended for introduction into New Spain, were about to leave Mobile. Ibid., 143. 68 The account as here given is based on Penicault, Relation, Margry, op. cit., V; Morfi's Histo,,y of Texas; and St. Denis' declaration in San Francisco el Grande Arcl,ive, VIII, 27-32. The account given by Clark ( op. cit.) has been carefully studied and a few variants will be noted.
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