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Ottr Catholic Heritage in T e:xas
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Declarations of Blancpain and companions. Upon the arrival of the prisoners in Mexico, viceregal officials had obtained sworn declarations from the three Frenchmen. The chief of these, Joseph Blancpain, admitted he was a royal interpreter and knew eight Indian languages. His home was among the Humas, some twenty miles above New Orleans, and he had a trading establishment in Natchitoches. He had set out from New Orleans with several companions and a supply of merchandise to trade among the Attacapas. These Indians had been friends of the French for thirty-two years. It was a numerous nation that lived along the coast from the Trinity to the Mississippi. Before leaving, he had obtained a patent from Governor Kerlerec to trade and he had received instructions to win the friendship of any new tribes he might encounter, inviting their chiefs to visit the governor in New Orleans. He explained that he set out from New Orleans, where he had obtained the merchandise and a negro slave from Monsieur Lacreau. He had then proceeded to his home twenty leagues up the river. From there he had gone to Plaquemin, about ten leagues distant, made his way to Lake Chetimatha, where the Attacapas lived, crossed in canoes, and then traveled thirty leagues to another lake, also in the Attacapa country, from where he marched twenty-five leagues more to Attacapa Bay. This bay had two arms, one running west, and the other east. The place where he was taken prisoner was about a league north of the bay on the east bank of the Trinity. The distance from New Orleans was fifty-five leagues. At the time of his capture he had been among the Indians for several months and had traded merchandise for skins to the value of three or four hundred pesos. He explained that he and his companions could have easily escaped, because the natives had warned them of the approach of the Spaniards six days before. When asked about the proposed settlement of fifty French families from New Orleans who were to come with a chaplain, he stoutly denied any such plan and asserted that the only interest of the French was to trade with the natives. He took occasion to state that the report of the goods taken from him was far short of the actual amount, saying that the value of the merchandise was six thousand pesos, and that Ruiz and his soldiers had stolen the rest, giving to the Indians only a few worthless trinkets. He added that when the Attacapas attempted to rescue him and his companions, he had merely explained to them that he was going to see the "Capitan Grande" (Big Chief), the designation by which the natives usually referred to the governor. The statements made by Blancpain were corroborated by the separate
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