5th Class: French Period, Early Developments of Vincennes and Area

Here is a good, brief account of the French Period of Vincennes, Indiana: http://rking.vinu.edu/vinbrief.htm

Vincennes was considered part of the Illinois country.

Company of the Indies (France company), 1717, issued stock.

Cahokia: 1699

Kaskaskia: 1703 (Jesuits established)

1730: The Sieur de Vincennes, Francois-Marie Bissot, (Sieur means “Mr.”), born 1700 in Montréal.

1731 or 1732, he built the Vincennes fort.
1733: Sieur wrote a letter about the Fort here.

Natchez were the last remnants of the Mound Builders, joined Chickasaw.

The the Sieur de Vincennes was burned by the Chickasaw Indians, new commander comes to Vincennes: Louis Groston de St. Ange (1736-64). He converted Vincennes from a fur trading post to a farming community. Hence there was stability and the town survived. In 1740 there were 40 French in Vincennes, by 1764 there were 400.

Brought mills to Vincennes: horse mills, allowed the shipping of mean to New Orleans, good tobacco grown here.

1763- French lose the French/Indian War; St. Ange ordered to withdraw.

Below is a sketch I did about what very early Vincennes may have looked like, at least in concept. The first Fort Vincennes was probably located just in front of the George Rogers Clark Memorial.



The last part of the class tonight was devoted to a book talk by Robert "Gus" Stevens, retired archivist at Vincennes University. The following are books pertaining to Vincennes history or otherwise notable writings that Gus recommends.

Bruté de Rémur, Simon William Gabriel, 1779-1839. Early History of Vincennes. Written by the first Bishop of Vincennes, this was originally published in the Western Sun newspaper and covers the French period of Vincennes.

Law, John. The Clonial Hstory of Vincennes, Under the French, British, and American Governments: From its First Settlement Down to the Territorial Administration of General William Henry Harrison. Vincennes: Harvey, Mason & Co., 1858.

Thompson, Maurice. Alice of Old Vincennes. Indianapolis: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1900. This best-selling novel of its day helped make the world aware of Vincennes.

Cauthorn, Henry Sullivan. A History of the City of Vincennes, Indiana, from 1702-l901. Vincennes: Cauthorn, 1902. Gus says there are two versions of this work; an earlier one was an expose of people, the later one was cleaned up.

Hubbard, Madison Smith. Historical Sketches of Old Vincennes, Founded in 1732: its Institutions and Churches, Embracing Collateral Incidents and Biographical Sketches of Many Persons and Events Connected Yherewith. Vincennes, 1902. This published in part in the Vincennes newspaper. It is a more scholarly work.

O'Flynn, Anna. History of old Post Vincenes, 1702-1830. This is a rare pamphlet (56 pages) published by O'Flynn, who was the best historian of her times of this area. She was an educator and author who wrote for McClure's Magazine.

Somes, Joseph Henry Vanderburgh. Old Vincennes: The History of a Famous Old Town and its Glorious Past. New York: Graphic Books, 1962.

Derleth, August. Vincennes: Portal to the West. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, 1968.

Day, Richard. Vincennes: A Pictorial History. St. Louis: Bradley, 1988.

Day, Richard, and Bill Hopper. Vincennes. Dover, New Hampshire: Arcadia, 1998. (Postcard history.)