What I experienced on my trip to Fort St. Jean Baptiste (Los Adaes) was a trip through time. Being that the settlement was built in 1721 though founded in 1714, it came to surprise me how the workers kept the fort in such great shape. For them to fully mimic the style and replicate Los Adaes that of a far distant past of history. It’s a wonderful sight beyond belief. Moving on finding out that there were Texas missions to the Spanish settlers in the area did not encounter hostile Native Americans, since the local Caddo an-speaking peoples were friendly, the Franciscan missionaries were unsuccessful in converting the local people to Catholicism.
After many years of frustration in this regard, in 1768 the College of Neustria Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas, which was the sponsor of the missionaries at Los Adaes, recalled their missionaries, and the mission was closed. They left and abandoned the mission. Understanding the history of the events that took place during the time period I see our generation has it way easier than they had it in the past. I really enjoyed how they had animal skin rugs more than present times.
Natchitoches was founded by a French Canadian, Louis Antoine Juchereau de St. Denis, in 1714 while he was en-route to Mexico from Mobile, Alabama, on a trade mission. When he reached the village of the Natchitoches Indians on the Red River, he had two huts constructed within the village and left a small detachment there to guard the stores and trade with the inhabitants. This became the first permanent European settlement in the territory later known as the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1716, Sieur Charles Claude Dutisne was sent to Natchitoches with a small company of colonial troops to build and garrison an outpost that would prevent the Spanish forces in the province of Texas from advancing across the border of French Louisiana. This strategic outpost was named Fort St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches. Economically, Natchitoches evolved...