Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1995 The King and His People in the Discourse of the Ancien Capitaine. Jerry A. Micelle Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Micelle, Jerry A., "The King and His People in the Discourse of the Ancien Capitaine." (1995). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 6035. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6035 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS Tins manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 THE KING AND HIS PEOPLE IN THE DISCOURSE OF THE ANCIEN CAPITAINE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Jerry A. Micelle B.A., Loyola University of New Orleans, 1964 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1967 August, 1995 UMI Number: 9609109 OMI Microform 9609109 Copyright 1996# by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 To my children, Regina and Jerry Born during the Renaissance Period of my life; Survived the struggles of Reformation and Englightenment; Matriculated in the school of Religion and Science; Equipped with the courage and capability To live in the twentieth century; Prepared to learn from the Past To face the challenges of The present and the future ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many scholars and friends contributed their time and talent to assist me in the research and writing of this dissertation. Glenn Conrad and Carl Brasseaux unlocked the resources of the Center for Louisiana Studies and counseled and guided me through the maze of archival material. My colleagues at McNeese State University gave me advice and encouragement. The late Joe Gray Taylor expressed a continuing interest in my research activities. He and Michael Enright read and criticized the original drafts of my paper on French Captains. Thomas Watson taught me about Indians, traders, and Spanish institutions. Thomas Fox opened the door to his vast treasure of information about villages and family structure. Carolyn Delatte asked questions and suggested alternative interpretations. Ray Miles spent hours talking with me about Indians. He defended the values of native American culture and helped me to see beyond the European prejudices expressed in the Jesuit Relations. Robert Forrest and Rotham Indurthy provided inspiration and motivation both during times of iii triumph and on days when the weight of criticism took its toll. The first three volumes of the Mississippi Provincial Archives provided a wealth of material for my article on the Superior Council. Patricia K. Galloway's edition of volumes 4 and 5 yielded another gold mine of information. Her notes and annotations often contain the only information available about some important colonial personalities. Professor Galloway's articles on the Choctaw Indians prompted me to take advantage of the work of archaeologists and anthopologists and learn their methodology. In Canada, Sister Louise Godin, O.S.U. not only shared her artwork in which she depicted the historical origin of the Ursuline convent, but she helped me to locate valuable material during my stay in Quebec. In California, Leona Schonfeld and Mary Wright aided me in my searches in the Huntington Manuscript Collection. In Paris, Edna Lemay and Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret took time to listen as I described my interest in the noblesse commercante. One can pursue knowledge as an end in itself, but students should work together in a community of discussion and discourse to achieve the balance between intense selfishness and self-sacrifice required to produce creative ideas and new methods. Every individual and every generation iv has its own way of doing history. We all live it; some record it, some teach it, and some write it. Professor Dena Goodman has developed a meticulous method of writing history that I can only attempt to describe as rigid textual empiricism. Invented history may be examined as an artifact, but any attempt of the writer to build a new myth on the old one opens the way for incisive criticism. Five years of writing under the direction of Professor Goodman leaves me in awe of those scholars who have the tenacity to write and rewrite until the confusion and distortion of historical events give way to a pattern of human development that can be grasped by the human mind. We all live, but everything we do cannot be recorded. Is writing history a method of examining the record left by others and never being satisfied with what we do? Living it produces more deeds to record. Writing it is painful. Teaching what others have written and encouraging students to do more is rewarding, but writing and teaching combine to produce effective scholarship. It is difficult indeed to be both a good writer and a good teacher. It is much easier to be a good student, forever learning and striving to come to the knowledge of truth. The task of presenting history to this generation is more difficult than ever. Those who write and those who v teach it bear a heavy burden. Students of colonial Louisiana have responded to the challenge of Jo Ann Carrigan's commentary on Alcee Fortier's interpretation of Louisiana History. Marcel Giraud and Charles O'Neill effectively demonstrated how to use the wealth of archival material to construct a more objective history of Louisiana as a part of the wider world. Today the work of Glenn Conrad, Carl Brasseaux, and Mathe Allain on French and Acadian culture along with Richard White's analysis of the village world of the Illinois country and Donald Usner's discussion of the frontier exchange economy open the way for a new synthesis of Louisiana history. The small thread that I have traced through many years is indeed only a minute part of a huge tapestry. The length of the road is long, but many hands have helped to build it. My journey has been fascinating and I stand amazed at how much I have travelled on a path provided by those who have devoted their time and talent to the study and writing of colonial Louisiana history. I must point out that my work still falls short of the high standards set by those who inspired and directed it. Without their help my task would never have been completed, but I must bear the responsibility for the shortcomings that vi remain after all the valiant efforts of those who offered advice and criticism. Jo Anne Durand and Leslye Quinn helped me locate material and provided countless books and articles through the Interlibrary Loan department of McNeese. Arleen Cutrera and Linda West helped me to master the Word Perfect program and rendered invaluable assistance in typing the manuscript. Last, but certainly not least, I must thank Shirley, my wife, for her encouragement and help. Jerry A. Micelle McNeese State University Lake Charles, Louisiana vii PREFACE At the annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association on March 14, 1986 in Shreveport, Glenn Conrad and Carl Ekberg presented papers which stirred my interest in the commandants and captains who exercised authority over local communities during the French and Spanish periods. Ekberg's study of colonial Ste. Genevieve suggested that the extraordinary power and influence of the Valle family might somehow be connected to the militia captain's office.1 I had noticed the many references to "captains" in the correspondence of French colonial administrators. While pursuing the idea that the title involved much more than a simple, military rank, I discovered that W.J. Eccles had suggested the need for a study of Canadian militia captains.2 The references to Choctaw Indian captains in 1Carl J. Ekberg, Colonial Ste. Genevieve: An Adventure on the Mississippi Frontier (Gerald, Missouri: The Patrice Press, 1985), 340. 2W.J. Eccles, France In America (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), 69, n. 1. viii the two volumes of the Mississippi Provincial Archives edited by Patricia Galloway beckoned for an explanation.