After several additional setbacks, la Salle and Tonti, in February, 1682, finally launched their canoes into the icy waters of the Mississippi. In addition to Tonti, la Salle’s party consisted of more than forty Europeans and Native Americans. While navigating the Mississippi, la Salle stopped to construct Fort Prudhomme which later became the site of Memphis, Tennessee.

King Louis XIV provided la Salle with a fleet of four vessels along with all the materials necessary to establish a colony, and la Salle again left his native country, but this time invested with high command and hoping perhaps to be the founder of an empire. But, as Gayarre recounts, la Salle’s fortunes began to turn. They left France on July 24, 1684, but La Salle soon found himself at odds with the officers and crew of the Joly, the ship on which la Salle sailed. La Salle refused to stop at Medeira, off the western coast of Africa, to resupply for the long trip across the Atlantic. The remaining distance across the Atlantic was undertaken in the heat of summer with very little water. To add to their difficulties, the Saint-Francois which was carrying food and supplies was captured by the Spanish. By the time they arrived at the French colony of St Domingue on Hispanola in the Caribbean, la Salle had lost more than 100 of his crew of 300 from desertion, disease, and death.

When Belle and Amiable returned with their reports la Salle knew for certain that they were not on the Mississippi Delta. The two ships set out in search of the river, but the Amiable ran aground and was damaged beyond repair. Native pillagers swamped the abandoned ship, but la Salle was quick to take advantage. He stole their canoes, but lost several more men in an ensuing battle. What remained of the original band of adventurers set out once more on the Belle, now desperately searching for the Mississippi River.

Still convinced that the river was close by, la Salle set up Fort Saint Louis near present-day Victoria Texas with his remaining 36 colonists. From here, he would launch forays eastward attempting to locate the river he and Tonti had canoed down just a few years prior. By now, those few surviving colonists had survived incredible hardships: sickness, attacks, desertion. It was from this desperation that Pierre Duhaut conspired with a handful of men to kill La Salle while on their forth overland expedition in search of the Mississippi River on March 19, 1687.

La Salle’s Fort Saint Louis colony lasted only until 1688 when Native Americans killed the 20 remaining adults and took the children as captives. Tonti sent out search missions in 1689 when he learned of the settlers’ fate, but failed to find survivors. Tonti himself had undertaken an excursion down the Mississippi River into southern Louisiana in 1685 in search of his old friend, la Salle, hoping to meet him and his arriving colonists. Disappointed at finding no trace of la Salle, Tonti left a letter with the local Indians at the village of Bayagoulas along the Mississippi River near Lake Maurepas. Amazingly, this “speaking bark” was handed over to Bienville 14 years later when he began to explore the area. It was from the letter that Bienville gained confidence that his team had found the Mississippi River.