Background
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was born around 1680 in Cerisy-Belle-Étoile in central Normandy, now France. He was the son of Charles de Venyard, Sieur de Vergié, a Norman physician.
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont was born around 1680 in Cerisy-Belle-Étoile in central Normandy, now France. He was the son of Charles de Venyard, Sieur de Vergié, a Norman physician.
Of an undisciplined and adventurous nature, Étienne early sought New France, where he was at first merely a voyageur. Having obtained the rank of ensign in the army, he was stationed at Detroit and in 1705, he was temporarily in command upon the retirement of Alphonse de Tonty.
As commandant he became embroiled in an Indian revolt in 1706, and the next year deserted, probably because of a love affair with Madame Tichenet, called "La Chenette, " who followed him to an island in Lake Erie. There with other deserters he lived a dissolute life, until a detachment was sent to arrest the band. Bourgmont, who was befriended by Cadillac, was allowed to escape, and fled to Louisiana, where he lived for a decade among the Indians of the Missouri River.
The extent of his explorations is not certain; in 1717, however, he wrote an article called La Description detailing the courses of the Missouri as far as the Arikara villages in the later Dakota. For his services as an explorer and pacifier of Indians, Governor Bienville asked for him a captaincy and sent him to France in 1719 to report his discoveries. The Company of the Indies granted him permission to build a fort on the Missouri, and to make peace with the Padouka (now the Comanche) Indians on the borders of Spanish territory.
Bourgmont came back to Louisiana in 1723 and late in that year built the post called Fort Orléans on the Missouri just above Grand River. Thence in 1724, he undertook an expedition westward in which he penetrated to the western border of the present state of Kansas, held a council with the Padouka, and formed an alliance.
After his return he persuaded a number of chiefs to accompany him to Paris, among whom was the Michigami named Chicagou. They were received with great éclat, and entertained by royalty. Bourgmont did not return to Louisiana with them.
The date or place of his death is not known.
Quotations:
Bourgmont described his knack for dealing with the tribes:
"For me with the Indians nothing is impossible. I make them do what they have never done. "
Étienne de Veniard had rather an undisciplined and adventurous nature to his personality. He used to have a love affair with Madame Tichenet, called "La Chenette, " who followed him to an island in Lake Erie.
Bourgmont is said to have married a rich widow and to have remained in France. Bourgmont and his French wife, Jacqueline, had four children, all of whom died young.