Summary of Final Project:
In these sets of fictional letters, I have sought to tell Adrien De Pauger’s story through his own lens. This is not possible to do so completely or accurately, but I have strived to try to show what his life was like and what his thoughts might have been like though communication with people he would have spoken with daily.
In these letters, I write to Governor Bienville, he was the Governor of Louisana at that time and De Pauger would have worked with him closely. I also write to De La Tour, he was De Paugers boss, De Pauger was his assistant. There are also civilians, like civilian Monsieur Bonnaud.
At this time, most of the homes in New Orleans were haphazard and were not lined up with streets, they were just wherever there wasn’t water. De Pauger wanted to form a grid system and most of these houses did not align with his plan. His solution was to arrest anyone who did not agree and throw them in jail, even beating some into submisson. Anyone who disagreed with him and his plans had their home demolished anyway and themselves and their families thrown into the stocks or jail. Many of the City’s inhabitents had a strained relationship with De Pauger. There were countless fights between himself and civilians. The City council had to get involved and at least twice had tried to get him sent back to France because of his ruthlessness. This did not work and De Pauger was there to stay at least until his death in 1726.
In 1722, there was a hurricane that saw massive destruction in New Orleans. Most of the buildings in the town were destroyed and many of its citizen were left homeless. This solved De Paugers problem with both the citizens and the homes. I also write some about what happened after he designed the city. There are two letters about what his life was like after. One was based on a true story and the other is truly fictitious. After he had completed his design, he had asked for a large lot next to Bienvilles house. He was granted this by none other than Bienville. However, just a couple years after Bienville had given him this he took it away. He wanted it for his own and basically told De Pauger to get off his property. De Pauger was left without a home and wrote to his brother for passage back to France. Before he could go back though, he died of a long fever. It is unclear what this illness is, but it could have been yellow fever, sepsis, really anything, it took him in the Summer of 1726. This is a very simplified history of the very complicated last few years of De Pauger’s life, but these events and people are what my letters are about. I start off with him at the beginning of his journey to New Orleans with Governor Bienville.
Adrien De Pauger’s Letters:
3/20/1721
Dear Governor Bienville,
Thank you for choosing me via the King’s power and majesty to rebuild and civilize New Orleans. I will do my best to colonize and restructure the city to fit your and the King’s expectations. The Natives have been an extreme help in helping the citizens learn to fish, hunt, and gather food for themselves. The site of New Orleans itself is a cesspool of mud and filth. However, the port that this city has is extremely advantageous to us and to our economic and daily needs. I have navigated down the River myself and have found it treacherous and filled with stones as big as ships.1
This river, even though treacherous, provides the suitable water needed to sustain a large population. As I am sure you know, the citizens of this city are of the worst sort. Filled with the dredges of society and of improper and criminal natures, they are barbarians. Even though the landscape and the people are savage, I will seek to civilize this area and make it a proper French city, as grand as those cities in France.
Dutifully Yours,
Adrian De Pauger
04/03/1721
Dear De La Tour,
I have been commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the governor of this colony, to lay out a plan for the city of New Orleans. With your help, I entrust we will be able to design a city unparalleled except by Paris. My current plan is to form a grid along the Mississippi River’s bend. This should help align the city and make it pleasing to the eye. There are some settlements to the east that are not aesthetically pleasing and I fear will be an encumbrance. The center of the city should be a Church and I plan to design the city around it. Around the Church will be a courtyard and from this heart, will be streets, houses, and business. I look forward to meeting you and discussing this idea further, some planning and care must be taken so that it will be impeccable.
Your Business Partner,
Adrien De Pauger
05/25/1721
Dear Governor Bienville,
We have had numerous problems with your citizens in New Orleans. Many are against our current plan and resist in all ways to keep their nonsensical and absurd homes. One man came to blows with me when I told him he had to be evicted immediately. So, I did the only thing I could to fight for God and King, I threw him in the stocks.2 He was shackled immediately and put in the stocks for three days and beaten.3 Then, I made sure to tear the house down and put an end to the unsightly vision. This is not the only resistance I have come across, many are not happy with their Governor for making their streets orderly and civilized. To this end, please send assistance to New Orleans to help keep the peace.
1/3/1722
Dear Governor Bienville,
I once again ask you to restrain your citizens. They are an unruly bunch. There are thieves and outlaws that hide in the forest, robbing passersby and trading stolen goods. I ask that your men come at once to help with this problem. At this rate, I fear I may not be able to construct a city that the King will be proud of, much less one that is civilized and rid of its barbaric nature. Also, I still have problems with the townsfolk daily, they are displeased that I am reorganizing and refitting the city. I wish that you help me with this cumbersome task and rid me of these criminals.
Yours,
Adrien De Pauger
1/12/1722
Dear Monsieur Bonnaud,
I regret to inform you that your house needs to be moved for the sake of the city. It is with great displeasure that I ask that you vacate immediately to another residence so that the city may be a proper French city. You and your kin need to move as soon as possible for in accordence with the King and his law.
Adrien De Pauger
1/20/1722
Dear Monsieur Bonnaud,
Your actions have been regrettable, threatening me and therefore the Governor and the King. You shall be reading this letter from prison and it will find you there. I had hoped you would take this with grace. Instead, you have been put in prison and will stay there for an indefinite amount of time. The King requires your home and you will give it graciously or not.4
To God and King,
Adrien De Pauger
9/14/1722
Dear De La Tour,
A miraculous event has taken place. A sign from God! You know that a storm to end all storms had swept through New Orleans three days prior. With you having business in the upper territory of New France, I had to send you a letter regarding the City. Many of our problems have been solved this very day! Most of the unsightly and temporary buildings that our citizens have clung to are gone. They were unable to stand up against the horror of the winds in the Storm. Now we can begin anew with no problems or complaints from the civilians. No more will we hear a man or woman cry out that we are taking their homes, not understanding the necessary plan. Now it has become clear to them that God’s awesome plan will be fulfilled.
We will begin new construction in October, without such obstacles. What an exciting prospect!
To God’s and the King’s Victory,
Adrien De Pauger
09/29/1723
Dear De La Tour,
I propose that we name the streets of our city under our King, Governor, and his Assistants. The people of New Orleans should always be reminded that Louis XV is their King and ruler. It will also always remind them who founded this great city and built it.5 The first street will be named after our Governor, Bienville.6 This will hopefully leave a legacy that His Majesty will leave behind and treasure forever.
With the Hurricane of 1722, many of the more cumbersome buildings and settlements along my plan have been destroyed. This gift from God will allow me to build a new and better New Orleans. New Orleans will only have the best and newest streets and buildings within its confines.
To a Truly New Orleans,
De Pauger
2/18/1724
Dear De La Tour,
The streets are largely a success. I have done my job well and expect to be compensated in kind. Not monetary compensation, as I have received that, but of something that is of greater value. There is a large lot that I wish to acquire near Governor Bienville’s manor. Could you arrange it so that I may live there? As you may know, it is next to the Mississippi River and is a valuable piece of property. I expect it will be of great value to me and my next of kin. As it is, I need a more permanent place to live and expect that land would be good for my future wife and children.
In your debt,
Adrien De Pauger
9/19/1725
Dear Governor Bienville,
I beg of you to reconsider your acquisition of my property. For so many years I have served his Majesty the King and have been a loyal servant to you. Have some decency and mercy. To have me kicked out of my own land and home and sent to live in the streets like a dog is a grave miscarrage of justice. Having done everything you have asked regarding the city of New Orleans, I ask you once more to have mercy and reconsider. I shall have to ask my brother to send me fare back to France. If he refuses or doesn’t have the means, I will be left to beg in the streets. What a cruel fate!
Yours always and forevermore,
Adrien De Pauger
5/14/1726
Dear Governor Bienville,
I now lie on my deathbed and wait for you to come visit. Will you not visit the man who designed New Orleans? I do not have long now, as the fever will come to take me away very soon. Having taken away my property and my accomplishments, will you refuse my simple wish before I die?7
Humbly,
Adrien De Pauger
Notes:
- De Pauger did not actually explore this area, at least there are no historical records. I took inspiration from Powell, 8. It was said that early Spanish explorers mistook these clumps for stones. Also I thought exploration would probably be something De Pauger might have done when he first tried to design the city.
- Dawdy, 65; Powell, 68.
- This is actually a true story. De Pauger was apparently not a nice fellow. He regularly got in brawls with people who were angry at him for bulldozing their homes or taking away property. He also threw people in jail for disagreeing with him or physically trying to fight him. This seemed to be a regular problem for him and was not uncommon in his daily life.
- In reading more about De Pauger, this seems to be his character, when he was first assigned, he had a very clear plan and nothing would get in the way of it. He arrested civilians, beat them, threw them into prison, and was overall a menace. Several times the Superior Council reported him to France asking that he be sent back, but he was not. Dawdy, 65 His personality was idealist, a colonialist, perfectionistic tendencies, and he had a quick temper.
- Keep in mind that De Pauger was not actually the one building the city, just the designer. Much of the labor that was done was done by slaves. The African American slave population at the time was equal to that of European men. “The census of that year (1722) identified 177 Europeans, the same number of slaves, and 21 Indians in the city.” (Silverman, et al,“The History of Building Elevation in New Orleans,” FEMA, 4.)
- This is not a historically accurate fact, I was unable to determine who he named the first street after. I was not able to because of scarce or no historical records or because there is simply not enough information available.
- He died a month later on June 9, 1726. Having met the same fate as the people he kicked out of their homes years earlier, De Pauger died of a slow fever. Bienville did end up evicting De Pauger for reasons that are still unclear for many historians. De Pauger’s last wish is a simple invention of what his last thoughts may have been. He very well could have thought about the man whom he served for so long and in the end abandoned him.
- In my Google Doc, the Final Project looked a lot longer than it is in the blog. It had a total of seven pages of footnotes and letters in my Doc. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dSZUZZqfyV2sfiECaa67awvSIKaozYF42vby4fOYBDs/edit
Bibliography:
“Adrien De Pauger.” Findagrave.com. Accessed 12/15/2021. Adrien De Pauger (unknown-1726) – Find A Grave Memorial.
“300 Unique New Orleans Moments: Adrien De Pauger arrives in 1721, carries out city planning.” Nola.com. June 25, 2017. 300 unique New Orleans moments: Adrien de Pauger arrives in 1721, carries out city planning | 300 for 300 | nola.com.
Campanella, Richard. “What led to the founding of New Orleans in 1718?” Last Modified July 6, 2018. What led to the founding of New Orleans in 1718? | Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans (prcno.org).
Dawdy, Shannon Lee. Building the Devil’s Empire : French Colonial New Orleans. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2008. E-book.
Department of Anthropology. “Women of New France.” Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project, no. 1 (n.d). women-of-new-france.pdf (npshistory.com).
“French Slave Trade.” Colonial Williamsburg. 2021. French Slave Trade | Slavery and Remembrance.
Guenin- Lelle, Dianne. The story of French New Orleans : history of a creole city. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi (2016). E-book.
“New France.” National Museum of American History. Accessed 12/15/2021. New France | National Museum of American History (si.edu).
Powell, Lawrence N. The Accidental City : Improvising New Orleans. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 2012. E-book.
Scott, Mike. “Meet the Man who put the French Quarter on the map (literally).”
The History of Building Elevation in New Orleans. FEMA (n.d) (Statement of URS Group Inc. for the Enviroment/Historical Preservation Program of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), U.S Department of Homeland Security). The History of Building Elevation in New Orleans 12-21-12.pdf (state.la.us).