The fort was established on the Missouri River in 1723 by
Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont. It was to be the Missouri River headquarters of the newly claimed
French Louisiana territory. Like the newly founded
New Orleans, Louisiana, it was named for the
Duke of Orléans. De Bourgmont had commanded the French fort at
Fort Detroit. In 1706 he and other soldiers deserted when criticized by
Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac for his handling of a skirmish with attacking
Ottawa Indians. A French priest and soldier were killed by the Indians, and the French killed 30 Ottawa tribesmen. While
on the lam from French authorities, de Bourgmont lived with the
Native Americans and explored the lower Missouri. He often traded in furs, although not authorized to do so. Catholic
missionaries urged that he be arrested for indecency because of traveling with his Missouri wife and their children of mixed European and Native American ancestry. His base was the
Missouri tribal village near where Fort Orleans was to be established. In 1713 de Bourgmont wrote
Exact Description of Louisiana, of Its Harbors, Lands and Rivers, and Names of the Indian Tribes That Occupy It, and the Commerce and Advantages to Be Derived Therefrom for the Establishment of a Colony. In 1714, he published an account detailing his travels to the mouth of the
Platte River, entitled
The Route to Be Taken to Ascend the Missouri River. His descriptions and names of rivers, based on names of local tribes, were used by cartographer
Guillaume Delisle for the first map of the region. Delisle used "Missouri" for the river rather than
Pekitanoui, as the explorers
Louis Jolliet and
Jacques Marquette had named it after they first viewed it in 1673. In 1718
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, founder of the Louisiana territory, said that instead of arresting Bourgmont, they should work with him. He recommended that Bourgmont receive the
Cross of Saint Louis for service to France. In 1720 Bourgmont and his son, along with a chief, traveled to France, where they were greeted as national heroes. His reputation was enhanced as news arrived that the
Pawnee (who had been friendly with Bourgmont) had slaughtered the
Villasur expedition near modern-day
Columbus, Nebraska. This stopped the
Spanish from establishing settlements in the
Missouri River Valley. Stock for the
Mississippi Company rose in price based on forecasts of great riches in Louisiana. Bourgmont was promised a title of nobility if he could build a fort and strike an alliance with the Native Americans to keep the Spanish out of the Missouri valley. Bourgmont stayed in Normandy for a time and married a woman in his hometown in 1721. In 1722 he returned to New Orleans but was too sick to proceed on an expedition. In the meantime, funds in the Mississippi Company collapsed. He argued with his sponsors over whether a fort was necessary; he thought it more important to recruit Native Americans in alliances to unite to fight the Spanish, as he believed his mission had not changed. As ordered, he established the fort on November 9, 1723, to be garrisoned with 40 French soldiers. In 1724, de Bourgmont traveled up the Missouri River to the
Kaw village near
Doniphan, Kansas, with the objective of establishing friendly relations among the Indian tribes of the region and seeking a trade route to the
Spanish colony of
Nuevo México. With a delegation of Indians from several tribes, he then ventured westward onto the
Great Plains to visit their common enemy, the Padouca tribe, near
Lyons, Kansas. Bourgmont participated in a peace ceremony between the Padouca and the Missouri,
Osage, Iowa, Pawnee,
Oto, Kaw, and
Omaha, wherein a
ceremonial pipe was smoked to seal the agreement. The Indians whom Bourgmont called Padouca are believed by some to have been the people later known as
Comanche but were more likely
Apache. This was the first recorded French visit to them. In celebration, in 1725 Bourgmont escorted the chiefs of the tribes to
Paris to show them the "glory of France", including the palaces at
Château de Marly,
Fontainebleau and
Versailles; and to hunt on the royal preserve with
Louis XV. Bourgmont returned to his home in
Normandy and did not accompany the chiefs back to Missouri. He abandoned his Missouri wife and children. The French abandoned Fort Orleans in 1726. One story says that when the garrison had been reduced to a contingent of eight soldiers, Native Americans attacked and burned it, killing all the troops. Another story says it was merely abandoned. On November 29, 1729, Natchez Indians attacked French settlements near present-day
Natchez, Mississippi, killing more than 200 French colonists. Less than one year later, on September 9, 1730, a French army of 1,400 soldiers and its Indian allies massacred about 500 Fox Indians (including 300 women and children) as they tried to flee their besieged camp. == Possible locations ==