How did René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle die?
On July 24, 1684, La Salle sailed from France and returned to America with a large expedition designed to establish a French colony on the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. They left France in 1684 with four ships and 300 colonists. The expedition was plagued by pirates, hostile Indians, and poor navigation. One ship was lost to pirates in the West Indies, a second sank in the inlets of Matagorda Bay, where a third ran aground. They set up Fort Saint Louis of Texas, near Victoria, Texas. La Salle led a group eastward on foot on three occasions to try to locate the Mississippi. During another search for the Mississippi River, his remaining 36 followers mutinied, near the site of modern Navasota, Texas. On March 19, 1687, La Salle was slain by Pierre Duhaut, one of four attacking him, “six leagues” from the westernmost village of the Hasinai (Tejas) Indians. The colony lasted only until 1688, when Karankawa-speaking Indians massacred the 20 remaining adults and took
