Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Bierstadt, Albert

BIENVILLE, Jean Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de, French governor of Louisiana, b. in Montreal, 23 Feb., 1680; d. in France in 1768. He was a son of Charles le Moyne, and the third of four brothers (Iberville, Serigny, Bienville, and Châteauguay) who played important parts in the early history of Louisiana. Bienville, while a lad on board the French ship "Pelican," was severely wounded in a naval action off the coast of New England. In 1698 Iberville set out from France to found a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi, taking with him his brother Bienville, and Sauvolle. The first settlement was

made at Biloxi, where they arrived in May, 1699, and erected a fort with twelve cannon. Sauvolle was left in command, while Bienville was engaged in exploring the surrounding country. Iberville, who had returned to France, came back with a commission appointing Sauvolle governor of Louisiana. In 1700 Bienville constructed a fort fifty-four miles above the mouth of the river. Sauvolle died in 1701, and Bienville succeeded to the direction of the colony, the seat of which was transferred to Mobile. In 1704 he was joined by his brother Châteauguay, who brought from Canada seventeen settlers. A ship from France brought twenty women, who had been sent out by the king to be married to the settlers at Mobile. Iberville soon after died; troubles arose in the colony, Bienville quarrelled with La Salle, the royal commissioner, was charged by him with various acts of misconduct, and on 13 July, 1707 was recalled; but his successor dying on the voyage' from France, Bienville retained the command. Meanwhile, in 1708, the attempt to cultivate the land by Indian labor having failed, Bienville proposed to the home government to send negroes from the Antilles to be exchanged for Indians, at the rate of three Indians for two negroes. In 1709 and 1710 the colony was reduced to famine. In 1712 the French king granted to Antoine Crozat for fifteen years the exclusive right to trade in Louisiana, and to introduce slaves from Africa. On 17 May, 1713, Cadillac was sent out as governor, bringing with him a commission for Bienville as lieutenant-governor. Quarrels arose between them, and the governor sent Bienville on an expedition to the Natchez tribe, hoping that he would lose his life. But Bienville succeeded in inducing the Natchez to build a fort for him, in which he left a garrison, and returned to Mobile, 4 Oct., 1716. On 9 March, 1717, Cadillac was superseded by Epinay, and Bienville received the decoration of the cross of St. Louis. Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717, and Law's Mississippi company was formed the same year, its first expedition arriving in 1718, with a commission for Bienville as governor. He now founded the city of New Orleans. War breaking out between France and Spain, Bienville took Pensacola, placing Châteauguay in command. In 1723 the seat of government was transferred to New Orleans. On 16 Jan., 1724, Bienville was summoned to France, to answer charges which had been brought against him. He left behind him the "code noir," which remained in force till the annexation of Louisiana to the United States, and much of it was incorporated in the law of the state. This code regulated the condition of the slaves, banished the Jews, and prohibited every religion except the Roman Catholic. On 9 Aug., 1726, he was removed from office, and Châteauguay was also displaced as lieutenant-governor, and ordered back to France. Bienville remained in France till 1733, when he was sent back to the colony as governor, with the rank of lieutenant-general. In 1736, 1739, and 1740 he made unsuccessful expeditions against the Chickasaw Indians, in consequence of which he was superseded, and in 1743 returned to France.

BIERSTADT, Albert, painter, b. in Düsseldorf, Germany, 7 Jan., 1830. He was brought by his parents in 1831 to New Bedford, Mass., where he early developed a taste for art and made clever crayon sketches in his youth. In 1851 he began to paint in oils, and in 1853 went to Düsseldorf and studied four years in the academy there and in Rome, making sketching tours during the summers in Germany and Switzerland. Returning to the United States in 1857, he made an extended tour in the west, especially in Colorado and California, obtaining from this and other visits material for many of his more important pictures. He again visited Europe in 1867, in 1878, and in 1833. Mr. Bierstadt has received many honors. He was elected a member of the national academy in 1860, and has been awarded medals in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, and Germany. In 1867 he was decorated with the cross of the legion of honor, and in 1869 with that of St. Stanislaus, of which he received also the second class in 1872. In 1882 his studio at Irvington, N. Y., was destroyed by fire, with many valuable pictures. Among his best-known works are: “Laramie Peak” (1861), now in the Buffalo academy of fine arts; “Lander's Peak in the Rocky Mountains” (1863), bought by James McHenry, of London, for $25,000; “North Fork of the Platte” (1864); “Looking down the Yosemite” (1865); “El Capitan on Merced River” (1866); “Storm on Mt. Rosalie” (1866); “Valley of the Yosemite” (1866), in the Lenox library; "Settlement of California" and “Discovery of Hudson River,” both in the Capitol at Washington; “Emerald Pool on Mt. Whitney” (1870); “In the Rocky Mountains” (1871); “Great Trees of California” (1874); “Valley of Kern River, California” (1875); “Mt. Whitney, Sierra Nevada” (1877); “Estes Park, Colorado,” “Mountain Lake,” and “Mount Corcoran, in Sierra Nevada” (1878), Corcoran gallery, Washington; “Geysers” (1883); “Storm on the Matterhorn,” and “View on Kern River” (1884); “Valley of Zermatt, Switzerland” (1885) : “On the Saco, New Hampshire,” and “California Oaks” (1886).