Execution of Jean Baptiste Baudrau II

Execution of Jean Baptiste Baudrau II. . Jean Baptiste Baudrau II (1717-1757) was born on Dauphin Island to one of the early members of the Louisiana Colony founding party, JB Baudrau dit Graveline and Susanne, "the daughter of a great Chief of the Indian nation," likely Choctaw. He grew up at Pascagoula, was widely popular among the colonists and tribes, spoke their languages, and was "almost a giant" in size. He lived at the corner of Ursuline and Rampart Streets in New Orleans with his wife, Catherine dela Pointe, and their four children. He served Governor Bienville as a peace ambassador to many allied tribes. Governor Vaudreuil used Baudrau's leadership of local Choctaw allies to "guard settlements along the coast of Biloxi and on the Pascagoula River" against hostile attacks by chief Red Shoe's rebel faction in 1747-49. When he fell afoul of authorities by smuggling goods to Pensacola, Baudrau fled with his lover, Henriette Huet, in an ill fated attempt to escape the French colony and settle in Havana. Apprehended and jailed at the Cabildo, he managed a daring escape to live among the Creeks for five years, where he was assured safe shelter. In a most extraordinary concession, King Louis XV of France granted Baudrau a royal pardon., Thereafter he lived peacefully in the French colony until he was arrested for salvaging a wreck and jailed on Cat Island. When soldiers there mutinied against their tyrannical commander, they forced Baudrau at gunpoint to guide them to Georgia, afterwards giving him a signed letter absolving him of joining the mutiny. Ignoring the letter, Governor Kerlere had him unjustly broken on the wheel at Place d'Armes (Jackson Square) on June 7, 1757. Historians documented this as a tragic miscarriage of justice. Though innocent, Baudrau was scapegoated to deter low soldier morale at the outset of the Seven Years War. His defiled and quartered body was thrown into the Mississippi River floodtide near these steps. Thousands of descendants who honor him are alive today.