Jean L'Archevêque

Who was Jean L'Archevêque?

Jean L'Archevêque was a French explorer, soldier and merchant-trader. One of the few survivors of the ill-fated French colony Fort Saint Louis, L'Archevêque, the son of a merchant-trader from Bayonne, France, indentured himself to merchant-trader Sieur Pierre Duhaut in order to participate in the expedition to find the colony. L'Archevêque is known to have been the decoy that lead René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle into an ambush in which Duhaut shot La Salle. While Duhaut was killed by expedition members to avenge La Salle's murder, L'Archevêque escaped the same fate because he was viewed more favorably and was thought to be less guilty. L'Archevêque died in 1720 as part of the Villasur expedition.