When was henri de tonti born

Louis in present-day Missouri. In , La Salle set off to conquer the Gulf of Mexico. He built Fort St. Louis on Matagorda Bay, and easily swayed some local Indians tribes against the Spaniards.

When disease incapacitated his crew near present-day Houston in , La Salle was murdered by a disgruntled crewmember. The Matagorda Bay colony soon succumbed to a surprise Indian attack and only a handful of French colonists ever returned to France, only because their capture by Spanish soldiers allowed them to be returned home.

Tonti arrived on Quebec in September , and joining with Robert de la Salle, he traveled first to Fort Frontenac Kingston, Ontario and then to Niagara Falls by Christmas that year to find a place above the falls to build a ship. During most of Tonti was involved in wars with the Iroquois and the English. Had he revealed the truth, Tonti might have had time to rescue the twenty-five men, women, and children La Salle had left at La Salle's Texas Settlement. When he learned the truth ten months later, he had no way of knowing that it was too late to save those in the meager settlement on the Gulf.

Traveling up the Red River by canoe, he reached the Kadohadacho villages near the northeastern corner of the present state of Texas in March From the Kadohadacho Tonti heard that seven Frenchmen remained among the Nabedache of the Hasinai confederacy, eighty leagues away. Deserted by most of his companions, he resumed his journey in April When he approached the Nabedache village, he learned of the Spanish expedition that was soon to establish San Francisco de los Tejas Mission among the Nabedache of the Hasinai confederacy.

Lorenzo de Tonti was the inventor of the form of life insurance known as the tontine. Alphonse de Tonty , who was one of the founders of what is now Detroit , was his younger brother. Lorenzo was involved in a revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples, Italy and was forced to seek political asylum in France around the time of Henri's birth. During the Sicilian Wars Henri lost his hand in a grenade explosion and from that time on wore a prosthetic hook covered by a glove thus earning the nickname "Iron Hand".

Tonti's letters and journals are valuable source materials on these explorations. His father Lorenzo de Tonti was a financier and former governor of Gaeta.

Lorenzo was involved in a revolt against the Spanish viceroy in Naples, Italy, and the family was forced to seek political asylum in France around the time of Henri's birth. Henri's brother Alphonse de Tonti was later born in , and later became one of the founders of what is now Detroit. Tonti's cousins, Daniel Greysolon Dulhut and Claude Greysolon de La Tourette were also able to build a name for themselves in the new world.

Tonti, in at around the age of 18, decided to join the French army and later, the French Navy. Tonti was a cadet in the French army for his first two years of military service.

The following four years, Tonti was a midshipman at Marseilles and Toulon and embarked on seven tours at sea, four of which were on warships and three of which were on galleys. Tonti took part in the military operations in the village of Gesso, up the hills near Messina and he lost his hand in a grenade explosion which was replaced with a metal appliance, and was also taken prisoner.

After being detained for six months, Tonti was exchanged for the Governors son. After returning to France Tonti continued his deployment as a volunteer on the galleys. From that time on, wore a prosthetic hook covered by a glove, thus earning the nickname "Iron Hand". Among the officers fighting beside the French expedition corps, there were the brothers Antonio and Thomas Crisafy, who years later Tonti will have the chance to meet again in Nouvelle France.

Tonti described it as "A place extremely cold where no wheat grows".