Champ d'Asile [SEP] located next to body of water
Champ d'Asile
Champ d'Asile ("Field of Asylum") was a short-lived settlement founded in Texas in January 1818 by 20 French Bonapartist veterans of the Napoleonic Wars from the Vine and Olive Colony. The party was led by General Charles Lallemand. Land was offered to French settlers on March 3, 1817, after a vote by the United States Congress. Champ d'Asile was situated along the Trinity River and was abandoned in July of the same year.
Lallemand, a Bonapartist General, was accompanied by his brother
Madison following William H. Crawford's promotion to the Department of the Treasury until Crawford's successor John C. Calhoun arrived and took over as Secretary on October 8, 1817. Outside of his Cabinet service, he is best known for a mission to Galveston Island, Texas to persuade the small Bonapartist colony of Champ d'Asile to accept American jurisdiction. There he met with privateer Jean Laffite. This voyage is considered the first Anglo-American account of a sea voyage to Texas. Graham fell ill with acute dysentery on his return trip from