Commandants, Governors, and Commissaire-Ordonnateurs of Colonial Louisiana, 1699-1803
French Period
French royal commandants, 1699-171301
Pierre Le Moyne, sieur d'Iberville et d'Ardillieres, 1699-1706 (commandant of Louisiana, governed from Fort Maurepas, Biloxi, 1699-1702, and then from Fort Louis de la Louisiane, Old Mobile, 1702-06, but generally absent; died of fever, Havana, Cuba, 1706)
Sieur de Sauvole, 1699-1700 (temporary commandant while Iberville was in France; governed from Fort Maurepas; died of fever)
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, 1702-11 (Iberville's younger brother; commander at Old Mobile under Iberville, 1702-06; acting commandant after Iberville's death, 1706-08; commandant jointly with Jean-Baptiste-Martin Dartaguiette d'Iron, 1708-11; sole commandant awaiting Cadillac's arrival, 1711-13)
Nicolas Daneau de Muy, 1707-08 (titular governor, never served; died on his way to Old Mobile)
French propietary governors [Crozat period], 1713-17
Antoine de Laumet dit La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac, 1710-16 (appointed by concessionaire Antoine Crozat, 1710; arrived Louisiana 5 Jun 1713, so actually served 1713-16; governed from New Mobile; first with title of governor; recalled by Crozat, 1716)
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, 1716-17 (acting governor after recall of Cadillac; governed from New Mobile)
French proprietary "commandants general" [Law period], 1717-30
Jean-Michel, sieur de l'Epinay et de Longueville, 1717-18 (governed from New Mobile)
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville & Joseph Le Moyne, sieur de Sérigny (Bienville's older brother), 1718-25 (co-commandants general, governed from New Mobile until 1723 and then from New Orleans; recalled to France to answer charges, 1724)
Pierre Sidrac Dugué, sieur de Boisbriant, 1725-27 (acting commandant general in Bienville's & Sérigny's absence; governed from New Orleans)
Étienne de Périer, 1727-31
French proprietary commissaires-ordonnateurs, 1712-3102
Jean-Baptiste de Bois Duclos, 1712-16 (appointed 1712; arrived with Cadillac at New Mobile, 5 Jun 1713; recalled by Crozat along with Cadillac, 1716)
Marc-Antoine Hubert, 1716-20
M. Durvergier, 1720-25 (first to serve at New Orleans)
Jacques de La Chaise, 1725-31
French royal governors, 1731-63
Étienne de Périer, 1731-33 (recalled by French Court, 1732)
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, 1733-43
Pierre-François de Rigaud de Cavagnial, marquis de Vaudreuil, 1743-52
Louis Billouart de Kervaségan, chevalier de Kerlérec, 1753-63 (recalled to France)
French royal commissaires-ordonnateurs, 1731-62
Edmé Gatien Salmon, 1731-44
Sébastien-François-Ange Le Normant, 1744-48
Guillaume Le Sénéchal D'Auberville, 1748-49 (commissaire de marine, acting commissaire-ordonnateur)
Honoré Michel de La Rouvillière, 1748-52
Guillaume Le Sénéchal D'Auberville, 1752-57 (commissaire de marine, acting commissaire-ordonnateur)
Jean-Baptiste-Claude Bobé-Descloseaux, 1756-58 (commissaire de marine, acting commissaire-ordonnateur)
Vincent-Gaspard-Pierre de Rochemore, 1758-61
Jean-Jacques-Blaise d'Abbadie (appointed commissaire-ordonnateur, December 1761; captured by British on the way to Louisiana, 1762; released at war's end, 1763)
Interregnum
Denis-Nicolas Foucault, 1762-63 (acting commissaire-ordonnateur until arrival of d'Abbadie)
Jean-Jacques-Blaise d'Abbadie, 1763-65 (director general and commissaire-ordonnateur, with powers of governor after recall of Kerlérec; died in office February 1765)
Charles-Philippe Aubry, 1765-66 (commandant of French troops & interim governor after death of d'Abbadie)
Denis-Nicolas Foucault, 1765-66 (commissaire-ordonnateur)
Spanish Period & French Transition
Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Guiral, 1766-68 (appointed May 1765, did not arrive until March 1766; never took "formal" control of the colony; retained Aubry as governor's agent and Foucalt as commissaire-ordonnateur; governed from Fort San Carlos, below New Orleans near Balize, September 1766 to summer 1767; ousted by colonial revolt, October 1768)
Charles-Philippe Aubry, 1768-69 (interim governor after Ulloa abandoned the colony)
Alejandro O'Reilly, 1769-70 (governor and captain-general of Cuba) ... "formal" transfer of Louisiana from French to Spanish control, 18 August 1769, New Orleans
Luis de Unzaga y Amezaga, 1770-77 (acting governor, 1770-72; governor, 1772-77)
Bernardo de Gálvez, 1777-85 (Conde de Gálvez from 1781; acting governor, 1777-79; "proprietary" governor, 1779-80; governor of Louisiana and Mobile, 1780-85; at Havana, 1782-85; appointed Viceroy of New Spain, 1784)
Estevan Rodriguez Miró y Sabater, 1782-92 (interim governor at New Orleans, 1782-85; governor, 1785-92)
Francisco Luis Hector, Baron de Carondelet et Noyelles, 1792-97
Manuel Gayoso de Lemos y Amorin, 1797-99 (died in office)
Francisco Bouligny, 1799 (acting governor)
Sebastian Calvo de la Puerta y O'Fariel, Marquis de Casa Calvo, 1799-1801
Juan Manuel de Salcedo, 1801-30 Nov 1803
Pierre Clément de Laussat, 30 Nov-20 Dec 1803 (French colonial prefect, oversaw transfers of the colony from Spain to France and from France to the United States)
NOTES
01. Jerry A. Micelle, "From Law Court to Local Government: Metamorphosis of the Superior Council of French Louisiana," pp. 408-20, in Conrad, ed., The French Experience in Louisiana, includes an explanation of the differences between a commandant & a governor in colonial LA. See especially p. 411.
02. See Donald J. Lemieux, "Some Legal and Practical Aspects of the Office of Commissaire-Ordonnateur of French Louisiana," pp. 395-407, in Conrad, ed., The French Experience in Louisiana, offers a thorough explanation of the office & is especially good at pointing out the difference between an attendant & a commissaire-ordonnateur.
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