93. King George's War, 1744-48.--From 1713 until 1744 there was no war between the English and the French. But in 1744 fighting began again in earnest. The French and Indians attacked the New England frontier towns and killed many people. But the New Englanders, on their part, won a great success. After the French lost Acadia they built a strong fortress on the island of Cape Breton. To this they gave the name of Louisburg. The New Englanders fitted out a great expedition and captured Louisburg without much help from the English. But at the close of the war (1748) the fortress was given back to the French, to the disgust of the New Englanders.
[Sidenote: La Salle on the Mississippi, 1681.]
[Sidenote: _McMaster_, 62-65; _Source-book_, 96-98.]
94. The French in the Mississippi Valley.--The Spaniards had discovered the Mississippi and had explored its lower valley. But they had found no gold there and had abandoned the country. It was left for French explorers more than one hundred years later to rediscover the great river and to explore it from its upper waters to the Gulf of Mexico. The first Frenchman to sail down the river to its mouth was La Salle. In 1681, with three canoes, he floated down the Mississippi, until he reached a place where the great river divided into three large branches. He sent one canoe down each branch. Returning, they all reported that they had reached the open sea.
[Sidenote: La Salle attempts to found a colony. _McMaster_, 79-80.]
95. Founding of Louisiana.--La Salle named this immense region Louisiana in honor of the French king. He soon led an expedition to plant a colony on the banks of the Mississippi. Sailing into the Gulf of Mexico, he missed the mouth of the Mississippi and landed on the coast of Texas. Misfortune after misfortune now fell on the unhappy expedition. La Salle was murdered, the stores were destroyed, the Spaniards and Indians came and killed or captured nearly all the colonists. A few only gained the Mississippi and made their way to Canada. In 1699, another French expedition appeared in the Gulf of Mexico. This time the mouth of the Mississippi was easily discovered. But the colonists settled on the shores of Mobile Bay. It was not until 1718 that New Orleans was founded.