Material from a workshop many years ago. Original material can be found at:
www.thc.state.tx.us/lasalle/ laseducation/fsledu/fsl_five.pdf
Clues on Common Ground:
The Fort St. Louis Archeological Project
Lesson 5: Learning from Primary Source Documents
One Day at a Time
By Susan Wolter
Lesson Overview: This lesson provides students access to information from a primary source document, the journal of Henri Joutel who was one of the French colonists. Joutel provided detailed descriptions of the site of Fort St. Louis which each team will use when creating a visual background setting for their presentations. The team focusing on the French culture is given a second primary source document, the sketch of Fort St. Louis by Juan Bautista Chapa who accompanied Alonso de Leon when he located the fort. Guided by the teacher, each team revises their inquiry questions and uses the handouts, library and Internet to obtain additional information regarding the daily life activities of their cultural group.
Objectives: Students will:
. Identify geographic factors that influenced the selection of a site for the settlement. Differentiate between primary and secondary source information. Create a visual representation of information
. Revise inquiry questions which will guide research
TEKS:
. Geography 4.8 B. History 4.2 C
. Reading4.13A, 4.13C, 4.13G
Materials:
. Class Handout: Life at the French Settlement
. French Team Handout: A Description of Fort St. Louis.
Activity:
Step 1: Before reading the Handout: A Description of the Site, inform students that the information about to be shared should be used by each team when creating the visual background for their presentation. Following the oral reading, have students individually make two columns on a sheet of paper to list as many plants and animals as they can recall. On the back of the sheet, have students sketch the landscape described by Joutel. Once students have had ample time to work individually, they can collaborate with their team to extend their lists.
Step 2: Each team should determine the format of their presentation, such as a slide show, diorama or a skit which incorporates background scenery. Each presentation should reflect information provided in Joutel's description of the site.
Step 3: Have students continue to look for secondary historic accounts about daily life for their cultural group. Guide students in grouping individual research questions so that inquiries include: 1) How did the cultural group use resources to provide for food, shelter or clothing? 2) What religious beliefs and traditions did they share? Why did the Spanish want to establish Catholic missions? 3) How did the cultural group make rules, choose leaders and get jobs done? 4) How did the families work together and teach the children? 5) What kind of system did they use to buy or trade? 6) What kinds of tools and ceramics did they use? 7) How did they express their ideas through art, music, drama or celebrations?
Step 4: Give the team focusing on the French culture the French Team Handout: A Sketch of Fort St. Louis to use in creating a visual background for their presentation.
Closure: Have students begin to create a visual background for the team presentation by incorporating information from Joutel's description of the site.
Student Product: Each team creates a visual background to be used in a presentation of their cultural group
Extension: Have students use information about their cultural group to complete an organizer which is used to write one of the following descriptive narratives:
· A Day in the life of Robert (or Mary Madelaine) Talon.
· A Day at Presidio La Bahia
· A Day in the Life of a Karankawa Boy (or Girl)
Suggested resources:
For all groups:
· Texas Historical Commission. Texas Archeology in the Classroom, A Unit for Teachers. Austin: Texas Historical Commission, 1998.
· Zappler, Georg and Helen Simons. The Years of Exploration, living with the Texas Past Series No.3. Austin: Texas Historical Commission, 1998.
French colonist at Fort St. Louis:
· Handout: A Description of Fort St. Louis
· Texas Archeology in the Classroom, A Unit for Teachers. Austin: Texas Historical
· Commission, 1998. Texas Coastal Indians:
· Zappler, Georg, Elena T. Ivy and Juliann Pool. Learn about... Texas Indians. Austin:
· Texas Parks and Wildlife Press, 1996.
· The Indians of Texas and the Plants They Used (Third Edition). Austin: Texas Historical Commission, Archeology Division, 1998.
This country was crossed by many rivers that flowed through it. The one which we were, and where the settlement was situated, is one of the smallest. It was called Riviere aux Boeufs [Bison River] for the number of bison there and the bison we had killed nearby. (p. 107)We were on a small rise from which one could see a long distance. Toward the west and the southwest there was prairie, very level, that continued beyond our view. Beautiful, good grasses grow here serving as pasturage to an infinite number of bison. … Toward the north and northeast, there are woods usually found along the riverbanks. …Some oaks are always green and never lose their leaves. … Some bear small and numerous gall-nuts, and they also have acorns which I ate with great ease. …There is also another species of tree that bears a certain small red
berry when it is ripe, and it is rather mild. (p. 123) One finds here many creeping vines and other vines that climb trees and bear many grapes. But the grapes are pulpy and sour, unlike the ones in France. Also I noticed certain plants similar to those I have seen in France and in the Islands, that we called raquettes [prickly pear cactus] because they have a leaf of that same shape. They bear flowers around the leaves which sprout fruit that look almost like figs. But the leaves are full of quills, and even the fruit have them all around. One must strip the fruit before eating it because, although the quills are quite small and almost imperceptible, without fail they make one sick once they lodge in the throat and on the roof of the mouth. One of our soldiers even died from having eaten the fig greedily without wiping it. All these small quills caused a tremendous inflammation of the throat and eventually suffocated him. These fruits do not have much taste; they are in several shapes, sizes, and colors. (p. 124) Another kind of tree has a trunk very nearly like the other one, but its leaves are quite different. The leaves are pointed and stiff, formed like spouts, and they must not be approached abruptly because they pierce material and skin. This tree has a tall stalk which flowers and forms a rather beautiful cluster of a white flowers with a tinge of yellow. Some of these have as many as 60 to 80 flowers to a stalk. The flowers drop rather like Indian corn except less so. After the flower has bloomed, fruits are produced which are the size of a thumb; the longest is the size of a finger. They are full of seeds and berries spread unevenly along the length of the fruit. Only the surface of it is good to eat, but it is barely the thickness of a coin. They are quite soft and quite sweet but hardly satisfying. (p. 125)
To finish describing the area near the house and the view to the south as far as the bay, I will say that the countryside which bordered to the west and southwest is spacious and lost to view except for a few clumps of trees. (p.125)
[A listing of the local game] must begin with the bison which are very numerous, and it could be said that they were our daily bread. After bison, there are the deer, the turkey, Canada geese, other geese, swans, cranes, ducks, teals, coots, plovers, jack-snipes, sandpipers, white and brown curlews, and grouse of two kinds, one large and one small (which is the better).
Just as this country is bountiful in all kinds of animals, so the lakes and rivers are full of fish. ( p.127) We also had a large number of tortoise, but they are smaller than those we had seen in the Islands. We often caught them on a fishing line. The meat is quite good. Inside their bodies are eggs which are not bad and serve to thicken sauces. … One of our surgeons, while looking for these tortoises in some holes where they had retreated was bitten on the arm by some animal. The arm became quite swollen and later he lost one finger and a half of second one. …
I often found the snake in the brush, making a noise with its tail. When I killed them, our pigs would eat them. I would often take pleasure in seeing them torn to pieces, and when we were at the seaside, where food was not plentiful, if some of our men found one, they would not let it be wasted. Their flesh was very white. (p.128)
There also were many crocodiles or cayman in the rivers in this area. When they came out they made me fear for our pigs who were often in the river wallowing to refresh themselves. I killed several of them. I did not spare them when they were found near the house. One day I killed one that was extremely large, almost four and a half feet around and about 20 feet long. I never saw any other as large although I killed several of them. Our pigs lived well off of it for several meals. As these animals have short legs, they crawl with their stomachs touching the ground. So, when they cross a place where the ground is soft or sandy, one discovers their track. (p. 129)
It was necessary to construct a large lodging. La Salle had a drawing of it, but the problem was obtaining wood. There was a small woods from which we could take a few trees, but the location was a league farther inland, and we had neither carts nor horses to transport it. Nevertheless, La Salle sent laborers and other men as helpers and escorts. (p. 102)
The wood that we brought [using canoes, Joutel transported wood which had washed ashore from the shipwrecked L’Aimable] was much more use than all the wood that we had collected before that had cost the lives of many people. I can indeed affirm that that work caused the deaths of 30 people, as well as creating trouble and vexation.
The first building was constructed in the Canadian manner and the other almost the same way. … As the pieces of this latter one were quite straight and thick, they were much better fitting. The pieces were closed with dovetailed corners with a good peg so that they would be most unlikely to slip. This house was ready first. It was roofed with old planks which we had brought, and on the roof we nailed buffalo hides for cover from the rain as a good number of the planks were damaged or had holes. Our bison hides were not as satisfactory as we had expected; they shriveled in the sun and split apart from the nails. When the house was completed, it was divided in four rooms. One quarter was the Sieur La Salle’s lodging; another that of the Recollet fathers; another was for several of the gentlemen; and the fourth served as storeroom. We were not worried about lodging at that time because it was not cold. In addition, some of the gentlemen had made sheds for themselves. The crew were almost all in the open air. (p. 105)