Joutel, Henri, ca, c. 1643 - c. 1725.

Henri Joutel (ca. 1643-ca. 1725) is best known for providing the preeminent eyewitness account of Robert de La Salle's 1684 expedition, which aimed to find the mouth of the Mississippi River. Before serving with La Salle,

Joutel spent sixteen or seventeen years in the army. This experience, along with connections to relatives of La Salle, enabled Joutel to immediately become a confidant of La Salle. By the time the expedition reached the Texas coast, Joutel was La Salle's most trusted lieutenant. As such, Joutel commanded the colonists and built Fort Saint Louis (near current day Inez, Texas) while La Salle futilely searched for the mouth of the Mississippi. Moreover, while in control at Fort Saint Louis he seized and destroyed the journal of Father Maxime Le Clercq's, which critciized La Salle.

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