Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/104

 CADILLAC.

CADWALADER.

attempt tx) induce his return to Spain, On Feb. 23, loot), a new company was formed and Cabot made nresident. The expedition was sent off tlie next spring, and on May 25, 1557, his resignation of tlie pension and its re-issue two days later ends the recorded accounts of this remarkable charac- ter. Cabofs '• mappemonde, " the original of which was drawn on parcliment and illuminated ■with gold and colors, served as the model for all the general maps of the world afterward published in Italy. The only extant account of his death is that by his friend Eden, who writes: "Sebastian Cabot on his death-bed told me that he had knowledge [of the art of finding longitude] by divine revelation, yet so that he myght not teach any man. But I think that the goode olde man in that extreme age somewhat doted, and had not yet, even in the article of death, utterly sliaken of (sic) aU worldly vayne glorie." See Biddle's Memoir of Sebastian Cabot (London and Pliiladelphia. 1831). and Harrisse's Jean and Sebastian Cabot (Paris, 1882). The place and date of his death are also unknown, but he is believed to have died in London, at some time immediately subsequent to 1557.

CADILLAC, Antoine de la Mothe, founder of Detroit, was born in France some time between 1657 and 1661 ; he was the son of Jean de la Mothe, Seigneur Cadillac, de Launay, de Semon- tel and Jeanne de 3Ialenfant. He was well educated, was a cadet in the regiment of Dam- piferre-Lorraine, and a lieutenant in the regiment of Clairembault in 1677. In 1683 he visited New France and settled at Port Royal, where he mar- ried Marie Therese, daughter of Denys Guyon of Quebec. July 23, 1688, he received a grant of land called Donaquec, in the present state of Maine, and a part of the Island of Mount Desert. He determined to use the dowry his wife had brought him in founding an establisliment on this land, and probably went to live there in 1688. He accompanied Calliferesand Frontenac when they set out to take New York, and drive the English from New England, according to Calliferes' programme. On reaching the harbor of New York and finding that the project had been abandoned, they set sail for France, and dur- ing the next seven months CadiUac remained in attendance at court. He returned to Canada with a letter of recommendation to Frontenac from the king, and, in obedience to the wishes of the monarch, he was made lieutenant of the troops in the colony. In April, 1692, the king sent for him to come to France and give information that might help the French to gain possession of New England; and CadiUac drew up a report that displayed extensive knowledge of the entire coast with its fortifications, harbors, depths of bays, soundings of rivers, villages, and traits of

character of the inhabitants. This report is in the French archives. In 1694 Frontenac sent him to command the Indians at Mackinac, where he remained until 1697, when he was recalled at his- own desire. Investigation had convinced him that a fort on the Detroit river was necessary to repel the English. He had some difficulty in convincing the new governor, de Calliferes, of its practicability, but finally, through his own great influence at the French ooiu't, a commission was granted him. On June 2, 1701, he set out from Montreal with one hundred men, fifty soldiers, fifty civilians, two Catholic priests, one. Father Vaillant, being a Jesuit. July 24, 1701, with a fleet of twenty-five birchen boats, he entered the Detroit river. At a point in the river where the broad stream narrows to about half a mile, the canoes were drawn up, and the voyagers as- cended r. level plateau to a lieight of abov.t fifty feet, and formed a temporary encampment. Within two days he had laid the foundation of a church, staked out the groimd for a fort and .stockade, and begim house building. By the close of the following month the chapel, the fort, and dwellings for the .settlers were erected. His wife liad been left behind in Quebec, and her bravery and wifely devotion in journeying through a thousand miles of wilderness has few parallels in historj-. With Detroit as his capital, Cadillac assumed the governorship of a large territory, encouraged his soldiers to marry the young Indian women, and colonized the Indians about him in friendly settlements. He contin- ued in possession from 1705 imtil 1710, when he was appointed governor of Louisiana. His prop- erty in Detroit was taken without compensation by La Forest, his successor. He sailed to France, and, returning with a shipload of marriageable girls to become wives of his colonists, arrived in Louisiana, June 15, 1713 (Margry says 1712) and founded Natchez. In March, 1717, another was appointed to succeed him, and little is known of this energetic colonizer after he returned to France. His grand-daughter, Madame Gregoire, in 1787, was allowed by the commonwealth of JIassachusetts all of Mount Desert Island that had not been granted to others. He died in France, Oct. 18. 1730..

CADWALADER, George, soldier, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1804; son of Gen. Thomas- Cadwalader, a distinguished soldier. He was educated in the schools of Philadelphia, and was engaged for many years in the practice of medi- cine. He entered the Mexican war as briga- dier-general of volunteers, and was breve tted major-general for especial gallantry at the battle of Chapultepec. He continued to practise medi- cine in Pliiladelphia until the outbreak of the civil war, when Governor Curtin appointed him