Could Napoleon have ruled over Texas?

A strongman politician is something we’ve heard a lot about recently. This Stories From Texas is about a strongman from history and a plan to set him up anew in Texas. Texas Standard Commentator W.F. Strong dug up this story — one that you probably didn’t hear about in Texas history, for one, because it […]

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
There's a little known tale buried
somewhere between history
and legend about one of Napoleon's
most trusted generals.
His name was General Francois
Lallemand, a man of fierce
loyalty who had stood by
Napoleon through thick and thin.
But when Napoleon was defeated
and shipped off to St Helena,

(00:20):
something in the lemon shifted
from dreams of glory in
Europe to empire building
on the untamed Texas
frontiers.
Yes, crazy as it sounds, Lemon
wanted to rescue Napoleon
from Saint Helena in the middle of
the Atlantic and bring him
to Texas to relive
his glory days once more.

(00:42):
But he couldn't do it openly.
He needed a cover story.
He recruited about 150 Napoleonic
loyalists to help him establish
his Texas colony on the
Trinity River, which he had already
named the chance the isle
or field of asylum.
Lemon said that the colony would
have military men, but only

(01:03):
for protection.
Otherwise it would concentrate on
agriculture.
This was in 1817, long before
the Battle of the Alamo in San
Jacinto, Texas, in
the early 19th century wasn't
exactly a place for a retired
general of Napoleon's stature.
It was a land of chaos and confusion
still under the grip of the Spanish.

(01:23):
A place where Anglo settlers,
French adventurers and Native
Americans all bumped
up against each other like horses
in a corral.
Lemons Maine churned with plans.
Texas was a land ripe for conquest.
But he wasn't just thinking of
conquering it. No, he was thinking
of something far grander.

(01:43):
Bringing Napoleon here
to rule in the heart of North
America in the wild frontier
of Texas.
To build an empire
worthy of his name.
General William Owen, ever the
tactician, knew that he couldn't do
it alone. He needed support.
Men who believed in the idea
of Napoleon's glory, who would
rally behind the dream of a new

(02:04):
empire in the West.
So he began to gather a small band
of French soldiers, exiles,
adventures, all of them hungry
for a new world to conquer.
Many made their way across the
Atlantic, where they gathered in
New England and then sailed for New
Orleans and Galveston.
Striking out for the Trinity River.
Why the Trinity?
The Trinity River was much

(02:26):
more than a winding, muddy stream.
Then it was a gateway to
the heart of Texas.
It would be a place if properly
fortified, where he could hold
off any Spanish forces, rally
the Texan settlers and prepare
for the day when Napoleon would
step onto American soil,
ready to take up his crown
once more.
Building a fort there right along

(02:47):
the river was no easy feat.
LeMond's men, though well-trained,
were still recovering from the
ravages of years spent on
battlefields far from their homes.
The mosquitoes were fierce,
the heat oppressive, and the land
unforgiving.
But they dug in.
They built walls.
They set up defenses.
The fort, modest as it was, became

(03:08):
their stronghold.
But the bigger plan, the one that
Lomong kept close to his chest,
was for Napoleon to come to Texas.
Napoleon would thrive there, but
Napoleon never came
and probably never knew of the
plan.
What a great moment it would have
been had Napoleon come
and eventually met Santa Ana,
the self-proclaimed Napoleon

(03:29):
of the West.
That would have been awkward
for Santa Ana.
The colony collapsed quickly because
the famous French pirate and
smuggler John Lafayette snitched
on them.
He likely didn't know of the plan to
bring Napoleon to Texas, but he was
suspicious of the colony and
probably didn't want them ruining
the good income he was making in
smuggling operations

(03:50):
on Galveston Island.
He alerted the Spanish authorities
to the new colony, and Liman got
word of the Spaniards mobilizing
for attack from San Marcos.
And so the colony soon packed up and
left, and that was the end of that.
The story of Napoleon coming to
Texas never came to be a reality.
But if it had given the
unpredictable and unstable nature

(04:12):
of Texas at that time,
the story would have fit
right in.
If it were a movie, I'd
like to watch it.
I'm WF Strong.
These are stories from Texas.
Some of them are
true.