Victoria’s Museum of the Coastal Bend may serve to archive and interpret the history and heritage of mid-coast Texas but it also offers up something that no other museum outside Texas does – the centerpiece exhibit of seven French cannons discovered by archeologists while excavating the Fort St. Louis site near Victoria. French explorer La Salle transported these cannons to the New World in the 1600s, mounting them along the fortress walls of his newly-established Fort St. Louis, ultimately a futile act that failed to protect the Fort from attacks and La Salle from murder. The cannons remained undiscovered for almost four hundred years until, in 1990, Texas Historical Commission archeologists located the Fort’s original site and began excavations, uncovering eight cannons in all. Seven went to the Museum of the Coastal Bend and one is on exhibit at the State History Museum in Austin. Excavated artifacts from La Salle’s shipwreck the Belle are also on display, part of the La Salle Odyssey, an extensive collection exploring La Salle’s fateful adventures into the New World.

Watch the following video to learn more about the history of Fort St. Louis and its recent excavation. This video was produced for inclusion in the La Salle Odyssey mobile tour.