Champ d'Asile

Champ d'Asile ("Field of Asylum") was a short-lived settlement founded in Texas in January 1818 by 20 French Bonapartist veterans of the Napoleonic Wars from the Vine and Olive Colony.

The colony was to bring some military men for protection, and concentrate on agricultural work, cultivating grapes and olives.

Mexican governor Antonio María Martínez, having heard about this expedition, sent his own troops to San Marcos, wary of an attack.

Some of the colonists, including pirate Jean Laffite and other mercenaries, had caused concern to settlers of New Spain.

Despite Lallemand's assurances, rumours had circulated about his motives, and there was little evidence of agricultural work on the site, while construction of a fortress and manufacturing munitions had begun.

Champ d'Asile depicted on a map of the Republic of Fredonia , 1835
Cover of a history of the Champ d'Asile , written shortly after it was abandoned (see External links)