Dreams of Conquest: Excavating the Myth of LaSalle

Directed by Alan Govenar

About

Details: 2005, 47 minutes, Director: Alan Govenar, Cinematographer, Editor: Robert Tullier, Narrator: Josephine Mitchell, Music: Robert X. Rodriquez, Writers: Alan Govenar & Robert Tullier

Amazon Prime | Les Blank Films

Dreams of Conquest chronicles the excavation of Fort St. Louis, built in 1685 by the French explorer René-Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle on the banks of Garcitas Creek, which feeds into Matagorda Bay. On this site in 1722, the Spanish, after searching for years to find the remains of the French fort, erected Presidio La Bahia with a stockade wall in the shape of a 16-pointed star.

The film follows Texas Historical Commission archeologists as they unearth and analyze thousands of pottery sherds that lead them to their origins in France and Mexico. Animations and artifacts recreate Fort St. Louis and Presidio La Bahia and help to establish the context in which France and Spain vied for control of North America.