JOUTEL, zhoo'tel, Henri, French pioneer in America: b. Rouen, late in the 17th century; d. they early in the 18th. He was a soldier in eat-Ty life. When La Salle was commis sioned in 1684 to reconnoitre the mouth of the Mississippi by sea, Joutel accompanied him as intendant. In 1685 he was appointed by La Salle to finish Fort Saint Louis, which the latter had begun. After the departure of La Salle on his expedition, two of the colonists formed a plot to murder Joutel, but he dis covered it in time, and, having received an order to join La Salle with all his force, he delivered the criminals to the latter. In Octo ber, Joutel was again made commander at Fort Saint Louis with 34 men under him, and was again disturbed by plots to kill him or deprive him of his office. He set out for the Illinois on 12 Jan. 1687, with La Salle, and, after the assassination of the latter on 19 March, Joutel's death was also decided on, but his life was finally spared. Not long afterward he set out
for Illinois accompanied by six other French men and after various adventures reached Fort Saint Louis on 14 September, and arrived in Mackinaw on 10 May. Joutel went to Mont real and Quebec shortly afterward and em barked for Rouen, where he appears to have spent the rest of his life. Charlevoix saw him there in 1723. Joutel was the only one of La Salle's party on whom that explorer could rely and his account of the last expedition of La Salle is the only trustworthy one. This work is entitled, 'journal historique du dernier voy age, que feu M. de la Salle fit dans le Golfe de Mexique, pour trouver l'embouchure et le cours de la Riviere de Saint Louis, qui traverse la Louisiane. Au l'on voit l'histoire tragique de sa mort et plusieurs choses curieuses du nouveau monde' (Paris 1713; Eng. translation by H. R. Stiles, Albany 1906).