Taking Possession of Louisiana and the River Mississippi, in the name of Louis XIVth, by Cavelier de la Salle by Bocquin, ca.1860, color lithograph, THNOC.1970.1 In 1682, René Robert Cavelier, sieur de la Salle claimed the lands drained by the Mississippi River for France. Passing through St. Charles Parish on his return trip upriver, La Salle presented his blue serge coat to the Quinapissa Indian chief in present-day Hahnville in honor of this special occasion. (Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection)