GOD & TEXAS: Champ d’Asile

Much like the mythical towns of Brigadoon or Camelot, the East Texas colony of Champ d’Asile remains shrouded in mystery. In 1818, Charles Lallemand and Antoine Rigaud, two former generals who had served under the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, founded a settlement of French refugees. Historians theorize that it was located somewhere on the Trinity River, possibly near the current city of Liberty, on land that was claimed by both Spain and the United States.

Champ d’Asile is often translated as “Field of Refuge” or “Asylum Field.” For decades, the French were embroiled in several wars. When Napoleon was deposed and exiled in 1815, America became a place of refuge. French-American diplomat John de Crèvecoeur, in his Letters from an America Farmer (1782), described the United States as “the great American asylum” for the poor. Many immigrated to the New World searching for peace. But not all.

While the publicized intent of Champ d’Asile was to be a retreat from war, later actions by the two generals proved otherwise. Instead of planting crops and establishing an operational city, the 150 settlers spent their time making armaments and building a sizable fort. French historian Inès Murat solemnly described it as "a no-man's land . . . where diplomats and strategists were engaged in the historical process of ideological and economic conflict."

After about five months, dwindling supplies and internal strife caused the colony to flounder. Upon hearing that both the United States and Spanish governments were sending troops to remove them, the colonists escaped to Galveston. Pirate Jean Laffite helped most of them find safety in New Orleans.

Though few Texans have ever heard of Champ d’Asile, it is widely celebrated in French literature. Some poets romantically portrayed Champ d’Asile as a beautiful village with a utopian lifestyle and idyllic environment. Their fanciful muses belie the disturbing plans for insurgency that the generals covertly pursued. Historians discovered a written manifesto that served as the basis for their defiant actions. Far from a quixotic refuge, Champ d’Asile harbored seditious infiltrators who intended to establish their own kingdom.

When the French gifted the United States the Statue of Liberty in 1886, it was to celebrate the centennial of American independence, the abolition of slavery, and the friendship between France and America. The poem by Emma Lazarus, titled “The New Colossus,” was inscribed on a plaque at the base of the statue. Now the Statue of Liberty serves as a symbol of welcome and hope for immigrants.

Lazarus’ poem refers to the “Golden Door” of opportunity and a new life. May no immigrant take advantage of the hard-won liberty our nation has seized through much shed blood. Similarly, Christ Himself is the golden door for sinners seeking a new life (John 10:7). Jesus said in Matthew 11:28 ESV, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He invites people of all nations and races to come into His glorious Kingdom. Unrepentant seditionists need not apply.

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