When the French Crown finally sent the LeMoyne brothers (Bienville and Iberville) to the Gulf Coast to establish a French presence in the region, they were already decades late compared to the Spanish, who had explored the region through numerous expeditions and had settled in Pensacola while laying claim to all of the Gulf Coast.

The brothers arrived along the Gulf Coast as late as 1699, even though there had been previous French explorers near the Mobile/Pensacola area. Those previous explorers, like LaSalle, had ventured down the Mississippi River earlier in an effort to establish French outposts along the length of their North American territory. Prior to that point the French preoccupation with Canada and their Caribbean holdings had apparently kept them from establishing a more prominent hold on Louisiana.

Soon after their arrival, the brothers established exploratory missions into the Mobile delta and along the coast from Mobile Bay to Pensacola. Their first inclination was to settle in the Pensacola area, but because of Spanish occupation, they determined to designate a location inland from Dauphin Island, which they had been using as a headquarters for their exploration of the region.

As a result, the original site of Old Mobile was established on the Mobile River at 27 Mile Bluff in 1702. At that site, the French had command of the Mobile River from a fort and small village situated there. A survey of the site conducted two years later revealed that the French had established 80 wooden one-story houses that accommodated 180 men, 27 families with 10 children and 11 Indian slaves. The site also featured a forge, a gunsmith shop and a brick kiln.

Indian relations became important immediately after the French determined to settle in the region. As a means of securing trade and to amass allies against the English, the French sought close associations with several regional tribes. The French then pursued the Choctaw and the Chickasaw for trade and military aid along their northern frontier.

They also sought and gained a good relationship with the Taensas, for whom the Tensaw River is named. Bienville used his persuasive talents to convince several local tribes to settle in villages near 27 Mile Bluff to serve as allies against both the English the neighboring Spanish.

In 1711, the French outpost on the Mobile River came to an end. Because of a flood and the threats of future flooding, the 27 Mile Bluff site was relocated to the present-day site of Mobile. Nevertheless, that was not the final movement of the French to establish themselves in the region. In 1717, Bienville oversaw the founding of yet another post; this time in the heart of what would become Alabama Territory.

Potential British expansion from the Atlantic coast always posed a threat to the stability of the French territories in the interior of North America. To counter potential British expansion, the French established Fort Toulouse in present-day Wetumpka. Toulouse served the French as a means to undermine British trade with the Indians of the American backcountry, at least for the time being.

The age of French settlement in North America came to an end with the close of the French and Indian War in 1763.

As a matter of fact, the French position in global politics and economics suffered great setbacks based on their poor showing in the Seven Years War, of which the French and Indian War in North America was one component.

The French retained Louisiana, but even that was not to last for long as America expanded westward. The French presence at Toulouse and in Mobile came to an end, foretelling the fate of both the Spanish and the British as the upstart Americans sought to fulfill their manifest destiny in North America.