 Bourgmont established Fort Orleans , the first European settlement of any kind on the Missouri River , near present @-@ day Brunswick , Missouri , in 1723 . The following year Bourgmont led an expedition to enlist <unk> support against the Spanish , who continued to show interest in taking over the Missouri . In 1725 Bourgmont brought the chiefs of several Missouri River tribes to visit France . There he was raised to the rank of nobility and did not accompany the chiefs back to North America . Fort Orleans was either abandoned or its small contingent massacred by Native Americans in 1726 . 
