ROLAND

See also:

• ROLAND LAPORTE (1675-1704)

LAPORTE (1675-1704)  , Camisard leader, better known as " Roland," was born at Mas Soubeyran (Gard) in a cottage which has become the property of the Societe de 1'Histoire du Protestantisme francais, and which contains relics of the hero . He was a nephew of Laporte, the Camisard leader who was hunted down and shot in October 1702, and he himself became the leader of a band of a thousand men which he formed into a disciplined army with magazines, arsenals and hospitals . For daring in action and rapidity of movement he was second only to Cavalier . These two leaders in 1702 secured entrance to the town of Sauve under the pretence of being royal officers, burnt the church and carried off provisions and ammunition for their forces . Roland, who called himself " general of the children of God," terrorized the country between Nimes and Alais, burning churches and houses, and slaying those suspected of hostility against the Huguenots, though without personally taking any part of the spoil . Cavalier was already in negotiation with Marshal Villars when Roland cut to pieces a Catholic regiment at Fontmorte in May 1704 . He refused to ]ay down his arms without definite assurance of the restoration of the privileges accorded by the Edict of Nantes . Villars then sought to negotiate, offering Roland the command of a regiment on foreign service and liberty of conscience, though not the free exercise of their religion, for his co-religionists . This parley had no results, but Roland was betrayed to his enemies, and on the 14th of August 1704 was shot while defending himself against his captors . The five officers who were with him surrendered, and were broken on the wheel at Nimes . Roland's death put an end to the effective resistance of the Cevenols . See A .

Court, Histoire des troubles des Cevennes (Villefranche, 176o) ; H . M . Baird, The Huguenots and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (2 vols., London, 1895), and other literature dealing with the Camisards . LA PORTE, a city and the county seat of La Porte county, Indiana, U.S.A., 12 M . S. of Lake Michigan and about 6o m . S.E. of Chicago . Pop . (189o) 7126; (1900) 7113 (1403 foreign-born); (191o) 10,525 . It is served by the Lake Erie & Western, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Pere Marquette, the Chicago, South Bend & Northern Indiana (electric), and the Chicago-New York Electric Air Line railways . La Porte lies in the midst of a fertile agricultural region, and the shipment of farm and orchard products is one of its chief industries . There are also numerous manufactures . La Porte's situation in the heart of a region of beautiful lakes (including Clear, Pine and Stone lakes) has given it a considerable reputation as a summer resort .

The lakes furnish a large

supply of clear ice, which is shipped to the Chicago markets . La Porte was settled in 1830, laid out in 1833, incorporated as a town in 1835, and first chartered as a city in 1852 .