NIVELLES, Charles Etienne de, French soldier, born in Dauphine about 1665: died near what is now Mobile, Alabama, in 1711. He served for some years as captain in Canada, afterward accompanied Iberville (q. v.) to Louisiana, participated in the foundation of the colony of Biloxi in 1699, the first settlement of the French in Louisiana, and became commander of the fortress that was built in 1702 on Dauphine island, at the entrance of Mobile bay. As lieutenant of Iberville he undertook several expeditions against the Indians, and when in 1705 the colony was visited by the first known epidemic of yellow fever in Louisiana, he restrained the set-tiers, who prepared to abandon the country, and also took an active part in quelling the "petticoat insurrection," or rebellion of the women, who were dissatisfied with the settlers' diet of Indian corn. During the following years, as famine and hosthe Indians desolated the colony, Nivelles's courage and power of endurance proved equal to the ordeal, and his expedients contributed much toward relieving the inhabitants. He perished in the great flood in 1711 that destroyed the settlements around Fort Saint Louis de la Mobile, and caused their removal to the place where Mobile now stands.