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The Great Republic by the Master Historians
Louisiana and the Natchez
by Bancroft, Hubert H.
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[One more colony whose settlement was effected in the seventeenth century here
demands attention,--that of Louisiana. After the death of De Soto on the
Mississippi, in 1542, that great river was not visited by the whites until more
than a century had elapsed. It was next reached, in its upper courses, by Jesuit
missionaries from Canada, whose efforts to convert the heathen made them among
the most daring and persistent explorers of the interior of America. As early as
1634 they penetrated the wilderness to Lake Huron, and established missions
among the savages of that region. Failing in similar efforts to convert the
Iroquois, they pushed farther west, and in 1665 Father Allouez reached Lake
Superior, and landed at the great village of the Chippewas. Learning from the
Indians of the existence of a great river to the westward, called by them the
Mes-cha-ce-be, or "Father of Waters," two missionaries, Marquette and Joliet,
set out from Green Bay to make its discovery, under the illusory hope that it
might furnish the long-sought water-way to China. They reached the stream on
June 17, 1673, and floated down it as far as the mouth of the Arkansas, where
they found the natives in possession of European articles, and became convinced
that the river must flow into the Gulf of Mexico.
The Mississippi was again reached, in 1680, by Father Hennepin, the advance
pioneer of the exploring party under La Salle, who had set out to investigate
thoroughly the great river. Hennepin ascended the stream to beyond the Falls of
St. Anthony, where he was held captive for a while by the Sioux Indians. La
Salle did not reach the Mississippi until two years afterwards, when he embarked
on its mighty flood, and floated down it until its mouth was reached and the
adventurers found themselves on the broad surface of the Gulf of Mexico. To the
territories through which he passed he gave the name of Louisiana, in honor of
Louis XIV. of France. In 1684 he sailed from France, with a party of settlers,
for the mouth of the Mississippi, which, however, he failed to find, landing his
colonists at the head of Matagorda Bay, in Texas. La Salle was afterwards
murdered while journeying overland to the Illinois, and the Matagorda Bay
settlement was broken up by Indian hostility.
In Upper Louisiana a Jesuit mission was established in 1685 at Kaskaskia, the
first permanent colony in the Mississippi region. In 1698, Lemoine d'Iberville,
a French officer, obtained a patent for planting a colony in the southern part
of the territory. He succeeded in finding the mouth of the Mississippi, and was
the first to enter that stream from the sea. He sailed up it as far as the mouth
of the Red River, and, returning, erected a fort at the head of the Bay of
Biloxi. It proved an unhealthy station, and in 1701 he removed the colonists to
the western bank of the Mobile River, thus founding the first European
settlement in Alabama. The colonizing of southern Louisiana proved a slow
process. At successive periods colonists arrived there, but no permanency was
attained until 1718, when John Law, the promoter of the notorious "Mississippi
Company," sent out eight hundred emigrants. Some of these settled on the Bay of
Biloxi, some on the site of New Orleans. With this party was Du Pratz, the
historian of the colony. The subsequent disastrous failure of the Mississippi
Company did not break up the colony, though the scattered settlements found
themselves environed with many difficulties, chief among which were troubles
with hostile Indians. These difficulties were principally with the Natchez, who
massacred a French settlement and were in turn totally destroyed, and with the
Chickasaws, who held their own valiantly against the French, after a war of
several years' duration. We append, from Du Pratz's "History of Louisiana," his
curiously-interesting story of the war with the Natchez, a tribe which was in
several respects the most remarkable among the Indians of the region of the
United States. We have already, in our article on the Aborigines of America,
described its principal peculiarities.]
In the beginning of the month of December, 1729, we heard at New Orleans, with
the most affecting grief, of the massacre of the French at the post of the
Natchez, occasioned by the imprudent conduct of the commandant. I shall trace
that whole affair from its rise.
The Sieur de Chopart had been commandant of the post of the Natchez, from which
he was removed on account of some acts of injustice. M. Perier, commandant-
general, but lately arrived, suffered himself to be prepossessed in his favor,
on his telling him that he had commanded that post with applause; and thus he
obtained the command from M. Perier, who was unacquainted with his character.
This new commandant, on taking possession of his post, projected the forming one
of the most eminent settlements of the whole colony. For this purpose he
examined all the grounds unoccupied by the French, but could not find anything
that came up to the grandeur of his views. Nothing but the village of the White
Apple, a square league at least in extent, could give him satisfaction; where he
immediately resolved to settle. This ground was distant from the fort about two
leagues. Conceited with the beauty of his project, the commandant sent for the
Sun of that village to come to the fort.
The commandant, upon his arrival at the fort, told him, without further
ceremony, that he must look out for another ground to build his village on, as
he himself resolved, as soon as possible, to build on the village of the Apple;
that he must directly clear the huts and retire somewhere else. The better to
cover his design, he gave out that it was necessary for the French to settle on
the banks of the rivulet where stood the Great Village and the abode of the
Grand Sun. The commandant, doubtless, supposed that he was speaking to a slave
whom we may command in a tone of absolute authority. But he knew not that the
natives of Louisiana are such enemies to a state of slavery that they prefer
death itself thereto; above all, the Suns, accustomed to govern despotically,
have still a greater aversion to it.
The Sun of the Apple thought that if he was talked to in a reasonable manner he
might listen to him; in this he had been right, had he to deal with a reasonable
person. He therefore made answer that his ancestors had lived in that village
for as many years as there were hairs in his double cue, and therefore it was
good they should continue there still.
Scarce had the interpreter explained this answer to the commandant, but he fell
into a passion, and threatened the Sun if he did not quit his village in a few
days he might repent it. The Sun replied, when the French came to ask us for
lands to settle on, they told us there was land enough still unoccupied, which
they might take; the same Sun would enlighten them all, and all would walk in
the same path. He wanted to proceed further in justification of what he alleged;
but the commandant, who was in a passion, told him he was resolved to be obeyed,
without any further reply. The Sun, without discovering any emotion or passion,
withdrew, only saying he was going to assemble the old men of his village, to
hold a council on this affair.
[At this council it was resolved to represent to the French that the corn was
just out of the ground and the chickens were laying their eggs, and to ask for
delay. This the commandant rejected, with a threat to chastise them if they did
not obey quickly. It was next proposed that each hut in the village would pay
him a basket of corn and a fowl for the privilege of remaining till the harvest
had been gathered. To this the avaricious commandant agreed. But the Sun had
other objects in view. Meetings of the old men of the village were held, at
which it was resolved to destroy the insolent intruders who had treated them
like slaves and soon would deprive them of all their liberty. It was proposed to
cut off the French to a man, in a single hour. The oldest chief advised that, on
the day fixed for the contribution, the warriors should carry some corn to the
commandant, as an instalment on their payment. He further advised them]
"also to carry with them their arms, as if going out to hunt, and that to every
Frenchman in a French house there shall be two or three Natchez; to ask to
borrow arms and ammunition for a general hunting-match on account of a great
feast, and to promise to bring them meat; the report of the firing at the
commandant's to be the signal to fall at once upon and kill the French; that
then we shall be able to prevent those who may come from the old French village
(New Orleans) by the great water (Mississippi) ever to settle here."
He added that, after apprising the other nations of the necessity of taking that
violent step, a bundle of rods in number equal to that they should reserve for
themselves should be left with each nation, expressive of the number of days
that were to precede that on which they were to strike the blow at one and the
same time. And to avoid mistakes, and to be exact in pulling out a rod every day
and breaking and throwing it away, it was necessary to give this in charge to a
person of prudence. Here he ceased, and sat down. They all approved his counsel,
and were to a man of his mind.
The project was in like manner approved of by the Sun of the Apple; the business
was to bring over the Grand Sun, with the other petty Suns, to their opinion;
because, all the princes being agreed as to that point, the nation would all to
a man implicitly obey. They, however, took the precaution to forbid apprising
the women thereof, not excepting the female Suns (princesses), or giving them
the least suspicion of their designs against the French.
[Within a short time the Grand Sun, the Stung Serpent, his uncle, and all the
Suns and aged nobles, were brought into the scheme. It was kept secret from the
people, and none but the female Suns had a right to demand the object of these
many meetings. The grand female Sun was a princess scarce eighteen, but the
Stung Arm, mother of the Grand Sun, a woman of experience, and well disposed
towards the French, induced her son to tell her of the scheme which had been
devised. He also told her that the bundle of rods lay in the temple.]
The Stung Arm, being informed of the whole design, pretended to approve of it,
and, leaving her son at ease, henceforward was only solicitous how she might
defeat this barbarous design: the time was pressing, and the term prefixed for
the execution was almost expired.
[She vainly attempted to convey a warning to the commandant. The hints of danger
she sent him by soldiers were blindly ignored.]
The Stung Arm, fearing a discovery, notwithstanding her utmost precaution and
the secrecy she enjoined, repaired to the temple and pulled some rods out of the
fatal bundle; her design was to hasten or forward the term prefixed, to the end
that such Frenchmen as escaped the massacre might apprise their countrymen, many
of whom had informed the commandant, who clapt seven of them in irons, treating
them as cowards on that account. .
Notwithstanding all these informations, the commandant went out the night before
[the fatal day] on a party of pleasure, with some other Frenchmen, to the grand
village of the Natchez, without returning to the fort till break of day; where
he was no sooner come, but he had pressing advice to be upon his guard.
The commandant, still flustered with his last night's debauch, added imprudence
to his neglect of these last advices, and ordered his interpreter instantly to
repair to the grand village and demand of the Grand Sun whether he intended, at
the head of his warriors, to come and kill the French, and to bring him word
directly. The Grand Sun, though but a young man, knew how to dissemble, and
spoke in such a manner to the interpreter as to give full satisfaction to the
commandant, who valued himself on his contempt of former advices: he then
repaired to his house, situate below the fort.
The Natchez had too well taken their measures to be disappointed in the success
thereof. The fatal moment was at last come. The Natchez set out on the eve of
St. Andrew, 1729, taking care to bring with them one of the lower sort, armed
with a wooden hatchet, in order to knock down the commandant: they had so high a
contempt for him that no warrior would deign to kill him. The houses of the
French filled with enemies, the fort in like manner with the natives, who
entered in at the gate and breaches, deprived the soldiers, without officers or
even a sergeant at their head, of the means of self-defence. In the mean time
the Grand Sun arrived, with some warriors loaded with corn, in appearance as the
first payment of the contribution; when several shots were heard. As this firing
was the signal, several shots were heard at the same instant. Then at length the
commandant saw, but too late, his folly: he ran into the garden, whither he was
pursued and killed. The massacre was executed everywhere at the same time. Of
about seven hundred persons, but few escaped to carry the dreadful news to the
capital; on receiving which the governor and council were sensibly affected, and
orders were despatched everywhere to put people on their guard.
The other Indians were displeased at the conduct of the Natchez, imagining they
had forwarded the term agreed on, in order to make them ridiculous, and proposed
to take vengeance the first opportunity, not knowing the true cause of the
precipitation of the Natchez.
After they had cleared the fort, warehouse, and other houses, the Natchez set
them all on fire, not leaving a single building standing.
[Steps were immediately taken by the French to revenge themselves upon their
enemies. A force, partly made up of Choctaw allies, assailed the fort of the
Natchez, who offered to release the French women and children prisoners if peace
was promised them. This was agreed to, and the Natchez took advantage of the
opportunity to vacate the fort by stealth, under cover of night, with all their
baggage and plunder, leaving only the cannon and ball behind. They took refuge
in a secret place to the west of the Mississippi, which proved difficult to
discover. As soon as the place of concealment was found, the French set out to
chastise the murderers.]
The Messrs. Perier set out with their army in very favorable weather, and
arrived at last, without obstruction, near to the retreat of the Natchez. To get
to that place, they went up the Red River, then the Black River, and from thence
up the Silver Creek, which communicates with a small lake at no great distance
from the fort which the Natchez had built in order to maintain their ground
against the French.
The Natchez, struck with terror at the sight of a vigilant enemy, shut
themselves up in their fort. Despair assumed the place of prudence, and they
were at their wits' end on seeing the trenches gain ground on the fort: they
equip themselves like warriors, and stain their bodies with different colors, in
order to make their last efforts by a sally which resembled a transport of rage
more than the calmness of valor, to the terror, at first, of the soldiers.
The reception they met from our men taught them, however, to keep themselves
shut up in their fort; and though the trench was almost finished, our generals
were impatient to have the mortars put in a condition to play on the place. At
last they are set in battery; when the third bomb happened to fall in the middle
of the fort, the usual place of residence of the women and children, they set up
a horrible screaming; and the men, seized with grief at the cries of their wives
and children, made the signal to capitulate.
The Natchez, after demanding to capitulate, started difficulties, which
occasioned messages to and fro till night, which they wanted to avail themselves
of, demanding till next day to settle the articles of capitulation. The night
was granted them, but, being narrowly watched on the side next the gate, they
could not execute the same project of escape as in the war with M. de Loubois.
However, they attempted it, by taking advantage of the obscurity of the night,
and of the apparent stillness of the French; but they were discovered in time,
the greatest part being constrained to retire into the fort. Some of them only
happened to escape, who joined those that were out a-hunting, and all together
retired to the Chickasaws. The rest surrendered at discretion, among whom were
the Grand Sun, and the female Suns, with several warriors, many women, young
people, and children.
The French army re-embarked, and carried the Natchez as slaves to New Orleans,
where they were put in prison; but afterwards, to avoid an infection, the women
and children were disposed of in the king's plantation, and elsewhere; among
these women was the female Sun called the Stung Arm, who then told me all she
had done in order to save the French.
Some time after, these slaves were embarked for St. Domingo, in order to root
out that nation in the colony; which was the only method of effecting it, as the
few that escaped had not a tenth of the women necessary to recruit the nation.
And thus that nation, the most conspicuous in the colony, and most useful to the
French, was destroyed.
Le Page du Pratz
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