Note 53 — Chapter XXI

Natchez was a prominent frontier town of the Southwest, which had had a long and varied history. In 1715 the French of Louisiana established a trading post at this place, and in 1716 Fort Rosalie was built. Thirteen years later occurred the massacre of the garrison and inhabitants by the Natchez Indians. While a fort was rebuilt at this place, there seems to have been no settlement during the remainder of the French occupation. When this territory passed into the hands of the English (1763) liberal land grants were made, and Fort Panmure was erected on the site of Fort Rosalie; emigration from the Southern states and the East then came into this region, especially from New Jersey and Connecticut. After the beginning of the Revolution, an attempt was made to secure the neutrality of the Natchez people, if not their co-operation with the American cause. But the brutality of Captain Willing, sent on this mission in 1778, alienated the inhabitants and kept them loyal to Great Britain. On the outbreak of war between England and Spain (1779) the Spanish governor Gayoso made an expedition into West Florida, and captured Natchez with other British posts. The inhabitants rebelled and seized Fort Panmure; but on the downfall of Pensacola, they were obliged to flee. The Spaniards took possession by treaty in 1783, and under their régime, at the close of the American Revolution, a large immigration took place. Land speculation and intrigues ran riot. The Yazoo grants occupied this territory in part. The United States claimed the Natchez district as within her boundaries. In the treaty of 1795 with Spain, this claim was conceded, and a commission was appointed to run a boundary line. In 1798 Mississippi Territory was organized, Natchez being included therein. In the early days of the Mississippi traffic, the commercial importance of the place was second only to New Orleans. The Natchez trace, of which Michaux speaks, was one of the most travelled roads of the Western country.—​Ed.