To secure the eastern valley of the Mississippi, it was necessary to reduce the Chickasas; and nearly two years were devoted to preparations for the enterprise. At last, in 1736, the whole force of the colony at the south, with DArtaguette and troops from his command in Illinois, and probably from the Wabash, was directed to meet, on the tenth of May, in the land of the Chickasas. The government of France had itself given directions for the invasion, and its eye was turned anxiously to watch the issue of the strife. From New Orleans the little fleet of thirty boats and as many pirogues departed for Fort Conde at Mobile, which it did not leave till the fourth of April. In sixteen days, it ascended the river to Tombecbee, a fort which an advance party had constructed on the west bank of the river, two hundred and fifty miles above the bay. Of the men employed in its construction, some had attempted to escape, and enjoy the liberty of the wilderness: in the wilds of Alabama, a court martial sentenced them to death, and they were shot. The Choctas, lured by gifts of merchandise, and high rewards for every scalp, gathered at Fort Tombecbee to aid Bienville. Of these red auxiliaries the number was about twelve hundred; and the whole party slowly sounded its way up the windings of the Tombecbee to the point where Cotton Gin Port now stands, and which was but about twenty-one miles south-east of the great village of the Chickasas. There the artillery was deposited in a temporary fortification; and the solitudes of the quiet forests and blooming prairies between the head-sources of the Tombecbee and the Tallahatchie were disturbed by the march of the army towards the long house of their enemy. After the manner of Indian warfare, they encamped, on the evening of the twenty-fifth of May, at the distance of about a league from the village. In the morning, before day, they advanced to surprise the Chickasas. In vain. The brave warriors, whom they had come to destroy, were on the watch; their intrenchments were strong; English flags waved over their fort; English traders had assisted them in preparing defence. Twice, during the day, an attempt was made to storm their log citadel; and twice the French were repelled, with a loss of thirty killed, of whom four were officers. The next day saw skirmishes between parties of Choctas and Chickasas. On the twenty-ninth, the final retreat began; on the thirty-first of May, Bienville dismissed the Choctas, having satisfied them with presents, and, throwing his cannon into the Tombecbee, his party ingloriously floated down the river. In the last days of June, he landed on the banks of the Bayou St. John. History of the Colonization of the United States, 1841
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 08:24:41 +0000
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