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By the end of March 1736 Bienville had assembled at Mobile all the Frenchmen possible to the number of about 460. He also employed the services of a Swiss company about 100 strong. On April 1 the French force began its ascent of the Mobile/Tombigbee River, arriving at the Fort Tombecbe area on the twentythird . Here he withdrew from his force a garrison for the fort and also formed from his servants a company of forty-¤ve armed black slaves with freedmen as of¤cers. He also met with the Choctaw chiefs to arrange for a rendezvous with the Choctaw force that was to accompany the French.1 While at Fort Tombecbe Bienville learned that a Choctaw scouting party had observed a “great French trail” northwest of the Chickasaw settlement, which he suspected to be that of Pierre d’Artaguette’s French and Indian force from the Illinois post, which was supposed to join Bienville’s forces to attack the Chickasaw. Having been delayed at Mobile, Bienville had sent a message to d’Artaguette instructing him to delay his march also. However, as Bienville suspected, d’Artaguette did not receive the letter and, in fact, had approached the Chickasaw settlement while Bienville’s force was still at Mobile.2 Pierre d’Artaguette had left the Illinois post on February 22 with a French force of 145 troops and unenlisted men and an Indian force of 326 Iroquois, Arkansas, Illinois, and Miami. Upon arriving at the Prudhomme Bluff north of present-day central Memphis, he constructed a small palisade fort. Here he left a garrison of twenty-¤ve Frenchmen commanded by a Captain Jolibois. On March 5 d’Artaguette left the Prudhomme fort area along a trail that ran southeast to the Chickasaw villages. When within about forty miles of the Chickasaw settlement, d’Artaguette sent out two scouting parties to look for Bienville and to ascertain the position of the Chickasaw forts and houses. The second party sent, composed of four Iroquois, four Illinois, a Chickasaw adopted by the Miami, and a French Canadian named Framboise, discovered one of the Chickasaw villages and reported back to d’Artaguette. This village 3 The Long Road Narrows turned out to be Ogoula Tchetoka, one of the villages that formed the Chuckalissa division of the large prairie of the Chickasaw (Figures 4, 6, 8, and 9). As already mentioned, Chuckalissa was located in present-day northwest Tupelo on the south side of Old Town Creek, and it was described as the strongest town in the nation. The other Chuckalissa villages to the east were Amalata, Achoukouma , and Taskaouilo. The main Natchez refuge village bordered Chuckalissa on the east (Figures 6 and 7).3 Meanwhile, the Chickasaw had become aware of impending danger. According to William McMullin, an English trader present among the Chickasaw at this time, Squirrel King’s Chickasaw group settled on the Savannah River had warned a Chickasaw hunting party, in January 1735, that the French intended to come at about this time with a force strong enough to destroy them. In response, the Chickasaw placed themselves in a “posture of defence,”4 possibly by further constricting their northern prairie villages and building additional forts. On March 8 some Chickasaws heard the ominous sound of gunshots. The next day three scouting parties went out from Chuckalissa toward the northwest for about half a mile distance. One of the parties found bread on the ground, causing the Chickasaw to speculate that some of the French Indian allies had thrown it down to let the Chickasaw know that they were in danger. If this was the purpose of the discarded bread, the action could have resulted from disagreements between the French and their Indian allies. Quarreling between them on the march to the Chickasaw was indeed subsequently reported.5 Presumably the bread had been left there or lost by the Indian scouting party sent ahead by the French. Having ¤nally received the communication from Bienville at about this time, d’Artaguette held a council with the leaders of the Indian groups. The Iroquois stated that because nearly all the provisions had been consumed, it would be prudent to attack the Chickasaw village located by the scouting party, capture it and its fort, and wait for Bienville while subsisting on captured Chickasaw provisions. The other Indian leaders agreed and d’Artaguette approved the plan. The march was resumed and at 9 p.m. on March 24, the force was within three miles of...

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