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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I AM INDEBTED TO a number of people who helped in various ways with this project. First of all, I want to thank Joseph V. “Smokye” Frank III for reviewing an earlier version of this manuscript and for generously sharing with me his extensive library of archaeological reports and his considerable knowledge of local sites, artifacts, and French maps. Frank was a member of Robert Neitzel’s excavation crew during the 962 investigations at the Fatherland site, also known as the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians. He is a longtime associate of the Lower Mississippi Survey and an indefatigable discoverer of archaeological sites representing the Natchez and the French colonial period. Ian W. Brown reviewed an earlier version of this manuscript and provided many useful comments and suggestions. Brown and his Lower Mississippi Survey colleagues Jeffrey P. Brain and Vincas P. Steponaitis have freely shared their files and insight with me ever since my arrival in the Natchez Bluffs some twenty-five years ago. Likewise, I am grateful to many people with expertise in the Lower Mississippi Valley who responded to my requests for information, including John Connaway, Jessica Crawford, Shannon Dawdy, Patricia Galloway, Marvin Jeter, Brad Lieb, Joe Saunders, and Tom Scarborough. I am grateful to Christine Wilson, editor of the Journal of Mississippi History, for providing me with a copy of the Smithsonian’s Handbook of North American Indians, Southeast, Volume 4. Clark Burkett and Grover Stanton Jr. helped me with information about eighteenth-century firearms, Tamara Beane shared her knowledge of pottery making, Jean Claude Coullerez assisted with translations of eighteenth-century French texts, and Johnny Mott Guice helped me locate an archaeological site in Louisiana. Gordon Sayre graciously shared his translations of French colonial letters and narratives. Linda Walker Green and Nancy McLemore of > i > > > Copiah-Lincoln Community College’s Willie Mae Dunn Library made numerous publications available to me through the interlibrary loan program. I want to thank Craig Gill, editor-in-chief of University Press of Mississippi, and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive criticisms and many helpful comments. Angelique Caine copyedited the manuscript for University Press of Mississippi and made helpful suggestions about organization. I am grateful for assistance from the Louisiana State University Library and the Bibliothéque nationale de France. This book would not have been possible without the encouragement and support of Elbert R. Hilliard and H. T. Holmes, past and current directors respectively of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Holmes also loaned me his personal copy of Mississippi Provincial Archives, 704–743, French Dominion, Vol. III. Recognition should likewise go to the staff of the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians who labor to tell the story of the Natchez Indians to the public: (at the time of this writing) Rebecca Anderson, Fred Green, Allen Hunt, J. W. Jackson, Avis King, Sharon Ogden, and Janice Sago. Sharon Ogden also typed portions of an earlier version of the manuscript. Finally, thanks to Walter Biggins, Shane Gong, Valerie Jones, and all of their colleagues at University Press of Mississippi. > ii < ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...

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