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Although the peace negotiated in March 1740 ended direct French participation in the war against the Chickasaw, there was no respite for the Chickasaw; actually, harassment of them increased. Even while the peace negotiations were going on at Fort Assumption Red Shoe arrived at the Chickasaw villages with a force of 450 to 500 warriors. Upon their arrival in front of one of the large villages, possibly Tchitchatala, a Chickasaw chief came out unarmed and spoke as follows: “My brothers we are not your enemies at all. We have always desired peace and at the present time several of our chiefs have gone to ask the great chief of the French for it. . . . If you wish to ¤ght your enemies, ¤ght those two villages [Choukafalya and Falatchao]. Destroy them, if you can; we shall not be sorry because of it. It is they who have always worked to perpetuate the war that is destroying us.”1 Although the Choctaws did approach the two villages pointed out by the chief, no attack was made other than the usual hit-and-run skirmishing that for centuries had been the custom of southeastern Indians. According to Red Shoe these two villages were the only ones that wanted to continue the war with the Choctaw, and the warriors of the large village stood outside the fort unarmed when they returned. For the next two days Red Shoe’s warriors contented themselves with attacking the English and Chickasaw horses, killing more than twenty and capturing sixty.2 Apparently the majority of the Chickasaw tried to keep their word with regard to the expulsion of the Natchez. In June 1740 Bienville reported that the Natchez had become aware of the Chickasaw intention to rid their villages of them and that the majority had ®ed in fear prior to de Celeron’s expedition in February. According to Ymahatabe, however, some returned after the Fort Assumption peace, and the Chickasaw were not able to agree to kill them because of the continued hostilities from the Choctaw and from the northern Indians as well. That the northern Indians were continuing to attack “more mercilessly 5 The Road Lengthens than before”indicated to the Chickasaw that the French did not intend to abide by the peace and wanted the Natchez removed so they could more easily attack and destroy the Chickasaw. This was a perfectly logical assumption on the part of the bewildered and justi¤ably suspicious Chickasaw. Ymahatabe assured the French, however, that the Chickasaw had treated the returning Natchez so badly that “they had obliged them to ®ee” and thus “the motive that had led [the French] to declare war on them no longer existed.” By the end of 1741 Bienville was convinced that the remaining Natchez had moved out of the nation , which indeed seems to have been the case.3 Regardless of the exodus of the Natchez, which Bienville had been demanding since 1733, he still would not entertain the idea of working for a peace between the Chickasaw and Choctaw. With the Natchez excuse no longer available , Bienville reverted to the old pre-Natchez excuse, probably the real one, for refusing to cease the hostilities against the Chickasaw. In September 1741 he wrote: “I do not think that it is good policy in the present circumstances to procure peace with the Choctaws for them [the Chickasaws] because we should always have to fear that the English under cover of this reconciliation might¤nd means to make their way into this latter nation where they would give us more anxiety than ever.”4 In the meantime, the Choctaw continued their harassment of the Chickasaw . In September 1740 another large Choctaw force returned to cut the Chickasaw corn. Again, as in April, Chickasaws in the large prairie objected to being attacked in retaliation for the death of Red Shoe’s sixteen men and directed them to “the two villages of the small prairie who alone were guilty of these murders.”5 This statement may indicate that following the mysterious abandonment of the small prairie in 1737 the village of Falatchao was later moved there and Choukafalya was reestablished in that prairie. This speculation is based on the 1740 confrontation discussed above, when a Chickasaw chief tried to persuade the Choctaws under Red Shoe to attack Choukafalya and Falatchao rather than his village because those two were the ones “who have always worked to perpetuate the war.” Bienville continued to encourage the Choctaw attacks, especially after having realized...

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