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> 0 > > > Chapter Four THE REBELLION IN THE FALL OF 729, the plantations at the Natchez were brimming with row upon row of shoulder-high tobacco plants. Of particular interest to the concessionaires were the plants being grown from seeds stolen from the English in Virginia, which the Company of the Indies hoped would please discriminating French smokers. The White Earth or Belle-Isle concession was the Natchez colony’s largest tobacco producer, with about 280 acres in cultivation.2 The other big Natchez concession, St. Catherine, was enjoying a visit from one of its owners , Jean-Daniel Kolly, who had made the journey from New Orleans with his son to inspect his investment.3 Although estimates vary somewhat, around four hundred Europeans and two hundred Africans were living in the Natchez area that year.4 After a long struggle, the colony was on the verge of prosperity. If anything placed a damper on the Natchez colonists’ spirits that fall, it was the unpredictable and sometimes abusive behavior of their highest-ranking officer, Commandant Chépart.5 Even though he had commanded at Fort Rosalie for less than a year, Chépart had already been reprimanded by his superiors at New Orleans for mistreating one of his officers. The offended officer happened to be the memoirist Dumont, who was stationed at Fort Rosalie when Chépart assumed command.6 Instead of being replaced, Chépart had received a pardon from Governor Perier and was allowed to return to the Natchez post. It was an act the governor would soon have reason to regret.7 In addition to creating problems within his command, Chépart was apparently exercising poor judgement in the way that he behaved toward the Natchez. The two authorities on this situation, Du Pratz and Dumont, were both in New Orleans at the time and their accounts, which differ significantly, are probably based upon hearsay. Dumont’s recent feud with Chépart almost certainly would have colored his portrayal of his former commander. At any rate, it seems that Chépart apparently desired to establish a plantation on land already occupied by > 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 2 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3 < THE REBELLION northwestern Franklin County. Although at this point we can only speculate, the possibility exists that a small band of Natchez Indians chose to risk capture and remain in the Natchez area. If so, then the group may have been a remnant of the renegade White Apple settlement district.56 As already mentioned, the majority of Natchez Indian refugees sought safety with the Chickasaws, arguably the most powerful military force in the region. During the 730s, the Chickasaws had to fend off numerous raids by their neighbors the Choctaws, which were actively encouraged by Bienville. The governor’s overriding motivation for promoting Choctaw-Chickasaw enmity was his fear that the two nations might unite under English leadership, with predictable consequences for French Louisiana. Now that the majority of Natchez refugees were residing in the Chickasaw villages, Bienville had yet another reason to promote the Choctaw raiding parties. By the mid-730s, the Choctaws were growing weary of doing all of Bienville’s fighting for him, and some of the Chickasaw chiefs were favoring the idea of surrendering the Natchez to the French to establish peace. As James Atkinson has observed, all of the parties involved seemed to wish for an end to the fighting except Bienville and the French. Bienville apparently rejected a 733 peace proposal from the Chickasaws, although the circumstances surrounding the terms of the proposal are unclear.57 By 735, in response to pressure from the Choctaw raids and from some of the Chickasaws themselves, many of the Natchez had moved further east and eventually settled among the tribes close to the English, notably the Cherokees and Creeks.58 Perhaps as many as one hundred Natchez men and their families remained with the Chickasaws in 735, forming a separate village.59 The following year, the French and Choctaws launched the war with the Chickasaws that Bienville had advocated since his return to Louisiana.60 For the first time in his long career, Bienville was handed a defeat, a victory over the French that the Chickasaws would repeat in 740 with Bienville’s second Chickasaw campaign.6 ...

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