The cause of the Natchez Revolt was a land dispute. In order to keep the peace between Indians and whites and to encourage settlement by whites, the French had constructed Fort Rosalie overlooking the Mississippi River and the main Natchez village. The Natchez, many of whom were sympathetic to the French, accepted the fort and the garrison of French soldiers in their midst. Tattooed Serpent and Tattooed Arm, the brother and mother of the Great Sun, were especially devoted allies of the French. When Tattooed Serpent died, however, his brother began listening more to the tribe’s anti-French faction.
Sieur Chepart, recently appointed the new governor of Louisiana, was oblivious to the factions within the tribe and careless in his treatment of Native peoples. He decided he wanted the site of the Natchez Great Village for his plantation and ordered immediate evacuation by the villagers. Rather than submit to this insult, the Great Sun, his priests, and his warriors plotted a rebellion.
At the time of the first autumn frost of 1729, Natchez war parties attacked Fort Rosalie and other French settlements along the Mississippi River, killing about 250 and capturing about 300 more. One of those captured was Sieur Chepart. The Natchez warrior-nobles wanted their revenge, but they did not want to soil their weapons with the blood of this French scoundrel. So they had a Stinkard club him to death.
The YAZOO, a people living along the Mississippi north of the Natchez, joined them in the uprising and killed a missionary and French soldiers stationed in their territory. But the CHOCTAW to the east, who had promised the Natchez support, sided with the French instead, as did the TUNICA to the north.
The French sent two invading armies against the Natchez and succeeded in defeating and dispersing the tribe. Natchez captives were sold into slavery in the Caribbean. Other Natchez managed to hide out for a time and keep up their resistance, but without much effect. Some survivors settled with other tribes of the region, especially the CHICKASAW and CREEK. They were relocated to the Indian Territory with others in the 1830s where some settled also among the CHEROKEE. The last fluent speaker of the Natchez language, Watt Sam, died in 1965. Yet a number of individuals having Natchez ancestry continue to sing Natchez songs and tell Natchez stories in Oklahoma, and other tribes have adopted their rituals.
World History
