﻿G8 
  HISTORICAL 
  OUTLINE. 
  

  

  year, 
  commissioned 
  James 
  Robinson, 
  a 
  friend 
  and 
  com- 
  

   panion 
  of 
  Willing, 
  who 
  with 
  thirty 
  or 
  forty 
  followers 
  

   came 
  to 
  Natchez, 
  to 
  carry 
  out 
  the 
  enterprise 
  first 
  under- 
  

   taken 
  by 
  Willing 
  with 
  the 
  view 
  of 
  securing 
  the 
  allegi- 
  

   ance 
  of 
  the 
  inhabitants 
  to 
  the 
  United 
  States. 
  Finding 
  

   the 
  country 
  in 
  the 
  possession 
  of 
  the 
  Spaniards, 
  the 
  ex- 
  

   pedition 
  was 
  broken 
  up 
  and 
  dispersed, 
  and 
  the 
  leader 
  

   soon 
  afterwards 
  died. 
  In 
  July, 
  1781, 
  Don 
  Carlos 
  de 
  

   Grand 
  Pre, 
  Lieutenant-Colonel 
  of 
  the 
  Regiment 
  of 
  

   Louisiana, 
  came 
  to 
  Natchez 
  as 
  the 
  civil 
  and 
  military 
  

   commandant 
  of 
  the 
  District. 
  

  

  Galvez, 
  in 
  the 
  meantime, 
  had 
  .reduced 
  Mobile, 
  and 
  

   was 
  besieging 
  Pensacola, 
  when, 
  with 
  a 
  confidence 
  in 
  the 
  

   invincibility 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  arms 
  which 
  the 
  result 
  did 
  

   not 
  justify, 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  leading 
  inhabitants 
  of 
  the 
  dis- 
  

   trict, 
  among 
  whom 
  Thaddeus 
  Lyman, 
  son 
  of 
  General 
  

   Phineas 
  Lyman 
  (who 
  has 
  before 
  been 
  spoken 
  of 
  in 
  con- 
  

   nection 
  with 
  his 
  extensive 
  grant 
  of 
  land 
  under 
  man- 
  

   damus 
  of 
  the 
  king), 
  and 
  his 
  associates 
  were 
  prominent, 
  

   offered 
  to 
  produce 
  a 
  diversion 
  in 
  favor 
  of 
  the 
  British 
  

   cause 
  by 
  taking 
  Fort 
  Panmure, 
  and 
  re-establishing 
  the 
  

   British 
  authority. 
  

  

  The 
  persons 
  who 
  took 
  the 
  lead 
  in 
  this 
  enterprise, 
  ac- 
  

   cording 
  to 
  the 
  late 
  Calvin 
  Smith, 
  and 
  given 
  as 
  the 
  re- 
  

   collections 
  of 
  his 
  boyhood, 
  during 
  which 
  he 
  witnessed 
  

   the 
  scenes 
  of 
  rebellion 
  and 
  resistance 
  to 
  the 
  Spanish 
  

   authorities, 
  were 
  Colonel 
  Anthony 
  Hutchins, 
  Captain 
  D. 
  

   Blomart, 
  a 
  late 
  British 
  officer, 
  Jacob 
  Winfrey, 
  Christian 
  

   Bingaman, 
  the 
  two 
  Alstons, 
  and 
  Turner 
  Mulkey, 
  a 
  Bap- 
  

   tist 
  preacher. 
  An 
  application 
  was 
  made 
  to 
  Governor 
  

   Chester 
  at 
  Pensacola 
  for 
  aid. 
  Distrusting 
  his 
  ability 
  of 
  

   maintaining 
  Pensacola 
  against 
  the 
  assailants, 
  the 
  gov- 
  

   ernor 
  hesitated 
  to 
  encourage 
  the 
  revolt, 
  fearing 
  that 
  the 
  

   Natchez 
  inhabitants 
  might 
  be 
  precipitated 
  into 
  an 
  un- 
  

  

  