SWANToNl INDIAN TKIUKS OK T 1 1 K I^OWKK M ISSISSl I'PI VAT.l.KV 223 



tlircateiKHl (hat lie would x'lid the diicr. IxMiiid hand and I'ooL to New 

 Orleans." 



Iiuinodiatidy alter thi^ the Natchez hehl several secret councils, in 

 which it was linally aijieed that the only course hd't to escape French 

 exactions was to destroy them entirely, and witli this end in view 

 they sent embassies to other tribes to induce them to unite in a licneral 

 attack upon the colonists.'' The extent of this conspiracy has never 

 been really known, but there is reason to believe that it was confined to 

 the Natchez. Chickasaw, and Choctaw. The other tribes which might 

 have served the purposes of the conspirators were small and largely 

 in the French interest. It seems strange that the Yazoo and Koroa, 

 who had often shown anti-French inclinations, were not informed, 

 yet it would ap})ear from later events that they had been left out. 



According to some French writers the real movers in the conspiracy 

 were not the Natchez at all. but the Chickasaw, who had been insti- 

 gated by the English, and it api)ears from the following statement of 

 Adair that there was some truth in this accusation : 



Nouie of the old iS'ahcliee Iiulians who formerly lived on tlie Mississipj)!, 200 

 miles west of the Choktah, told uie the French demanded from everyone of 

 their warriors a dressed buckskin, without any value for it — i. e., they taxed 

 them: but that the warriors hearts fivew very cross, and loved the deer- 

 skins. * * * As those Indians were of a peaceable and kindly disposition, 

 numerous and warlike, and always kept a friendly intercourse with the Chik- 

 kasah. who never had any good will to the French, these soon understood 

 their heart burnings, and by the advice of the old English traders, carried them 

 white pipes and tobacco in their own name and that of South Carolina, per- 

 suading them with earnestness and policy to cut oft" the French, as they were 

 resolved to enslave them in their own beloved land. The Chikkasah succeeded 

 in their embassy: But as the Indians are slow in their councils on things of 

 great imi)ortance. though equally close and intent, it was the following year 

 before they could put their grand scheme in execution.'' 



AVhile it may be deduced from this statement that the Chickasaw, 

 and the English through them, had fanned the flames of discontent 

 and promised the Natchez support, the fact remains that discontent 

 alread}' existed, althotigh, indeed, Adair throws the causes of it a year 

 farther back. There being no French post near the Chickasaw, the 

 position of the hitter was one of passive sympathy, however, and the 

 only active allies the Natchez appear to have had at the time Avere the 

 Choctaw, who were to attack New Orleans and the other settlements 

 on the lower river. In order to strike their blows at the same time 

 each of the parties to the conspiracy w^as given a bundle of sticks, 

 one of which Avas to be withdrawn and destroyed each day.'' 



" Dumont, M^m. Hist, sur La Louisiane. ii, 131-184; Dn Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, 

 III, 2.s:!-2;i0. 



"Ibid., and following: Shea's Charlevoix. Hist. Louisianii, vi, 70-80. 



' .Vdfiir, Hist. Amor. Ind., ">oZ-"r,4. 



" Dnmont. Mom. Hist, siir La Loiiisiano. ii. l.",4-l.S6: Du Pratz. Hist, do La Louisiane, 

 III, 237-244 ; Bartram, Travels through N. .\mor., 432 ; Claiborne, Hist Miss., i, 48-49. 



