SWANTONj INDTAN TRIBES OF THE LOWER MTSSTSSTPPI VALLEY 237 



The soKlicr was retained. liowcNcr. and no answor <j:iven. Accord- 

 ingly, when the term set for ihc n'j)ly had exi)ired, the Natchez took 

 reven<re on the three prisoners remaining, of whom the two common 

 sohliers were desj)atclRHl <iiiickly, but the Sieur Mexplex with all 

 imaginable tortures — tortures which he bore, however, with the great- 

 est fortitude." About this time the Natchez were very much per- 

 turbed over the sayings of an old female shaman who announced that 

 they would soon be surrounded by many men, antl not long afterward 

 her prophecy was indeed fulfilled.'' 



At daybreak, ,January 27, 17'jO, Le Sueur, accompanied by a large 

 force of Choctaw, arrived u})()n the scene. Charlevoix states that 

 the number of warriors in this force was 700,'' Du Pratz makes it 

 1,500 to 1,(')00," and Dumont 1,()00.^ If we are to believe the first- 

 mentioned authority and Father Le Petit, the Choctaw made a sud- 

 den, unexpected attack, liberated most of the French })risoners,^ took 

 a nimiber of scalps and several prisoners,'^ and shut the Natchez up 

 in two forts they had built. What actually happened appears not 

 to have been so exciting. Dumont and Du Pratz, who had better 

 facilities for knowing matters of this kind, both state that the 

 Natchez did indeed arrive unexpectedly, early in the morning, but 

 that while still some distance away they began to shoot off their 

 guns in order to give fair warning, with the result that practically 

 all of their enemies escaped into the forts.* The only difficulty was 

 experienced by some whose dwellings lay at a distance, and among 

 these latter was the cabin of the white woman, in which were a large 

 part of the prisoners. These latter were the principal captives lib- 

 erated by the Choctaw, who plundered them in their turn of nearly 

 everything the Natchez had left them. What Charlevoix adds re- 

 garding the narrow escape of the Natchez from losing their powder 

 and being compelled to surrender or fly may be treated as probably 

 without any basis.' Nothing is more apparent in the action of the 

 ChoctaAv than their willingness to stay out of danger, and in the 

 succeeding days, until the arrival of the French troops, there was 

 constant shooting from a distance and no execution worth consid- 

 ering. 



" Dumont, M^m. Elist. sur La Louisiane, ii, 177-178 ; Du Pratz, Hist de La Louisiane, iii, 

 279-280. 



"Dumont, M€m. Hist, sur La Louisiane, ii, 180. 



<" Shoa's Cliarloviox. Hist. Louisiana, vi, 94. 



<* Du Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, iii, 28:5. 



^ Dumont, M6m. Hist, sur La Louisiane, iij 181. 



' Cliarlevoix gives .~)3 whites and 150 nesroes and negresses : Le Petit 50 whites, 

 including the tailor and carter, and lOfi negroes and negresses. 



"Charlevoix says they killed 80 men and took 16 women prisoners; Le Petit gives 

 the figures as 60 and 18. 



" Du Pratz and Dumont, op. cit. These forts were known to the French as Fort de la 

 Valeur and Fort do la Farine. 



« Shea's Charlevoix, Hist. Louisiana, vi, 96. 



