240 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



the morrow, but the order was not executed.'* On the 23d a battery 

 of three 4-pounders was planted within 180 fathoms of Fort de la 

 Valeur.'' Afterward the trench Avas opened 15 yards farther and 2 

 mantelets placed there and a gun charged with grape. Word was 

 then sent to the Natchez that unless they surrendered the prisoners 

 they held the fort would be reduced to powder, and the latter replied 

 by sending out the wife of the Sieur Desnoyers with their proposals. 

 She was retained, how^ever, and no answer sent. They immediately 

 opened fire upon the Natchez fort, but it was returned with such 

 good effect that the cannoneer and 3 men of the battery were 

 wounded.'" The same day the Choctaw informed their allies that 

 they desired to withdraw. These disheartening circumstances, added 

 to the fact that ammunition was beginning to fail, determined the 

 French to withdraw to the bank of the Mississippi, and an officer 

 and 2 engineers were sent to select a position; At the same time it 

 would seem that the Natchez themselves were grown weary of the 

 war and of being closely immured for such a long period.^' While 

 the cannonade just referred to was still in progress a white flag had 

 been hung out from Fort de la Farine and after the French had 

 ceased firing Ette-actal, the Indian, spoken of elsewhere in connec- 

 tion with the burial of the Tattooed-serpent, came out.^ On behalf 

 of the Natchez he offered to release all the prisoners in their posses- 

 sion, provided that the French would withdraw to the bank of the 

 river; otherwise they threatened to burn them to death. Moved by 

 a desire to save the lives of these latter, as well as by the increas- 

 ing difficulties of his own position, the doubtful reliability of his 

 troops, and disquieting rmnors of Choctaw treachery and the ap- 

 proach of English and Chickasaw forces, De Loubois decided to 

 accept these terms, and on the following day, February 24, the 

 batteries were dismantled, while on their side the Natchez liberated 

 the captives, both white and colored, even sending in some of the 

 latter who would have preferred to remain.'' Two negroes who 

 were recognized as having taken part in the atttack of the 22d were 

 bound, and a third, resisting arrest and springing into the river to 

 escape, was shot.^ The French losses in this campaign were 1.5 men 

 out of 500." 



A few nights after this took place, Charlevoix says the night of 

 the 28th to 29th, but he is usually one day later in his dates than the 



" Charlevoix, Hist. Louisiana, vi^ 98. 



''The Claiborne Journal says 80 yards, evidently viTongly. 

 " Charlevoix, Hist. Louisiana, vi, 98 ; Ms. in Claiborne, lUst. Miss., i, 46-47. 

 ^ Charlevoix. Hist. Louisiana, vi, 99 ; Ms. in Claiborne, Hist. Miss., i, 47. 

 « Du Pratz, Hist, de La Louisiane, iii, 290. 



f It appears from authorities given above, however, that a few negroes were kept, see 

 p. 245 ; also Gayarrg, Hist. Louisiana, i, 434-435. 

 ".Journal in Claiborne, Hist. Miss., i, 47, 

 '^Gayarre, Hist. Louisiana, i, 432. 



