250 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



occasion bad 20 men killed and as many wounded. Tliey Icilled of tlie Natchez 

 33 men and took 3 prisoners, wliom tliey bnrned." 



Perrier no sooner i-eceived this tidings than he dispatched a detachment, 

 under the command of the Chevalier d'Artagnette, to induce as many Indians 

 as he could to pursue the Natchez. At the same time he ordered the Baron de 

 Cresuay to make sure of all those who had surrendered to him. He obeyed, 

 but his adjutant, to whom he confided them, having allowed them to retain 

 their knives, they sprang, at a moment when it was least expected, on 8 

 muskets which were stacked, and with these kept up a fire till they were all 

 killed — men, women, and children to the number of 37. Their chief had gone 

 to New Orleans with 15 of his men; these were arrested and sent to Toulouse 

 Island, where they were put in irons. They found means to break them, but 

 had not time to escai)e and were all killed.'' 



Meanwhile the Flour chief, after the miscarriage of his plot at the Tonicas, 

 proceeded to join those of his nation who had escaped Perrier on the Black 

 river, led them to Natchitoches, where De St. Denys was with but a few 

 soldiers, and besieged him in his fort. St. Denys at once sent an express to 

 the commandant general to ask relief, and on the 21st of October Mr. De 

 Loubois set out from New Orleans at the head of 60 men to i-eenforce him. 

 He had advanced 6 leagues up Red river, and was only seven or eight days' 

 march fi'om the Natchitoches, when the Sieur Fontaine, sent by De St. Denys 

 to Perrier, informed him that the Natchez had been defeated: that the 

 Natchitoches had at the outset wished to attack them, but being only 40 

 against 200, they had been compelled to retire, and even abandon their village 

 after losing 4 of their men ; that the Natchez had seized the village, and in- 

 trenched themselves there; that then De St. Denys, having received a re- 

 enforcement of Assinais and Attacapas, who were joined by some Spaniards, 

 had attacked the enemy's intrenchments and killed 82, including all their 

 chiefs; that all the survivors had taken flight, and that the Natchitoches were 

 in close pursuit." 



This attack on Natchitoches seems to have been the last effort of 

 the Natchez as a tribe, and it was at the same time the only really 

 brilliant success that had croAvned the French arms. For this, how- 

 ever, they were indebted less to the efforts of their own soldiery than 

 to the personal qualities of their commandant, St. Denis, who pos- 

 sessed a deep knowledge of Indian character and was held in the 

 utmost regard by all of the surrounding people, even including the 

 Spaniards, to which nation his wife belonged. Particularly fortunate 

 for the victors was the death of the Flour chief, who, after the 

 capture and deportation of the head Sun's family, appears to have 

 gathered round himself all that represented the distinct nationality 

 of the Natchez. Although, as Charlevoix says, " there were enough 

 left to harass the settlers of Louysiana, and to interrupt trade," '' 



" Du rratz, Hist, de I-a Louisinne, ni, 300-302, and Gayarre, Hist. Louisiana, i, 439, 

 give this as a Tunica disaster almost involving the destruction of that tribe, but Charle- 

 voix is probably correct. Thoy also place its occurrence l)Cl"ore the Blade river expedition. 



'' In this same month — April, 1731 — Gayarrti states that the Natchez attacleed 4 boats 

 which Governor Perrier had sent up to the Arkansas. Two men were liilled, 2 others 

 wounded, and the rest, although amounting to 70, forced to retreat. — Hist. Louisiana, 

 I, 449. 



'^Shea's Charlevoix, Hist. Louisiana, vi, 114-118. Du I'ratz. Dumonl. and Gayarrg 

 place the fight at Natchitoclies in the period inunediatoly succeeding the massacre. 



" Ibid., 118. 



