Historical Background Cartographic Evidence The route of the French army The Natchez fort. Artifacts at the fort site Burials Analysis.

Transcription

1 Brandon Prickett Vin Steponaitis

2 Historical Background Cartographic Evidence The route of the French army The Natchez fort Artifacts at the fort site Burials Analysis Conclusions

3 1682 First recorded contact with Europeans 1713 First permanent French settlement at the Natchez village 1729 After a series of conflicts, the Natchez uprising occurs 1730 The Natchez escape to modern-day Louisiana 1731 Governor Perier s forces discover the new Natchez fort in Louisiana *From Barnett (2007) and Swanton (1911).

4 Green (1936) addressed where the Natchez escaped to in 1730 Green s conclusion based on cartographic, geographic, and historical evidence was that the Natchez fort was near modern-day Sicily Island, LA. However, Green did not have the complete body of cartographic evidence at his disposal, and no archaeological evidence from Sicily Island (other than a large presence of musket balls).

5 In Archives Nationales d'outre-mer, catalog number: ANOM 04DFC 45B.

6 Found in Bibliotheque Nationale de France, catalog number: BNF Ge SH 18 pf 138 bis div 3 p 10; formerly ASH 138 bis 3-10.

7 as it [the army] left the 9th of December, with a battalion of Marines with orders to wait for me at the village of Carlesten. (Perier in Green:552)

8 ...Bayagoulas, from which I left only on the 22 nd [of December], the large vessels not having been able to join me sooner. (Perier in Green:552)

9 ...my brother, who joined me in spite of the snow and ice at the Tunicas on the 27 th [of December]. (Perier in Green:553)

10 The 28 th [of December], I had my brother to continue the march almost to the mouth of Red River. (Perier in Green:553)

11 we were to attack them by Red River, from which we all left the 11th [of January] to find the enemy. (Perier in Green:553)

12 That which is dotted is from the report of the natives of the country; the Mississippi is from the map of M. Pauger. (Green 1936:572) Green considered the dotted line to be a route suggested by the American Indians who were allied with the French. Problems with this suggestion: The water system that the dotted line follows would not have been able to support an army of the size that Perier was commanding (Green 1936:571). The map key says from the report, not a suggested route from.

13

14

15 The split would have been near January 14 th, according to the dated map. a division of the inhabitants departed to show itself on the Natchez highland, in order to make it appear to their scouts that we were going to attack them by the [Mississippi] river (Perier in Green 1936:553) Green s natives of the country = gens du pays The word gens here could simply mean people (Kathleen Duval, personal communication, 2013). Could Perier s inhabitants be the map s gens du pays? Possible interpretation: That which is dotted is from the report of the inhabitants; the Mississippi is from the map of M. Pauger

16 we arrived on the 19th at exactly one league from the Fort (Perier in Green:553)

17 Found in Bibliotheque Nationale de France, catalog number: BNF Estampes Vd 21(3) Fol.

18

19

20

21

22 Surface collecting of musket balls has occurred near Sicily Island since the 19 th century (Green 1936:566). The 10 burials discussed here, found by Jack Shaffer, were the first archaeological finds from the area that were not collected from the surface. The drawing below and the burial drawings in the slides that follow are from Shaffer s personal notes.

23 (a) 2 keys, (b) potsherd (Fatherland Incised), (c) brass strap, (d) Jesuit rings, (e) brass triangle, (f) musket barrel, (g) iron scissors, (h) thimble, (i) hawk bell, (j) teeth, (k) beads (IIA1, IIA3, IIA7, IIB2), (l) possibly an iron turn bolt, (m) unknown brass object, (n) melted musket ball, (o) gun parts (flint lock, lock plate, frizzen, etc.; area outlined), (p) copper bracelet, (q) brass earbob, (r) stone, and a (s) buckle.

24 (a) 1 large axe, (b) flints, (c) nails, (d) very small bell, (e) beads (IIA7, WIC1), (f) unidentified iron object, (g) 2 scissors, (h) piece of blade, (i) musket balls, (j) pot (Fatherland Incised) with flint, (k) small pot (Barton Incised) with musket balls, (l) button, (m) large spoon, (n) 2 keys, (o) 4 ear coils (iron), (p) small gun parts (area outlined), (q) 1 ramrod pipe, (r) 1 brass trigger guard, and (s) vermilion.

25 (a) Metal thread in right elbow joint, (b) blade, and (c) 3 pots (Fatherland Incised).

26 (a) Short string of white beads (IIA1, IIA7), (b) musket ball, (c) Jesuit ring, (d) copper wire, and a (e) key.

27 (a) 3 groups of pins, (b) beads (IIA1, IIA3, IIA5, IIA7, IVA1, IIB13, WIIIA8), (c) musket balls, (d) 14 Jesuit rings, (e) copper wire bracelet, (f) vermilion, and a (g) long necklace.

28 (a) 7 bells, (b) 2 small nails, (c) beads (IIA1), (d) earbob, (e) 2 buttons, (f) pottery (Addis Plain), and (g) potsherds (Fatherland Incised, Addis Plain).

29 (a) 1 pot (Fatherland Incised), (b) 1 pot (Addison Plain), (c) 1 large hand wrought nail, (d) scissors, (e) musket balls, (f) beads (IIA1, IIA3, IIA7, W1A3, W1C1), (g) lead cylinder, (h) part of blade, (i) knife spring or gun part, (j) iron part, (k) potsherds (Fatherland Incised and Addis Plain), and a (l) pewter spoon.

30 (a) Cast pewter button, (b) pottery (Addison Plain), (c) tacks, (d) musket balls, and a (e) possible crinoid fossil.

31 (a) Pot (Fatherland Incised), and an (b) iron rod.

32 (a) Beads (IIA1, IVA1), (b) iron coils, (c) iron spoon, (d) stone pipe, (e) pottery (Fatherland Incised), and (f) 5 composite buttons (could not retrieve).

33 Ceramics Jewelry and Buttons Weapons and Ammunition Miscellaneous Metal and Stone Objects

34 Addis Plain pottery. Key: (a) Burial 3 (b) Burial 6 (c) Burial 6 (d) Burial 7 (e) Burial 8 (f) Burial 6

35 Fatherland Incised pottery. Key: (a) Burial 9 (b) Burial 7 (c) Burial 3 (d) Burial 3 (e) Burial 3 (f) Burial 10 (g) Burial 2

36 Barton Incised Pottery

37 Key: (a) IIA1 and IIB13, found in Burial 5 (b) IIA1 and IIA5, found in Burial 5 (c) IIA7 found in Burial 4 (d) IIA7 found in Burial 4 (e) IIA1 found in Burial 7 (f) IIA7 found in Burial 7 (g) IIA7 and IIA1 found in Burial 7 (h) IIA7 and W1C1 found in Burial 7 (i) IIA7 found in Burial 7 (j) IIB2 and IIA7 found in Burial 1 (k) IIA1 found in Burial 5 (l) IIA1 and IIA7 found in Burial 5 *Classifications from Brain (1979, 1988).

38 Key: Top found in Burial 5 Bottom found in Burial 4

39 Key: (a) Burial 2 (b) Burial 2 (c) Burial 10 (d) Burial 10 (e) Burial 6 (f) Burial 1

40 Key: (a) Burial 5 (b) Burial 4

41 Key: (a) Burial 6 (b) Burial 2 (c) Burial 1

42 Key: (a) Burial 6 (b) Burial 2

43 Key: (a) Burial 2 (b) Burial 2 (c) Burial 1 (d) Burial 2

44 From Burial 2.

45 Both spherical and misshapen; found in many of the burials.

46 Key: Top found in Burial 3 Bottom found in Burial 2

47 Key: (a) Burial 2 (b) Burial 1 (c) Burial 7

48 Key: Top found in Burial 1 Bottom found in Burial 4

49 Found in Burial 2.

50 Key: Top found in Burial 2 Bottom found in Burial 7

51 Found in Burial 1.

52 Found in Burial 2.

53 Found in Burial 1.

54 Found in Burial 10.

55 Presence of Fatherland Incised and Barton Incised similar to that of the Fatherland site (Neitzel 1965, 1983). Evidence of weaponry (musket balls, gun parts, blades) Possible evidence of violent deaths (In Burials 2 and 5 musket balls are found within the chest of individuals) No musket balls lodged in bones could be that they fell in during burial. Why were the burials located within the fort walls? Would the dead have been buried during such a short (5 days) siege?

56 New cartographic evidence supports and further explains Green s (1936) conclusion that the Natchez fort was in modern-day Sicily Island, LA. Green s dotted-line problem was disambiguated due in part to the date map that he did not have access to. Maps of the Natchez fort made by the French line up with the modern geography at the Sicily Island site and the distribution of artifacts recorded by Shaffer. The artifacts support the idea that the site was occupied by the Natchez.

57 I am grateful for the Michael P. And Jean W. Carter Research Award Fund for funding my trip to Baton Rouge to examine the artifacts described here in person. A large thanks is due to my family who traveled with me all the way to Louisiana to see the site at Sicily Island. Another large thank you goes to Joseph V. "Smokye" Frank III for being my guide while I was there and for driving me to the site from Natchez. Amanda Hayes was an invaluable help toward the project, without whom the original photo editing of the artifacts would have likely driven me insane. Kathleen DuVal and Brett Riggs gave insight on this project I could not have done without, and for that I am grateful. A thanks is due to Dennis Jones and Charles Chip McGimsey for helping to preserve the artifacts from Sicily Island. And then, of course, the man who found these artifacts and allowed me to research them in the first place, Jack Shaffer. He was an excellent host and took every measure to encourage my project on the Natchez Fort.

58 Barnett, James F The Natchez Indians: A History to University of Mississippi, Jackson. Brain, Jeffrey P Tunica Treasure. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge Tunica Archaeology. Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge Green, John A Governor Perier's Expedition against the Natchez Indians. The Louisiana Historical Quarterly 19.3: Neitzel, Robert S Archeology of the Fatherland Site; the Grand Village of the Natchez. Anthropological Papers of the AMNH Vol. 51, Pt. 1. American Museum of Natural History Digital Repository, New York The Grand Village of the Natchez Revisited: Excavations at the Fatherland Site, Adams County, Mississippi, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson. Swanton, John Reed 1911 Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley and Adjacent Coast of the Gulf of Mexico. G.P.O., Washington.