The Tupelo journal. (Tupelo, Miss.) 1876-1924, 1906-08-10
TUpELo MISSISSIPPI FRIDAY AUGUST 10 1906
PEN.PICTURES OF THE OLDEN Time

THE 0LDEN Time !
:. CLAYTON.
-
floated up and down the great
Mississippi river and laid claim
to all the vast outlying domains
in every direction and to an in
definite extent, on behalf of their
great King, Louis the fourteenth.
and called it Louisiana, in honor
of their sovereign. In this vast
territory the present site of the
town of Tupelo was included, but,
unfortunately for the French, it
was in the possession of this
brave and warlike Chickasaw
tribe Of Indians, largely under
the influence Of the British and
controlled by their counsels. In
1871 Bienville was then Govern
or Of this vast tract of country
and in command of the French
forces and their allies, the disaf-
fected Choctaws. In order to
break the power and destroy the
prestige of this warlike tribe and
possess their territory and enjoy
their cultivated fields, Bienville
MANNED an expedition from Mo-
bile by way of the Tombigbee
river, and which was to debark
at Cotton Gin Port,i in a few miles
of the present town of Amory on
the Frisco railroad. He had a
very inefficient force, consisting
of negroes and Choctaws, some
thing like twelve hundred in all,
and many of them being Choc-
taws. The..force landed at Cot
ton Gin Port and moved on the
Chickasaw camp and fort in a
northwest direction, passing over
the ground now occupied by Tu-
pelo as best can be cleaned from
the account, and the finding Of an
old abandoned cannon many
years ago near the southern ter
mination of Church street, which
must have been lost by Bienville
in his retreat. The fort which
Bienville attacked was located
about five miles northwest from
the present site Of the town OF
Tupelo, in what is now, and has
for many years been called the
Chickasaw Old Fields / have
seen the old fort several times
myself. It is in the shape OF a
parallelogram, with the longer
lines extending north and south.
Bienville had been promised the
assistance of a French officer
named D'Artagnette, who was
in charge of a post in Illinois.
But D Artagnette failing to reach
the scene of action, or anywhere
in the neighborhood, by the time
Bienville landed at Cotton Gin
Port, and the Choctaw braves be-
coming impatient of delay and
restraint, and some hopeful, but
ill advised French officers, IN
duced Bienville to make the at
tack without delay and without
waiting for the appearance OF
D'Artagnette and his forces,
which were to come by way OF
the Chickasaw Bluffs, being the
present site of the city of Men,
phis, Tenn. AS the Chickasaws
were at home in their own coun-
try, and had a strong fort, con-
structed of heavy embankments
Of earth, evidently constructed
under the supervision and man.
agement of the English, and
partly manned by Eoglishmen, it
was against Bienville's judgment
to make the attack at that time
and before his hoped for assist
ance came up; but he suffered
himself to be over ruled by the
clamors of his hot headed subal-
TENS and the fear of being de-
serted by his Choctaw as sistants:
So they marched to the attack OF
the Chickasaws and English in
the fort at Ackia, with drum $
beating and flies playing, amid
the how!s and yells of the boast
full Cho<taws. But the most they
did was to make a noise, the
French having to bear the brunt
of this fierce and bloody conflict.
Bienville led his men to the
charge time and again, but was
finally defeated with heavy loss,
and retreated as rapidly as he
could, the Chickasaw braves fail
ing to follow in pursuit, the re-
treating column passing through
the present site of the town OF
Tupelo. In this battle Bienville
lost many Of his French soldiers,
and among them some Catholic
priests were captured. In the
long ago, early in the nineteenth
century, old Father Stuart, a min
lister Of the Presbyterian church,
iabored among the ChickasaWs
as a missionary, and bad their
entire confidence, and he gave an
account of the manner in which
+ho Eronch nriSnnarS We're tor