Chickasaw Campaign of 1739 The Chickasaw Campaign of 1739 was a continuation of the Chickasaw Wars pursued by the French in Louisiana . In 1739 the French prepared extensively , but failed to engage the Chickasaw beyond some half hearted skirmishing , and finally accepted a negotiated peace . After the 1736 disasters of Ogoula Tchetoka and Ackia , Upper and Lower Louisiana were still separated by the obstinate Chickasaw . The Choctaw applied relentless pressure by ambushing hunting parties and traffic on the trading path to South Carolina . Alternately , the Choctaw devastated croplands and livestock after using superior numbers to force the Chickasaw into their forts . Under orders , Bienville immediately began to prepare a second grand expedition . Determined to remedy the lack of siege weapons and of coordination that had ruined his first , he obtained artillery , engineers and miners , and more soldiers . He planned for horses , meat on the hoof , forts for staging of men and supplies , and roads to carry the army and its accouterments . Bienville selected a route up the Mississippi River this time , after receiving assurance from an engineering survey that artillery could be transported overland from there to the Chickasaw villages . A supply depot was built on the western bank of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the St . Francis River . Fort de l ' Assumption was built across the Mississippi on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff , at the Margot ( present day Wolf ) River , to receive men from throughout New France . Three detachments reached the rendezvous in August , 1739 : de Noyau with a vanguard from New Orleans , de la Buissioniere from Fort de Chartres with militia and two hundred Illinois , and Céloron with a ' considerable number of Northern Indians ' and a company of cadets from Canada . As in 1736 the southern force was slow . Bienville finally arrived in November and reviewed the force which numbered 1200 Europeans and 2400 Indians , roughly twice the men available in 1736 . But the army had already suffered greatly from sickness . To this was added short rations , discontent and desertion during the ' imbecility ' of the coming months . 120 miles remained to reach the Chickasaw villages , an easy march for men with rifles , but a different matter for a siege train . As soldiers built carts and wagons , Bienville ruled that the route laid out by the engineer was too low , and that rains had made it impassable . By January 1740 a highland route was blazed , but in the meantime high water interrupted the supply of provisions and the position at Fort de l ' Assumption was becoming untenable . Even then the army remained , until in February a council of war decided that they could not march ' without hazarding the reputation of the king ' s arms ' . Finally , in March , Céloron struck out with his corps of cadets , one hundred regulars , and four or five hundred Indians . Traveling light , and following much the same route as d ' Artaguette in 1736 , this force quickly reached the villages . Céloron allowed his Indians to do what they would , and meanwhile remained open to any offers of peace . After several days of useless skirmishing , negotiations were opened . Suffering under steady Choctaw pressure , and impressed by the massive preparations at Fort de l ' Assumption , the Chickasaws had long been giving hints that they would be reasonable . The French demanded that all remaining Natchez be bound over . The Chickasaw replied that most of the Natchez were hunting or had left their lands permanently , but with delivery of several Natchez and French prisoners , peace was confirmed . The Chickasaw were quiet for several years afterward , but continued their trade with the British and had nothing to lose by resuming their aggression . A heavy army with siege equipment could not reach them through the wilderness . A light army could reach them , but was useless against their fortified villages . Bienville lamely claimed victory , and if it were not a victory , at least he had taken all possible precautions . But the expedition had cost more than three times the normal yearly expenses of the entire colony of Louisiana with no visible result . Hundreds of men had been lost to disease - including 500 of the 1200 Europeans at Fort de l ' Assumption . The incredible months - long delay there lacks definitive explanation , although internal politics and a reluctance to engage without heavy equipment have been advanced as possible reasons .