Chickasaw Wars The Chickasaw Wars were fought in the 18th century between the Chickasaw allied with the British against the French and their allies the Choctaws and Illini . The Province of Louisiana extended from Illinois to New Orleans , and the French fought to secure their communications along the Mississippi River . The Chickasaw , dwelling in northern Mississippi and western Tennessee , lay across the French path . Much to the eventual advantage of the British and the later United States , the Chickasaw successfully held their ground . The wars came to an end only with the French cession of New France to the British in 1763 according to terms of the Treaty of Paris . Choctaw Attacks . The governor of Louisiana and founder of New Orleans , Jean - Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville determined to stop Chickasaw trade with the British . In 1721 he was able to incite the Choctaw who began to snipe away at Chickasaw villages , and to ambush pack trains along the Trader ' s Path leading to Charleston , South Carolina . In response the Chickasaw regrouped their villages more tightly for defense , and cemented relations with their British source of guns by establishing a settlement at Savannah Town , South Carolina in 1723 . They blocked French traffic on the Mississippi River by occupying Chickasaw Bluff near present day Memphis , and bargained for peace with the Choctaw . Bienville himself was recalled to France in 1724 ( Gayarre 366 - 368 ) . On and off over the following years , the French successfully reignited the Indian conflict . The Choctaw pursued their familiar hit and run tactics : ambushing hunting parties , killing trader ' s horses , devastating croplands after using superior numbers to drive the Chickasaw into their forts , and killing peace emissaries . Illini and Iroquois occasionally pitched in from the north as well . This war of attrition effectively wore the Chickasaw down , reaching a crisis level in the late 1730s and especially the early 1740s . After a lapse due to strife within the Choctaw , the bloody harassment resumed in the 1750s . The Chickasaw remained obstinate , their situation forcing them to adhere even more closely to the British . In 1734 Bienville returned to Louisiana , and waged grand campaigns against them in the European style . Campaign of 1736 . Bienville assembled a force in Mobile which he led via Fort Tombecbé up the Tombigbee River ( Rive de la Mobile ) , intending to link with a northern force sweeping down from Fort de Chartres under Pierre D ' Artaguiette . On March 25 , 1736 the northern force , a mixture of French with their allies the Illini led by Chief Chicagou , met with disaster while attacking the village of Ogoula Tchetoka near present day northwest Tupelo , Mississippi . The French were crushed , and d ' Artaguiette was killed . Bienville remained unaware of d ' Artaguiette ' s disaster . On May 26 , 1736 he and his army of 1200 French and Choctaw were repulsed in an attack on the fortified Chickasaw village of Ackia in present day south Tupelo . Bienville returned to Mobile and New Orleans in disgrace . Campaign of 1739 . Bienville was instructed to try again . This time he obtained heavy siege equipment , and assembled his forces at Fort de l ' Assumption on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff ( present - day Memphis , Tennessee ) 120 miles to the east of the Chickasaw villages . Canada contributed troops and Indian allies under Charles Le Moyne de Longueuil and Pierre - Joseph Céloron de Blainville . The force was reduced by disease , and Bienville found himself unable to transport his artillery through the wilderness . After months of delay , Bienville came to terms without armed conflict . Supposed Campaign of 1752 . The disgraced Bienville was replaced by Marquis de Vaudreuil in 1742 , who continued to encourage Choctaw harassment . He eventually came to the view that another grand effort was needed to end the Chickasaw threat once and for all , and he pled his case to his superiors . Many sources describe such an expedition taking place in 1752 . It is to be noted that none of these sources mention any further details , beyond saying it was an exact repeat of 1736 . Dawson A . Phelps determined that the grand effort never took place ( Atkinson p . 78 ) , although there was a strong Choctaw attack ( one of many over the years ) instigated and supported by the French . Outcome . Armed to the teeth in their remote and heavily fortified villages , the Chickasaw maintained themselves albeit with great loss to both population and way of life . The French never defeated the Chickasaw . Enmity between the Illini and the Chickasaw continued long after the war .