Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Chickasaw Trail



Located at the corner of Adams and Danny Thomas. The following is from Paul R. Coppock’s “Mid-South Volume 4, 1979 – 1982.” 

The Chickasaws, who lived near what now is Pontotoc, MS, and hunted where Memphis is, have been acclaimed for their abilities to make war on land, but hardly anyone gives them credit for accomplishments on the river. There were four years in the era of the 1720s when the Indians closed the Mississippi to French boats. The French had colonies in Illinois and in Louisiana, with the river as the only path between them. The French trade suffered so much that they encouraged the Choctaws to attack the Chickasaw. They offered the rival tribe in Southern Mississippi bounties of a gun, a pound of powder, and two pounds of lead for each Chickasaw scalp. Holding their ground, the Chickasaw refused to meet French demands to throw out English traders, and the French were eventually forced to make peace.

Chickasaw Trail

Source: Shelby County Archives