NATCHEZ

city, seat (1817) of Adams county, southwestern Mississippi, U.S., on the Mississippi River (there bridged to Vidalia, La.), 70 mi (113 km) south-southwest of Vicksburg. Established in 1716 as Ft. Rosalie by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, it survived a massacre (1729) by Natchez Indians for whom it was later named. It passed from France to England (1763) at the conclusion of the French and Indian Wars, and was a haven for Loyalists during the American Revolution. In 1779 it was captured by a Spanish expedition under Bernardo de Glvez and remained under Spanish dominion until 1798 when the U.S. took possession and made it the first capital (17981802) of the Territory of Mississippi. During the ensuing years it burgeoned as the commercial and cultural centre of a vast and rich cotton-producing area. It was the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace (an overland trail from Nashville, Tenn.) and an important river port. During the Civil War it was bombarded by a Federal gunboat and was occupied in July 1863. Natchez recovered from its post-Civil War decline to become one of the state's leading industrial centres. Timber, petroleum, and natural gas reserves have enticed manufacturers of rubber, wood, paper, and textile products. It is regarded as the stereotype of the antebellum South and is noted for its annual Spring Pilgrimage, during which antebellum homes such as Longwood (c. 1840) and Stanton Hall (185159) are open to the public and historical pageants are held. Connelly's Tavern (c. 1795, restored) was the gathering place for adventurers who sailed the river or travelled the Natchez Trace. Natchez Junior College was established in 1885, and the Natchez Center is a branch campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. A few miles to the east in Washington is Historic Jefferson College (180263) where Jefferson Davis went to school; it was on its campus under Burr Oaks that Aaron Burr was given a preliminary trial for treason, and there the state's first constitutional convention was held (March 1, 1817) in a Methodist meeting house. Homochitto National Forest and Emerald Indian Mound (dating from 13001600) are nearby. Inc. 1803. Pop. (1990) 19,460. North American Indian tribe of the Macro-Algonquian linguistic phylum that inhabited the east side of the lower Mississippi River. In the early 18th century at the time of the first French settlement, the tribe numbered about 6,000, living in nine villages between the Yazoo and Pearl rivers near the site of the present-day city of Natchez, Miss. Relations between the French settlers and the Natchez were friendly at first; but three French-Natchez warsin 1716, 1723, and 1729resulted in the French, with the aid of the Choctaw, driving the Natchez from their villages. Some 400 Natchez were captured and sold into the West Indian slave trade; the remainder took refuge with the Chickasaw and later with the Upper Creeks and Cherokee. When the latter tribes were forced to move west into Indian Territory (present Oklahoma), the Natchez went with them. A few Natchez retained their language into the early 20th century, and there were still a few tribe members living in northeastern Oklahoma in the late 20th century. The Natchez, allied in general culture to other Muskogean tribes, were a primarily agricultural people. They made clothes by weaving a fabric from the inner bark of the mulberry, excelled in potterymaking, and built large templessimilar to those of the Creeksof wattles and mud set upon eight-foot mounds. Their dwellingsbuilt in precise rows around a plaza or common groundwere four-sided and constructed of sun-baked mud and straw with arched cane roofs. They were sun worshippers, ruled by a monarch called the Great Sun, who had the power of life and death over them. He maintained several wives and a household of volunteers to work and hunt for him; all were killed at his death, along with any others who wished to join him in the afterlife. Integral to their religion was a perpetual fire kept burning in the temple. It was allowed to die once a year on the eve of their midsummer festival, the Busk, or Green Corn, ceremony (similar to that of the Creeks). The fire was remade at dawn of the festival day, and all the village fires were then made anew from the sacred fire. The Natchez were notable for the peculiar caste system, in which the people were classified as suns, nobles, honoured people, and commoners. The chief, or Great Sun, and the heads of the villages claimed descent from the sun. Persons of the sun caste were not allowed to intermarry. Rather, they were required to marry commoners. The offspring of female suns and commoners were suns, while the children of male suns and commoners belonged to the caste of honoured people.