news of the massacre reached New Orleans
than active steps were taken for revenge. A force, largely made up of
Choctaw allies, assailed the fort of the Natchez. The latter asked for
peace, promising to release the French women and children they held as
prisoners. This was agreed to, and the Indians took advantage of it to
vacate the fort by stealth, under cover of night, taking with them all
their baggage and plunder. They took refuge in a secret place to the
west of the Mississippi, which the French had much difficulty to
discover.

The place found, a strong force was sent against the Indians, its route
being up the Red River, then up the Black River, and finally up Silver
Creek, which flows from a small lake, near which the Natchez had built a
fort for defence against the French. This place they maintained with
some resolution, but when the French batteries were placed and bombs
began to fall in the fort, dealing death to women and children as well
as men, the warriors, horrified at these frightful instruments of death,
made signals of their readiness to capitulate.

Night fell before terms were decided upon, and the Indians asked that
the settlement should be left till the next day. Their purpose was to
attempt to escape, as they had done before during the night, but they
were too closely watched to make this effective. Some of them succeeded
in getting away, but the great body were driven back into the fort, and
the next day were obliged to surrender at discretion. Among them were
the Grand Sun and the women Suns, with many warriors, women, and
children.

The end of the story of the Natchez is the only instance on record of
the deliberate annihilation of an Indian tribe. Some have perished
through the event of war, no other through fixed intention. All the
captives were carried to New Orleans, where they were used as slaves,
not excepting the Strong Arm, who had made such efforts to save the
French. These slaves were afterward sent to St. Domingo to prevent their
escape, and in order that the Natchez nation might be utterly rooted
out.

Those of the warriors who had escaped from the fort, and others who were
out hunting, were still at large, but there were few women among them,
and the nation was lost past renewal. These fugitives made their way to
the villages of the Chickasaws, and were finally absorbed in that
nation, "and thus," says Du Pratz, the historian of this affair, "that
nation, the most conspicuou