Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness

Monroe Mission

"We're on a journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway traveling north from Natchez, Mississippi heading up to Nashville, Tennessee. Today we visit an exhibit located in the northern part of the Tombigbee National Forest, 15 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi.

"The Chickasaw's first contact with Christianity and with formal education came in 1822 at the site of MONROE MISSION. Many of the Indians who became Chickasaw leaders in Oklahoma were taught in one of three missionary schools. One of those schools was MONROE MISSION STATION.

"The church there was only 16 feet square, but 150 people were baptized in it. In school the students had classroom work, and in addition, the girls were taught spinning and weaving, and the boys, farming and carpentry. In 1827, eighty-one students attended school there, and that year they cultivated land, which totaled 100 acres.

"Join us next time when we will stop by the exhibit for Tockshish. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Tockshish

"About 12 miles south of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit called Tockshish. This exhibit tells about a site on the Old Natchez Trace known as Tockshish. This was McIntoshville, a community of white men and Indians built up around the home of the British Indian agent, John McIntosh, who settled there before 1770. When the old Indian trail was established as a national road in 1801, Tockshish became a relay station where post riders carrying mail between Nashville and Natchez could exchange weary horses for fresh ones. The post riders would then move on with their mail bags. For them it was a 5 day journey from there to Nashville and 7 days to Natchez. The RoadMusic® selection at this site speaks of the efforts of these post riders."

( Clip from song )

You'll reach the other side when you get there.
Never count the miles you've got to go.
Travel hard all day then you can say,
I've gone about as far as I can go.

"Join us next time on Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness when we will journey up to the Chickasaw Council House. I'm Frank Thomas, your guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Chickasaw Council House

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez to Nashville we visit an exhibit known as the Chickasaw Council House. It is 11 or 12 miles south of Tupelo and due east of the town of Pontotoc. Along the original Old Natchez Trace was an Indian Village "PONTATOCK." The village had a council house, which became the capitol of the entire Chickasaw Indian Nation in the 1820s.

"In the fall of 1832, President Andrew Jackson had John Coffee to negotiate with the Chickasaw, for their land, as Coffee had done with the Choctaw two years earlier at Dancing Rabbit Creek. Negotiations took place at The CHICKASAW COUNCIL HOUSE in Pontotoc and on October 20th 1832 the Chickasaw and the United States Government signed the Treaty of Pontatock Creek, where the Chickasaw relinquished all their lands.

"When the Chickasaw went west, they carried the name of Pontotoc with them -- there's also a county and village of Pontotoc in Oklahoma. By the way, Pontotoc, known as the land of the hanging grapes, is the Chickasaw name meaning "Cattail Prairies".

"Join us next time when we will visit Black Belt Overlook. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Black Belt Overlook

"About 10 miles south of Tupelo on the Natchez Trace Parkway is an exhibit called the BLACK BELT OVERLOOK.  

"In a much earlier age all this area lay under a part of the ocean, which extended up across much of the state of Alabama, entering what is now Mississippi from the east near Columbus. From there an arm of the ocean reached through here north up into Tennessee.  The ocean's marine life, shells and such, formed deposits of limestone that built up to be the land here. Over the ages the weathered limestone has become the black fertile soil of this area known as the Black Belt or Black Prairie, and it's also known as the Tombigbee Prairie.  This area is one of Mississippi's two richest growing areas and was once one of the nation's great cotton belts. Now it is mostly pasture land.

"The other major agricultural spot in Mississippi lies farther to the west but still it's in the northern part of the State. That area is the delta of the Mississippi River, which is on the other side of the state from here. The Delta lies between a belt of Loess soil and the Mississippi River, on a section of the river just South of Memphis, Tennessee, on down as far as Vicksburg.

"Join us next time when we will visit the TUPELO NATIONAL BATTLEFIELD. I'm Frank Thomas, you guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Tupelo National Battlefield

"Today on our journey along the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee, we are visiting the Tupelo National Battlefield. This exhibit is located within the town of Tupelo, and is a little more than a mile off the parkway.

"The Tupelo Battlefield Exhibit is not as extensive as the Civil War battlefields at Vicksburg or Shiloh, but it is a monument to the Union and Confederate armies that fought at the Battle of Tupelo on July 14, 1864. The Federal forces under General Andrew J. Smith were the victors.

"The whole thing had to do with General Sherman's campaign against Atlanta. Union supply lines for Sherman's March were in danger of being cut off by the troops of Confederate General Forest in northern Mississippi. The Union sent General A. J. Smith down from the north with 14,000 troops and engaged 10,000 Confederate troops under General Steven B. Lee with a right flank commanded by Forest. The battle consisted of five attacks by the Confederates that day. They were unable to penetrate the Union defenses.

"Join us on our next program. When we will take a look at a Chickasaw Indian village, and a DA AR marker at Old Town overlook for Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness. Line Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Chickasaw Indian Village

"Along the Natchez Trace Parkway, within the city limits of Tupelo, Mississippi is an exhibit shelter that tells of Chickasaw Village life in the early 1700s. There are foundations there that show the size and shape of both summer and winter homes and of a fort the group would use in times of danger.

"One threat to the Chickasaw came from the French following the Natchez Indian's massacre of French troops at Fort Rosalie in 1729 and the subsequent annihilation of the Natchez Tribe by the French. A few Natchez Indians took refuge with their friends the Chickasaws.  

"Ackia was a fortified Chickasaw Indian village, located within the city limits of present day Tupelo, Mississippi. Bienville had returned from France and he decided to annihilate the Chickasaws because they sheltered the escaped Natchez Indians and because the Chickasaw were allies with the British and constantly threatening communications between French colonies in Louisiana and those in Canada. Bienville lead a French and Choctaw army up from Mobile while d'Artaguette brought an army down from the north. D'Artaguette got to the Chickasaws first, and the Chickasaws killed him. Then along came Bienville. Though Bienville survived, the Chickasaws forced him and his troops back to Mobile.

"Join us next time and look at more of the battle. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Old Town Overlook

"The next stop along the parkway is in Tupelo Mississippi. It is OLD TOWN
OVERLOOK, where there's another marker erected by the Mississippi Daughters of the American Revolution. This one was presented to the City of Tupelo on November 19, 1914. The inscription mentions the Battle of Ackia. This is a partial quotation from that monument.

'Bienville fought the Battle of Ackia with the Chickasaw Indians near this spot May 26, 1736. Of the rage that repulsed him let it be recorded here, they die well who die for faith and home and native land.'

"Of course the entire story doesn't end with the Battle of Ackia, but it was the beginning of the end for the French in this region, because after Bienville's defeat at the hands of the Chickasaws, French influence within the region declined rapidly.

"This exhibit overlooks the flood plane of OLD TOWN CREEK as the Natchez Trace begins to make its way up into the Northeast hill section of Mississippi, and what are the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. OLD TOWN CREEK is one of the source streams of the Tombigbee River, which was first known as 'THE RIVER OF THE CHICKASAW'

"Join us next time when we will visit the TUPELO VISITOR CENTER. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Tupelo Visitor Center

"Today on our journey up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee we are visiting the TUPELO VISITOR CENTER, which also houses the parkway headquarters.

"Outside the center there's a half mile loop trail, the BEECH SPRING TRAIL. This gentle grade trail passes through an area of forest regrowth. Inside the center there is an orientation program as well as exhibits that take visitors from ancient times through Indian and white man settlements up to modern times. You can see Indian artifacts recovered from within the park boundaries, along with exhibits of equipment used by pioneers and
Kaintucks in the 1800s. There's also a scale model of a flat boat like those the boatmen used to float their products down the Mississippi River to Natchez and New Orleans.

"The visitor center is the best place to purchase books about the history of the Natchez Trace and about the Indians who first lived here, and about local and regional history around Civil War times. And of course there's a ranger on duty to answer questions about the Old Trace and the parkway.

"Join us next time when we will visit the graves of 13 unknown Confederate Soldiers. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Confederate Gravesites

(Music segue to BlueGray)

"Today we are visiting the graves of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers at a site just north of Tupelo, Mississippi as we make our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. A 5 minute walk takes visitors to the top of a small hill where these graves can be seen.

"By the time the American Civil War began much of the Old Natchez Trace was no longer used, but the war impacted the area as it did the entire nation. The soldiers whose graves lie atop this hill may have fought at the Battle of Shiloh, or they may have served under Nathan Bedford Forest, or as part of J. B. Hood's Army of Tennessee -- we may never know. The grave markers here have long since vanished and the names they carried, if ever they carried names, have disappeared with them. The National Park Service has erected 13 headstones. Each carries the inscription, UNKNOWN CONFEDERATE SOLDIER.

"In the background you hear another of the RoadMusic® pieces written to accompany the Natchez Trace Journey through this bit of Civil War History.

(brief interlude)

"Join us on our next program when we will visit Dogwood Valley. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com

Dogwood Valley

"We are making our way up the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee. Todays stop is at an exhibit called Dogwood Valley located about a dozen miles along the parkway north of Tupelo, Mississippi. A 15 minute nature trail takes visitors along a section of the Old Sunken Trace. It goes through a wooded area called DOGWOOD VALLEY. The valley gets its name because there's an unusually large number of flowering dogwood trees there. These are small trees that are common throughout the eastern United States. They blossom in the early spring of the year near Easter Season.

"Join us next time when we will be visiting Twentymile Bottom Overlook and hear from the Rev. John Johnson who tells us a little of what it was like to journey through here on horseback. For Natchez Trace a road through the wilderness, I'm Frank Thomas."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com