Fort St. Pierre was a colonial French fortified outpost on the Yazoo River in what is now Warren County, Mississippi. Also known as Fort St. Claude and the Yazoo Post, it was established in 1719 and served as the northernmost outpost of French Louisiana. It was destroyed in 1729 by Native Americans and was not rebuilt. Its location, north of Vicksburg on the east bank of the river, was discovered by archaeologists in the 1970s, and was given the Smithsonian trinomial 23-M-5. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2000.
History
French Louisiana was established in 1699, with New Orleans founded as a major center in 1718. French explorers of the Yazoo River valley first took place between 1698 and 1706, when French missionaries were active in the area. By then, English traders from the Province of Carolina had already established relations with the Chickasaw people of northern Mississippi, and were making inroads with the Natchez people further south. The missionary activity ceased when one of them was murdered by the Natchez. An expansion of French Louisiana was thwarted by France's inability to support the colony during the War of the Spanish Succession (aka Queen Anne's War in English North America, 1702-1713). The French established Fort St. Pierre in 1719 as a northern outpost between these peoples, as a means to blunt English trading influence and further their own. The fort was a substantial palisaded complex, surrounded by a moat. It was destroyed in a surprise attack on December 11, 1729, by a band of Natchez, whose leadership had become hostile to French incursions on their territory upon the death of a French-friendly chief.
The Yazoo Bluffs area, where the fort was located, did not come to significant archaeological attention until the 1970s. James Ford believed that its site would yield useful information for dating other historical Native sites in the region, but did not find the fort. In 1974 a formal survey of the lower Mississippi identified the site, which underwent a major excavation between 1975 and 1977. These excavations exposed portions of the palisade, one of the fort's bastions, and other features. Unique among known colonial sites, archaeologists also uncovered evidence that the occupants used a wooden shot tower to manufacture lead shot. The comparatively short occupation period of Fort St. Pierre has also allowed more sophisticated distinction among finds at sites such as that of Fort Toulouse, which had a much longer occupation period.
Indigenous Groups at Fort St. Pierre and Pottery
The land around Fort St. Pierre in Vicksburg Mississippi was home to three different native groups, Yazoo, Koroa, Ofogoula, before the French arrived. These groups were friendly with the English and Chickasaw Native tribe, which was contradictory to French interests. Two of these groups, the Yazoo and Koroa were influential in the collapse of Fort St. Pierre. In December 1729, they attacked the fort and killed most of the inhabitants. The third tribe native to this regions, the Ofogoula was not present for the attack. They had relocated to the Natchez region. After the fall of the fort, the Yazoo and Koroa left but continued hostilities towards the French and any indigenous tribe that happened to be fighting with them. Given that these indigenous groups were active on the landscape before and during the French occupation of Fort St. Pierre there is much archaeological evidence pertaining to the Yazoo, Koroa, and Ofogoula. Large amounts of native pottery were found by archaeologists at the site. At Fort St. Pierre, 43% of their archaeological collection is composed of Native ceramic fragments. Those frequently used artifacts, like pottery, tell us what was important to indigenous people of the past and how they lived their lives. Pots and bowls are essentials for cooking, preparing, serving, and storing food. Native women were the primary producers of these clay vessels.
Food and Supplies
Fort Saint Pierre as a French fort received resupply and reinforcement through land. Uses of Naval support or vessels along the Yazoo River were scarce if ever utilized. Primary food and water resources were acquired via the land surrounding the fort. The soldiers stationed would farm the land and their own food and would seek water through the Yazoo. Outsourced supply or trade was then primarily if not always carried out by land. Life at the fort was relatively simple yet boring, which left little to do save keep watch, farm, and tend the land.