II. ARKANSAS POST AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR

B. The Spanish Defeat the Natchez Rebellion

1. The Natchez Rebels Capture Fort Panmure

Captain de la Villebeuvre, as commandant of the Natchez District, in the autumn of 1779 had taken measures to strengthen the fort guarding the town. Artisans were hired. Much of the materials for the project were purchased from John Blommart, a local millowner and merchant, who had served in the British army in the Seven Years War.[13]

During the winter of 1780-81, while Governor-General Gálvez was perfecting arrangements for his attack on Pensacola, Commandant de Villiers of Arkansas Post sent his wife to New Orleans. Besides visiting friends in the city, Madame de Villiers was to purchase trade goods for her.husband. She descended the Mississippi in the pirogue of the Arkansas riverman Louis Poten. When Madame de Villiers ascended the river in April, it was in company with the big bateau belonging to Louis Parent, bound for the Ilinueses. Aboard Parent’s boat traveled Francis Vigo of Vincennes, who had assisted George Rogers Clark in his conquest of the “old Northwest”; two prominent residents of Ste. Geneviève-- Francis Vallé, a militia lieutenant, and Jean-Baptiste Datcherut, a trader--and the captain of the boat, René Rappicault and the crew. The cargo was valued at $60,000.[14]

A number of British settlers of the Natchez District were in contact with Maj. Gen. John Campbell, commander of His Majesty’s forces in West Florida. Knowing of the Spanish preparations to attack Pensacola, they dispatched a courier to General Campbell proposing to make a diversion in his favor, and asking him for assistance. General Campbell replied as the Spanish fleet was arriving off Santa Rosa Island, at the entrance to Pensacola Bay. Word was sent to the Natchez Loyalists that a British fleet was in the Gulf, and that it was about to move against New Orleans. They were called upon to seize Fort Panmure and to assist in restoration of His Majesty’s rule over the Natchez District. To cloak the uprising and give it the appearance of legitimacy, General Campbell forwarded a number of captains’ commissions, which were to be distributed among the principal settlers.[15]

Thus encouraged by General Campbell, the veteran half-pay officers in and around Natchez perfected plans for the capture of Fort Panmure. They had been trained to hate the Spanish and the French--“the old hereditary feeling, growing out of frequent and protracted wars.” They recalled the execution order by Alexandro O’Reilly, the Spanish governor-general in 1769, and as Protestants they subscribed to the “black legend.” They determined to strike a blow against Spain while Governor-General Gálvez was occupied in a siege of Pensacola.

The courier, whom the conspirators had sent to Pensacola, on his return passed through the Choctaw Nation. There he prevailed on Folsom, a chief, and 50 warriors to accompany him to Natchez. On their arrival, the rebels assembled with their arms. Taking position on a hill commanding the fort, they unfurled the British standard on April 22, 1781.

Commandant de la Villebeuvre sent a conciliatory message, warning the rebels of the “responsibility they were incurring, and recommending them to retire to their homes, with the promise of amnesty for all but their leaders.” The rebels, numbering 200 settlers and Indians and commanded by Capt. John Blommart, answered by opening fire on the fort with their three small cannons. The Spanish cannoneers replied, their projectiles tearing through the house the rebels had occupied on the hill, killing a corporal and wounding three others. A siege ensued.[16]

April 22 found Poten’s pirogue and Parent’s bateau tied up at Ellis Cliffs, 17 miles below Natchez, where the passengers dined with a planter. Next morning the boats cast off, and near Natchez they fell prize to the boat of John Turner, one of Blommart’s lieutenants.[l7]

Fort Panmure held out for 12 days. When Commandant de la Villebeuvre determined to surrender it was because of a ruse. While the siege was in progress, a man, Stille, residing with Captain McIntosh on St. Catherine Creek, was intercepted carrying a letter from McIntosh to the commandant “advising him to hold on, and that the revolt would soon die out.” Captain Blommart determined to employ this letter to his advantage. John Alston, a skilled forger, was called in. Addressing a letter to the commandant over the signature of his friend McIntosh, it was pointed out that “further resistance was useless; that the insurgents had secretly undermined the fort, and deposited therein a large supply of powder brought by Indian pack-horses from Pensacola, and that that very night had been fixed on for the explosion.”

With threats to murder him wherever they found him, the rebels compelled Stille to deliver the forged letter. De la Villebeuvre panicked. Satisfied of the veracity of the message from his friend and “most influential adherent,” Commandant de la Villebeuvre on May 4 ordered the white flag hoisted. The rebels marched in and the British flag again flew from the ramparts of Fort Panmure.[18]