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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	ELLICOTT'S HILL Mississippi
Jefferson County, bounded by Canal, Jefferson, Wall, and Franklin Streets, Natchez. Natchez Garden Club

In 1797 Andrew Ellicott raised the U.S. flag on this hill and asserted U.S. authority over Spanish lands, now portions of the States of Mississippi and Alabama, that had been in dispute between Spain and the United States since 1783. Ellicott had been sent by President Washington to locate the boundary between United States and Spanish lands, specified as the 31st parallel in Pinckney's Treaty of 1795. Realizing that the Spanish had no intention of evacuating lands north of the parallel, especially the area known as the Natchez District—extending along the Mississippi River from Vicksburg through Natchez to Woodville—Ellicott instigated a series of intrigues that resulted in a bloodless revolution. The Spanish Governor ceded his power to a committee of delegates elected by the residents of the district, abandoned attempts to obstruct the execution of the treaty, and withdrew his garrisons from Fort Nogales (Vicksburg) and Natchez. Ellicott then proceeded to the 31st parallel and began surveying the Spanish-American boundary line, which ran from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee River. In 1800 he completed the survey.

Located on top of the hill is an old two-story frame building, now known as Connelly's Tavern. Restored by the Natchez Garden Club, it is a notable example of Spanish Provincial architecture. Long, narrow, double galleries, having slender columns, overlook the Mississippi. The tavern is open to the public.

"Connelly's Tavern," a fine example of Spanish Provincial architecture, sits on Ellicott's Hill, Natchez, overlooking the Mississippi River.

	FORT NOGALES SITE (Fort Hill) part of Vicksburg National Military Park Mississippi
Warren County, in Vicksburg National Military Park, Vicksburg. Fort Hill (Fort Nogales Site)

In 1790 the Spanish built an outpost on this site, the highest hill in the area, and the following year erected Fort Nogales. At the fort, in 1793, they negotiated the Treaty of Nogales with the Creeks, the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, and the Cherokees. It reaffirmed the Spanish-Indian alliance and commerce treaties of 1784. In the treaty the Indians agreed to defend Louisiana and Florida against attack and the Spanish promised them assistance in obtaining boundary settlements with the United States. Spain agreed to deliver annual supplies and gifts to the tribes and promised to protect them. By further inciting the Indians to burn and ravage American settlements from Georgia to the Mississippi, the Spanish authorities hoped to compel the United States to stay out of the Indian lands and thus create a barrier that would protect Louisiana. In 1797, after Pinckney's Treaty created a new Southern boundary of the United States, the Spanish evacuated the fort. Soon afterward the United States occupied the area, and by 1819 settlers had formed the town of Vicksburg.

National Cemetery, Fort Nogales (Fort Hill) in background Vicksburg Nat'l Military Park/Vicksburg Nastional Cemetery. Natural Color Card by E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, WI. Date Unknown.