The area which is now Vicksburg was previously part of the Natchez Native
Americans' territory. The first Europeans who settled the area were French
colonists, who built Fort-Saint-Pierre in 1719 on the high bluffs overlooking
the Yazoo River at present-day Redwood. On 29 November 1729, the Natchez
attacked the fort and plantations in and around the present-day city of
Natchez, killing several hundred settlers, including the Jesuit Father Paul Du
Poisson, and carrying off a number of women and children as captives. The
Natchez War was a disaster for French Louisiana, and the colonial population of
the Natchez
