Chickasaw Bluff

Fourth Chickasaw Bluff at Memphis

The term Chickasaw Bluff refers to high ground rising about 50 to 200 feet (20–60 m) above the flood plain between Fulton in Lauderdale County, Tennessee and Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee.^[1][2] Composed of eroded Pleistocene loess over Pliocene glacial gravel, they are slide prone.^[1] This elevation is named for the Chickasaw, who by their possession of the elevation impeded French river traffic in the 18th Century. The Chickasaw Bluffs were numbered by rivermen from one to four starting from the north.^[2]

Bluff	Location (north to south)	County	Coordinates (approx.)[3]
First	Above Fulton	Lauderdale	35°37′26″N 89°52′12″W / 35.624°N 89.870°W / 35.624; -89.870 (First Chickasaw Bluff)
Second	At Randolph	Tipton	35°30′58″N 89°53′17″W / 35.516°N 89.888°W / 35.516; -89.888 (Second Chickasaw Bluff)
Third	Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park	Tipton and Shelby	35°22′16″N 90°03′54″W / 35.371°N 90.065°W / 35.371; -90.065 (Third Chickasaw Bluff)
Fourth	Below the mouth of the Wolf River at Memphis	Shelby	35°08′28″N 90°03′18″W / 35.141°N 90.055°W / 35.141; -90.055 (Fourth Chickasaw Bluff)

The fourth Chickasaw Bluff was the site of the French Fort Assumption, used as a base against the Chickasaw in the abortive Campaign of 1739. The Chickasaw Bluff secured Memphis from river floods, while a rare shelf of sandstone below provided a secure boat landing, making this the "only site for a commercial mart" between the Ohio River and Vicksburg, Mississippi.^[4] This location was also the meeting place of d'Artaguette, Chicagou and de Vincennes before their ill fated 1736 attack against the Chickasaw.

Fort Prudhomme

Main article: Fort Prudhomme

Second Chickasaw Bluff in Tipton County

The French Fort Prudhomme, or Prud'homme, was established at one of the Chickasaw Bluffs in 1682. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (1643–87) was a French explorer. In 1682, La Salle led a canoe expedition to explore the Mississippi River basin. The expedition landed to hunt, when one of their members went missing. The armorer Pierre Prudhomme was assumed captured by Chickasaw Indians. La Salle decided to stay and search for the missing member. La Salle had a stockade built and named it Fort Prudhomme, after their lost man. This was the first structure built by the French in Tennessee. Days later, the missing member found his way back.^[5] Prudhomme had lost his way while hunting.^[6] The expedition reached the mouth of the Mississippi River on April 6, 1682.^[5]

The exact location of Fort Prudhomme is unknown. Researchers agree that it was located on the Chickasaw Bluffs but it is disputed on which of the four bluffs the fortification was located. Some historians claim that Fort Prudhomme was built on the first Chickasaw Bluff, in modern day Lauderdale County.^[7][8] The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture suggests that the fort was constructed on the second Chickasaw Bluff near modern day Randolph.^[5][9] Other research mentions the third Chickasaw Bluff as the location of the fort, at the border of modern Tipton and Shelby Counties.^[6][10] Again other sources assume that the fourth Chickasaw Bluff in modern Shelby County at Memphis was the location of Fort Prudhomme.^[11][12]

See also

• Fort Pillow State Park

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Knox, Ray (1995). The New Madrid Fault Finders Guide. Gutenberg Richter Publications. p. 57. ISBN 093442642. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Safford, James (1869). The Geology of Tennessee. S. C. Mercer, Nashville. pp. 112–113. OCLC 01448824. 
3. ^ "Google Maps". Google.com. http://maps.google.com/maps. Retrieved 2009-02-19. 
4. ^ Pierson, Uriah (1873). James' River Guide. U. P. James, Cincinnati. pp. 33–36. OCLC 05153739. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} Magness, Perre (1998). "TN Encyclopedia: Fort Prudhomme and La Salle". The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=F047. Retrieved 12 January 2009. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Parkman, Francis; Levin, David (1983). France and England in North America. Library of America. p. 921. ISBN 0940450100. 
7. ^ Federal Writers' Project; Tennessee Writers' Project (1978). Tennessee: A Guide to the State. US History Publishers. p. 422. ISBN 1603540415. 
8. ^ Conard, Howard Louis (1901). Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri: A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference. The Southern History Company, Haldeman, Conard & Co., Proprietors. p. 492. 
9. ^ "Mississippi River Corridor - Historical and Cultural Amenities". Mississippi River Corridor, Tennessee. 2008. http://www.msrivertn.org/hist_amenities.asp. Retrieved 12 January 2009. 
10. ^ Kellogg, Louise Phelps (1917). Early Narratives of the Northwest, 1634-1699. New York, N.Y.: C. Scribner's Sons. p. 297. 
11. ^ "Encyclopedia.com - Tennessee Information - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition". Columbia University Press. 2008. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tenn.html. Retrieved 12 January 2009. 
12. ^ Phelan, James (1888). History of Tennessee: The Making of a State. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp. 307–308, 313.