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A Brief History of Spain in Natchez

 

 

Natchez was inhabited for centuries by prehistoric Indians and later by the Natchez Indians.  It was settled first by the French in 1716, later by the British in 1763, the Spanish in 1779, and finally by the Americans in 1798.  This section presents information on the period of Spanish presence in Natchez.

 

 

Natchez is the oldest permanent settlement on the Mississippi river. The French were the first Europeans to lay claim to the area and named it in honor of the Natchez Indians, the friendly agricultural tribe that since around 1200 had inhabited the territory.  However, the Mississippi region had first been explored by Spaniards during the first half of the 16th century.  Hernando de Soto visited the area in 1540–41, and while Spain later established settlements along the coast in western Florida and Texas during the 17th century, Spain failed to secure possession of the Mississippi region surrounding Natchez.

 

In 1682, the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, traveled down the Mississippi from French holdings, passing the bluff at Natchez.  La Salle would discover the mouth of the Mississippi and name the entire area Louisiana in honor of the French king, Louis XIV, ending any lingering Spanish claim to the region. 

 

In 1716, French soldiers built Fort Rosalie as their headquarters in Natchez. But Spain would have the opportunity to regain the territory during the American War for Independence; this time from the British.  

 

 
 By 1756, France and Spain were allies against the British in a global war known as the Seven Year War, commonly referred to in North America as the French and Indian War.  With France’s defeat in Canada, France transferred the southern territory of Louisiana to Spain in 1762.  At the end of the war in 1763, Spain ceded both her eastern Florida possessions and a portion of her recently acquired Louisiana territory to the victorious English in exchange for the return of Havana which was captured in 1762.   Although Spain retained the western portion of the Louisiana possession that included New Orleans and the mouth of Mississippi River, the British took possession of the area north and east of New Orleans near the Amite River and extending north to include Baton Rouge and Natchez.  The area known as West Florida, extended from the east bank of the Mississippi up to the 31st parallel (above Natchez, Mississippi) then east to the Apalachicola River, then south to the Gulf of Mexico.   At this time, the British changed the name of Fort Rosalie to Fort Panmure.

 

In another significant alliance, Spain joined France in declaring war on Great Britain during the American Revolution, entering the war in the summer of 1779.  Once news of the Declaration of War reached Spanish Governor Bernardo de Galvez in New Orleans, Spanish forces in Louisiana were prepared and made ready for a campaign against British fortifications in West Florida.

 

 During the start of the Spanish campaign, a violent hurricane devastated troop stores and the garrison in New Orleans.  Governor de Galvez reorganized his force within nine days and marched out of New Orleans at the head of, among others, 170 veteran regulars drawn from the Regiments of Spain, Mallorca, Havana and Prince and his own Regiment of Louisiana.

 

 The Spanish troops covered 105 miles in eleven days, reaching the first British post at the village of Manchac.   At dawn on September 7th, 1779, de Galvez’s militia rushed Fort Bute and captured the twenty-seven man English garrison.  The Spanish force pushed on to Baton Rouge and Fort New Richmond. Quick action allowed the Spanish to emplace artillery within range of the British fortifications. At

               

Spain’s articles for capitulation, directed all British and Allied troops to depart the Mississippi for embarkation at an English port and on their word of honor, not engage in combat for 18 months.  The West Florida inhabitants and Natchez residents had eight months in which they had the freedom either to remain and become Spanish citizens or dispose of their belongings and depart the territory.                                    

               

Within a month, Spain under the leadership of Bernardo de Galvez had retaken their former Louisiana possessions from 1763, capturing three forts, three smaller outposts, 28 British officers, and 550 troops of the 16th Regiment and 60th Royal American Regiment along with German auxiliaries from the principality of Waldeck. Within an additional eight months, the British garrisons of Mobile and Pensacola would be taken by Spain and remain under Spanish rule until the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

 

 

Although the newly created United States claimed West Florida and Natchez after 1783, Spain continued to rule. The Spanish were unable to change the Anglo-American character of the settlement and Spain agreed to relinquish its claim to the Natchez District by signing the Treaty of San Lorenzo on October 27, 1795. The Spanish garrison remained in Natchez for another three years, ending Spanish presence at Natchez in 1798.