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1730 “The French aided by the Cherokees regain possession of the Natchez, who elude the fury of their enemies by a retreat upon the Mississippi, managed with extraordinary secrecy & dispatch. They were shortly afterwards pursued by M. Perier at the head of a considerable force, overtaken at a fort they had erected for their defence on Red River about 180 miles from its mouth, & finally put to the sword or taken prisoners and reduced to slavery. Thus the Natchez, the most polished, civilized & humane of all the savage nations of North America, became extinct as a nation through the injustice & wanton rapacity of the French, who were bound in gratitude to show them every mark of friendship & forbearance. The extirpation of these inoffensive natives, equals in character, though not in extent, the most wanton barbarities committed by the Spaniards upon the innocent aborigines of the western continent. A deputation of the Choctaws is sent to England, presented to the King, and acknowledge themselves & their nation as subjects of his dominion. With the exception of the Choctaws & Chickasaws, the Indians generally on the Mississippi were friends of the French.