Today, few people realize the extent of European activity during the 1700s in the Tombigbee Valley or how European conflicts between the French and English spilled over into our region. The 1700s were turbulent times in northeast Mississippi and west Alabama.

The French had formed a military and trade alliance with the Choctaw Indians and in 1736 built Fort Tombecbe to cement that relationship. The fort site is near present day Livingston, Alabama, about 75 miles south of Columbus on the Tombigbee River. English traders, mostly out of Charleston, South Carolina, established an alliance with the Chickasaw Indians, who were centered in the present day Tupelo area. In May of 1736 those competing alliances came to blows.

The local part of the story of Fort Tombecbe and the fighting in 1736 began with efforts by Jean-Baptiste le Moyne de Bienville, the French governor of Louisiana, to block the continued expansion of British influence in the Tombigbee Valley. In 1735, Bienville decided to wage a campaign against the Chickasaw Indians who were closely allied with the British.

The first step the French took was the construction of a small fort on the Tombigbee River. The fort was to have a garrison of only about 30 soldiers but would anchor French interest in the region. In May 1736, Bienville assembled a force of some 600 French soldiers at the site of the fort to prepare for an assault on the main Chickasaw towns upriver. Diron d’Artaguette was to lead another force of French soldiers and Illinois Indians south from the Illinois District and attack the Chickasaws in coordination with Bienville.

Bienville’s force of some 600 soldiers, including a company of Black soldiers under a free Black officer, left Fort Tombecbe and traveled upriver toward the Chickasaw Nation. They arrived at the mouth of Tibbee Creek (Plymouth Bluff) on May 14 and camped there for three days. They had hoped to be joined there by several hundred Choctaw warriors, but the Choctaws were delayed by rain and the resulting high water. The French continued upriver to what became Cotton Gin Port near present day Amory where they finally linked up with the Choctaws.

Meanwhile, D’Artaguette arrived at the Chickasaw villages first and – without waiting on Bienville – advanced on them. His force was soundly defeated by the Chickasaws. D’Artaguette, along with 16 of his men including noted French explorer François-Marie Bissot de Vinsenne, a Catholic priest, and several Illinois Indians were captured and over the objection of the Chickasaw chiefs, “burned at the stake.” The Chickasaws, though, were much impressed with the “Black Robe,” Jesuit priest Father Senat, who was said to have sung hymns from the time of his capture until “the last breath.”

When Bienville attacked the Chickasaw villages, the principal one being Ackia (present day Tupelo), he found the Chickasaws had been armed and supported by British traders and observed an English flag flying over one of the villages. Bienville was also defeated and forced to retreat back to Fort Tombecbe. It was a North American extension of the European conflict between the English and the French but with a local twist.

In the September 1736 issue of The Gentleman’s Magazine, an early London news magazine, there is an article titled, “Indians Beat the French.” It is an account of the May 1736 French assault on the Chickasaw villages. News of the fighting in May reached Charleston in July, and on July 18 a letter was dispatched to London with the news of the Chickasaw victory over the French. The letter arrived in time to make the Gentleman’s Magazine‘s September issue.

Although Tombecbe remained a French fort, it served principally as a post for trade with the Choctaw Indians. Then, in 1763, at the close of the French and Indian War, it was surrendered to the British. The British renamed it Fort York but only occupied it sporadically. In 1766 Fort York was garrisoned by 21 soldiers from the British 21st Regiment. It was reported in the April 13, 1768, Boston Chronicle “that Brigadier General Halmand had withdrawn the garrison of Tombrige-Fort (Tombecbe), and intended to establish another more advantageous post on Lake Pontchartrain.”

After the American Revolution the fort’s site passed to Spain, and in 1794 the Spanish rebuilt the fort and renamed it Fort Confederation. The earthworks that remain today are from the Spanish fort. In 1795 Spain and the United States entered into a treaty setting the 31st parallel as the boundary between Spanish West Florida and the United States. Fort Confederation was north of the line but was not transferred to U.S. control until March 1797.

The story of Fort Tombecbe is intertwined with the colonial history of the upper Tombigbee River Valley. The site and land around it have been preserved by the University of West Alabama with assistance from the Archaeological Conservancy. Archaeological investigations by the University of West Alabama are continuing to reveal the fort’s history.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].