The Natchez Trace by James A. Crutchfield

The Trace entered a steady decline, and as author William C. Critical to the success of the Trace as a trade route were inns and trading posts, referred to at the time as 'stands.' For the most part, the stands developed southbound from the head of the trail in Nashville.īy 1816, the stands along the Trace had almost reached a critical mass, but the continued development of Memphis, Tennessee and Andrew Jackson's military road, a direct line to New Orleans, Louisiana from Nashville, began shifting trade both east and west. By 1809, the trail was fully navigable by wagon. Treaties were signed with the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, and work began, first solely by soldiers reassigned from West Tennessee, and then later by civilian contract. It was not until 1801, when the United States Armed Forces began blazing the trail for use as a postal route, that major work was performed on the Trace to prepare it as a thoroughfare for travelers. The earliest formal usage of the trail, in fact, was for trade between those three Native American nations through which the trail passed.ĭevelopment and Disappearance of the Trace The first recorded Caucasian to travel the Trace in its entirety was an unnamed Frenchman in 1742, who wrote of the trail and its 'miserable conditions.' To Caucasians, who were not conditioned to the rigors of the journey, the assistance of Native Americans-specifically, the Cherokee, Choctaw and Chickasaw-was vital. After Native Americans first began to settle the land, they began to blaze the trail further, until it became a relatively (for the time) well-worn path traversable by horse in single-file, though it may have been traveled in part before, particularly by famed Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. The Trace, like many early footpaths, traces its beginnings to the natural wanderings of bison, deer and other game.

The Natchez Trace by James A. Crutchfield