Fourth Chickasaw Bluff at
Memphis
The
Chickasaw Bluff
is the high ground rising about 50 to 200
feet
(20?60
m
) above the
Mississippi River
flood plain between
Fulton
in
Lauderdale County
,
Tennessee
and
Memphis
in
Shelby County
, Tennessee.
[1]
[2]
This elevation, shaped as four bluffs, is named for the
Chickasaw
people. Known in the 19th century as one of the
Five Civilized Nations
in the Southeast, they occupied much of this area in western Tennessee and Mississippi. By their control of the bluffs, they could impede French river traffic in the 18th century when the peoples were at war.
Location
[
edit
]
The Chickasaw Bluffs were numbered by rivermen from one to four, starting from the north.
[2]
The
Battle of Fort Pillow
was fought from the First Chickasaw Bluff. The battlefield is preserved as
Fort Pillow State Historic Park
. The town of Randolph, Tennessee was founded on the Second Chickasaw Bluff in the 1820s and was an early rival of Memphis until the 1840s. The town was destroyed twice during the Civil War. Today there is a small unincorporated settlement near the base of the bluff.
Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park was founded in the 1930s on top of the Third Chickasaw Bluff in an effort to restore the forest that had been clear-cut in the area as well as stem the erosion of the bluffs that had been caused by poor farming practices. Today the park offers opportunities for hiking, fishing, boating, and camping.
Downtown Memphis is located on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff. The highest point is approximately located near Martyrs Park, with land gradually sloping downward towards the Wolf River Harbor northward. One of Memphis' main nicknames is the "Bluff City," named after the Chickasaw Bluff.
Geology
[
edit
]
The Chickasaw Bluffs are a relatively recent feature. They were formed from
pleistocene
loess
(wind-blown) silt. This loess can be as thick as 70 feet and it generally tapers off as one moves eastward. The loess accumulated on top of fluvial deposits from the
pliocene
. These primarily consist of terrace gravels deposited from glacial runoff. Because of this, the bluffs are slide-prone, especially during seismic activity.
[1]
The bluffs are characterized by very steep valleys and have higher gradient streams than areas to the east or west. Along the western edges facing the river or alluvial plains, the bluffs form nearly vertical cliffs. In Memphis, these edges have been smoothed out in the downtown area.
Although the Chickasaw Bluffs refer to the four numbered formations in Tennessee, the geological feature stretches from
Hickman, Kentucky
to around
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
. They do not form a continuous band, as they are split by river valleys such as the
Obion River
,
Forked Deer River
,
Hatchie River
,
Loosahatchie River
,
Wolf River
,
Coldwater River
, and
Tallahatchie River
.
It is theorized that
Crowley's Ridge
in Arkansas was part of the Chickasaw Bluff formation before the previous ice age when the prehistoric courses of the
Ohio River
and
Mississippi River
carved a path between the two. Crowley's Ridge has the same composition as the Chickasaw Bluffs and has similar topography.
Human history
[
edit
]
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
[
edit
]
Second Chickasaw Bluff in
Tipton County
The French built their
Fort Prudhomme
, or Prud'homme, at one of the Chickasaw Bluffs in 1682.
Rene-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 Chickasaws.
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 man found his way back to La Salle.
[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 Bluff but the site is disputed. 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]
The fourth Chickasaw Bluff in modern Shelby County at
Memphis
is also supported as a site of Fort Prudhomme.
[11]
[12]
American Revolution
[
edit
]
During the
American Revolution
, the Chickasaw Bluffs were fortified by the British in an attempt to control the Mississippi River. In 1780, Captain
Edward Worthington
was ordered by
George Rogers Clark
to occupy the Bluff. Worthington and his Virginia soldiers constructed
Fort Jefferson
to protect American interests along the Mississippi River.
[13]
In 1781, Captain Worthington was ordered by General Clark to withdraw his company of soldiers and abandon Fort Jefferson, which was remote and indefensible from continuous Chickasaw attacks.
Fur trade
[
edit
]
A
federal fur trade post
was established in 1802. It was removed to
Spadra Bluff, Arkansas
in 1818.
[14]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
Reference is made to "the Bluff" in
Johnny Cash
's hit song, "
Big River
." The lyric's narrator describes his fruitless pursuit of a free-spirited love interest from
Saint Paul
to
Davenport
,
St. Louis
,
Memphis
,
Baton Rouge
, and eventually
New Orleans
. "I found her trail in Memphis," the song relates, "but she just walked up the Bluff / She raised a few eyebrows and she went on down alone." Some internet transcribers incorrectly use the word "block" rather than "bluff," but it is beyond doubt Cash had in mind the "Bluff City's" famous geology in his musical tour of the
Mississippi
.
[15]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Knox, Ray (1995).
The New Madrid Fault Finders Guide
. Gutenberg Richter Publications. p. 57.
ISBN
978-0-934426-42-8
.
- ^
a
b
Safford, James (1869).
The Geology of Tennessee
. S. C. Mercer, Nashville. pp. 112?113. OCLC 01448824.
- ^
"Google Maps"
. Google.com
. Retrieved
2009-02-19
.
- ^
Pierson, Uriah (1873).
James' River Guide
. U. P. James, Cincinnati. pp. 33?36. OCLC 05153739.
- ^
a
b
c
Magness, Perre (1998).
"TN Encyclopedia: Fort Prudhomme and La Salle"
. The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture. Archived from
the original
on 27 December 2008
. Retrieved
12 January
2009
.
- ^
a
b
Parkman, Francis; Levin, David (1983).
France and England in North America
. Library of America. p. 921.
ISBN
0-940450-10-0
.
- ^
Tennessee: A Guide to the State
. US History Publishers. 1978 [1939]. p. 422.
ISBN
1-60354-041-5
.
- ^
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
.
- ^
"Mississippi River Corridor - Historical and Cultural Amenities"
. Mississippi River Corridor, Tennessee. 2008. Archived from
the original
on 25 July 2008
. Retrieved
12 January
2009
.
- ^
Kellogg, Louise Phelps (1917).
Early Narratives of the Northwest, 1634-1699
.
New York, N.Y.
:
C. Scribner's Sons
. p.
297
.
- ^
"Encyclopedia.com - Tennessee Information - The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition"
. Columbia University Press. 2008
. Retrieved
12 January
2009
.
- ^
Phelan, James (1888).
History of Tennessee: The Making of a State
.
Boston
,
Massachusetts
: Houghton, Mifflin and Company. pp.
307
?308, 313.
- ^
http://www.nwta.com/about/the-field-guide/
Worthington's company, of the Illinois Regiment.
- ^
Wesley, Edgar Bruce (1935). Guarding the Frontier. University of Minnesota Press, pp. 38, 40.
- ^
Rick Moore (2020-02-04).
"Behind the Song: Johnny Cash, "Big River"
"
.
Archived
from the original on 2022-08-05
. Retrieved
2022-08-05
.