The Chickasaw Bluff is the high ground rising about above the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

flood plain between Fulton in Lauderdale County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to ...

and Memphis in Shelby County, Tennessee. This elevation, shaped as four bluffs, is named for the

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classifi ...

people. Known in the 19th century as one of the

Five Civilized Nations The term Five Civilized Tribes was applied by European Americans in the colonial and early federal period in the history of the United States to the five major Native American nations in the Southeast—the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek ...

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

The Chickasaw Bluffs were numbered by rivermen from one to four, starting from the north.

Geology

The Chickasaw Bluffs are a relatively recent feature. They were formed from

pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...

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 The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Hickman, Kentucky Hickman is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County, Kentucky, United States. Located on the Mississippi River, the city had a population of 2,365 at the 2020 U.S. census and is classified as a home rule-class city. Hickman is part of the ...

to around

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

. They do not form a continuous band, as they are split by river valleys such as the

Obion River The Obion River system is the primary surface water drainage system of northwestern Tennessee, United States. Description The Obion has four major forks, the North Fork, Middle Fork, South Fork and Rutherford Fork (which is named after Henr ...

Forked Deer River The Forked Deer River system is the main drainage of the central portion of West Tennessee. Locals pronounce the first word of the river's name with two syllables, as in “Forkéd” (). The Forked Deer consists of various streams designated ...

Hatchie River The Hatchie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 3, 2011 river in northern Mississippi and southwestern Tennessee. It is of considerable geographic, cultural, a ...

Loosahatchie River The Loosahatchie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 stream in southwestern Tennessee. Except for a few miles near its head, its mouth, and near the ...

, Wolf River, Coldwater River, and

Tallahatchie River The Tallahatchie River is a river in Mississippi which flows from Tippah County, through Tallahatchie County, to Leflore County, where it joins the Yalobusha River to form the Yazoo River. The river is navigable for about . At Money, Mississip ...

. It is theorized that

Crowley's Ridge Crowley's Ridge (also Crowleys Ridge) is a geological formation that rises 250 to above the alluvial plain of the Mississippi embayment in a line from southeastern Missouri to the Mississippi River near Helena, Arkansas. It is the most prom ...

in Arkansas was part of the Chickasaw Bluff formation before the previous ice age when the prehistoric courses of the Ohio River and

carved a path between the two. Crowley's Ridge has the same composition as the Chickasaw Bluffs and has similar topography.

Human History

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 Vicksburg is a historic city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the county seat, and the population at the 2010 census was 23,856. Located on a high bluff on the east bank of the Mississippi River across from Louisiana, Vic ...

. 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

Gilt Edge TN 07 Mississippi River and 2nd Chickasaw Bluff at western terminus TN59

The French built their Fort Prudhomme, or Prud'homme, at one of the Chickasaw Bluffs in 1682.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...

(1643–87) was a French explorer. In 1682, La Salle led a

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

expedition to explore the Mississippi River basin. The expedition landed to hunt, when one of their members went missing. The

armorer Historically, an armourer is a person who makes personal armour, especially plate armour. In modern terms, an armourer is a member of a military or police force who works in an armoury and maintains and repairs small arms and weapons systems, wi ...

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. Prudhomme had lost his way while hunting. The expedition reached the mouth of the Mississippi River on April 6, 1682. 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. The ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'' suggests that the fort was constructed on the second Chickasaw Bluff near modern-day Randolph. Other research mentions the third Chickasaw Bluff as the location of the fort, at the border of modern Tipton and Shelby counties. The fourth Chickasaw Bluff in modern Shelby County at Memphis is also supported as a site of Fort Prudhomme.

Fur trade

A federal fur trade post was established in 1802. It was removed to Spadra Bluff, Arkansas in 1818.Wesley, Edgar Bruce (1935). Guarding the Frontier. University of Minnesota Press, pp. 38, 40.

In Popular Culture

Reference is made to "the Bluff" in

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American Country music, country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later s ...

's hit song, " Big River." The lyric's narrator describes his fruitless pursuit of a free-spirited love interest from

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, to Davenport,

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Memphis,

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of countie ...

, and eventually to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...

References

{{reflist Cliffs of the United States Landforms of Lauderdale County, Tennessee Landforms of Tipton County, Tennessee Landforms of Shelby County, Tennessee Randolph, Tennessee Geography of Memphis, Tennessee