The Natchez Indians were of Aztec origin and were in possession of the Natchez country when the French came in 1700. They were sun-worshiping Indians, and their great chief proclaimed himself “brother to the Sun”. White Apple village, ten miles south of Natchez, was headquarters of the Natchez tribe. They resented the invasion of the French explorers into their country, and because of an insult (real or fancied) to their Chief by a French Commandant, on November 28, 1729, the Indians slaughtered the entire French settlement at Fort Rosalie. Later a French colony, with the assistance of the Choctaws, a warring Indian tribe, annihilated every member of the Natchez tribe. Undoubtedly this was the country of the Natchez tribe, and the beautiful plaque is a deserved reminder of the days when the land was one hundred per cent American. [Illustration: (unlabelled)] [Illustration: ON NATCHEZ TRACE] _Natchez Trace_ Opportunity for easy travel, over trails that were once Indian foot paths, is offered now to motorists on perfect concrete highways. Modern roads, which slowly evolved from dirt roads to paved highways, stretch from Nashville, Tennessee, in a continuous smooth concrete ribbon to Natchez, on the great Mississippi River. Days when the beauty of the Southland could be viewed only from a steamboat deck; days when transportation of passenger and freight could be handled only by oxcart or slow stage coach or horse and buggy (a three-weeks journey from Nashville to Natchez) are gone forever, and soon the Deep South will be directly connected by a day’s pleasant journey with all the cities and towns along the Natchez Trace. By treaty with Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian tribes the United States Government in 1801 secured a permit to open the Natchez Trace as a wagon road over which the mails could travel. That same trail or “trace” from Nashville to Natchez is 500 miles of consecutive beauty spots along continuous acres of parkways and historic highways. Mrs. Roan Fleming Byrnes, serving as President of the Natchez Trace Highway Committee, in a recent publication says: “The ancient trail was traveled by most of the well-known figures in the history of our country: Jefferson Davis; Peggy and Lorenzo Dow, the revivalists; the fast riding John Morgan; the famous Audubon. Lafayette rode over the Trace during his visit to the Natchez country; Aaron Burr was given his preliminary trial for treason under two liveoaks just beside the Trace; Meriwether Lewis died at an inn on the Trace when returning from his Western explorations. “The life of Andrew Jackson is closely interwoven with the windings of the Natchez Trace. At Springfield plantation, in Jefferson county, Mississippi, Jackson was married to Rachael Robards; and, near Nashville, Tennessee, is the ‘Hermitage’, the home he built for Rachael.