Editing Natchez Trace (section)

==Development==
According to Methodist circuit preacher J. G. Jones, who traveled the lower Mississippi region for many years as part of his work, "Besides the water route, following the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi River to the Father of Waters and floating down to the point of debarkation, there were three land routes{{mdash}}mere horse-paths{{mdash}}opened through the Indian country to Natchez and other settlements on the Lower Mississippi. These were maintained by the Government for mail routes, by treaty stipulations with the Indian tribes. The first began at Nashville, and crossed the [[Tennessee River]] at [[Colbert's Ferry|Colbert's ferry]], below the [[Muscle Shoals, Alabama|Muscle Shoals]]; thence through the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nation to the [[Grindstone Ford]] on [[Bayou Pierre (Mississippi)|Bayou Pierre]], ending at Natchez and [[Fort Adams]]. The second began at [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]], and passed through the Cherokee Nation by way of the [[Tellico River|Tellico]] and [[Tombigbee River|Tombigbee rivers]] to Natchez. The third was from the [[Oconee River|Oconee settlements]], in Georgia, through the Creek Nation across the [[Alabama River]] in the direction of [[St. Stephens, Alabama|St. Steven's]], on westwardly to Natchez. The traders of the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries, who brought down their produce in flatboats, were accustomed to return on foot or horseback by the first route{{mdash}}called the Nashville and Natchez trace{{mdash}}and hence it became best known."<ref>{{Cite book |last=McTyeire |first=Holland Nimmons |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KcURAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA501&dq=%22third+was+from+the+Oconee+settlements%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiyqO6nsuqMAxU-JEQIHSOuLqAQ6AF6BAgFEAM#v=onepage&q=%22third%20was%20from%20the%20Oconee%20settlements%22&f=false |title=A History of Methodism |date=1888 |publisher=Southern Methodist Publishing House |pages=501 |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Map of Mississippi - constructed from the surveys in the General Land Office and other documents LOC 2001626031.jpg|thumb|Map of Mississippi from 1819 showing the "Road Made by Order of Government from Pierre River to Nashville"]]
[[File:Overpass over Natchez Trace IMG 7009.JPG|thumb|One of numerous overpasses on the Natchez Trace toward the exit to [[Vicksburg, Mississippi|Vicksburg]] ]]
[[File:Grindstone Ford photographed circa 1938.jpg|thumb|Grindstone Ford photographed {{circa|1938}}]]

Even before the 1803 [[Louisiana Purchase]], President [[Thomas Jefferson]] wanted to connect the distant Mississippi frontier to other settled areas of the United States. To foster communication with what was then called the Southwest, he directed the construction of a postal road between [[Daniel Boone]]'s [[Wilderness Road]] (the southern branch of the road ended at Nashville) and the Mississippi River.

[[File:US govt survey of the Natchez Trace with original image orientation from National Archives Digital.jpg|thumb|left|James Wilkinson's survey of the Mississippi section of the trace, probably circa 1802]]
[[File:Government survey of Natchez Trace 02.jpg|thumb|left|Tennessee River section]]
The U.S. signed treaties with the [[Chickasaw]] and [[Choctaw]] tribes to maintain peace as [[European Americans]] entered the area in greater numbers. In 1801, the [[United States Army]] began trailblazing along the Trace, performing major work to prepare it as a thoroughfare. The work was done by soldiers reassigned from Tennessee and later by civilian contractors. Jefferson called it the "Columbian Highway" to emphasize American sovereignty in the area. The people who used it, however, dubbed the road "The Devil's Backbone" due to its remoteness, rough conditions, and the frequently encountered [[highwaymen]] found along the new road.<ref name=Devoss/> Aaron Burr wrote to his daughter, that the "'road...you will see laid down...on the map...as having been cut by the order of the minister of war[,]...is imaginary; there is no such road.' The region between Washington, Mississippi, and the Choctaw domain was, Burr reported, 'a vile country, destitute of springs or of running water—think of drinking the nasty puddle water, covered with green scum, and full of [[animaculae]]—bah! … [H]ow glad I was to get [into the high country,] all fine, transparent, lively streams, and itself [the Tennessee] a clear, beautiful, magnificent river.'"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Roger G. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/10709 |title=Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-19-514055-2 |pages=319 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140552.001.0001 |lccn=99022453 |oclc=181840559}}</ref>

By 1809, the trail was fully navigable by wagon, with the northward journey taking two to three weeks. Critical to the success of the Trace as a trade route was the development of inns and [[trading post]]s, referred to at the time as "stands".<ref name=Devoss/>

Many early migrants in Tennessee and Mississippi settled along the Natchez Trace. Some of the most prominent were [[Washington, Mississippi]] (the old capital of Mississippi); "Old" [[Old Greenville, Mississippi|Greenville, Mississippi]] (where [[Andrew Jackson]] married [[Rachel Jackson]] in 1791);<ref name=Historical>{{cite book |last1=Rowland |first1=Dunbar |title=Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society, Volume IV |date=1921 |publisher=Mississippi Historical Society |location=Jackson, Mississippi |pages=14–16 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EcUAAAAYAAJ&dq=old+greenville+jefferson+county+mississippi&pg=PA155}}</ref> and [[Port Gibson, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = Cotterill, R. S. |date=April 1921 | title = The Natchez Trace | journal = Tennessee Historical Magazine | volume = 7 | issue = 1 | pages = 29–35 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1rVYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA27  }}</ref>  The Natchez Trace was used during the [[War of 1812]] and the ensuing [[Creek War]], as soldiers under Major General Andrew Jackson's command traveled southward to subdue the [[Red Sticks]] and to defend the country against invasion by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]]. Jackson most likely knew the road well from his [[Andrew Jackson and the slave trade in the United States|career as an interstate slave trader]] operating between Natchez and Nashville beginning in 1789.<ref>{{cite journal |year=2008 |title=Slave Owner, Slave Trader, Gentleman: Slavery and the Rise of Andrew Jackson |url=https://teachtnhistory.org/file/Slave%20Owner,%20Slave%20Trader,%20Gentleman-%20Slavery%20&%20the%20Rise%20of%20Andrew%20Jackson%20(Snow).pdf |journal=Journal of East Tennessee History |location=Knoxville, Tennessee |publisher=East Tennessee Historical Society |volume=80 |pages=47–59 |issn=1058-2126 |oclc=23044540 |author-last1=Snow |author-first1=Whitney Adrienne}}</ref>

[[File:Trail on the Natchez Trace IMG 7003.JPG|thumb|right|A trail on the Natchez Trace]]

By 1817, the continued development of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] (with its access to the Mississippi River) and [[Jackson's Military Road]] (heading south from Nashville) formed more direct and faster routes to [[New Orleans]]. Trade shifted to either of these routes along the east or west of the area, away from the Trace.<ref name=Devoss/>  As author [[William C. Davis (historian)|William C. Davis]] wrote in his book ''A Way Through the Wilderness'' (1995), the Trace was "a victim of its own success" by encouraging development in the frontier area.

With the rise of [[steamboat]] culture on the Mississippi River after the invention of the steam engine, the Trace lost its importance as a national road, as goods could be moved more quickly, cheaply, and in greater quantity on the river.<ref name=Devoss/>  Before the invention of [[steam engine|steam power]], the Mississippi River's south-flowing current was so strong that northbound return journeys generally had to be made over land.

Although many authors have written that the Trace disappeared back into the woods, much of it was used by people living nearby. Large sections of the Trace in Tennessee were converted to county roads for operation, and sections continue to be used today.