Bienville forced the Natchez Indians to provide lumber and labor for the construction of Fort Rosalie near present-day Natchez in 1716.
August:
Construction of Fort Rosalie, on the Mississippi River at present-day Natchez, is completed. Though land was ceded to built the fort sixteen years earlier, it was the killing of four Canadians by the Natchez that prompted Governor Cadillac to send Bienville upriver with 45 men to build the fort.
Following an example set by De Soto more than 150 years earlier, Bienville captured several Natchez chiefs and demanded the punishment of those guilty of the murders.
The Natchez complied and also assisted the French in building the fort on the bluff near their villages.
It was named in honor of the Comte de Pontchartrain, the French Minister of Marine and Colonies.