The term Chickasaw Bluff refers to high ground rising about 50 to 200 ft (15.2 to 61 m) above the flood plain between Fulton

Fulton, Tennessee

Fulton is a rural unincorporated community in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1827, Fulton is the oldest settlement in Lauderdale County.-History:...

 in Lauderdale County, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 and Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

 in Shelby County

Shelby County, Tennessee

Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census...

, Tennessee. Composed of eroded Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

 loess

Loess

Loess is an aeolian sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown silt, typically in the 20–50 micrometre size range, twenty percent or less clay and the balance equal parts sand and silt that are loosely cemented by calcium carbonate...

 over Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 glacial gravel

Gravel

Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...

, they are slide prone. This elevation is named for the Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

, who by their possession of the elevation impeded French river traffic in the 18th Century. The Chickasaw Bluffs were numbered by rivermen from one to four starting from the north.

Bluff	Location (north to south)	County	Coordinates (approx.)
First	Above Fulton Fulton, Tennessee Fulton is a rural unincorporated community in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1827, Fulton is the oldest settlement in Lauderdale County.-History:...	Lauderdale	35.624°N 89.870°W
Second	At Randolph Randolph, Tennessee Randolph is an unincorporated rural community in Tipton County, Tennessee, United States, located on the banks of the Mississippi River. Randolph was founded in the 1820s and in 1827, the Randolph Post office was established. In the 1830s, the town became an early center of river commerce in West...	Tipton Tipton County, Tennessee Tipton County is a county located on the western end of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 51,271. Its county seat is Covington. Tipton County is part of the Memphis, TN–MS–AR Metropolitan Statistical Area, centered on Shelby County, which borders Tipton on...	35.516°N 89.888°W
Third	Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park is a state park in Shelby County, Tennessee near Memphis, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States....	Tipton and Shelby Shelby County, Tennessee Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census...	35.371°N 90.065°W
Fourth	Below the mouth of the Wolf River Wolf River (Tennessee) The Wolf River is a alluvial stream in western Tennessee and northern Mississippi, whose confluence with the Mississippi River was the site of various Chickasaw, French, Spanish and American communities and forts that eventually became Memphis, Tennessee....  at Memphis Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....	Shelby	35.141°N 90.055°W

The fourth Chickasaw Bluff was the site of the French Fort Assumption

Fort Assumption

Fort Assumption was a French fortification constructed in 1739 on the fourth Chickasaw Bluff on the Mississippi River at present day Memphis, Tennessee...

, used as a base against the Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

 in the abortive Campaign of 1739

Chickasaw Wars

The Chickasaw Wars were fought in the 18th century between the Chickasaw allied with the British against the French and their allies the Choctaws and Illini. The Province of Louisiana extended from Illinois to New Orleans, and the French fought to secure their communications along the Mississippi...

. 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

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 and Vicksburg, Mississippi

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Vicksburg is a city in Warren County, Mississippi, United States. It is the only city in Warren County. It is located northwest of New Orleans on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers, and due west of Jackson, the state capital. In 1900, 14,834 people lived in Vicksburg; in 1910, 20,814; in 1920,...

. This location was also the meeting place of d'Artaguette, Chicagou

Chief Chicagou

Chief Chicagou, also known as Agapit Chicagou, was an 18th century Native American leader of the Mitchigamea. He visited Paris and participated in the Chickasaw Wars.- Paris :...

 and de Vincennes

François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes

François Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes was a French Canadian explorer and soldier who established several forts in what is now the U.S. state of Indiana, including Fort Vincennes....

 before their ill fated 1736 attack against the Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

.

Fort Prudhomme

The French Fort Prudhomme

Fort Prudhomme

Fort Prudhomme, or Prud'homme, was a simple stockade fortification, constructed on one of the Chickasaw Bluffs of the Mississippi River in West Tennessee by Cavelier de La Salle's French canoe expedition of the Mississippi River Basin in 1682...

, or Prud'homme, was established at one of the Chickasaw Bluffs in 1682. René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...

 (1643–87) was a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 explorer. In 1682, La Salle led a canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

 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 Chickasaw

Chickasaw

The Chickasaw are Native American people originally from the region that would become the Southeastern United States...

 Indians

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

. La Salle decided to stay and search for the missing member. La Salle had a stockade

Stockade

A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...

 built and named it Fort Prudhomme

Fort Prudhomme

Fort Prudhomme, or Prud'homme, was a simple stockade fortification, constructed on one of the Chickasaw Bluffs of the Mississippi River in West Tennessee by Cavelier de La Salle's French canoe expedition of the Mississippi River Basin in 1682...

, after their lost man. This was the first structure built by the French in Tennessee. Days later, the missing member found his way back. 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 Bluffs but it is disputed on which of the four bluffs the fortification was located. 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

Shelby County, Tennessee

Shelby County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the state's largest both in terms of population and geographic area, with a population of 927,644 at the 2010 census...

. Again other sources assume that the fourth Chickasaw Bluff in modern Shelby County at Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

was the location of Fort Prudhomme.