the natchez people, the natchez people had been there where the city of natchez is back into prehistoric times, and then these other groups that were more or less refugee groups that had attach themselves to the natchez. the greengrocer. [inaudible] they -- when they left their homeland and went to the east and were settling with other indian groups, they took some african-americans with them. the natchez people became sort of fused with the creeks, cherokees, and these groups over towards the east. so their ethnicity kind have got spread out some. as i said earlier, their language miraculously held on for 200 years after there is a need for it to exist. >> thank you. >> i have researched and written for books of history in my experience has been when you're doing research there there's something to expect to find in some things, and you find them, or somethings you expect when you don't don't find them and then there are the things that you find that take you by surprise. that it's been my experience. for instance, when i wrote theater roosevelt and the assassin i was really struck by h

the natchez people, the natchez people had been there where the city of natchez is back into prehistoric times, and then these other groups that were more or less refugee groups that had attach themselves to the natchez. the greengrocer. [inaudible] they -- when they left their homeland and went to the east and were settling with other indian groups, they took some african-americans with them. the natchez people became sort of fused with the creeks, cherokees, and these groups over towards the east. so their ethnicity kind have got spread out some. as i said earlier, their language miraculously held on for 200 years after there is a need for it to exist. >> thank you. >> i have researched and written for books of history in my experience has been when you're doing research there there's something to expect to find in some things, and you find them, or somethings you expect when you don't don't find them and then there are the things that you find that take you by surprise. that it's been my experience. for instance, when i wrote theater roosevelt and the assassin i was really struck by h

those speakers have passed on, there are no active speakers of the natchez language, although that natchezpeople living in eastern oklahoma are trying to bring that language back to life. there are sound recorders at michigan state university and lots of information about what the natchez language was like. so there tried to bring the language back as a living language. their language is just one aspect of their total society. these people are still here, they are not recognized by the federal government but they are still here. in my career with the department of archives and history i have been fortunate enough to get to know some of these people. the take away is that society that we think maybe are gone, they have a way of staying alive. >> i think a couple of things and i have alluded to the first one already and that is that the siege of jackson took place right here, even though there are no evident signs that any military action took place. this jackson does not look like the vicksburg national military park. but if you know what you are looking for and i tried to paint a picture i