434 A BICENTENNIAL HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY, MOSBY POSTCARD COLLECTION FORT DANIEL HALL, ALSO KNOWN AS HUGH CRAFT OR CRAFT-DANIEL PLACE, IS A PLANTATION HOME BUILT IN THE 1850s BY THE CRAFT FAMILY. Built by Hugh Craft, an early land commissioner for North Mississippi, the home later served as a Union headquarters during Confederate Major General Earl Van Dorn’s raid of Holly Springs in 1862. The home is built in Greek Revival architectural style, with Tuscan columns and a two-story veranda that wraps around the house on all but one side. FORT DANIEL HALL Chickasaw Lands Prior to the coming of white settlers, North Mississippi already had an indigenous population: the Chickasaw, one of the five “Civilized Nations” of the Southwest. James Adair, a Scottish trader among the Chickasaw, described them as fierce warriors who would pursue fleeing enemies for 200 or 300 miles “with the continued speed and eagerness of a staunch pack of blood hounds until they shed blood.” Throughout the eighteenth century, the Chickasaw had successfully preserved their independence through a shrewd alliance with the British against the French and Spanish. Time and again, the Chickasaw inflicted humiliating defeats on the French and their Native American allies. The Chickasaw were never defeated in battle, but they lost their land and independence through internal demoralization and the increasing pressure of white expansion westward. Among white Americans, a debate raged over Native American policy. Reformers argued that Native Americans (especially peoples such as the “Civilized Tribes” of the Southwest) could be assimilated into the nation as they abandoned hunting and traditional customs and adopted white practices such as private property, intensive PHOTO COURTESY OF MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY