After the American Revolution, frontiersmen from the Ohio Valley carried their products downstream to Spanish-controlled New Orleans and Natchez. Returning home, boatmen followed a series of Indian trails from Natchez to Nashville, trails which evolved into the Natchez Trace. After the United States acquired Natchez in 1798, the government decided to clear a road between the newly created Mississippi Territory and the State of Tennessee as an important communication link between the national capital and the Old Southwest.
