Coles Creek (Mississippi)

{{Short description|Creek in Louisiana and Mississippi, US}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Coles Creek

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| image = File:Coles Creek Ford Natchez Trace Jefferson County Mississippi circa 1938.jpg

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| image_caption = Coles Creek Ford Natchez Trace Jefferson County Mississippi circa 1938

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| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = United States

| subdivision_type2 = States

| subdivision_name2 = {{hlist |Mississippi |Louisiana}}

| subdivision_type3 = County

| subdivision_name3 = Jefferson

| subdivision_type4 = Parish

| subdivision_name4 = Tensas

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| mouth_coordinates = {{coord |31.7460|N|91.3654|W|format=dms}}

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| river_system = Mississippi River

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File:Barry Ruderman Antique Maps 49116mp2 - crop.jpg

File:Landmarks in the vicinity of Vicksburg Vidalia and Natchez circa 1863.jpg

Coles Creek is a creek in the states of Louisiana and Mississippi that is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Natchez Trace had a rest stop along Coles Creek.{{Cite web|url=http://www.natcheztracetravel.com/natchez-trace-mississippi/lorman-natchez-ms/242-north-fork-coles-creek.html|title = North Fork Coles Creek - Natchez Trace}}

Coles Creek, renamed Villa Gayoso in 1792, was the site of an early colonial settlement and the seat of a Catholic parish where the Spanish colonial governor sent a priest to evangelize mostly Protestant settlers to the Catholic faith.{{Cite journal |last=Din |first=Gilbert C. |date=1971 |title=The Irish Mission to West Florida |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4231215 |journal=Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association |volume=12 |issue=4 |pages=315–334 |jstor=4231215 |issn=0024-6816}} A Baptist Church was organized at the settlement in 1791. In June 1792 it was the second-largest settlement in the Natchez District with a population of 909 (this enumeration may not included enslaved people).{{Cite book |last=Montero |first=de Pedro, Marqués de Casa Mena, José |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPnbDe8QvHMC&dq=%22Villa+Gayoso%22&pg=PA149 |title=The Spanish in New Orleans and Louisiana |date=2000 |publisher=Pelican Publishing |isbn=978-1-4556-1227-7 |pages=149 |language=en}}

According to J. F. H. Claiborne, "Villa Gayoso was on Cole's creek, in Jefferson county, (not far from the river) where Gov. Gayoso erected a sort of chateau as a summer residence, and posted a small garrison. The land was claimed by Everard Green (son of Col. Thomas Green) and was in controversy between the parties when the Spaniards left the district. It was turned over by the Spanish authorities to Capt. Guion as public property, and he stationed there to hold it for the United States Corporal Diddup and five men. The Green family are now and long have been in possession of the premises."{{Cite book |last=Claiborne |first=J. F. H. (John Francis Hamtramck) |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028795405/page/228/mode/2up |title=Mississippi, as a province, territory, and state : with biographical notices of eminent citizens |date=1880 |publisher=Jackson, Miss. : Power & Barksdale |others=Cornell University Library}}{{Rp|page=229}}