The conflict between the two parties was a direct result of Lieutenant d’Etcheparre (more commonly known as Sieur de Chépart), the commandant at the settlement near the Natchez, decided in 1729 that the Natchez Indians should surrender both their cultivated crop lands and their town of White Apple to the French. The Natchez pretended to surrender and actually worked for the French in the hunting game, but as soon as they were weaponized, they struck back and killed several men, resulting in the colonists fleeing downriver to New Orleans. The fleeing colonists sought protection from what they feared might be a colony-wide Indian raid. The Natchez, however, did not press on after their surprise attack, leaving them vulnerable enough for King Louis XV's appointed governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville to reclaim the settlement.