[4] It was described as being of "extraordinary size" in the 1848 book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley[5] and it is the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the United States, after Monk's Mound at Cahokia, Illinois.

[6] Emerald was abandoned by the time of the French colonial period, and the hereditary chief of the Natchez had his capital at the nearby Grand Village Site.

[13][14] The National Intelligencer of Washington, D.C. reported that Governor W. C. C. Claiborne was hosted at a "sumptuous dinner" put on by militia officers and "several respectable citizens of Jefferson County" at which toasts were made to Thomas Jefferson himself, the Congress, and "The COMMERCE of the MISSISSIPPI, and DESTRUCTION TO THE POWER THAT MOLESTS IT," and to "The farmers of the Miffiflippi territory—we venerate the plough.

A British traveler named Francis Bailey stayed at "Seltzer's tavern" in July 1797, recording in his journal, "We found there was no beef to be got in the place; but our host obliged us by killing an ox on purpose for us, which he dried and prepared fit for packing.

There was only one man who knew how to make it, and that was a baker in the fort, who was a Spaniard, to him we applied, and after a good deal of entreaty (for he was obliged to do it clandestinely) he made us a quarter of a hundredweight.