DISCIPLINE AND DRESS.
"No pupil shall be permitted to receive ceremonious visits.
"All boarders in commons shall wear a plain dress and uniform bonnets.
"No pupil shall be permitted to wear beads, jewelry, artificial flowers, curls, feathers, or any superfluous decoration.
"No pupil shall be allowed to attend balls, dancing parties, theatrical performances, or festive entertainments ____.
ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS—COURSE OF STUDY
"____The studies of the Senior Class are:
"First Session.—Chemistry, natural philosophy, moral philosophy, botany; Latin, Aesop's Fables, Sacra Historia, Viri Romae illustres.
"Second Session.—Intellectual philosophy, Evidences of Christianity, Mythology, general history, Latin, Cæsar's Bella Gallica.
"Students who have completed the full course above, shall be entitled to the honors of the institution, with a diploma on parchment, for the degree of Domina Scientiarum____Those who have pursued with honor the whole course of studies, shall be entitled to remain one academic year, free of charge for tuition, and be associated in an honorary class, to be engaged in the pursuit of science and polite literature, and ornamental studies. After which they shall be entitled to an honorary diploma ____."
The spiritual culture of the students was the supreme concern of the faculty. The Bible was systematically taught and revivals of religion were enjoyed. A notable one occurred in 1826.
The coming of Mrs. Caroline M. Thayer in the fall of 1825 was an epoch in the history of the Academy, and her administration marked an era. She was a remarkably accomplished woman with a genius for administration. Of her Dr. Winans, President of the Board of Trustees thus speaks:
"Monday, Jan. 16, 1826.
"In the evening I returned to Brother Burruss's, where I met Sister C. M. Thayer, who has come to take charge of Elizabeth Female Academy. She is a woman of middle size, coarse features, some of the stiffness of Yankee manners, but of an intelligent and pleasant expression of countenance; free in conversation and various and abundant in information. Rev. John C. Burruss, the President of the Academy, said: 'Mrs. Thayer is a most extraordinary woman; I have never seen such a teacher.'"
Again, under date of March 2d, 1826, in a letter to Rev. John Lane, Dr. Winans says: "The Academy is in a very flourishing condition—Sister Thayer is a tutoress of superior abilities, both as teacher and governess. We are very sanguine of the future usefulness and respectability of the Academy."
Mrs. Thayer was a niece of Gen. Warren, the hero of Bunker Hill, educated in Boston, warmly recommended by Dr. Wilbur Fisk, and before coming to Mississippi had made great reputation as an author and teacher. She had taught for a while with Rev. Valentine Cook on Green River, Kentucky, and had published a volume of essays and poems that attracted wide attention.
The editor of the Southern Galaxy, a paper published in Natchez, attended the semi-annual examinations at Elizabeth Female Academy in the Spring of 1829, and highly commended the institution, especially "the unquestioned capacity and superior accomplishments of the Governess," Mrs. Caroline M. Thayer. The eloquent address delivered on the occasion by Duncan S. Walker Esq., is published in full. In the list of young ladies receiving special mention for scholarship is found the name of "Miss Martha D. Richardson of Washita, La." That fair daughter of the first college for young ladies in the South still lives in California as the widow of the late Bishop H. H. Kavanaugh.
In that same issue of the paper, March 26th, 1829, is this communication:
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE SOUTHERN GALAXY."
"Sir: The following lines are the production of a pupil in the Elizabeth Female Academy at Washington. If you think them worthy of a place in your paper, their insertion may aid the cause of female literature, by awakening emulation among your young readers, though their youthful author only intended them for the eyes of her preceptress.
"C. M. T."
WHAT IS BEAUTY?
'Tis not the finest form, the fairest face
That loveliness imply:
'Tis not the witching smile, the pleasing grace,
That charms just Reason's eye.
No, 'tis the sunshine of the spotless mind,
The warmest, truest heart,
That leaves all lower, grosser things behind,
And acts the noblest part—
That sunshine, beaming o'er the radiant face,
With virtue's purest glow,
Will give the plainest lineaments a grace
That beauty cannot show.
This face, this heart alone can boast a charm
To please just Reason's eye,
And this can stern Adversity disarm
And even Time defy.
—Margaret.
The annual commencement in the early summer was a great occasion. An elaborate notice of the same, which embraced Aug. 21st, 1829, was published in the papers of the young state—"the first detailed account of such an event in Mississippi." The essay of Miss Anna W. Boyd, who graduated with the honors of her class, appears in full. It will be interesting to many yet living for me to give the names of the graduates, and those distinguished in the several classes:
In that list of young ladies will be recognized a few honored matrons in the Southwest yet living, and many others will recall their grandmothers who have long been among the redeemed in heaven.
A Board of Visitors, consisting of such distinguished men as Robert L. Walker, J. F. H. Caliborne and Dr. J. W. Monette, attended that commencement, and made report as follow:
"____The most unqualified praise would be no more than justice for the splendid evidence of their close attention and assiduity, as exhibited on this occasion; and we take pleasure in giving it as our opinion, that such honorable proof of female literary and scientific acquirements has seldom been exhibited in this or any other country. And while it proves the order and discipline with which science and literature are pursued by the pupils, it proves no less the flourishing condition and the merited patronage the institution enjoys. Nothing reflects more honor upon the present age than the liberality displayed in the education of females; nor can anything evince more clearly the justness with which female education is appreciated in the South than this exhibition, and the interest manifested by the large and respectable audience during the whole of the exercises. The literary and scientific character of the Governess, Mrs. Thayer, is too well known to admit of commendation from us ____."
On account of the removal of the Capitol to Jackson, the shifting of the center of population, several epidemics of yellow fever and other causes, after varying fortunes, the Academy suspended. Ex-Chancellor Edward Mayes says of this institution: "In the decade from 1819 to 1829 its boarders amounted in number annually from 28 to 63." Mrs. John Lane, Mrs. C. K. Marshall, Mrs. H. H. Kavanaugh, Mrs. B. M. Drake, the mother of the late Col. W. L. Nugent, the mother of the Rev. T. L. Mellen, and many other elect ladies were educated at that mother of female colleges.
The noble school continued its splendid work for more than twenty-five years, and laid broad and deep the foundations on which others have wisely builded.
EARLY HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COLLEGE.
BY MR. J. K. MORRISON
Jefferson College was incorporated by the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory on the thirteenth of May, 1802. The act of incorporation was entitled: "An act to establish a College in Mississippi Territory." The following named gentlemen attended a meeting of the Trustees of this institution, held January 3, 1803, viz: Wm. C. C. Claiborne, John Ellis, Wm. Dunbar, Anthony Hutchins, David Lattimore, Sulton Banks, Alexander Montgomery, Daniel Burnet, David Kerr, D. W. Breazeale, Abner Green, Cato West, Thos. Calvit and Felix Hughes.
John Ellis was appointed President pro tempore and Felix Hughes, secretary.
The Board then proceeded to elect their officers by ballot. His Excellency, Wm. C. C. Caliborne, was elected President, Sir Wm. Dunbar, Vice-President, Felix Hughes, Secretary, and Cato West, Treasurer. For some reason the last named officer declined to serve.
It was next moved that the following address be submitted to the National Government:
"To the Honourable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:
"We, the Trustees of Jefferson College assembled, agreeable to a law of this Territory, at our first meeting, beg leave to address the Honourable Legislature of the United States. The duty we owe to our Infant Institution, to the community of the Mississippi Territory, and to the United States calls on us to lay before you our wants and our prospects.
"Education in every state of the union has required, and we believe, met in some degree the fostering hand of public support. Every enlightened society, has been willing to contribute in some way to the cultivation of the minds of their rising generation, from whence so many public as well as private benefits have been found to flow.
"This society has laboured under peculiar Impediments to the pursuit of this object; lately emerged from the lethargic influence of an arbitrary government, averse from principle to general information our citizens have hardly as individuals yet become sensible of the necessity, and usefulness of Education; unaccustomed to act in concert their individual efforts have never aimed at more than private schools.
"The first attempt to institute a place of general education for the youth of this territory, has by a law of our Legislature, devolved on us. We are sensible of the usefulness of the design to ourselves and to our children. We are aware of the peculiar necessity of Public Education and general information, to enable us to maintain that Character we are called on to support, the Character of citizens of a Republic. Our insulated situation demands the means of education at home, and the infancy of our community and the circumstances already mentioned demand Patronage from our parent government.
"At a time when the true principles of Republicanism are more generally than ever diffused over the United States, when philosophy and Patriotism are so happily united in promoting the public good, we hope we shall not ask in vain. Our citizens may be tardy in learning the necessity of affording effectual support by voluntary contributions; our local government has no lands to bestow on us. But we trust the Legislature of the United States, in whom the right of our soil is vested, will give aid to an institution which will establish republicanism in the minds of the youth of this territory, and be the firmest bond of an attachment to the Union.
"In the Northwestern Territory, the general government acting on the ordinance of Congress has been attentive to the support of public instruction.
"Having a similar claim from a similitude of constitution, and such pressing inducements peculiar to ourselves, we rely with confident hope on your Honourable Body for such aid as you may judge proper."
The following resolution was also adopted:
"That a committee of the following members, viz: Messrs. Wm. Dunbar, Cato West, David Kerr, John Ellis, and Daniel Burnet be appointed to make inquiry as to the most convenient site for Jefferson College; to receive proposals from individuals of any donations of lands for that purpose and to report to the Board at their next meeting."
On motion the following address to the citizens of the Territory was adopted:
"To the People of the Mississippi Territory:
"The Trustees of Jefferson College assembled at their first meeting embrace the opportunity of addressing you, our fellow-citizens of the Mississippi Territory, we are sensible of the difficulty of the Task to which we have been called by your representatives. A place of public education is to be created at a considerable expense without any public funds. The economy of our Legislature has not as yet suffered them to lay a tax on the community, to aid an Institution, which we hope will ultimately conduce to our public as well as private happiness. We are called on, therefore to supply the want of public funds by the liberality of private patriotism.
"Indeed when we look forward to the consequence of a successful attempt to raise a respectable school for the education of the youth of this Territory, we trust the enlightened citizens will not be wanting in furnishing the means essentially necessary.
"Our situation far remote from foreign schools, where a liberal education may be procured prevents our young fellow citizens generally from acquiring the advantages which a good school affords. If in a few instances parents send their children far from the inspection of their parental eye, great sacrifice must be made of parental solicitude and great hazard of the morals of the youth, and when these difficulties shall be overcome, young men having finished their education return among their fellow citizens perhaps with the power and inclination to serve them, but too much strangers for some time to gain their confidence. Having procured a distant education, they will enjoy little advantages over strangers who may emigrate to this territory from foreign countries or from some parts of the United States. Our citizens will not enjoy the advantage of a long personal acquaintance, to enable them to choose with judgement those whom they ought to encourage, as teachers of youth and preachers of religion and morality, as physicians, as lawyers, or as law-givers.
"But should the liberality of the public enable the patrons of Jefferson College to establish it as a public school for the Territory these evils would be succeeded by important Benefits. We should see our youth growing up under our own observation in habits of virtue and improvement. Those who should acquire public approbation by early talents and good behavior would be rewarded with the merited confidence of their fellow citizens on the entrance to public life, while strangers of merit would obtain a just share of public favors, our citizens would not be forced to employ persons unknown to them, to conduct their most important interests. Our young men living together while the social affections are yet untarnished by selfish views or party spirit would contract such firm attachments as would conduce gradually to obliterate that party rage which is the bane of our community too small to make divisions tolerable.
"From Jefferson College as a central school would emanate the taste and the knowledge necessary to make even a common education more reputable and more useful. In fine, our children being educated in the knowledge and Love of Republican Liberty would grow up to be the firm supporters of our Republican government.
"We do not pretend to undertake an enumeration of all the advantage, either public or private which the success of the present undertaking promises; but being deeply interested as well as yourselves in the event, we beg leave to offer you one more observation.
"Bountiful Providence has given to the citizens of this territory the means of procuring a Superabundance of wealth. It is an awful Truth, that it will depend on the education of the growing generation, whether a sudden increase of wealth will be the cause of a rapid increase in knowledge and rational refinement, or of luxury and unmeaning expense. As your growing riches then will furnish you with the happy means of forming the growing minds of your children to a rational love of good learning and virtue.
"So the danger of leaving your property to those who might not know how to use it usefully and innocently, shows the necessity of devoting a part of it to their Education.
"Such are our views, Fellow Citizens, of the importance of our present undertaking. We call on you then to lend your aid to an Institution, which will be devoted to increase the common happiness. All are interested, let all contribute something to the public stock, let the rich give liberally and all others show their public spirit according to their abilities, Parents will meet their reward in possessing the means of promoting the real happiness of their children. Those who are not parents will enjoy the Benefit of living, in a society increasing in civilization and those arts and pursuits which are the ornaments of human nature."
A committee consisting of the following members, Messrs. Sulton Banks, David Lattimore and Wm. Dunbar was appointed to prepare the plan of a lottery for raising a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars and to make a report to the next meeting of the Board of Trustees. This meeting was held at Selsertown. The committee appointed for the purpose of preparing a lottery scheme reported as follows:
That 2,000 tickets at $5.00 a piece be sold, $10,000.
No. of prizes:
| 1 | of | $2,000 | is | $2,000 |
| 2 | of | 500 | each | $1,000 |
| 10 | of | 100 | each | $1,000 |
| 20 | of | 50 | each | $1,000 |
| 200 | of | 25 | each | $5,000 |
The above prizes to be paid deducting 15% for the College.
A committee appointed to select a suitable location recommended one on the lands of Mordecai Throckmorton near old Greenville, in Jefferson county. The Board at its meeting agreed on this site recommended, and ordered their next meeting to be held at old Greenville, on the 11th of April following.
At this meeting the resolution proposing a site for the location of the college was repealed. The next meeting was held at Selsertown. At this meeting the Board on the 25th of July, 1803, accepted a donation of lands offered by John and James Foster, and Randall Gibson, adjoining the town of Washington, and embracing Ellicott's Springs.
The appeal to the public for aid was unproductive; that to Congress was responded to by a grant of a township of land and some lots of ground in and adjoining the city of Natchez.
The next meeting of the Board of Trustees was held in Natchez, on the 28th of January, 1804. Colonel Cato West, at that time the acting governor of the Territory, reported "that the lots in the city of Natchez, and an out-lot adjoining the same, granted to the college by Congress, had been only located, and that upon these lots were several valuable buildings." But a private individual and the city of Natchez laid claim to these buildings and an act was passed in Congress regranting them to Natchez.
Appeals were made to the public but were not responded to. A loan from the Legislature was prayed for but all the efforts on the part of the trustees amounted to nothing.
The Trustees were reassembled in April, 1810, having had no meeting since December 21, 1805.
In the meantime the Washington Academy had been established and conducted by Rev. Jas. Smylie. Subscriptions were raised and frame buildings erected on the college grounds.
A meeting of the two Boards was held and the building of the Academy and the subscriptions which had been raised for its support were transferred to the Board of Trustees of the prospective College.
The Board of the Washington Academy also had lottery tickets on sale, but found great difficulty in disposing of them.
Few of the tickets were sold, and fortunately for the institution the tickets calling for the largest prizes remained unsold. There was nothing gained from this and the next year the Board directed suits against some of the purchasers of tickets who had failed to pay for them.
The Academy buildings were placed in order and it was published that "an academy under the superintendence of Dr. Edwin Reese, assisted by Mr. Sam'l Graham would open on the first of January."
Nine years after the chartering of Jefferson College, it started as an academy, and as an academy it continued several years.
Soon afterwards the Trustees resumed their efforts to secure an endowment for the proposed College. The titles to the lots in Natchez were examined. In order to adjust the claims between the corporation of Natchez and Jefferson College, the matter was carried to law. In 1812 commissioners were appointed for the recovery of such escheated property as belonged to the College, the Legislature having granted to it all escheated property for ten years. The authority of the Legislature was questioned in this matter, and it was carried before Congress. The Legislature was upheld in this and the College realized five or six thousand dollars, but lost heavily prosecuting their claims.
The Secretary of the Treasury, under the authority of an act of Congress passed the 20th of February, 1812, located on the 5th of June the township of land granted in 1803. The land selected was situated on both sides of the Tombigbee River. But nothing was realized from this until 1818.
In 1816, six thousand dollars to be paid in annual installments was granted by the Legislature. This money was for the purpose of hiring an instructor.
Mr. M'Allister, who was teaching at the time in Kentucky, was employed, and took charge of the Institution in 1817. In the August following the contract for the last building was let out.
In 1818, the rapid immigration to Alabama caused an increase in the value of the Tombigbee lands. An agent was sent to Alabama, who leased the lands owned by the College for ninety-nine years. About eight thousand dollars was received as the first payment, and the remaining installments amounting to more than twenty-five thousand dollars were to be paid in two, four and six years. With such an improved state of affairs the Board deemed it wise to borrow money to hasten the completion of the buildings then in progress. Nine thousand dollars was obtained from the bank and four thousand from the state.
The trustees were disappointed, however, in the expected revenues from the Tombigbee lands. The government in 1820 found it necessary to adopt measures for the reduction of the enormous debts of those who had contracted for lands in more prosperous times.
Liberal discounts were offered to its debtors, also the privilege of giving up the lands they had purchased. There was a great depreciation in the value of the lands at this time, and the purchasers were glad to surrender them to the government.
The trustees offered an abatement of one-half. But all, with one exception, gave the land to the government, as the greater portion of it was found to be of no value. This source of revenue to which the trustees had looked forward with such sanguine expectations had been destroyed, heavy debts had been contracted, and there were no means of discharging them. So the trustees and friends of the Institution assumed the debts individually.
The college had a difficulty from another source. In 1818 there was an assembly of the clergy of all denominations in Washington. Some of the clergy, believing Mr. M'Allister's opinion to be unorthodox, publicly denounced the Institution.
This did the College an injury that the trustees could not repair. Rev. R. F. N. Smith, an associate of Mr. M'Allister, was placed at the head of the Institution, but this helped matters very little.
The source of revenue having been exhausted, Mr. Smith resigned. From 1821, an academy was kept up under various instructors on a small scale.
In 1825, a measure was introduced into the Legislature to institute suit for the recovery of the money loaned, but the majority voted against it.
To afford the Legislature an opportunity of placing the institution more immediately under its control and management and to give to it that patronage and support to which it would be entitled as a State Institution, the Trustees voted to give the power of filling vacancies in their body to the Legislature. The act was passed in January, 1826. This right was exercised for many years.
In May, 1826, the Trustees were notified that the selectmen of the city of Natchez were going to make an appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States in the suit commenced in 1813, for the property given by Congress and claimed by the city of Natchez. The Trustees not being able to bear the expenses of a suit appointed a committee to compromise with the city, which they succeeded in doing.
About this time the Legislature was considering the idea of establishing a State Institution, and its executive committee at its session in Feb. 1829, was ordered to appoint three agents to inquire into all the means and resources in the state applicable to the purposes of general education; to confer with the Trustees of Jefferson College and ascertain the condition and prospects of the Institution and whether it was practicable for the Trustees to surrender the charter to the State, and on what terms it would be done.
A meeting of the two committees was held on the 27th of October, 1829. Questions were asked the committee from Jefferson College concerning the college buildings; the endowment; the number and character of its Professors; its future prospects; the expediency of surrendering the charter; and concerning the money loaned to the Institution by the Legislature.
It was found that the charter could not be surrendered to another Institution erected in its stead.
This agreement was not made with the Legislature, so it was decided to put forth greater energies than ever to build up the Institution.
It was decided to adopt a system of Education similar to that of West Point and a contract was made with E. B. Williston and Major Halbrook.
They assumed all responsibilities, and hired a number of competent instructors, and depended upon their success to pay the salaries of each.
The College under this management opened on the first Monday of December, 1829. This plan was eminently successful and for the first time since the establishment of the Institution it was a success. A large number of students was attracted to it and it was viewed with pride and gratification.
THE RISE AND FALL OF NEGRO RULE IN MISSISSIPPI.
BY DUNBAR ROWLAND, ESQ.
Twenty-three years have passed into history since Adelbert Ames, the last of the "Carpet Baggers," was driven from his high position as governor of Mississippi by the representatives of an outraged and indignant people. A new generation has grown to manhood and womanhood since those stirring times that led up to and culminated in the exposure and condemnation of the most reckless and profligate political combination and blighting curse that has ever burdened a free people. As we have just passed the twenty-third anniversary of that great event it is fitting that its memories be revived in the minds of those who took part in it, that its lessons may be impressed upon those who are to complete and affirm its results. The uprising of the people of Mississippi against Negro rule was a most magnificent example of that spirit of Southern patriotism that animated the hearts; first of such men as Walthall, Lamar, George, Featherston, Stone, Lowry and Harris, and then spread to the hearts of every true man in Mississippi. The young men of the State, the rising generation, have the greatest reverence and love for the brave men who fought such a gallant fight for the preservation of white supremacy in Mississippi.
The social, industrial and political conditions existing in Mississippi two years after the close of the civil war can only be properly appreciated by taking a backward view of what had gone before. From 1817 to 1860 Mississippi was a garden for the cultivation of all that was grand in oratory, true in science, and enlightened and profound in law and statesmanship. Those were years of a golden age, an age of chivalry in which she vied with her sister States in the lists of that grand tournament that was to decide the fate of a nation. That period of the State's history produced a roll too tedious to read of noble spirits, bright wits, and elegant scholars, whose names and deeds are preserved in the records of an admiring people. Mississippi takes special pride in the character of Jefferson Davis, whose name will be forever enshrined in fame's proudest niche, as the representative of Southern honor, chivalry and manhood.
"And he will live on history's page,
While cycling years shall onward move,
A victim of a senseless rage,
Now idol of his people's love;
When hate is buried in the dust,
When party strife shall break its spear,
When truth is free and men are just,
Then will his epitaph appear."
Mississippi was enriched by the power and ability of George Poindexter, her brilliant governor and United States senator; she points with pride to the executive ability and constructive statesmanship of Robert J. Walker, Polk's great minister of finance, and author of the Walker Tariff Bill; she looks back with wondering admiration to that king of orators and eccentric genius, S. S. Prentiss, who thrilled the American heart with his god-like eloquence; she holds sacred the memory of the gifted and peerless Lamar, who stood, unawed and alone, as defender and protector, in her darkest and most trying hour; and no stone that marks the last resting place of the great of earth can be worthier of the Roman legend:
"Clarus et vir fortissimus."
The year 1861 brought ruin and desolation upon the State. The signal gun fired from Fort Sumter was the beginning of a bloody fratricidal strife, and was the first act in the greatest drama of political and social revolution known to history. That revolution brought political, industrial and financial ruin upon Mississippi. When peace came, it found a race of ignorant slaves, masters of her political destiny. Then came the days of reconstruction, and of devilish animosity and hate; days when ignorance and vice reigned supreme, and the law of brute force was terribly triumphant. During that time a brave people were condemned to all the suffering and oppression which crime and corruption could invent, and tyranny inflict.
The political party then in power stands before the bar of an intelligent public sentiment of today a confessed and convicted author of the greatest and most criminal mistake of all time. The experiment of negro suffrage was a most stupendous blunder. Under that vicious system society was depressed to a greater degree than could be borne. For ten long years was Mississippi ruled by the adventurer, who filled the mind of the negroes with a spirit of misrule, prejudice and hatred against their former masters. He found a people impoverished by the loss of millions in slave property, and made penniless by a long and protracted war.
The State was turned over as so much prey to the hungriest and cruelest flock of human vultures that ever cursed mankind and the pathway towards better things was stained with the life blood of her best and noblest. Under such a reign property was insecure. There was open and notorious plunder without the hope of redress. Ignorance, crime and hatred had enthralled the white people of the state. No greater burden has ever been put upon a suffering people, and while it lasted in Mississippi the state was overwhelmed by a horde of ignorant, immoral and degraded vagabonds.
The blighting curse of negro rule was patiently borne by the people of Mississippi until 1875, when a halt was called, and every white man in the State took a solemn oath before high heaven that he would free himself and his posterity from such a disgrace, or die in the attempt. That idea was the battle-cry under which the campaign of 1875 was fought. That campaign was the supreme effort of a brave people to save themselves and their posterity from the blighting ruin of black supremacy. It was the most remarkable demonstration of courage ever shown to an admiring world; it was the courage that dared death and defied the world in its struggle against infamy and dishonor. The struggle was begun by a well attended mass-meeting of leading men from every county in the State. Lawyers left their books, doctors their patients, preachers their sermons, merchants their stores, and farmers their fields, and formed themselves into a mighty force for the overthrow of misrule. These brave and determined men met together at the State capitol in Jackson, Jan. 4th, 1875, and organized what is known to history as the Taxpayers' Convention of Mississippi. The convention was called to order by Hon. W. L. Nugent, one of the great lawyers of the Jackson bar. Gen. W. S. Featherston, of Holly Springs, was called to preside over the deliberations of the meeting, and his pure patriotism and great influence gave force to a gathering that was prepared to call the people of the State to arms if need be, in defense of their rights and liberties. To Gen. Featherston and Judge Wiley P. Harris all honor is due for the brave stand they took at that time. They were both remarkable men of fearless courage and sound judgement. The labors of the convention resulted in a petition being drawn up for presentation to the legislature setting forth the desperate condition of the State, demanding reform and economy, and appealing to the people to rise up in their might and overthrow their oppressors. An extraordinary increase in taxation was shown to be almost equal to confiscation. The convention of taxpayers claimed and showed conclusively that in 1869 the State levy was 10 cents on the dollar of the assessed value of lands. For the year 1871 it was four times as great and for 1874 fourteen times as great. Such a condition of affairs could only result in general ruin and bankruptcy. After the adjournment of the taxpayers' convention the delegates returned to their homes and organized local taxpayers' leagues in every county in the State. The property-holders determined to reduce taxation or refuse to pay their assessments, and, if necessary, to resist the collection of all taxes for the support of the State government.
A new legislature was to be elected in November, 1875, and the only hope of property holders to save their lands from confiscation was to elect a legislature composed of white men pledged to economy. The Democratic State Convention met in Jackson on August 3d, 1875, and was made up of the best men in every walk of life. Gen. Charles Clark was made chairman. He was an ex-governor of the State and was reverenced and loved for his patriotic devotion to his adopted State. Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar was a delegate to the convention from Lafayette county, and was the leader in every movement. He made the greatest speech of his life on the floor of the convention, and it served as a bugle call to action to the white people to throw off the ruin and dishonor that threatened them. The campaign was placed under the guidance of Gen. J. Z. George, as chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee, and such men as Lamar, Walthall, Barksdale, Lowry, Money, Featherston, Singleton and Chalmers took the stump and aroused the people to action. The people laid aside their business for three months and worked for the protection of their homes and for the preservation of free institutions. The popular heart was fired with enthusiasm as never before. Public feeling found utterance in the following resolution that became the slogan of the campaign, and was passed by the people of every county in the State:
"Resolved, That without equivocation and without mutual reservation, we intend to carry out the principles enunciated in the platform of the Democratic party at Jackson, on the 3d day of August, 1875, and to this we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor."
The State executive committee met in Jackson, August 15, and organized for the campaign, and its first act was to issue the ablest and most stirring address that ever came from such a body. The address was prepared by Gen. George, the chairman of the committee, and is a masterpiece of political literature, and closes with this appeal: "In this contest Mississippi expects each of her sons to do his duty; brace up old age to one more effort, nerve, manhood, to put forth all its strength, and invite youth to its noblest enthusiasm."
In the very beginning of the campaign it became evident to Governor Ames and the Republican boodlers that the election would result in their defeat. Ames, in his desperation over impending disaster, applied to the Federal government at Washington for United States troops to be used in terrorizing the people on election day. He boldly declared that the death of a few thousand negroes would make sure the success of the Republican party, and did everything in his power to bring about an armed conflict between the two races. Bloody riots occurred at Clinton, Yazoo City and Vicksburg, in which hundreds of negroes were killed. President Grant refused to send Federal troops into Mississippi, and his refusal was based on the report of Mr. C. K. Chase, an agent of the attorney-general of the United States, who had been sent to report on the application of Gov. Ames for troops, his report being that there was no legal excuse for the presence of armed men. The Democratic orators, on every stump in the State, declared that the negro had proven himself unworthy of the right of suffrage, and should be deprived of it. They showed that wherever the negro controlled, depression and ruin were evident on every side. They proclaimed aloud that the honest, intelligent and decent white people should and would control the State. Negro suffrage had been tried for ten years with terrible results. They pointed to the ominous fact that the Southern States were behind in the road for progress, just in proportion to the number of negro voters in each. The right of manhood suffrage was daily denounced as a doctrine that was ruining the State by making it a prey to the worst and most depraved elements of society. Bitter experience had taught that freedom could not, in a moment, transform an ignorant slave into a good citizen. The most dangerous experiment in modern times in government had proved to be a most colossal blunder. The negro had slavishly surrendered his vote to the dictation of a band of petty thieves and plunderers, who were interested in nothing but gain. Where was the State, under such control, that showed even a trace of honest, intelligent government? The appeals to the people were effective. After the most remarkable of political campaigns a legislature, with an overwhelming Democratic majority, was elected. The legislature met in Jackson, January 4, 1876, and organized by the election of Hon. H. M. Street, of Prentiss county, speaker, and Hon. George M. Govan, clerk. It had among its members, such men as W. S. Featherston, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. F. Tucker, W. R. Barksdale, I. T. Blount, J. S. Bailey, J. G. Hall, G. B. Huddleston, G. D. Shands, George H. Lester and Thomas Spight, in the house; and J. M. Stone, R. O. Reynolds, John W. Fewell, R. H. Thompson and T. C. Catchings, in the senate.
At the time the legislature assembled, the executive and judicial departments of the government were under the control of the Radical party, made up of and dominated by negroes, disreputable adventurers and carpet baggers. Adelbert Ames was seated in the executive chair. At the close of the war he was in Mississippi as a colonel in the Federal army, and after the State government set up by the white people was overthrown by Federal bayonets he was made military governor. After a new constitution was adopted and Mississippi was re-admitted to the Union, Ames was elected by the legislature to represent the State in the United States Senate. James L. Alcorn was his colleague, and fierce conflict arose between the two over the control of the Republican party in the State. Alcorn was a man of admitted ability. He had been a lifelong Whig before the war, but became a moderate Republican after its close. When the constitution of 1868 was adopted the military government of Ames gave way and was succeeded by Alcorn as the first governor elected by the people after the new organic law went into force. Gov. Alcorn was a large property holder and really desired the peace and prosperity of the State. His plan was to unite the old followers of the Whig party for the control of the negro element, and save the white people from the ruin that would result from negro control. The new governor was soon found to be in the way of the negroes and carpet baggers, and he was sent to Washington as a senator of the United States.
Ex-Gov. Robert Lowry thus writes of Alcorn and Ames as Senators from Mississippi, in his history of the State:
"Governors Alcorn and Ames were occupying their seats in the United States Senate. The former, a man of high bearing, wealthy, full of courage, proud and imperious, had a supreme contempt for the pretensions of the latter, and asserted in substance, on the floor, of the Senate, that Ames was a fraud, that his poverty of intellect was only equalled by his arrogant assumption of unauthorized powers; that he was not, and never had been a citizen of Mississippi."
Ames made the best reply he could, but he was no match in debate for his opponent. The estrangement and breach between them culminated in both declaring themselves candidates for governor of the State. Ames gained the negro support and was elected, and ruled the State with all the autocratic power of a czar. The public scandals of the Ames administration soon became notorious throughout the State, and the legislature stood pledged to a full investigation of all executive acts.
Early in the session a resolution was introduced by Gen. Featherston providing for the appointment of a committee of five to investigate and report whether or not Ames had been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The resolution was passed and Speaker Street appointed Gen. Featherston, Gen. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow and Fred Parsons. After an investigation, lasting thirty-eight days, the committee made a report recommending that Ames be impeached and removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. The report of the committee was adopted by the house, and W. S. Featherston, W. F. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. R. Barksdale, and Thomas Spight were appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial before the bar of the senate. Twenty-one articles of impeachment were presented by the committee, to the house and adopted. They contained specifications and charges, involving high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The senate proceeded to organize as a high court of impeachment, and summoned Gov. Ames to appear for trial. Chief Justice Simrall, of the Supreme court, appeared in the senate March 16, 1876, and after having the oath administered according to law by Associate Justice Peyton, announced that the trial of Adelbert Ames, governor of Mississippi, for high crimes and misdemeanors in office would begin the next day. It was a time of great excitement in Jackson, and that feeling spread all over the State.
Governor Ames tried every known means in his power to intimidate the legislature. He decided at one time to attempt to disperse the body with Federal troops, but President Grant would not furnish them for such a purpose. The next plan was to collect an army of negroes in Jackson and incite them to riot and bloodshed against the whites, but the cowardice of the negroes prevented its accomplishment. One of the most corrupt and colossal schemes of public robbery ever devised by a band of plunderers was being laid bare to the eyes of an indignant people, and every effort was made by the guilty officials to hush up the investigation of their delinquencies. At the beginning of the investigation the governor and his partners in crime assumed a bold front and defied the legislature to do its worst, but when they found that the investigation was backed by a public opinion that knew no turning, they began to weaken and plead for mercy. It was brought out in the investigation that the State was full of defaulting county treasurers and sheriffs who were partisan friends of the governor, and were allowed to retain their positions. The investigation developed that the office of State Treasurer was being filled by an official who had never given bond for the faithful performance of his duty. It was found to be the custom of the governor to remove judges from the bench when they made decisions against his friends, and one public official, the sheriff of a county, was removed by force of arms. Ames was employing the same methods that he put in force during his right as military governor, and was applying the rules of arbitrary martial law in times of peace. Incompetency and rascality reigned supreme. All legislation had been in the hands of ignorant negroes who for years, were intent upon nothing but public pilfering. On March 29th, 1876, the court of impeachment was opened, and the managers of the House appeared and announced themselves ready for trial. In the meantime Ames had become panic stricken over the certainty of conviction and offered to resign and leave the State if the impeachment articles were withdrawn. The one great object of the trial was to rid the State of Ames and his gang of corrupt officials, and the managers of the proceedings agreed to allow him to resign and the following order was made by the impeachment court: "That articles of impeachment heretofore preferred by the House of Representatives against his Excellency, Adelbert Ames, be and the same are hereby dismissed, in pursuance of the request of the House of Representatives, this day presented by the managers in their behalf." After that order was entered, counsel for Ames offered the following from their client:
"Executive Office,
"Jackson, Miss., March 29, 1876.
"To the People of the State of Mississippi:
"I hereby respectfully resign my office of governor of the State of Mississippi." "Adelbert Ames."
After the reading of the resignation, Mr. Pryor, attorney for the resigning governor, spoke as follows:
"Mr. Chief Justice and Senators—At the instance of my learned associates, I rise merely to return to the chief justice and the senators the expression of our grave sense of the courtesies and kindness which we have received, both from the learned chief justice and senators, and especially from our honorable adversaries, the managers on the part of the house."
By his resignation Ames practically admitted his guilt, and soon after left the State in disgrace. Hon. John Marshall Stone became governor of the State by virtue of his position as president pro tem. of the senate, one day after Ames' resignation. A better man was never made governor of any State, and with his administration commenced an era of peace and prosperity that continues to this day.
GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.
BY MRS. HELEN D. BELL
From my youth up "Historical Mississippi" has possessed a never failing charm__ books, papers and manuscripts I have faithfully searched, and my gleaning has brought me sheaves from many a field, where stronger hands have wrought.
I shall leave chronology and statistics to the members of the Association who are more capable of dealing with them, and shall give a few current events that interested our ancestors some sixty years ago.
In one of Irwin Russell's inimitable dialect poems, he makes an old negro preacher say:
"An' when you sees me risin' up to structify in meetin';
I's just clumb up de knowledge-tree an' done some apple eatin'."
My "knowledge-tree" proved to be an old file of newspapers published from 1836 to 1843.
As far back as 1838 an active interest was taken in Historical Mississippi, and this Association, is not the first to try and preserve records and deeds, facts, traditions and legends of our beloved state.
A Lyceum flourished in the Natchez district, with Mr. Dubuisson as president. A notice of a meeting that was to be held in Washington, Miss., June 2d, 1838, says: "There is a proposition before the Lyceum to change its name to that of 'The Mississippi Philosophical & Historical Society.' It should be incorporated, as it bids fair to be the nucleus around which the taste and talent of this section of our state may rally."
Besides literature and history, an interest was taken by the men and women of this period in many other things. Realizing that Mississippi was an agricultural state, they formed an "Agricultural-Horticultural & Botanical Society," and one meeting was held April 28th, 1843, in the Methodist Church in Washington, President B. S. C. Wailes in the chair. There was no public dinner, but every planter had enough along with him to supply a dozen more than his own family. Col. Wailes, Mr. Affleck and many others, we are told, kept open house; Mrs. Shields, Miss Rawling, Miss Newman and Miss Smith were appointed to examine and report on needle-work and other articles of feminine industry. They made their report through Mr. Joseph D. Shields, and awarded prizes to Mrs. Dr. Broome, Mrs. Anna D. Winn, Mrs. Sarah West, Miss Virginia Branch, Miss Eliza Magruder, Miss Julia Cashell, and Miss Mary McCaleb.
The women of the thirties had never heard of the "new woman" yet they were fully alive to their own interest. It is said that when the "married woman's property right" bill was up for discussion in 1839, it was passed mainly through the exertions and influence of Mrs. T. B. J. Hadley, who kept the most popular boarding house in Jackson. She had become enamored of the civil law principle in Louisiana, and was determined to have this statute in our state. How did she accomplish it? From the day that Adam ate the apple, women have had firm convictions as to the best way of bringing men to their "point of view." If any of Mrs. Hadley's boarders opposed this bill, she put them on short rations and they had no comfort until they gave in. By the way, it is believed that our Mississippi Statute on this subject—property rights of married women—was the first which was passed in any state in the Union, which was governed by the principles of common law.
Politics ran high; Whigs and Democrats were ready at all times to give reason for the faith within them, to fight for it, yea, even to die for it at need. But through it all ran an intense loyalty to the state. Prentiss was once on a boat coming to Natchez, when some one remarked that the Governor of Mississippi was a dog. "Sir," said Mr. Prentiss, rising, "you cannot call the Governor of Mississippi a dog in my presence; it may be that he is a dog, but he is our dog."
In 1843, the burning question was the payment of the state bonds issued by the Union & Planters' Bank. Feeling ran high, it was made an issue in the canvass, and the repudiators were successful. Even to this day we are made to feel the sting of that act, which was a blunder,—and Talleyrand tells us that "a blunder is worse than a crime." Many were the reasons given for the nonpayment, and in a speech delivered in 1843, at the Court House in Natchez, Governor Tucker told his audience not to think for a moment that the real great seal of the state was affixed to those "fictitious and unconstitutional bonds." The Governor goes on to say that when the time came to affix the great seal, no seal was to be found, so "a Vicksburg artist was employed as a Vulcan to forge the seal, which was to make bondsmen of the proud and chivalrous people of Mississippi; he did his best, probably, but as the fates would have it, his eagle turned out to be a buzzard. We cannot but think," goes on the Governor, "that an over-ruling destiny controlled the hiding away of the state seal, so that its broad and honest face should never be seen on a badge of servitude to European note-shavers—and the Union Bank bonds no more have the seal of the state upon them, than the figure of the bond seal looks like an eagle."
On May 28th, 1838, a number of literary and scientific gentlemen, belonging to Natchez and vicinity, went to Selsertown for the purpose of making an excavation in the large Indian Mound, which was evidently a fortress and strong-hold of power in the olden times. The mound is an immense mural pile, with a watch-tower elevated many feet above the level surface of the mound at one side. It had a subterranean or covered way leading to its centre,—the traces of which still remained in 1838. The large mound is most admirably situated for defense, being based on a summit, from which there is a gentle declivity for many hundreds of yards in every direction, commanding a sweeping view of the horizon. It was said by the oldest inhabitants that when they first settled near the Selsertown mounds, there were traces of great roads more worn by apparent travel than any roads in existence in this part of the State now (1838), leading in different directions from the principal mound. This must have been a great central point of aboriginal power, the great metropolitan and kingly residence of the sun—descended dynasty of the Natchez Kings—a dynasty embalmed in story and song, and descended to us on the wings of legend and romance. The gentlemen were: Rev. Messrs. Charles Tyler and Van Court, Doctors Monette, Merwin, Benbroke, Inge, Hitchkock and Mitchell, Judge Thatcher, Prof. Forshey, C. S. Dubisson, J. A. Van Hosen, Thomas Farrar, Col. B. S. C. Wailes, Maj. J. T. Winn and others.
One of the great orators in 1838, was Rev. J. N. Maffett. He was much in demand for lectures and speeches, and was one of the most extraordinary men of the age. It is said that for imagery, enunciation, intonation and a deep knowledge of the human heart, Mr. Maffett stood without a peer.
About 1843, Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of the Natchez bar, was quite a favorite public speaker. His style was said to be smooth, musical and polished.
Mississippians, in the years that are gone, were as generous and open-hearted as they are today. They gave presents, not valued by dollars and cents, but into which they put time, labor and love, as the following letter proves. It was sent with the cradle to a friend in Charleston, S. C.
"The body or frame of the cradle, is manufactured out of the shell of what we call the snapping turtle, that weighed 135 pounds caught by myself out of my own waters. The railing is constructed out of the horns of bucks, killed with my own rifle by my own hands. The rockers were made from a walnut tree that grew on my sister's plantation adjoining mine. The spring mattress, or lining, is stuffed with wool from my own sheep. The loose mattress is also filled with domestic wool, manufactured and lined by my own wife. The pillows are filled with feathers from our own wild geese, and have also been manufactured by my own hands, after having been slain by my own steady aim. The pavilion, which you will perceive is to be thrown over the canopy, was fabricated, fitted and contrived by my own right thrifty, ingenious and very industrious 'better half.' Accompanying the cradle is a whistle which was made by a friend residing with me, and out of a tusk of an alligator, slain by my own hand, as well as a fan, made also by the same friend out of the tail of a wild turkey killed by me; accompanying the whole is the hide of a panther, dressed after the fashion of the Chamois, the animal having been slain by my own hands, and with my trusty rifle. This is for the stranger to loll and roll upon when tired of his cradle."
It is to be hoped that these unique gifts into which the Mississippi planter, his wife, and friend, put hours of love-labor, are today the cherished heir-looms of some old South Carolina family.
So in a minor key I have told of the past. As I read these old files I lived over the lives of our ancestors. I could see the crowds and hear them cheering some favorite speaker—the audiences gathered to hear the words of eloquence from gifted tongues—the Indians stepped for me his "sun dance," I discussed with famous housewives the value of the articles made by deft fingers, and sat with the planter by his fireside, forgetting that "the tender grace of a day that is dead" will never come back.
And may love for Mississippi,—her Past, Present, and Future grow ever in our hearts.
"Mississippi! what bright visions, what pleasant reflections, are associated with thy name! It is the land of flowers, of beauty, of natural wealth, of chivalry and unbending energy; The nursery of native genius and eloquence; The home of hospitality, the generous and confiding Patron of the unknown and friendless stranger! Thy majestic river, thy broad prairies, thy snow-white fields the very air we breathe—gladdens the heart, enlarge the soul, and stimulate to noble deeds."
HISTORIC ADAMS COUNTY
BY GERARD BRANDON, ESQ.
In the dim ages of the past, when our wondrous bluffs emerged from the inland sea which geologists tell us once swept over the alluvial lands of the Mississippi Valley, it would seem that the Great Spirit with special favor smiled upon and blessed that portion of his fair domain which is now embraced within the present limits of "Historic Adams County," as if to make of it an Eden for the Western World.
Perhaps no section of so limited an area has been more productive of the fossil remains of pre-historic animals, or has furnished so much to the collection of the geologist. It was largely from Adams County that Wailes, the geologist, obtained his collection which was afterwards purchased by the University of Louisiana. Mammoth Bayou, just beyond the limits of the City of Natchez, is so called on account of its so often returning to the light, remains of this gigantic animal, and it still continues to render its contributions. Indeed, there is scarcely a creek or water-course in the county that has not, at some time, contributed its share. Here also dwelt pre-historic man, the mound-builder, who has left in Adams County many of the monuments of himself, and notably the celebrated Emerald Mound, near old Selsertown,—one of the largest, loftiest, and most remarkable in the whole Valley of the Mississippi. And so, in later days, when the first of the white race came to this favored spot, they found here in the greatest beauty, abundance, and perfection, all the flora and fauna of the South. Chateaubriand, who during his exile visited the "Natchez Country," found here the inspiration and theme for writings which have made him immortal, and in his "Attala," "Rene," and in his great epic "The Natchez," has given us the impressions made upon his poetic imagination by the beauties of the landscape. And while the hand of the spoiler, man, has robbed the landscape of so many of its robes of natural beauty, there still remains enough to touch the fancy and impress the mind. We can still view the wondrous "Devil's Punch Bowls," in and just beyond the northern limits of Natchez, which, while the exact reverse of mountain scenery, presents a view almost as wild and grand. The view from our lofty bluffs, of our mighty river, of the green plains of Louisiana beyond, of the sun as he sinks beneath the Western horizon, and of the moon as she silvers the river with her parting beams, are worthy of any painter's brush. The fertile valleys of the St. Catharine and Second creeks still present some remains of their former beauty and fertility, which made the Natchez Country, in its palmy past, the promised land for so many brave and adventurous spirits.
It was in this favored section that lived the celebrated Natchez Indians, whose name is perpetuated in that of our historic city, and who have left behind them a history of which a Spartan would have been proud. Their civilization was higher than that of the surrounding tribes, and their customs and religion were similar to those of the ancient Mexicans. Like the Mexicans, Peruvians, and ancient Persians, their god was the sun, and in the temple built for his worship the priests kept burning, day and night, the sacred fire. To the sun they sacrificed the first fruits of the chase and of war, and sometimes, (as did the Mexicans), offered human sacrifices, even of their own children, to appease their angry deity. They honored their chiefs with the title of "Suns," and their king was the "Great Sun."
Such were the Natchez Indians, as portrayed to us by history and tradition, in the year 1700, when first visited by Iberville, the great French pioneer. The tribe then had about twelve hundred warriors: but, according to their own account, had been much more powerful; being then reduced in numbers by constant wars with surrounding tribes. So impressed was Iberville by the beauty and natural advantages of the location, that he decided to plant a colony here. This design was not carried into execution however, until June, 1716, when Bienville, the brother of Iberville, built a fort within the present limits of Natchez, and called it "Rosalie." But peaceful relations with the Indians were of short duration, and a few preliminary murders on both sides were followed, in 1723, by the first general outbreak of the Indians. This was quelled by Bienville with characteristic cruelty and severity, which inflamed the fires of hatred and revenge in the breasts of the savages. Nor did the French adopt a policy which might have averted a catastrophe that was soon to come; but persisted in their course of treachery, aggression and oppression.
The Indians finally matured a plot to rid themselves of their enemies by a general massacre. The execution of the design was doubtless hastened by the requirement of Chopart, commandant of Fort Rosalie, that White Apple Village, on Second Creek about twelve miles from Natchez, should be abandoned, so that it, with its surrounding fields, might be converted into a French plantation. On November 28th, 1729, the Indians, by stratagem gained admission into the fort, and the historic massacre began.
The governor general, Perrier, at New Orleans, as soon as the news was received, at once dispatched Chevalier Lubois, with a large force from that city to exterminate the Natchez. After a fierce but indecisive conflict, a truce was arranged, by which the Indians surrendered the prisoners in their hands. During the night the whole tribe crossed to the West of the Mississippi, and entrenched themselves near the junction of the Washita and Little rivers. Thither the vengeance of the French still pursued them, and the destruction of this interesting tribe is a matter of history.
It appears from the statements both of Monette and of Claiborne, in their respective histories, that the forts in which the Indians entrenched themselves, when attacked by Lubois after the massacre at Fort Rosalie, were near the junction of the St. Catherine creek with the Mississippi river. Both historians unite in stating that after their retreat to the West of the Mississippi, Lubois erected at Natchez near the brow of the bluffs, the terraced Fort Rosalie,—the remains of which were plainly visible when Monette wrote, but which, when Claiborne's history was written, had been largely effaced by the great landslide. But some traces still remain along the front a little distance below the Natchez compress. The name of this second Fort Rosalie, when occupied by the English, was changed to Panmure.
Both Monette and Claiborne clearly state that this second fort was not upon the same site as the original fort of the same name erected by Bienville, and where the massacre took place. Monette states that the first fort was remote from the bluffs, probably near the eastern limits of the city. Claiborne practically confirms him, stating that the original fort was some six hundred and seventy yards from the river. But its exact location is not known. Local tradition, however, erroneously points out the remains of the fort below the compress as those of the fort where the massacre occurred. This error is doubtless the result of confusion in the minds of persons not familiar with the historical facts, and arising from an identity of names. Tradition was certainly of more value years ago, when Monette and Claiborne lived, and they must certainly have had the benefit of it.
With the destruction of the Natchez Indians, the French colony located in their fertile country grew with great rapidity, but without events of more than passing historical interest. But the line of the Latin-French, claiming from the lakes to the gulf, and of the Anglo-Saxon, claiming from ocean to ocean, had crossed, and at the close of the great French and Indian Wars, by the treaty of Paris, Feb. 16th, 1763, the banner of France was lowered at Fort Rosalie, and instead the flag of England floated there, with the name changed to Fort Panmure.
Attracted by the fertility of the country, settlers in great numbers now began to pour in from Georgia, the Carolinas, and other English colonies. This remote settlement was not subject to the influences of the great American Revolution, and hither came many loyal to the British government, or wishing to be neutral in the war of independence. Consequently a strong English sentiment prevailed here during that period, as evidenced by the attack on Col. Willing, in 1779.
But the English regime was of short duration. War with Spain was begun, and in September, 1779, Galvez captured the British post at Baton Rouge, and in its surrender Fort Panmure was included. But so strong was the British sentiment, that the people of the Natchez district did not quietly submit to a change of rulers, and in 1781, there was a revolt against the Spanish power, which, however, Galvez very promptly suppressed. By the treaty of Paris, in 1783, Great Britain ceded to Spain all of the Floridas south of the 31st., parallel, all north of that line being recognized by her as within the limits of the United States, then acknowledged by her as an independent nation. But, under the British regime, the whole front along the Mississippi River, as far north as the mouth of the Yazoo, had been included in West Florida, and had passed to Spain with the surrender of Baton Rouge, in 1781. Thus being in possession by force of arms the Spaniards were loath to evacuate in favor of the United States, and with characteristic pertinacity retained possession till 1798, notwithstanding the treaty of 1783, and their recognition of the 31st., parallel as the boundary line by the treaty of Madrid in 1795.
During this period of wrongful possession, Spain dealt with this section as if it were really a Spanish province, plainly indicating her intention not to surrender possession except under duress. These seventeen years form one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Adams County. Roman Catholicism was the state religion, and its church was the centre from which the city of Natchez was laid out. This church was built on the spot where the store of the Natchez Drug Company now stands. Whilst Protestants were tolerated, they were not free in the practice of their religion. Parson Cloud, the first Episcopal minister in this section, was persecuted and driven away, and many interesting accounts are extant illustrative of the spirit of Spanish bigotry and persecution. That portion of Natchez between the church and the bluffs was reserved for residences of the Spanish grandees,—the English, Irish, and American settlers being assigned to other portions of the town.
There are still to be found here several old houses built during the Spanish regime. They are recognizable from having a low brick basement surmounted by a wooden upper story,—built as if in anticipation of an earthquake,—a combination of residence and fortification. The old Postlethwaite house on Jefferson street is such a one. The Spanish made many grants of land, as though Spain were the lawful sovereign, which grants were, however, afterwards usually recognized by the American authorities when followed by possession. The old Spanish records in the office of the Clerk of our Chancery Court, are a treasure store for the antiquary and historian. These records are not quite complete, a portion having been carried away, (it is said to Havana) by the Spaniards when they evacuated Natchez.
But the United States would recognize no title by adverse possession on Spain to this fair land, and finally began to vigorously assert her rights. About Feb. 24th, 1797, Andrew Ellicott arrived at Natchez, accompanied by a sufficient military escort and clothed with power as commissioner of the United States to meet the representative of Spain, to mark out the 31st parallel as the boundary between the two dominions. He first camped near the present intersection of Wall and Jefferson streets and there hoisted the American flag.
The Spanish governor, Gayoso, resorted to various subterfuges and evasion to delay the fixing of the boundary line and the evacuation of Natchez. It was not till March 29th, 1798, that the Spaniards, after exhausting every excuse for delay, and under the influence of a popular uprising supported by the military forces of the United States, finally evacuated Fort Panmure. And then they left, not by the light of day, with military honors and with martial music and banners flying; but like thieves, at midnight they stole silently away. It was only after this that Governor Gayoso, from New Orleans, issued commissions to Sir William Dunbar and Capt. Stephen Minor, as commissioners for Spain and in May, 1798, the work of surveying the 31st parallel was begun.
The State of Georgia had all along claimed as her own a large portion of the present State of Mississippi, including what is now the county of Adams. This territory she had organized as the county of Bourbon in 1785, and she attempted alone to assert her rights against Spain. There thus arose a conflict of claims between Georgia and the United States, which was finally adjusted and Mississippi Territory organized by Act of Congress, approved April 7th, 1798.
Natchez was made the first territorial capital, and Winthrop Sargent was appointed the first territorial governor. Sargent, by proclamation, on April 2d, 1799, formed the Natchez District into the two counties of Adams and Pickering,—the latter name being afterwards changed to Jefferson.
Under the new regime, population and wealth increased with amazing rapidity. Treaties were made with the Indian tribes, and great public roads were opened up,—notably the Indian trail known as the 'Natchez and Nashville Trace.' This was the great government mail and overland stage route from New Orleans to the North and East, in the early days before steamboats plied the water or railroads traversed the land. As a natural consequence it was infested in the vicinity of Natchez by daring highwaymen, noted among whom were the celebrated Mason and Murrel,—heroes of bloody deeds that would have made Dick Turpin pale with envy.
Along this route, at six mile intervals, were relay stations for change of horses and for refreshments. The first of these was the old town of Washington,—now a veritable deserted village. This town was laid out and named by Ellicott, who, during the delays incident to the evacuation of Natchez by the Spaniards had removed his camp hither to the banks of the St. Catherine creek. He camped by a beautiful spring that still bears his name, and which is now within the grounds of Jefferson College. Many years ago it was arched over, and a bath-house was supplied with its crystal water. But even the ruins of this have all disappeared. The old town of Washington almost rivals Natchez in its historic associations. Here in 1803 was founded Jefferson College,—the oldest endowed institution in the Southwest, and from whence such men as A. Gratz Brown and Jefferson Davis were sent forth to fight the battles of life. Here also was the celebrated Elizabeth Academy for girls. The old building was destroyed by fire nearly twenty years ago, but its brick walls are still standing.
Washington was made the territorial capital of Mississippi by act of the legislature on Feb. 1st, 1802. Within my memory the old brick church (founded by the celebrated Lorenzo Dow), and which was also used as the state-house, and in which the constitutional convention of 1817 was held, was still standing, just within and to the right of the entrance to the campus of Jefferson College. The ruins were sold for old brick, and thus this interesting relic passed away. It was in this building that the preliminary investigation of the charges against Aaron Burr was held. He was arrested in January, 1807, near the mouth of Coles creek, some twenty miles above Natchez, brought to Washington, and released on bond (which he broke), with Lyman Harding and Benijah Osmun as sureties. The room occupied by him is still pointed out in the old Osmun residence on the "Windy Hill" plantation, now owned by Miss E. B. Stanton. It is about five miles from Natchez.
In its day, the town of Washington was a veritable literary centre,—no doubt due to the influence of Jefferson College and of the Mississippi Society. Monette, the historian, and Wailes, the geologist, lived, died and are buried here, and their old homes still remain. Ingraham, the author of the "Pillar of Fire," at one time was a professor in Jefferson College. A few miles distant was the home of Claiborne, the historian, the rival and compeer of Prentiss.
At Washington Andrew Jackson was encamped in 1813, when he disobeyed the order to there muster out his soldiers, and instead of doing so, marched them back to Tennessee for the purpose. And here, a few days later, were brought some of the British prisoners captured at the great battle of New Orleans. Two miles from Washington was the home of General Felix Huston. Within its limits is the grave of Judge Thomas Rodney.
In the early days, before the institution of slavery had assumed its subsequent gigantic proportions, resulting in the concentration of great landed estates in the hands of a few wealthy slave-owners, Adams county was divided into a great number of small farms, owned by white settlers. This is evidenced by a study of the titles of the great plantations, the records showing them to consist of consolidated farms, in many instances. This is further evidenced by the great number of private burying grounds scattered throughout the county adjacent to Natchez and Washington, in which are found tombs with inscriptions often a century old, and names without a living representative here.
But if slavery produced decadence in one way, it produced growth in another. Adams county, and especially the suburbs of the city of Natchez, became the home of wealthy families, owning broad acres, not only in this but in many other counties, and in the neighboring State of Louisiana. The beautiful description by Mrs. Hemans, of "The Stately Homes of England," would have applied almost without change to the ancestral residences occupied in ante-bellum days, by veritable lords of the manor, surrounded by all the luxury and refinement which wealth and slavery could produce. Some of these relics of an unforgotten past, still remain, such as "Elmscourt," "Gloster," "Llangollin," "Longwood," "Auburn," "Inglewood," "Monmouth," "Melrose," "Arlington," "Somerset," "Oakland," "Manteigne," "Richmond," "Devereux," "Concord," "Sweet-Auburn," "Brandon-Hall," "Selma," "Green-field," "Coventry," "The Forest," and others. Many more have been destroyed by the fire-fiend, and only ruins now remain. "The Forest" the home of Sir William Dunbar, and "Selma," the original residence of the Brandon family, were indigo plantations, in the days before cotton was king. "Concord" is of special interest, as an old Spanish house, and the residence of Governor Gayoso.
However, with the rapid increase in the population of the other portions of Mississippi, the controlling influence at first exercised by Adams County gradually disappeared. This was further affected by the jealousy of our wealthy land owners which was felt by the inhabitants of the newer and poorer interior counties. Finally by Act of Nov. 28th, 1820, the General Assembly gave to the present city of Jackson its name in honor of our great Democratic warrior and statesman, and made it the future capital of our State.
Thus the sceptre departed from Adams County; and while she has ever maintained a position in the State of which her citizens are proud, yet from this time she has ceased to be the political centre of Mississippi, and the place where its history is made.
Yet hither must Mississippians ever come, as to the cradle in which the infant State was rocked. Hither will pilgrims journey to visit our historic shrines and to drink from the primal springs of a glorious past.
The immortal Prentiss won his first laurels here; and here his ashes rest (side by side with those of Governor Sargent); while in our city cemetery sleep Judge Joseph D. Shields, his pupil and biographer, and the historian Claiborne, his great political antagonist. Vidal, the last governor of despotic Spain in Louisiana, here sleeps his last sleep in the land of the free; as does also Alvarez Fisk, the benefactor of the schools and libraries of both Natchez and New Orleans.
Upon the rolls of our distinguished dead, besides those already mentioned, are the names of Thomas B. Reed, Edward Turner, Gerard C. Brandon, Christopher Rankin, Cowles Mead, Wm. B. Shields, S. S. Boyd, John A. Quitman, John T. McMurran, Robert J. Walker, Anthony Hutchins, George Poindexter, Lyman Harding, W. C. C. Claiborne, Adam L. Bingaman, Dr. Cartwright, Dr. Duncan, Dr. Jenkins, John I. Guion, Andrew Marschalk, and many others.
But it is not her public or professional men alone, who have made the Historic Adams County of the past. "Her merchants were princes," in the olden time, when ships from the ocean were moored at the wharves of Natchez, bringing and taking in exchange the treasures of the old world and the new. Here one of the first cotton compresses was established. The old Mississippi Railroad, built in 1836, but completed only as far as Hamburg, was the earliest in the South and one of the oldest in the Union. Its old road-bed and massive embankments still remain,—monuments of the enterprise of our forefathers.
Thus, even after her political supremacy had departed, Natchez still remained the financial and commercial centre of this State. But the great financial panic of 1836 and 1837 came, and like a cyclone swept our prosperity away. This was followed by the terrible tornado of May 7th, 1840, which laid our city in ruins, and numbered its victims by the hundred, and which is even yet recalled with dread upon each recurrence of its anniversary.
I have thus endeavored to present, in epitome, an outline of the history of Adams County, from its earliest settlement to within times too recent to require research by the historian. I have endeavored likewise to indicate a few of the most interesting spots which may be visited by the student of history coming into our midst.
THE HISTORICAL OPPORTUNITY OF MISSISSIPPI
BY R. W. JONES, LL. D.
A writer truly and forcibly says that Americans have been much readier to do great deeds than to record them—to make those signal achievements that are worthy of remembrance than to be troubled with the tediousness of writing them. If this is true anywhere, it has in the past been unquestionably true of Southern people and Mississippians.
In a recent number of the American Historical Review, Albert Bushnell Hart discussed the "Historical Opportunity of America;" and this led me to think of the Historical Opportunity of Mississippi.
If anything great and systematic in the line of historical research and production is to be done in Mississippi we must have organization. The State Historical Society must have local co-operation; this can be best effected by Auxiliary Historical Societies co-operating with the Central Organization.[152] The local Society is the natural centre of historical activity. We are highly gratified to report a decided revival of interest in history-writing since the organization of our State Society; at least there has been a revival as far as the production of monographs and brief biographies.
The following suggestions are presented with a hope that they will promote still further the historical work in the State:
1.—The educated young ladies of a locality can be interested in the finding, classifying, and development of historical material; the advanced pupils of High Schools and Colleges can be induced to prepare monographs as a part of their literary work, and all this material should be carefully calendared. We find as a general rule that the editors and proprietors of our newspapers are among the most public spirited of our citizens; they will gladly publish all local material of historical interest. In this way duplicate printed copies of all local material can be easily had and copies furnished for the archives and publications of the Mississippi Historical Society.
2.—An important auxiliary to history is picture-making. Experts with the Camera and amateur 'Kodakers' can facilitate greatly the work of the historian by making and cataloguing pictures of important objects and persons and depositing them in the archives of the local Society and of the State Society, so that the future historian who may not be able to visit the localities may yet have satisfactory knowledge of them. By these means and others we will cultivate a spirit that actively fosters history; we will cause search to be made for old Manuscripts, for files of old papers and every thing that will throw light on our past history. As the author, previously referred to, states, valuable manuscripts ought as naturally and as readily to find their way to the archives of history as the meteorite reaches the Mineralogical Museum.
3.—In the past history of Mississippi, a great many very valuable papers have been lost and destroyed because there was no known, safe depository for them. It need not be so any longer, as the State Historical Society has safe depositories. If we will all search for old historical material, write up facts and incidents of importance that have come under our observation, or otherwise to our knowledge, we will be doing a work creditable to our own names and we shall make possible the writing of a history that will represent in truthful aspect that noble race of Southerners to which we are proud to belong, and we shall show to the world the kindliness of those domestic institutions under which have grown up the fairest and most attractive women who ever graced human homes and the highest refinement and honor that have taken up abode among men.
4.—I have already referred to the public spirit of the press, to the important service it has rendered to our cause and the confidence with which we can continue to rely upon its co-operation. In addition, we need a fund for printing the Society's transactions and those important articles which receive the Society's endorsement. The State Legislature would do well to make an annual appropriation of a few hundred dollars to cover the cost of such publications and thus encourage the interest and pride of its citizens in that history which so intimately concerns them and their ancestors. Other states have set us a worthy example in this important matter. We hope the next legislature will give this matter favorable consideration.
5.—The marking of historical sights and buildings with marble or bronze, bearing appropriate inscriptions is a matter of the liveliest importance. To some this may seem needless, but the more we study and observe it the more we are convinced of its educational and patriotic value.
One who goes to England and Scotland, and notes in their great cities such as London and Edinburgh the numerous monuments, mural tablets and other devices which commemorate events and characters and deeds will understand better than ever why the Englishman and Scotchman each is proud of his race, his government, his country.
In 1896, I visited the old town of Portsmouth, Va., and as I passed along the main street I saw a marble slab inserted flush with the pavement, and it told that on that spot the honored and loved Lafayette stood when he revisited the old Commonwealth and received the grateful greetings of a people for whom he had put his life into the perils of war.
The preservation of historical buildings and grounds and the devotion of them to public and patriotic uses is of the same character and importance.
The Ladies Association, aided by the eloquence of Edward Everett, purchased Mt. Vernon and donated it to the sacred purposes of patriotism. The preservation of the old church at Williamsburg, Va., of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, of Monticello as Jefferson left it—all these and other things of like character not only keep alive our interest in the great events of the past but sustain and justify our civic pride.
Is there nothing of this kind in Mississippi that is worthy of loving care and devotion to public use? Upon the extreme southern border of the State, where the Magnolia blooms in its native perfection, where the crested waves of the gulf work the sunbeams and the moon's silvery sheen into forms of laughing beauty that suggest the noble womanly character of the wife and the "daughter of the Confederacy," where the roaring sea, that cannot be hushed, tells of the unconquerable spirit of devotion to our people and their cause, that stood erect amid all the indignities and wrongs put upon it by a vindictive and cruel foe; here we have Beauvoir that is worthy of the care of all Mississippians, of all Southerners, nay of all American patriots. This property suitably marked, will furnish one of the grandest of object lessons, pointing to a man who bravely fought for his country on foreign soil, who stood as an embodiment of incorruptible principle and splendid ability on the floor of the United States Senate and who headed a great popular movement which produced the most philosophic, as well as the most thrilling period of the history of this country and who shows us how a great man can maintain his manliness and command respect and admiration even in defeat and direst disaster.
Let us cultivate the spirit of history. Every intelligent citizen of our State should take an interest in the Mississippi State Historical Society and actively promote its objects. Let local Societies be formed and enthusiasm in their work be engendered; let every item of historic interest be put in typewritten or printed form and let copies be sent to the Secretary of the Mississippi State Historical Society and other copies lodged with the local Society. Let us be careful to mark and preserve every object of historic interest and to emphasize its value. Thus we shall show that we are justly proud of our race, our State and the achievements of our ancestors.