Let us then regard the study of History, not as something wholly objective but as an unfolding panorama of the human self-consciousness, for history is merely the reflecting spirit of mankind in which we ourselves may have an immediate share, which we all may help to perpetuate and in some way enlarge. Let us remember that History is a constant knowing and learning, the self-knowledge and communion of reflecting spirits in all ages and a perpetual "Know Thyself" to advancing time. There is something indescribably solemn in the historic pausing of Man before the temple of the unknown future and seeking to realize in himself the gnothi seauton or "Know Thyself" of Humanity. He glances backward through the long vista he has traversed and as far as the eye can see, his pathway is cumbered with ruins. Crumbling monuments and fallen columns reveal the wreck of all material greatness, while the distant pyramids but remind him of the more than Egyptian darkness out of which Humanity has been mysteriously led unto this mountain of light which we call the Present or that Living Age. Man sees the immense distance he has come and he remembers the perils and disasters he has encountered in his upward way; he is conscious too of having brought a vast wealth of experience to this temple of the Future before which he now stands, but that which fills and overwhelms the historic consciousness of Man is the feeling that the place whereon he stands is holy ground and that there is a mysterious power in his own soul calling him to self-knowledge and to self-judgment before he may lift the veil of the future. This is the supreme moment of History. The facts of human experience become suddenly transfigured in the light of a divine principle, namely the self-consciousness of reason, that God-given spirit which recognizes the purpose of History to be the increasing self-knowledge of Man.
"History is a divine drama, designed to educate man into self-knowledge and the knowledge of God," (Henry James, Sr., on "Carlyle," in Atlantic Monthly, May, 1881.) Tennyson recognized the divine element in human history in that prophetic verse:
"And I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."
It is by this "increasing purpose" that God reveals himself in human history. By the widened thought, Humanity is led forward, as it were by a pillar of fire, unto a higher life, and unto a conscious unity with Divine Reason, the Unseen One, who dwells in a temple not made with hands.
SOME FACTS CONCERNING THE SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.
By R. W. JONES, M. A., LL.D.
The "Miscellaneous Papers" as collected by Col. J. F. H. Claiborne constitute a rich mine for the future historian. They also indicate what can be done by others by well-direct inquiry, in the way of gathering information from "old settlers" and by going to other sources that may be accessible. The importance of this work can be scarcely overstated, and the sooner it is begun the better. A volume could be written composed of adventures and daring exploits that would be as thrilling as highly wrought fiction and make us proud of our ancestors. As an illustration of the large number of well known characters introduced, within a limited space, and of most interesting and instructive incidents I shall quote from a letter of
DR. A. R. KILPATRICK
to Col. Claiborne, written at Navasota, Grimes county, Texas, May 2, 1877:
* * "You ask for my contributions to De Bow's Review, but I am entirely unable to furnish them. When I left Concordia, La., in September, 1863, I moved none of my books, and the scoundrel in whose hands I left the place proved to be a traitor joined the Yankees, and when Natchez was occupied he went partners with some of the Federal officers, who brought over several wagons, gutted my house and sold the furniture and other property in Natchez. Out of a library of 2,000 volumes I have none left. Among my books were (12) twelve volumes of De Bow's Review bound." In these twelve volumes Dr. K. had written a great deal that was interesting and instructing to those who inquire into the settlement and colonial history of Mississippi. They contain accounts of many of the best known families who lived at and near Natchez and Woodville and in the counties wherein these towns are situated; also similar writings concerning Concordia, La.
He says; "Before I wrote those accounts of Concordia Parish, I wrote some Sketches of the early Baptist in Mississippi and Louisiana which were printed in a Baptist newspaper of New Orleans under the management of a Minister named Duncan: I think he was Rev. W. Duncan, D. D. Get copies of those papers and make use of the historical facts, because your work will be incomplete if you leave out the churches. These papers were published about 1849-51.
"My Grandfather (Maternal), Robert Turner, was an early settler in Miss., and a pioneer of the Baptist Church, though not a minister. He moved a colony of nearly (100) one hundred, white and black from Beaufort District, S. C., starting in 1804. He went up near Nickajack on the Tennessee River, built boats, put on his horses, cows, hogs, furniture and floated down to Natchez, reaching there early in 1805, he found there no settlement to suit, went down to Fort Adams, landed, and settled four miles S. W., of where Woodville now stands. There they built old Bethel Church with whipsawed lumber and wrought iron nails, each one furnishing his part of materials, or work. The Chaplain or preacher of the colony was Rev. Moses Hadley. At that time, 1805, there were only a few houses, temporary shanties, where Woodville is. Ole Uncle Bob Lecky, who kept hotel so many years in Alexandria, La., and old John S. Lewis of Woodville, were the first to put up houses. My Grandfather, R. Turner was a Surveyor and was employed to measure and lay off the streets, squares, etc., of the town in 1808. He was also summoned and served in the arrest of Aaron Burr above Natchez about 1807; he said it was so cold in February that in handling oars of the skiff the blood poured from the tips of his fingers. He represented Aaron Burr as remarkably polite, genteel, urbane, good looking, though small, and as having eyes whose glance was most penetrating and fascinating.
"There was another party of pioneers from Georgia, preceding Grandfathers; in this party were the Ogdens and Nolands."
"Captain John Ogden, near Woodville, (1796-1837) served as Captain at the battle of New Orleans, 1814. Robert Tanner and several of his colonists moved to Rapides Parish, La. There the old gentleman died September, 1839, of yellow fever, aged 71 years. Wilkinson county furnished one Governor (H. Johnson) to Louisiana and (4) four, I think, to Mississippi.
"The old original editor of the Woodville Republican, W. Chisholm, had all the volumes of that paper bound for over twenty years—from about 1820 to 1845. In it will be found much of Poindexter's history; also much of Moses Waddell, of Abbeville, S. C., brother-in-law of John C. Calhoun."