USA > Alabama > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 1
USA > Georgia > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 1
USA > Mississippi > History of Alabama, and incidentally of Georgia and Mississippi, from the earliest period. v. 2 > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02342 440 8
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofalabama02pick_0
HISTORY
OF
ALABAMA,
AND INCIDENTALLY OF
GEORGIA AND MISSISSIPPI,
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD.
-
BY ALBERT JAMES PICKETT, Of Montean
I
v. 2
VOL. 11.
SECOND EDITION.
CHARLESTON : WALKER AND JAMES, 1851.
840
1742332
HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
VOL. II.
1
₹:
Ancient Indian Fortifications, at Little River Falls, Cherokee County, Alabam i, from a sketch by A. J. Pickett, who visited that place, in October, 1850.
1 CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
CHAPTER XIV.
Page. The Occupation of Alabama and Mississippi by the English, 1
CHAPTER XV.
-
Hardships of the Early Emigrants,
16
CHAPTER XVI.
Journey of Bartram through Alabama, - 24
CHAPTER XVII.
An account of the McGillivray Family-The Revolutionary War, 30
CHAPTER XVIII.
Extreme Perils and Sufferings of the Natchez Refugees, - 43
CHAPTER XIX.
The Spaniards in Alabama and Mississippi,
58
CHAPTER XX.
Bloody Scenes in Alabama and Georgia,
74
----
vi
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXI.
Page.
The Deep Intrigues of McGillivray,
- 83
CHAPTER XXII.
The First Yazoo Sale-Bowles, the Freebooter, 112
CHAPTER XXIII.
Singular Inhabitants of Alabama,
123
CHAPTER XXIV.
Death of McGillivray-Bloody Scenes,
136
CHAPTER XXV.
The French Minister, Genet-His Designs upon the South-West, 151
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Second Yazoo Sale,
158
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Americans in Alabama and Mississippi, 178
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Governor Troup, or the McIntosh Family-Incidents in the
Mississippi Territory, 198
.
CONTENTS. vii
CHAPTER XXIX.
Page.
The Arrest of Aaron Burr, in Alabama.
213
CHAPTER XXX.
St. Stephens-Huntsville-Indian Commerce-Kemper Expedi-
tions,
. 232
CHAPTER XXXI.
-
Tecumseh-Civil War among the Creeks, 240
CHAPTER XXXII.
Battle of Burnt Com-Arrival of General Claiborne's Army,
255
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Terrible Massacre at Fort Mims,
264
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Daring of Heaton-Bloody Scenes-Gaines and the Choctaws, 285
CHAPTER XXXV.
Battles of Tallasehatche, Talladega and Auttose, 293
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Remarkable Canoe Fight-Battle of Holy Ground-March to
Cahawba Old Towns,
304
-
viii
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Page.
Battles of Emuckfau, Enitachopco and Calebee, 329
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Battle of the Horse-Shoe-Weatherford Surrenders himself at
Fort Jackson,
341
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Treaty of Fort Jackson-Attack upon Mobile Point-March
upon Pensacola,
355
CHAPTER XL.
The British take Mobile Point-Peace Declared-The Alabama
Territory,
371
CHAPTER XLI.
Modern French Colony in Alabama, or the Vine and Olive Com-
pany,
.386
CHAPTER XLII.
Last Territorial Legislature-State Convention,
400
CHAPTER XLIII.
The First Legislature of the State of Alabama-Governor Bibb, 434
HISTORY OF ALABAMA.
CHAPTER XIV.
-
THE OCCUPATION OF ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI BY THE ENGLISHI.
.WE mentioned, at the conclusion of the first volume of CHAPTER this work, that France had surrendered all of her North XIV. American possessions. Before finally doing so, however, she made a secret treaty with Spain, her ally, in which she ceded to 1763 November 3 that power the territory on the western side of the Mississippi, extending from the mouth of that river to its remotest sour- ces, and including the Island of New-Orleans, which lay on - the eastern side of the great river, and south of the Bayou Iberville or Manchac.
Afterwards, a general peace between the three powers was concluded at Paris. France ceded to England all her Cana- dian possessions, and all that portion of Louisiana which lies on the eastern side of the Mississippi river, from its sources down to Bayou Iberville, which bayou, with a portion of the
1.63 February 19
VOL. II.
1
2
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER Amite, and a line through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, XIV. to the sea, was to form the southern boundary. France also ceded to England the port and river of Mobile. Spain ceded to Great Britain her province of Florida.
1763 October 7
1764 February
The King of England decreed that Florida should be formed into two governments, called the provinces of East and West Florida; that the northern line of West Florida should be the line of 31º, to run from the Chattahoochie to the Mississippi. But afterwards, understanding that this line did not embrace the valuable settlements at Natchez and above there, he again decreed the boundaries of West Florida to be as follows: a line, to begin at the mouth of the Yazoo, where that stream joins the Mississippi, and to run east to the Chat- tahoochie ; thence down the Chattahoochie, to the mouth of the Apalachicola ; thence westward, along the coast of the Gulf, and through Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain and Maurepas, up to the river Amite ; then along Bayou Iberville, to the Mississippi river, and up the middle of that river, to the mouth of the Yazoo.
The territory within these lines, which was known for a period, dating from 1764 to 1781, as West Florida, embraced a large portion of the present States of Alabama and Missis- sippi. The northern line of the British province of West Florida, thus constituted, was that of 329 28/. While a large portion of Alabama fell below this line, and was incorpo- rated into British West Florida, more than half of our State, in a northern direction from the line of 32º 28/, was em- braced in the British province of Illinois.
1
3
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
The province of Illinois was not only made to embrace CHAPTER more than the half of our State, and more than half of Mis- XIV. sissippi, but also the western portions of Tennessee, Ken- . tucky, and the country from thence to Lake Michigan. The province of West Florida, which was made to embrace the southern portion of Alabama, extended from the line of 32º 28', southward, to the Gulf of Mexico. We are thus parti- cular in elucidating the British division of our State, because, hereafter, the reader will be made acquainted with the con- tentions which arose with the Spaniards, Georgians, and the 1764 Federal Government, in relation to it.
To enable the reader still better to understand this matter, the line of 32º 28', which divided the Illinois portions of Alabama and Mississippi from the Florida portions of those States, was a line which commenced at the mouth of the Yazoo, and thence ran eastward, to the Tombigby, striking that river a little below the present town of Demopolis, con- tinuing east, touching the Alabama river a short distance below the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and termi- nating on the west bank of the Chattahoochie, between the present city of Columbus and old Fort Mitchell. During the British occupation of our State, its Illinois portion was unin- habited by Europeans, excepting a few traders, who lived among the Upper Creeks, Cherokees and Chickasaws. It is rather singular to reflect that, during this period, the site of Montgomery was in British West Florida, while the site of Wetumpka was in British Illinois. These sister cities are within fifteen miles of each other.
..
4
- THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER XIV.
Between the Mississippi and the Wabash, a population of five thousand French and five hundred negroes existed. But when the French commandant at Fort Chartres-the capi- tal of the Illinois province, opposite St. Louis-surrender- ed the country, in the spring of 1765, to Captain Sterling, of the British army, who came by way of Detroit, at the command of his King, to take charge of it, then the French, generally, retired across the river, into Spanish territory.
1
1764 February
Captain George Johnstone, of the royal navy, was the first British governor of West Florida. IIe came to Pensacola, the seat of government, and brought with him a British regi- ment, and many Highlanders, from Charleston and New-York. He issued his proclamation, defining the limits of his jurisdic- tion, and proclaiming the laws which he was instructed to enforce. The civil government was organized under military commandants and magistrates. The superior courts were formed under English judges. The governor immediately proceeded to garrison Fort Conde, at Mobile, which he now named Fort Charlotte, in honor of the young Queen of Great Britain. Soldiers were also thrown into the forts at Baton Rouge, and Panmure, at Natchez. A detachment went up to the Coosa, and occupied Fort Toulouse ; but it was, in a short time, withdrawn, when the works, in a few years, went to ruins.
When Governor Johnstone arrived in West Florida, there came with him a Major Loftus, who had been appointed to take charge of the Illinois country. Early in 1764, that officer sailed from Pensacola to New-Orleans, and from thence
4 ==
.
5
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
to Manchac, where he joined his detachment, which had been CHAPTER some time exploring that bayou. With four hundred men, XIV. he began the assent of the Mississippi, in boats and canoes. Reaching the heights of La Roche a Davion, where Fort Adams was afterwards built, he was suddenly attacked by armed Indians, from ambuscades, on both sides of the river. In this skirmish he lost several men, and had many wounded. He returned to Manchac, and despatched a captain, with twenty men, to Mobile, through the lakes, who arrived safe at that place. Major Loftus, with the residue of his command, dropped down to the Balize, and from thence went to Pensa- cola. Thus was the occupation of the Illinois country, for a time, prevented, by the fierce and successful hostility of these Indians .*
The French population, along the east side of the Missis- sippi, to the Walnut IIills, was considerable, and, when they ascertained that British laws had been extended over them, Inany retired across the river, south of Manchac. Others, assured that they would not be disturbed, either in the enjoy- ment of the Catholic faith, or in their rights and property, remained in the country. The English authorities encouraged emigration, and many availed themselves of their liberal of- fers. The first Anglo-American colony came from Roanoke, in the province of North-Carolina, and established them- 1764 to 1768 selves between Manchac and Baton Rouge. They were fol-
. French and Spanish MS., Martin's History of Louisiana, Gayarre's Histoire de la Louisiane, Memoire Historique et Politique sur la Loui- · Saue, par M. de Vergennes, Minister de Louis XVI.
1764 April 5 ..
6
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER XIV.
lowed by others, from North and South-Carolina, who crossed the mountains to the Tennessee, there constructing flat-boats, de- scended that river, into the Ohio, and thence passed down the Mississippi. Others, from Georgia, even cut through the wilder- ness, to find the Natchez country, which had become so favo- rably known. Emigrants from Virginia came down the Ohio. They all received, upon their arrival, liberal and extensive grants. After a while, emigrants came from Great Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies. During the three suc- ceeding years, many flocked from Georgia, the Carolinas and New-Jersey, and established themselves upon the soil drained by the Bayou: Sara, the Homochitto and Bayou Pierre. All these settlements extended from the Mississippi, back, for fifteen or twenty miles. A few years afterwards, the Scotch Highlanders, from North-Carolina, arrived, and formed a colony upon the upper branches of the Homochitto, thirty miles eastward of Natchez, and their numbers were, at a late period, increased by others from Scotland. This region after- wards assumed the name of New Scotland. They still retain much of their national character, and not a few of the old ones 1768 to 1773 speak the Gaelic. In 1770, emigrants came from New-Jersey, Delaware and Virginia, by the way of the Ohio, and, three years afterwards, a much greater number advanced by that route.
West Florida continued to be governed by the general commandant at Pensacola. With the exception of some futile attempts to form a colonial legislature, like those of the Atlantic provinces, it remained, the whole time, a mere mili- tary government .. It was strengthened by garrisons at the
7
·
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
places mentioned, and also at Manchac, where Fort Bute was CHAPTER erected, in 1765, for the purpose of monopolizing the trade XIV. of the Lower Mississippi. England constantly introduced, through the lakes and by this fortified outlet, Africans, ob- tained from their native country. These were purchased by the French, Spanish and British settlers, in defiance of the laws of Spain. Through Manchae, the English also supplied the Spanish subjects with all kinds of merchandize. To arrest this illicit trade, Don Ulloa, the governor of Louisiana, constructed a fort on the south side of the Iberville, or Man- chac, four hundred yards from Fort Bute ; but with little effect. Negroes continued to be imported, and sugar, indigo, cotton and tobacco were extensively cultivated .*
Discord made her appearance in the councils of the pro- vince of West Florida soon after its organization. The colo- nists became very much dissatisfied with Governor Johnstone. He was succeeded by the Honorable Montforte Brown, in the capacity of lieutenant governor. Governor Elliot came in the place of Brown; but, when the latter died, Brown again came into power. He was, however, a second time replaced, when the Honorable Peter Chester assumed the government of the province, and under whose auspices it flourished for a long time. Governor Chester was universally esteemed.t
The year 1765 was fatal to the inhabitants of Mobile. The ravages of death gave it a reputation for unhealthiness, which, for years, kept it from increasing in population. In that year,
* Monette, vol. 1, pp. 405-7 1*
+ Roman's Florida, p. 4.
1773
------------------ 1
:
-
, 8
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER the 21st British regiment brought from Jamaica a contagious XIV. 1765 disease. Upon their arrival in Mobile, the officers and sol- diers rioted in intemperance, and drank the water of stagnant pools. Death hovered over these imprudent people, until none remained. Indeed, the English population, generally, lived too fast, converting day into night, and sporting their lives away in dissipation.
Far otherwise was it with the French inhabitants. Among them were exhibited instances of greater longevity than could be found in any other part of North America. In the family of the Chevalier de Lucere this was particularly the case. Its members were all extremely aged, and the mother of all died a few years previous to that period, from the snapping of her legs+-the effect of the last stages of the gout. M. Francois, who then lived five miles above Fowl river, stated his age to be above eighty-three, and that the old woman, who was in the kitchen, cooking, and walking with activity and cheerfulness from one house to another, was his mother. She was one of the first females that came to Mobile from France. At the age of sixty-five, Francois fell from a pine tree, which he was climbing, to disengage some game, which had lodged in the branches. If this accident had not oc- curred, he would not have felt the hand of time. Although now over eighty-three years of age, he was accustomed, al- most daily, to walk five miles to the bay, angle there for hours, and, at night, walk home with a mule's load of fish upon his back, some of which his affectionate mother would in- stantly prepare for the supper of herself and her dutiful child !
1771
9
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
They lived comfortably, on a small farm, subsisting upon its products, and those of a large herd of cattle. Many other cases of protracted life were witnessed by travellers to this country. The French assimilated their constitutions to the climate, by a regular, abstemious life, refraining from spiritu- ous liquors in the summer, and obtaining pure drinking wa- ter, from a rivulet, three iniles back of the town. It was also the custom of many to spend the fatal months upon their plantations, up the Tensaw and Mobile rivers, where the air appears, at that day, to have been far more salubrious than in Mobile .* The plantation of the Chevalier de Lucere was on the first island, below the confluence of the Tombigby and Alabama. Many of the islands on the Tensaw and Mo- bile rivers were well cultivated, by the French, and also by the English, who worked them in summer, and withdrew their laborers, in winter, to their settlements, hard by among the hills, where they engaged extensively in making tar and pitch, for exportation.
The first plantation, after that of the Chevalier de Lucere, passed in descending the Mobile river, was that of Campbell. Then followed those of Stewart, Andrey, McGillivray, Favre, Chastang, Strother and Narbone. Five miles below the lat- ter was the site of an old French fort, which was once occu- pied a short time. Six miles further down, was, at one time, a splendid plantation, the property of the French In- tendant of Mobile, but which now belonged to M. Lizars.t
* Barnard Roman's Florfla, pp. 4-13. t Ibid.
CHAPTER XIV. 1
1771
-
1778
10
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER XIV.
1772
The articles exported from Mobile and Pensacola, in 1772, were-indigo, raw hides, corn, fine cattle, tallow, rice, pitch, bear's cil, tobacco, tar, squared timber, indigo seed, myrtle wax, cedar posts and planks, salted wild beef, pecan nuts, cyprus and pine boards, plank, of various woods, shingles, dried salt : 3h, scantling, sassafras, canes, staves and heading, hoops, oranges, and peltry.
Cotton was not enumerated among the articles of export, but it is mentioned as having been, at that time, cultivated to some extent, and machines, for separating the lint from the seed, were in use. One of these is thus described by Captain Roman :
" It is a strong frame, of four studs, each about four feet high, and joined, above and below, by strong transverse pie- ces. Across this are placed two round well-polished iron spindles, having a small groove through their whole length, and, by means of treaddles, are put in opposite motions. The workman sits behind the frame, with a thin board before him, upon which is placed the cotton, thinly spread, which the rollers receive. The lint goes through the rollers, and the seed falls down in a separate pile. The French popu- lation have much improved upon this plan, by a large wheel, which turns two of these mills, with so much ve- locity, that seventy pounds of clean cotton can be made every day."
Mr. Crebs, upon the Pascagoula river, owned one of these improved machines, and claimed the invention of it. He suspended canvas3 bags between pine trees, and packed in
11
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
his cotton by treading, making them almost three hundred CHAPTER weight .* XIV.
Mobile, in common with the whole of West Florida, was visited with the most awful storms. Vessels, boats and logs were driven up into the heart of the town. The violence of the winds forced the salt water over the gardens, which de- stroyed the vegetables. The spray rose in the air, and fell again, at the distance of a hal. mile, like rain. All the hou- ses were filled with water, several feet deep, and the one in- habited by a joiner was run entirely through by a schooner, which had broken. from her moorings.
Upon the Pascagoula, the storm was equally furious. The plantation of Mr. Crebs was almost entirely destroyed. A large crop of rice and coqu was completely swept off. His dwellings were unroofed, his outhouses blown down, and his smith's shop washed away. For thirty miles, up that river, the cypress trees were prostrated and the pines twisted into ropes. At Batereaux's cow-pen, the herdsmen were six weeks collecting and bringing home their cattle. A colony of German's up the Pascagoula, fearing that another Noah's flood was at hand, were about to set out for the Choctaw nation; but the abatement of the waters preceded their usually slow movements. The whole west coast was ravaged. A schooner, with a detach- ment of the 16th British regiment on board, was driven to Cat Island, and, when under the west point, parted her cables, and was carried entirely over the island, and stranded upon
* Barnard Roman's Florida, pp. 211-12.
1772 August 30 to September 3
12
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER another, which bore the name of Freemason. There the XIV. crew remained six weeks, and would have perished, but for their discovery by a hunting smack. The different directions of the currents of wind were passing strange. That from the south-east drove the water, in immense volumes, up all 17/2 the bays, rivers and bayous to the west, being here counter- acted by the winds from the north-east. A body of water was violently forced into the Bay of Spirito Santo, behind the Chandelier, Grand Gazier and Breton Isles, and, not finding sufficient vents up the rivulets, nor down the outlets of the bay, forced a number of deep channels through these islands, thus forming many new islands. The Chandelier, being higher than the others, had all its surface washed off, and, but for the roots of the black mangrove and myrtle, which held much of the earth together, not a vestige of it would have been left. All the shipping at the Balize was blown into the marshes. A Spanish vessel there parted, and the whole crew were drowned. The most extraordinary effect of this hurricane was the production of a second crop of leaves upon all the mulberry trees, which had never happened be- fore. This tree budded, foliated, blossomed, and bore ripe fruit, within the brief space of four wecks after the terrible gusts had passed away. Other trees remained naked, until the following spring .*
At this time, Governor Chester was at the head of the government of West Florida. He was universally esteemed,
* Roman's Florida, pp. 4-13.
-
--
13
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
and, under his auspices, the' people prospered, and their CHAPTER valuable products continued to increase. Slavery was in XIV. existence, and the government of the mother country was netive in transporting Africans into this country. The free- 1772 March holders assembled in Mobile, Pensacola, and other parts of the province, to elect representatives to a colonial legislature ; but, finding that the writs required the continuance of mem- her for three years in office, they added the condition to their votes, that the elected members were to serve but one year. The governor, disliking this arrangement, declined to accept it. The freeholders remained inflexible, and, rather than be deprived of annual elections, choose to remain without repre- sentatives .*
In 1771, Pensacola contained about one hundred and eighty houses, built of timber, in good taste, and arranged with much convenience. The town formed an oblong square, near the foot of an eminence, called Gage Hill, named in honor of the great British officer, well remembered by the whigs of America.t
Turning our eyes towards the British province of Georgia, we find that the Cherokees and Creeks had assembled at Augusta, at the instance of Sir James Wright, the governor, and John Stuart, superintendant of Indian affairs. These Indians there ceded to Great Britain a large area of territory, upon the head waters of the Ogechee, and north-west of Little river. The object was to compensate the Honorable
-
1771
1773 June 1
* Roman's Florida, pp. 4-13. + Ibid, p. 303.
1
14
THE BRITISH IN ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI.
CHAPTER George Galphin, and some other traders, for large debts due XIV. thein by these nations. The governor, having no power to accept this cession, but seeing the influence it would enable him to wield, in behalf of the tottering power of his King, to whom 1773 he was devotedly attached, he had already obtained the consent of the ministry to make the treaty. But Galphin never obtain- ed any of these lands, or the proceeds of the sales thereof, on account of his boldly expressed patriotic opinions ; and Gov. Wright, with a vindictive partiality, paid the loyal traders, in preference, keeping the larger portion of the proceeds, to strengthen his government, and perhaps to add to his own coffers. Galphin was wealthy ; he sacrificed thousands in defence of American liberty, and, to this day, his descendants remain without remuneration .* It is said that Gov. Wright received the order of knighthood, for the unjust direction which he gave these funds. In the meantime, land offices had been established at Augusta, and at the confluence of the Broad and Savannah rivers, where a town was laid out, called Dartmouth, but which was subsequently changed to the name of Petersburg.
* Since I have written this paragraph, some of the heirs of Galphin have received a large amount of money, from the United States govern- ment, on account of this claim. They had previously applied to Geor- gia, Great Britain, and the United States, without success. The claim of the heirs of Galphin was just upon one of these powers ; but many have contended that it was not a just claim upon the federal government, but one upon Georgia, while others have contended that it was a just claim upon Great Britain.
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