USA > Alabama > Alabama history > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
327
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE
T. C. De Leon is the author of some very interest- ing books. He has written St. Twelmo, a sequel to St. Elmo; The Rock or the Rye, a sequel to The Quick or the Dead; Schooners that Bump On the Bar, a sequel to Ships That Pass in the Night, and several novels descriptive of Southern society and Southern sentiments.
Dr. William Stokes Wyman, for half a cen- tury a professor and sev- eral times president of the University of Alabama, T. C. De Leon has published some delightful short poems and a number of valuable historical articles. His friends regret that he has not been more generous with
He is a profound historian and a
his pen.
master of several languages. Ilis knowledge of the Indian tribes and the early settlers of Ala- bama is especially thorough. He is a warm lover of the muses, and is not only gifted with the happy faculty of painting in wondrous colors the scenes and incidents of history, but he breathes the spirit of the poet. How sweetly touching and how musically rhythmic are his verses can be partially judged from-
THE WIZARD STREAM
I launched my boat on a wizard stream In the morning's early glow;
328
ALABAMA HISTORY
I watched the waters sparkle and gleam, And the wavelets come and go. The winds that swept from the flowery lea Were laden with odors sweet, And my soul was attuned to the melody Of the Naiad's tinkling feet.
"Whence art thou, bonny brook," I said, "That singest so soft and low? Where in the hills is the pebbly bed From which thy waters flow?" The breezes held their odorous breath, And the flowers bent low to hear; But the nymph's low laugh in the depth beneath Alone fell on my ear.
All day reclining in my boat, I float far down the stream, My soul adrift on the tide of thought As in a charmed dream. At eve I awake-to dream no' more; Mid storm and flying seud, I see the wild waves lash the shore, My brook is now a flood!
"Whither art rushing, O mystic tide, Whither so restlessly -. Into some ocean drear and wide, Or into some peaceful sea?" I hear no voice but the sea-wraith's cry, No sound but the wind's loud moan, While the night sweeps down from a starry sky, I drift toward the dark unknown.
Professor Warfield Creath Richardson is the author of numerous magazine and newspaper articles. His style is delightfully easy and versatile, and his language is a "well of English undefiled." His best poem is Gaspar; A Romaunt. His daugh- ter, Mrs. Belle R. Harrison, has inherited his poetic
329
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE
talents, and in addition to occasional pieces appear- ing in current periodicals she has published a book of poems.
Peter Joseph Hamilton, beginning with The Bric- a-Brac, the students' annual of Princeton College, and continuing in literary efforts, presented Rambles in Historic Lands. His best work is Colonial Mobile, embracing the history of that famous city from its birth to the year 1821.
P. J. Hamilton
Eugene Allen Smith
Dr. Eugene Allen Smith, the State geologist, with prolific pen has told the testimony of the rocks, of the vegetables, of the climate, and of nearly every- thing that has demanded scientific investigation in Alabama. His reports, bulletins, maps, and other publications contain the researches and discoveries of more than three decades of special work in scientific fields.
330
ALABAMA HISTORY
Dr. Thomas Chalmers McCorvey has given to the press letters on the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, The Alabama Creeks, Some Famous Southern Poems, Alabama in the Domain of Letters,
Thomas Chalmers McCorvey
George Petrie
Southern Cadets in Action, Life of Major James William Abert Wright; he has published a magazine article on the Life of Professor Henry Tutwiler, and he is the author of The Government of the People of the State of Alabama.
One of the most energetic and gifted writers of Alabama is Dr. George Petrie. Not so much for the amount of his literary products as on account of the spirit of his work is he to be commended. As teacher of Latin and history in the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, he is making special investigation of the history of Alabama, and is directing his works so as to develop in others the spirit of historical research.
¢
.
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE 331
Mrs. Elizabeth W. Bellamy, "Kamba Thorpe,". wrote Four Oaks, The Little Joanna, Old Man Gil- bert, and Penny Lancaster, Farmer.
Bishop R. H. Wilmer made a valuable contribu- tion to the State's literature in The Recent Past from a Southern Standpoint.
Hannis Taylor has won a world-wide reputation by his great work entitled Origin and Growth of the English Constitution, and by his later work on the relation of international laws.
Dr. Josiah C. Nott made a deep impression on his times by publishing the results of his scholarly inves- tigation of yellow fever and its causes. His lit- erary fame, however, is due more especially to Indigenous Races of the Earth, of which George R. Glidden was co-author.
Dr. Samuel Minturn Peck is ranked among the great lyric poets, and he is loved for his sunshiny spirit and clever verses. His lyrics are as sweet as Samuel Minturn Peck flowers and birds and air and sky and youth can make them. Many hearts have been made to beat with fresher joy when stirred by the melody of his Cap and Bells, Rings and Loveknots, Rhymes and Roses, as he has named his volumes. ITis poetry is so full of sweet images of love and gladness that under their spell old
.
332
ALABAMA HISTORY
Ponce De Leon would have found some comfort for the undiscovered fountain of perpetual youth. His Alabama Sketches is a collection of interesting short stories.
William Russell Smith was probably the most versatile and voluminous writer the State has pro- duced. His works embrace a wide range of subjects and display an intellectual genius of high order. For nearly eighty years he was a resident of Alabama, and noted her rise in power and influence; her struggles in war; her loss of statehood and her woes during "reconstruction"; her new political redemp- tion and her marvellous industrial and commercial advancement. Though he cast his vote against the "Ordinance of Secession," he accepted the judg- ment of his State and entered her armies in defense of her soil. In all the history of his times he never ceased to give forth the products of his pen. His entrance into business life was marked by an intense interest in letters which made him well-known for scholarship, and which opened wide the doors to the best homes of society. His companions and friends were among the most literary and learned, whose respect and admiration outlived all the checkered policies and politics of an era that tested the souls of men. His high genius rose above the storms of parties, and found constant delight in books and literary company.
IIe loved the old masters, and translated the Iliad of Homer for the use of schools. He contributed largely to wit and humor, essayed tragedy, poetry, the novel, history, and biography. His History and
333
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE
Debates of the Secession Convention is a book of rare merit. It contains the speeches of the patriots who were anxious to guide the State through the impending crisis-speeches which to-day seem prophecies. His Reminiscences casts in happy pic- tures the character and conditions of men whom he knew and with whom he came into contact. He was an able lawyer, a learned judge, and a congressman who, immediately upon entering the house of repre- sentatives, won a notable prominence by his opposi- tion to the measures in behalf of Louis Kossuth (kos sooth'). The Uses of Solitude is perhaps his best work in poetry. It bristles with inspiration, touching many of the immortal names that live in deeds of greatness. A single quotation will suggest its strain :
The man of lofty genius, who consorts With Labor as a chosen mate, and sits And talks with her as conjugal, and leans Confiding on her fondly for support- That man meets few denials; to his eye Nature reveals all secrets; to his ear Selectest melody is ever shaped, And harmonies divine enchant his soul. The chest of ancient lore, whose ponderous lid Is never lifted to the indolent, To him is open thrown, and all its gay And gaudy contents are spread out before him As if the ages past had gathered them For his especial use.
In 1811, the Mobile Centinel, the first newspaper in Alabama, was established at Fort Stoddert by Hood and Miller. Probably the most distinguished editor the State has had was John Forsyth, of the Mobile
334
ALABAMA HISTORY
Register. Thaddeus Sanford, Jones M. Withers, C. C. Langdon, J. E. Saunders, and others have won enviable reputations as editors; but John Forsyth stands as the intellectual champion who met the breakers of stormy polities and the convulsions of "reconstruction" with a pen bold and incisive, and with a diction that mingled the purest classicism with the warm life of the people.
Jeremiah Clemens, brilliant and versatile, was both an author and a politician. His most popular novels are Bernard Lile, Mustang Gray, and The Rivals. These are historical romances dealing with the times of the Texas struggle for independence and with the jealousies of Burr and Hamilton.
Miss Mary Johnston, in Prisoners of Hope, To Hace and to Hold, Au- drey, and Sir Mortimer, has given graphic life- pictures of colonial Vir- ginia and of the Eliza- bethan age. In A Goddess of Reason she has por- trayed the scenes of the French Revolution. She ranks with the few au- Miss Mary Johnston thors of this competitive age who have distanced all others in historical romances.
Mrs. Virginia Clay-Clopton, in A Belle of the Fifties, has told in reminiscent vein the social and
335
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE
political history of the times in which she has lived. Reared in Tuskaloosa, and married to Senator Clem- ent C. Clay, Jr., and then to Judge David Clopton, she has seen much of pub- lic life and has met many distinguished men. Her graphic descriptions of persons and events give charm to her book and add largely to its value as a contribution to liter- ature and history. Mrs. Virginia Clay-Clopton
Nearly every department of literature has been successfully undertaken by Alabamians. It is with profound regret that want of space forbids mention of hundreds of other literary men and women whose lives have pointed through letters to the purest and best in thought and deed. Among the many authors and books that deserve more than a passing notice are Dr. J. L. M. Curry's Southern States of the American Union and History of the Civil Govern- ment of the Confederate States, Dr. John Allen Wyeth's Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest, Walter L. Fleming's Reconstruction in Alabama and History of the Ku Klux Klan, Dr. B. F. Riley's History of the Baptists in Alabama, Dr. Anson West's History of Methodism in Alabama, Reverend Walter C. Whitaker's History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Alabama, Miss Louise Manly's Southern Literature, Mrs. Virginia V. Clayton's
336
ALABAMA HISTORY
White and Black under the Old Regime, and Halbert and Ball's The Creek War.
Miss Julia Strudwick Tutwiler has been welcomed by the magazines and press of the Union as one of the strong and interesting writers of this many- souled century. Both prose and verse have claimed tribute from her talents. We elose this chapter with her patriotic poem :
ALABAMA
Alabama, Alabama, We will aye be true to thee,
From thy Southern shore, where groweth
By the sea thine orange tree, To thy northern vale where floweth, Deep and blue, thy Tennessee. Alabama, Alabama! We will aye be true to thee!
Proud thy stream whose name thou bearest, Grand thy Bigbee rolls along; Fair thy Coosa-Tallapoosa-
Bold thy Warrior, dark and strong;
Watered like the land where Moses Climbed lone Nebo's mount to see, Alabama, Alabama!
We will aye be true to thee!
From thy prairies, broad and fertile, Where thy suow-white cotton shines; To the hills where coal and iron Hide in thy exhaustless mines; Honest farmers, strong-armed workmen Merchants, or what'er we be, Alabama, Alabama!
We will aye be true to thee!
7
ALABAMA IN LITERATURE
337 -
From thy quarries where the marble White as that of Paros gleams, Waiting till the sculptor's chisel Wakes to life thy poet's dreams- For not only wealth of nature: Wealth of mind hast thou in fee; Alabama, Alabama! We will aye be true to thee!
Where the perfumed south-wind whispers Thy magnolia groves among, Softer than a mother's kisses,
Sweeter than a mother's song;
Where the golden jessamine trailing Wooes the treasure-laden bee, Alabama, Alabama! We will aye be true to thee!
Brave thy men and true thy women, Better this than corn and wine; Keep us worthy, God in Heaven, Of this goodly land of Thine. Hearts are open as our door-ways, Liberal hands and spirits free ;
Alabama, Alabama! We will aye be true to theo!
Little, little can I give thee, Alabama, mother mine! But that little-heart, brain, spirit- All I have and am are thrine. Take, O take the gift and giver, Take and serve thyself with me: Alabama, Alabama! We will aye be true to thee!
APPENDIX
Events in the History of Alabama
1540, Oct. 18. Battle of Mauvilla.
1540, Nov. 29. De Soto passed out of Alabama into Mississippi. 1629. Alabama territory embodied in Carolina grant to Sir Robert Heath.
1663. Alabama territory embodied in Carolina grant to Monk, Shaftesbury, and others.
1682-1685. La Salle passed down the Mississippi river, took possession of its valley for Louis XIV, of France, and named it Louisiana.
1698, Sept. 24. Iberville sailed from Rochelle (Brest), France, to make settlements in Louisiana.
1699, Jan. 31. Iberville refused permission to anchor in harbor of Santa Rosa ( Pensacola), sailed west and dis- covered Massacre, now Dauphin, Island.
1699, Feb. 22.
1699, May 1.
1699, Aug. 16.
Iberville entered the Mississippi river. Fort Biloxi begun.
1702, Jan .-.
Bienville, descending the Mississippi, met the English Captain Barr, and turned him back. Bienville made settlements on Massacre Island, and at Fort Louis de la Mobile.
1702.
France and Spain agreed to the Perdido river as the line of partition for their American posses- sions.
1704, July 24. Twenty-three French girls arrive at Fort Louis to become wives of colonists.
1711. Mobile permanently established on its prosent site.
1711. French settlers on Massacre Island plundered by pirate ship from Jamaica.
1712, Sept. 14. Louisiana chartered to Antoine Crozat.
1713, May 17. Lamotte Cadillac, governor, and other officers under Crozat landed on Massacre Island.
1717, Mar. 9. L'Epinay, governor under Crozat, arrived at Mo- bile.
1717, Sept. 6. Western or India Company acquired Louisiana.
1719, May 14. Bienville captured Pensacola.
1719, Aug. -. French repulsed Spaniards who bombarded the settlement on Massacre Island.
1720, Dec. 20. Seat of government transferred to New Biloxi.
[3391
340
ALABAMA HISTORY
1721, Mar. 17. Ship Africaine arrived at Mobile with one hun- dred and twenty of three hundred and twenty- four negroes embarked from Guinea. This was the first introduction of African slavery into the Louisiana colony. $176 was the price of a slave. 1722, Aug. 22. Garrison at Fort Toulouse mutinied and killed Captain Marchand, the French commandant. 1723. Seat of government of Louisiana transferred to New Orleans.
1723. Bienville restored Pensacola to Spain.
1723, Sept. 11-13. Great hurricane swept Louisiana.
1729, Oct. 28. Terrible massacre of the French at Natchez.
1733. General Oglethorpe settled colony at Savannah, Georgia.
1735. British Fort built at Ocfuskee on the Tallapoosa river.
1735. Fort Tombeebe. (now Jones' Bluff) on the Tom- beebe river established by Bienville.
1737. George Galphin, an Irishman, began trading with the Indians.
1736, May 26. Bienville defeated at Ackia by the Chicksaws. The . French were again defeated here in 1752 by the Chickasaws.
1743, May -. Bienville resigned governorship of Louisiana and returned to France.
1746. Alexander McGillivray born at Little Tallase.
1758. Captain Bossu made voyage up Alabama and Tom- · bigbee rivers.
1768. Bienville died in France.
1772. First cotton-gin in use. (See Pickett's Alabama,
p. 326, new edition.)
1772, Aug. 30-Sept. 3. Tremendous storm at Mobile and along the Gulf.
1777. William Bartram journeyed through Alabama. William Panton in trading-house at Pensacola.
1781.
1782, Nov. 30.
Preliminary Treaty of Peace between United States and England relinquished to United States all territory east of the Mississippi river down to 31º north latitude.
1798, Apr. 7. Mississippi Territory created by Act of Congress. 1800, Oct. 1. Spain secretly transferred Louisiana to France, except that portion south of 31º between the Mississippi and the Perdido rivers.
1801, Oct. 27.
General James Wilkinson, at Natchez, treats with Chickasaws for highway from Cumberland dis. trict to Natchez; built Fort Stoddart; December 8, treated with Choctaws for road from Fort Adams to Yazoo river, and with Creeks, on June 16, 1802, for large cessions east of a line from the Oconee to Ellicott's Mound, on the St. Mary's river.
F
APPENDIX 341
1802, Apr. 24. Georgia surrendered to United States for $1,250,- 000 all her claims to land of Mississippi Terri- - tory.
1802. Cotton-gins built at Weatherford's "Race Track," Boatyard, and at McIntosh Bluff.
1803.
.
Lorenzo Dow, Rev. Tobias Gibson, and Mr. Brown, Methodists; Revs. Montgomery and Hall, Presby- terians; Rev. David Cooper, Baptist, and Dr. Cloud, Episcopalian, began, by preaching and ex- ample, "to soften and refine the people, and to banish much sin and vice from the worst region that ministers ever entered."-Pickett.
1804, Feb.2. Land Office established at St. Stephens, with Joseph Chambers, Ephraim Kirby, and Robert Carter Nicholas, Commissioners.
1800-4.
Much confusion and amusement from decision of justices from different States who, in the absence of a special code, decided cases according to the laws of the State from which the justice had emigrated.
1805. Much discontent over exacting revenue laws.
1805, July 23. The Chickasaws cede 350,000 acres of land in the bend of the Tennessee river.
1805, Sept. 3. The Kempers kidnapped by the Spaniards and res- cued by United States soldiers.
1805, Oct. 7 The Cherokees grant mail route from Knoxville to New Orleans.
1805, Nov. 14.
Creek chiefs in Washington city grant right of horse-path through their country, and agree to establish ferries, bridges, and accommodation houses.
1805, Nov. 16. The Choctaws at Mount Dexter cede 5,000,000 acres, thus throwing open to American settlement the whole of southern Mississippi.
1805.
United States military road cut from Ocmulgee to Mims' Ferry on the Alabama.
1807, Feb. 19. Aaron Burr arrested by Captain E. P. Gaines in Washington county, Alabama.
1807, Dec. -. St. Stephens laid off in town lots, and road cut thence to Natchez, Mississippi.
1808, The first Baptist church established in Alabama.
1810, Aug. -. The Kempers, leading "the patriots," captured Baton Rouge, and killed Louis, the son of Gov- ernor Grandpre, but failed to capture Mobile.
1813, Sept. 1. Josiah Francis, the prophet, with a band of Creeks, attacked the Kimbell's and James' homes near Fort Sinquefield, in Clarke county, and massa- cred twelve people.
1813, Oct. 4. Colonel William McGrew killed by Indians at Barshi Creek.
1813, Nov. 9. Battle of Talladega.
.
342
ALABAMA HISTORY
1813, Nov. 29. General John Floyd with Georgians defeated the
Red Stieks at Autosse, on the Tallapoosa river. Jackson fights battle at Emnekfau Creek.
1814, Jan. 22.
1814, Jan. 24.
Jackson fights battle of Enitachopco.
1814, Jan. 27.
General Floyd fights battle of Calebee.
1814, Mar. 27.
Battle of Tohopeka, or Horseshoe Bend.
1814, Apr. 17.
Jackson built Fort Jackson on site of old Fort Tou- louse.
1814, Apr. 20.
General Pinckney superseded Jackson in command, and Jackson returned to the Hermitage.
1814, July 10.
Jackson, made a major-general, returned to Fort Jackson and took command of the southern army. 1814, Sept. 15. Major William Lawrence repulsed British fleet from Fort Bowyer.
1815, Feb.15. British captured Fort Bowyer.
1817, Mar 3. Congress creates Alabama Territory.
1818, Mar. 2. First session of general assembly at St. Stephens.
1818, Nov. 2-21. Second session of general assembly at St. Stephens.
1819, May 3. Election of delegates to frame the constitution in compliance with the "Enabling Act."
1819, July 5-Aug. 2. Constitutional convention in session at Hunts- ville.
1819, Sept. 20, 21. First general election for governor of Alabama and members of legislature.
1819, Oct. 25-Dec. 29. First State legislature at Huntsville.
1819, Dec. 14. Alabama admitted as a State.
1820, May 8. Supreme Court, composed of circuit judges until 1832, held its first session at Cahawba.
1820, Oct. 23. Second State legislature at Cahawba.
1820, Dec. 18. Governor Thomas Bibb approved aet of legislature to establish the University of Alabama.
1820, Dee. 21. State Bank chartered for $2,000,000 capital stock; located at Cahawba, but failed to open.
1820. Five electoral votes cast for James Monroe and Daniel D. Tompkins.
1820, Apr. 21. Congress established a Federal district court over Alabama; Charles Tait, judge; William Craw- ford, attorney.
1821.
Patrol system established, to prevent escape of slaves.
1821.
Mobile Steamboat Company organized, and first steamboat passed from Mobile to Montgomery.
1821, Mar. 1. First Alabama presbytery established at Cahawba.
1821, June 4. First called session of the legislature at Cahawba. 1823. Baptist State convention organized at Salem Church, near Greensboro.
1824. Five electoral votes cast for Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun. Legislature provided that presidential electors be chosen by the people.
343
APPENDIX
1824, Mar. 10. Congress divides the State into two districts, northern and southern, with court sessions at - Huntsville and Mobile.
1.825.
Vicarate Apostolic (Catholic) of Alabama and Florida created.
1825.
First Episcopal church organized in Mobile.
1825, Apr. 3.
General Lafayette welcomed in Montgomery.
1826, Jan. 14.
Last session of the general assembly in Cahawba closed.
1826, Nov. 20. First session of general assembly opened in Tus- kaloosa.
1828.
Congress granted 4,000,000 acres of land to im- prove Muscle Shoals.
1828. Five Electoral votes cast for Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun.
1829.
Constitutional amendment limited official tenure of judges to six years. Ratified by general as- sembly June 16, 1830.
1829. 1830.
Methodist Protestant church organized.
St. Joseph College (Catholic) established at Spring Hill, Mobile. La Grange College ( Meth- odist) established at La Grange, Alabama.
1832, Jan .-. First canal in the State opened. It connected Huntsville and Looney's Landing on the Ten- nessee river.
1832.
The supreme court was organized, separate from circuit court judges, as now constituted. A. S. Lipscomb was chief-justice, with John M. Tay- lor and Reuben Saffold, associate justices.
1832. Seven electoral votes cast for Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren.
1882. Branches of State Bank incorporated, as follows: January 21, Montgomery, $S00,000.
November 16, Decatur, $1,000,000. December 14, Mobile, $2,000,000.
1834.
Daniel Pratt builds gin factory in Autauga county. Branch of State Bank established at Huntsville.
1835. 1836, Jan. 9
All taxes removed and State Bank charged with the expenses of the State's government.
1836.
The seven electoral votes cast for Martin Van Buren and R. M. Johnson.
1837.
General financial panic.
1837-1852.
John Mckinley on bench of the supreme court of the United States.
1839, Jan. 7.
Judson Female Institute opened to students.
1839, Jan. 26. Act establishing a State penitentiary. The corner- stone of penitentiary was laid by Governor Bagby in October.
1839, Jan. 26. Supreme courts of chancery established.
1839, Feb. 1. Imprisonment for debt abolished.
1839, Aug. -. Drought to latter part of January following.
344 1839.
ALABAMA HISTORY
Malignant yellow fever and disastrous fire in Mo- bile.
1840.
Seven electoral votes cast for Martin Van Buren and R. M. Johnson.
1841.
Judson Female Institute incorporated.
1841, Dec. 29.
Howard College chartered; opened for students Jan., 1842.
1842. Penitentiary opened for reception of convicts.
1842.
State taxes restored.
1843.
Judson Institute transferred to Baptist State con- vention.
1844, May -. Howard College burned; re-established at Marion. 1844. Nine electoral votes cast for James K. Polk and George M. Dallas.
1845, Jan. 8.
Death of Andrew Jackson.
1845. Annual elections discontinued; biennial elections established.
1846, Jan. 26. The general assembly selects Montgomery as the future site of State capitol.
1846, Feb.5.
Last session of general assembly in Tuskaloosa closed.
1847, July 13.
Professor Michael Tuomey began geological ex- ploration of the State.
1847, Nov. 2.
Capitol at Montgomery completed; December 6, general assembly met in it for the first time, and held until March 6, 1848.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.