Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I, Part 57

Author: Fortier, Alcee, 1856-1914, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1294

USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I > Part 57

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).

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Bowdens and Criswells. Lake Prairie was settled by a family named Doyle. After the organization of the parish, the first court was held at Boeuf prairie at an old camp. M. S. Osborn was the first parish judge: E. K. Williams, district judge; S. W. McClure, clerk, and J. W. Willis, sheriff. Winnsboro was made the seat of justice and the first court house was built there in 1847, which was used until a more modern structure was erected in 1855. The lands of Franklin parish are higher than those of the valley on the east ; the formation is alluvial land along the river courses, wooded swamp and rolling prairie on the uplands, breaking into very rough bluff land. The soil is of various kinds; partly prairie, good for cotton and corn, fertile alluvial loam bottoms, and hill lands where the soil is not so good. Cotton is the chief export crop; the second crop is sugar-canc. Every farmer who has a patch of cane can make his own syrup. Corn is grown to some extent and the upland country has a soil and climate favorable to the growth of tobacco, some of the finest grades of cigar leaf and smoking tobacco being raised there. In both the valleys and the uplands there are a great number of truck crops which produce heavily in the favorable climate and long growing season. The garden varieties are almost unlimited, as conditions make it possible to grow in the open here the most tender plants. Truck farming has been encouraged with- in the last few years by the growing demand for the products from Memphis, New Orleans, Little Rock and other nearby cities, while many early vegetables are shipped to Chicago, Denver, St. Louis and Kansas City. The shipments amount to several car loads a day from some of the leading truck districts. There are several canning factories in the smaller towns that take care of the surplus. The rolling prairies and fertile bottoms give excellent pasturage, a long pasture season, an abundant water supply and good markets, which make stock raising and dairying profitable to the farmers of the parish. Since crop rotation has been introduced, hog raising has become a profitable side line to all the producers. The hills of the parish are well timbered by such varieties as oak, beech, pine, gum, elm, holly, hickory, magnolia, cottonwood, willow, mulberry, maple, ash and walnut. Franklin parish is watered by the Boeuf river and its tributary streams on the west, Bayon Macon on the east, and by Turkey. Big and Deer creeks and Turkey and Saline lakes. Like many of the Louisiana parishes, Franklin is not thickly populated. There are no cities, and Winnsboro, the parish seat, situated on the New Orleans & Northwestern R. R., is the largest and most important town. Other towns and villages are: Baskin- ton, Como, Crowville, Fort Necessity, Gilbert, Lamar, Liddieville. Hollygrove, Extension and Wisner. Transportation is furnished by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern R. R., which enters the northern boundary near Bayou Macon and runs almost directly south to Gilbert, where it forms a junction with the New Orleans ' '& Northwestern, which traverses the western part of the parish. The following statistics are taken from the U. S. census for 1900: number of farms, 1,455; acreage, 153,484; acres improved, +3,950;

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value of land and improvements exclusive of buildings, $784,660; value of farm buildings, $261,650; value of live stock, $364,781 ; value of all products not fed to live stock, $474,127; number of manufacturing establishments, 23; capital invested, $52,709; wages paid, $8,957 ; cost of materials used, $22,221 ; total value of products, $453,851. The population for the parish in 1900 was 3,870 whites, 5,020 colored, a total of 8,890, an increase of 1,990 during the pre- ceding decade. The estimated population for 1900 was over 9,000.

Franklinton, the seat of justice of Washington parish, is located in the western part of the parish, 10 miles south of the Mississippi state line and 8 miles east of the Tchefuncte river, which forms the western boundary. In 1819, the large parish of St. Tammany was divided, the northern part becoming Washington parish, and in the same year, to facilitate the organization of the new parish, John Bickham gave 30 acres of land where the town of Franklinton now stands for the purpose of establishing a parish seat and court house. Two years later the parish jury had the ground platted and ordered the sale of all lots and squares except the center square, which was reserved for the courthouse. Court was held in a barn until the first courthouse was built, in the exact center of the square, which was reserved in the center of the platted town. The first structure was of wood, replaced in 1858 by a substantial brick building, which in turn was torn down in 1906 to make place for the fine modern courthouse completed in 1907. No finer location for a town could be found than that of Franklinton, which is near the Bogue Chitto river on the gently rolling pine hills, with perfect drainage. For many years the growth of the town was slow, as it was shut in by the great pine forest which stretched in every direc- tion. It was incorporated on March 7, 1861, by a special act of the state legislature, and during the Civil war developed but little. Prior to 1906 there was no railroad in Washington parish except the Kentwood & Eastern, a narrow gauge road which crossed the extreme northwest corner of the parish, and all shipments in and out of Franklinton had to be made to this railroad, 10 miles away. Early in 1906 the New Orleans Great Northern R. R. was built through the eastern part of the parish, with a branch up the Bogue Chitto through Franklinton to Tylertown, Miss., opening up the markets of the south to the town. Since then Franklinton has in- creased rapidly in population and is the shipping point and supply town for a large district of pine, farm and dairy country of which it is the center. It has a bank, a large wholesale and retail mercan- tile house, a newspaper, with job printing office in connection, the Franklinton central institute, one of the leading educational insti- tutions of the parish, a good hotel, several large saw mills, a tele- graph office, local and long distance telephone facilities, an express office and money order postoffice. Franklinton is the home of the Standard Land company, which has done much for the development of the town and parish. The U. S. census for 1900 gives the popit- iation of Franklinton as 236, but since the completion of the New

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Orleans Great Northern R. R. the town has had a rapid growth, and the population at the present time is much larger.

Fred, a post-hamlet in the northern part of East Baton Rouge parish, is a station on the Zachary & Northeastern R. R., about 5 miles east of Zachary and 15 miles northeast of Baton Rouge.

Freedmen's Bureau .- This institution was the outgrowth of the conditions prevailing among the negroes of the South after the emancipation proclamation went into effect. Many of the able- bodied blacks enlisted in the Federal armies, but the women and children, the old and decrepit, were left to subsist as they might. These helpless persons were gathered into camps, where they could be furnished with rations, and appeals were made to the people of the North for donations of clothing, medicines, etc., to supply their needs. In order to furnish employment for such as were able and willing to work, Adjt .- Gen. Thomas of Grant's army in April, 1863, devised a plan, the chief features of which were as follows: Many of the plantations along the Mississippi river had been aban- doned by their owners. Commissioners were appointed to lease these abandoned plantations "to persons of proper character and qualifications," who would enter into bonds to employ until Feb. 1, 1864, such negroes as might be turned over to them by the commis- sioners, and "to feed, clothe and treat humanely all the negroes thus turned over, the clothing to be deducted from their wages, and to be furnished at cost." The wages for able-bodied men and boys over 15 years of age were fixed at $7 per month; for able-bodied women over 15 years of age, $5 per month. Children from 12 to 15 were to receive half this amount, and the lessee was to pay to the government of the United States a tax upon all the products raised by such labor. Plantations belonging to persons in sympa- thy with the Confederacy were confiscated and leased, Gen. Thomas stating as his reason therefor "the occupation of the river border by a friendly population, to assist in preventing the irregular war- fare on the river traffic." In a few instances, where the lessees were the right kind of men, the plan worked successfully, but in a large majority of cases it was a failure, the lessees being camp followers and adventurers, whose principal object was to get all they could out of the scheme with the least possible outlay. Cloth- ing was sold to the negroes at exorbitant prices, notwithstanding

. the provision that it should be furnished at cost; the food sup- plied was often of inferior quality; in many instances deductions were made from the wages of the freedmen for medical attendance, though no physician ever visited the plantations, and numerous other abuses were practiced.

In Louisiana the operation of the emancipation proclamation did not extend to certain parishes, but as a law of Congress pro- hibited the use of the military to return any slave to his master by force, thousands of the blacks sought the camps of the Federal armies, where they became hangers on and a menace to the general health. Many of the planters in this state remained at their homes, and Gen. Banks, commanding the Department of the Gulf, en-

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deavored to bring about amicable relations between the planters and the negroes, so that the latter would return to work. A sys- tem of wages, fines and punishments was adopted, and at the close of the year the plan was reported to be a "decided success." On Feb. 3, 1864. Gen. Banks promulgated his "General Orders No. 23," setting forth the rules and regulations for the employment of freed- men for the year. Laborers were divided into four classes, to re- ceive respectively $8, $6, $5 and $3 per month, in addition to "healthy rations, comfortable clothing. quarters, fuel, medical at- tendance and instruction for children." At least one-half of the wages stipulated should be withheld until the end of the year, and provision was made for the cultivation of land on private account. A board of education was also established by Gen. Banks, the duty of which was to provide one or more common schools in each of the school districts as designated by the parish provost-marshals, who were authorized to erect school houses, employ teachers, and exer- cise all the powers of school officers in the Northern states. To provide the necessary funds for this work the board was empowered to levy a tax on all property, sufficient in amount to defray the expenses incident to the establishment and maintenance of such schools.

The plan of leasing plantations by the government was generally a failure in Louisiana, as elsewhere, owing chiefly to inadequate supervision and the lack of military protection. Early in May, 1864, Gen. Banks was relieved by Gen. Canby, who introduced a system of military occupation for the protection of the planters. This was more of a success, as during the year about 50,000 freed- men were employed on some 1,500 plantations under the super- vision of the free labor bureau, which was the predecessor of the national freedmen's bureau.

Soon after the capitulation of Vicksburg there were about 50,000 negroes in the camps along the Mississippi river. The crowding together in this manner of large numbers of the blacks resulted in a frightful mortality, the deaths during July and August, 1863, often numbering in some of the camps 50 to 75 daily. Freedmen's aid societies, commissions and associations sprang up all over the North, and during the three years ending on Jan. 1. 1865, these organizations expended for the relief of the negroes nearly $1,000,- 000. It was through their influence that the bill providing for the establishment of a "Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands" was passed by Congress and approved by President Lincoln on March 2, 1865. According to the provisions of the bill, the bureau was to be under the management and control of a commis- sioner, and "an assistant commissioner for each of the states de- clared to be in insurrection, not exceeding ten in number." The bill further provided "That the commissioner, under the direction of the president, shall have authority to set apart for the use of loyal refugees and freedmen such tracts of land within the insur- rectionary states as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation, or sale, or

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otherwise. And to every male citizen, whether refugee or freed- man, as aforesaid, there shall be assigned not more than 40 acres of such land, and the person to whom it is so assigned shall be pro- tected in the use of and enjoyment of the land for the term of three years, at an annual rent not exceeding six per cent. upon the value of said land as it was appraised by the state authorities in 1860 for the purpose of taxation. At the end of said term or any time during said term, the occupants of any parcels so assigned may purchase the land and receive such title thereto as the United States can convey upon paying therefor the value of the land, as ascertained and fixed for the purpose of determining the annual rent as aforesaid."

No appropriation was made for carrying out the purposes of the act, but this difficulty was obviated to some extent by the secretary of war, who authorized the assignment of army officers, so far as might be practicable, to the special duties required ; provided quar- ters-in buildings already in possession of the government for mili- tary purposes : and furnished offices by making requisitions upon the quartermaster's department. Early in May, 1865, President Johnson appointed Gen. O. O. Howard chief commissioner. The commissioner for Louisiana was Rev. T. W. Conway, who had held a commission as major in the volunteer service and had served as general superintendent of freedmen's affairs in the Department of the Gulf. He was relieved by Gen. Absalom Baird after a short time. Gen. Howard organized the bureau into four departments- lands, records, financial and medical-and issued a number of cir- culars instructing assistant commissioners and others regarding their duties. His Circular No. 15, issued on Sept. 12, 1865, showed 62,528 acres of cultivated land in Louisiana to be in the hands of the bureau, and contained the following provision relative to the res- toration of these lands to their owners :

"Abandoned lands held by this bureau may be restored to owners pardoned by the president, by the assistant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration should be forwarded, so far as practicable, through the superintendents of the districts in . which the lands are situated. Each application must be accom- panied by-1st, evidence of special pardon by the president, or a copy of the oath of amnesty prescribed in the president's procla- mation of May 29, 1865, when the applicant is not included in any of the classes therein excepted from the benefits of said oath ; 2nd, proof of title. * * No lands under cultivation by loyal refu- * gees or freedmen will be restored under this circular until the crops now growing shall be secured for the benefit of the cultivators, unless full and just compensation be made for their labor and its products and for their expenditures."

Immediately after the close of the war, and before the freedmen's bureau was fully organized, Gen. Herron, then in command in northern Louisiana, issued orders requiring the freedmen to re- main on the plantations where they were then employed until the crops were harvested, otherwise they would be arrested as vagrants.

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The strict enforcement of this order had a salutary effect, and when Gen. Howard in October and November made a tour of in- · spection through the states where the bureau was in operation, lie reported "less opposition to it in Louisiana than in most of the South."

In Feb., 1866, Congress passed an amendatory act, enlarging the powers of the bureau, particularly in the reservation of 3.000.000 acres of public land in the South, then unsold, for the purpose of renting it to the freedmen, but it was vetoed by President Johnson and failed to become a law. In July following another amendatory act, much milder in its provisions, was passed over the president's veto. It was intended to perfect the distribution of abandoned and confiscated lands, and regulated the manner of enforcement of the law by military tribunals. During the first year of the bureau's existence is was generally accepted by the people of the North as a necessary adjunct of emancipation, but in the summer of 1866 the report became prevalent that the government was main- taining many negroes in idleness at the expense of the public treas- utry and caused widespread opposition to the further continuance of the bureau. This led Gen. Howard to issue on .Aug. 17, 1866, his recommendation "that, on and after the first day of September next, the issue of rations be stopped, except to the sick in regularly organized hospitals, and to the orphan asylums for refugees and freedmen already existing, and that the state officials, who may be responsible for the poor, be carefully notified of this order, so that they may assume the charge of such indigent refugees and freedmen as may not be embraced in the above exceptions." Five days later this was approved by the secretary of war, with the exception that it was to take effect on Oct. 1 instead of Sept. 1. The opposition continued, however, and in July, 1868, Congress ordered that the bureau should be withdrawn from the several states, and its opera- tions, with the exception of the educational features and county di -. visions, were discontinued on Jan. 1. 1869.

While it was in force the bureau agents were the guardians of the freedmen, with power to make their contracts, settle their disputes with their employers, and care for them generally. Bureau courts were instituted, ostensibly to protect the colored men from dis- crimination in consequence of their exclusion as witnesses front the civil courts, and the bureau employed lawyers to appear in courts for colored litigants. Garner, in his work on reconstruction, says: "The chief objection of the Southern white man to the bureau was that it established a sort of espionage over his conduct." Edward Mayes, in his Life of Lamar, says: "Its tendency was to create in the minds of the blacks both a suspicion of the laws of the state and a belief that they were outside of and superior to those laws. Filled, 'as its offices principally were, with men who were adventurers, bargainers, blackmailers, seekers after office. the negroes were banded into clubs and leagues needless for any legiti- mate purpose, taught to parade the streets in military array with arms and drums, were massed to be voted, and so were taught to

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regard Southern whites as their political enemies by nature; while, on the other hand, the whites themselves were inspired with dis- gust for the bureau and contempt for its work, and also with despair of ever reaching the reason of the negroes in political matters by any argument or appeal."

Freedmen, Higher Education of .-- There are four important in- stitutions in the state devoted to the higher education of colored youth of both sexes. All of these are located in the city of New Orleans and were established since the war. In addition to these schools, several praiseworthy efforts to secure an industrial train- ing for the colored people at various points in the country districts are being made. Of the four institutions in New Orleans, the Southern university and A. and M. college, a state institution, has been separately treated, Leland university is a Baptist school, Straight university is a Congregational school, New Orleans uni- versity is a Methodist school, and all four are coeducational. The founder of Leland university was Holbrook Chamberlain, of Brook- lyn, N. Y., who purchased 4 squares of ground on St. Charles ave- nue, and secured a charter for the institution, dated March 26, 1870. The school received its name in honor of the wife of the founder. Mr. Chamberlain gave the school some $65,000 during his life, and at his death in 1883 endowed it with about $100,000. Other agencies which materially aided the school in obtaining a start were the U. S. government, acting through the Freedman's bureau, which appropriated $17,500 toward the first building, and the Amer- ican Baptist Home Mission society, which donated $12,500 toward the purchase of the site, and also made generous annual appropria- tions for general purposes during the succeeding years. A large three-story brick building, 100x80 feet, was completed in 1873, and the school began its work. Though provided with a university char- ter, the deficiencies of the colored population compelled it for a long time to devote its energies to the more elementary forms of instruction-primary grammar, high school and normal. In 1884 a large dormitory for girls was completed at a cost of $25.000. The legislature granted the school a new charter in 1891, enlarging its scope, and full normal and college work is now being performed, while the standard has been raised so as to eliminate the lower grades of instruction. A system of affiliated schools, over which the university exercises a very direct control, serve as feeders for the higher institution. The university has a well selected library of over 3,000 volumes.

Straight university was chartered by the legislature in 1869. with the power to grant degrees, establish technical departments, etc. It was named in honor of Seymour Straight, then a produce mer- chant of New Orleans, who, with Edward and Charles Heath, was very active in the promotion of the institution. Through the ef- forts of these men, and the generosity of the U. S. government, a building was erected in 1870 on ground belonging to the American Missionary association, at the corner of Esplanade and Burgundy streets, and the school was placed under the control of this asso-

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ciation. Its work was of a very elementary character for several years, but after some time discipline and organization prevailed, the grade was raised, and the scope of the work broadened. The first building was burned in 1877, together with its contents, in- cluding a valuable library donated by northern friends. Only a year later a portion of its present site on Canal and Saulte Touti streets was secured and a university building erected thereon. In 1881 Mrs. Valina G. Stone, of Malden, Mass., donated $25,000 to the school, enabling it to purchase an additional half square of ground on which Stone Hall, a girls' dormitory and teachers' home were erected. Two years later, Whitin Hall, a boys' dormitory, was built through the generosity of William C. Whitin and Mr. Straight. In 1886 the building used as Vermont headquarters at the New Orleans exposition in 1885 was obtained, and it became the headquarters of the library, where are now housed over 3,000 bound volumes. At the same time a much needed industrial de- partment was established by aid obtained from the Slater fund. A shop was erected, and various mechanical branches are now in successful operation. The industrial department has since grown to large proportions and is doing a good work. The school also maintains law, theological, classical, and normal departments.

The New Orleans university was chartered on March 22, 1873, when the scope of the Union normal school, organized and in opera- tion since July 9, 1869, was broadened to form this institution. Its first board of trustees were J. C. Hartzell, I. S. Leavitt, Cyrus Bussey, Emperor Williams, H. C. Dibble, John Baldwin, George Dardis, W. M. Daily, M. C. Cole, James H. Ingraham, C. W. Booth- by, J. M. Vance, Pierre Landry, W. G. Brown, and J. Barth. The first president of the school was Rev. I. S. Leavitt, A. M., and the present incumbent is Rev. H. F. Knight, Ph.D. The school con- tinued to occupy the site of the Union normal school, at the corner of Race and Camp streets, until 1884, when that property was sold and a block was purchased at the corner of St. Charles and Val- mont, where the institution has since been located. A large five- story building was here erected, 156 feet front by 120 feet deep, which contained accommodations for 180 students, as well as class rooms, chapels, offices, dining room, etc. The school maintains besides the usual academic department, a model school, musical, mechanical and sewing departments: the Flint medical college, es- tablished in 1889, was added to the institution, and in 1900 a college of pharmacy was established at 1566 Canal street.

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Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume I, Part 57

Author: Fortier, Alcee, 1856-1914, ed. 1n Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Association Number of Pages: 1294

Author: Fortier, Alcee, 1856-1914, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1294