USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 22
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Moseley's Bluff, a post-hamlet in the southeastern part of Union parish, is situated on the Bayou Corney, about 8 miles southeast of Farmerville, the parish seat and nearest railroad town.
Mot,.a post-village in the northeastern part of Bossier parish, is situated on a branch of Caney creek, about 7 miles east of Bolinger, the nearest railroad station, and 20 miles northeast of Benton, the parislı seat.
Mound, a village of Madison parish, is located on the Vicksburg. Shreveport & Pacific R. R., 10 miles east of Tallulah, the parish seat, in a rich agricultural district of which it is the trading center and shipping point. It has a money order postoffice, express, tele-
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graph and telephone accommodations, and in 1900 reported a popu- lation of 62.
Mound Builders .- (See Archaeology.)
Mount Airy, a village in the western part of St. John the Baptist parish, is a station on the line of the Louisiana Railway & Naviga- tion company and the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 6 miles west of Edgard, the parish seat. It has a money order post- office, express office, telegraph and telephone facilities, and is one of the shipping points for the rich truck farming district by which it is surrounded. In 1900 it had a population of 170.
Mount Herman, a village of Washington parish, is situated in the northwest corner of the Bogue Chitto and the Kentwood & Eastern R. R., 8 miles northwest of Franklinton, the parish seat. It has a money order postoffice and in 1900 had a population of 55.
Mount Lebanon, an old town of Bienville parish, is located 3 miles south of Gibsland in one of the most favored sections of northwest Louisiana. The first settlers there came from South Carolina early in the 19th century, when the country was an in- broken wilderness. Most of these pioneers were Baptists, and as soon as their ride log cabins were completed they organized a Baptist congregation and erected a church. Reuben Blake opened the first store in 1836, the first postoffice was established in the same year. Mount Lebanon university (q. v.) was established in 1852, and in 1854 the town was incorporated. At that time and for some years later the town of Mount Lebanon was an important commercial center, but with the advent of the railroad trade was diverted to other places. The population in 1900 was 205. Gibs- land is the most convenient railroad station.
Mount Lebanon University .- The Baptist denomination main- tains two institutions for higher learning in the state, a male col- lege at Mount Lebanon, Bienville parish, and a female college at Keatchie, De Soto parish. The former school had its origin in 1852 in the adoption of the following report by the Louisiana Baptist state convention at its 4th annual session : "The time has come, in the opinion of your committee. when this convention should adopt some measure to meet the crying want of our denomination in ' Louisiana for an educated ministry, and when its members should unite zealously in sustaining a school of high character to give instruction to the youth of our common country. In accordance. with this view, we recommend the establishment of an institution of such order at Mount Lebanon. under the immediate patronage of this convention."
A board of trustees was appointed, consisting of Dr. B. Egan. Mathias Ardis. W. B. Prothro, Jesse Pitman, F. Courtney. Joseph White, Charles Humphreys, Rev. W. S. Bailiss, and George W. Rogers, through whose efforts a site embracing 10 acres and a building fund were secured. The school began its first session in March, 1853, in a comfortable 2-story building. Under the able administration of its first presidents. Rev. Jesse Hartwell. D.D., and Rev. William Casy Cram, D.D., the institution had a prosper-
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ous career up to the outbreak of the Civil war, 2 large endowment funds having been raised to support 2 professorships, and $15,000 having been granted by the state legislature in 1855, with which valuable scientific apparatus and a library were procured. Like so many other southern institutions it suffered severely during the war. Its building was seized and used as a hospital, its library and apparatus were scattered and destroyed, and its endowment fund disappeared. The poverty of the denomination after the war, and other causes kept the school at low ebb for many years, and in 1887 a disastrous fire destroyed all the college property. Deter- mined efforts saved the institution, however, and new funds were raised with which to erect large and commodions new buildings. It began its present prosperous life in 1889, when some 180 pupils were in attendance. Instruction is offered in the ancient and modern languages, mathematics, natural science, English language and literature, and moral philosophy, including psychology, ethics, logic and evidences of Christianity. Over 1,000 well selected vol- umes are included in its library.
Mount Pleasant, a post-hamlet in the central part of Caldwell parish, is 4 miles west of Riverton, the nearest railroad town, and 6 miles northwest of Columbia, the parish seat.
Mount Point, a post-village in the northwestern part of Wash- ington parish, is situated about 3 miles southeast of Dyson, the nearest railroad station, and 7 miles northwest of Franklinton, the parish seat.
Mouton, Alexandre, 9th governor of the State of Louisiana, was born at Bayou Carenero, in the Attakapas country (now Lafayette parish), Nov. 19, 1804. He was a son of Jean and Marie Marthe (Bordat) Mouton, and a descendant of Acadian exiles who found an asylum in Louisiana when they were expelled from their homes by the English in Nova Scotia in 1755. Gov. Mouton was edu- cated at Georgetown college, D. C., and after graduating studied law. In 1825 he was admitted to the bar and began practice, but soon gave up the profession to become a planter on some land given him by his father near Vermilionville. In 1826 he was elected a member of the lower house of the state legislature: was three times reelected, and was again clected in 1836. During his service in the legislature he was twice speaker of the house. In the presi- dential elections of 1828. '32, and '36, he was an elector, and in 1837, when Alexander Porter resigned his seat in the U. S. senate. Mr. Monton was elected to fill the vacancy. At the close of the unexpired term for which he was elected he was chosen by the Louisiana legislature for a full term of six years, but in 1842 re- signed his seat to become a candidate for governor. He was inau- gurated on Jan. 30. 1843, for a term of four years, but under the operations of the constitution of 1845 he retired from the office in 1846. In 1856 and again in 1860 he was a delegate to the Demo- cratic national conventions at Cincinnati and Charleston, and in 1861 he was president of the Louisiana convention that passed the ordinance of secession. The same year he was a candidate for
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Confederate senator, but was defeated and returned to his planta- tion. Gov. Mouton was twice married. His first wife was a granddaughter of Gov. Dupre, and the second was a daughter of a U. S. army officer. One of his sons, Alfred, graduated at the U. S. military academy at West Point, and in the Civil war rose to the rank of major-general. A daughter of Gov. Mouton became the wife of Gen. Frank Gardner, of the Confederate army. Gov. Mouton died near Lafayette, La., Feb. 12, 1882.
Mouton's Administration .- Gov. Mouton assumed the reins of government on Jan. 30, 1843. His inaugural address was a mas- terpiece of good advice and showed that he possessed a ready grasp of public questions. Among other things, he told the legislature : "We can justly attribute the evils we have suffered to no other cause than ourselves. Louisiana, under a good government, and poised on her own resources, will leave nothing to be wished for by her sons. It is but too common to look abroad for causes which are to be found immediately among ourselves. It is too customary to look to the general government for relief in distress, whilst that relief should be sought at home. By the manly exercise of our own faculties, availing ourselves of our natural advantages, and calling to our aid the sovereign power of the state, we can over- come all difficulties." On the question of public lands he said : "Louisiana was the first state, formed from territory derived from foreign countries, admitted into the Union, and there are several territories not yet admitted. For every other state or territory thus situated, provision has long since been made by Congress for the adjustment of all disputed land claims in the Federal courts, and they have long since been decided : while for our state no such provision has yet been made, though a bill for that purpose has frequently passed that branch of Congress in which the repre- sentation of all the states is equal. * *
* At this time large districts of country in other states and territories are offered for sale, while none has been offered in Louisiana, at public sale, for years. The state has not even yet been authorized to make any disposition of the school lands of each township. These are objects of just complaint."
The finances of the state at that time seem to have been in a deplorable condition. "I learn," said the governor, "with deep mortification and regret, from the treasurer's reports and other- wise, that there is now due by the state to our banks, in round numbers, $1.200,000; that there is due for salaries, interest and other ordinary expenses, about $200,000; that there are state bonds, for the payment of which the state has no guarantee, to the amount of $1.273,000, on which the interest is unpaid; that there are state bonds to a large amount, for which the state has the guarantee of the stockholders of the Citizens' bank, and of the Consolidated Association of planters, now in liquidation, on which the interest will probably not be paid : that the ordinary expenses of the gov- ernment exceed, and have for several years exceeded its ordinary income by more than $200,000; that there is nothing in our ex-
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hausted treasury ; that the state can no longer draw a dollar from her own banks, and that the people are taxed as heavily as they can bear. * *
* We must meet the exigencies of our own times, and not throw them upon our children ; their days will have their evils, dangers and trials, as ours have had. Then let us not worry them. The present generation received our state and me- tropolis without a stain and without a debt. Let us, as far as depends upon us, transmit our heritage unimpaired to our suc- cessors."
At this session of the legislature Felix Garcia was president of the senate and Charles Derbigny was speaker of the house. The census of 1840 showed an increase in the population sufficient to entitle Louisiana to four representatives in Congress, and the gen- eral assembly passed an act dividing the state into four districts, in order to provide for the extra representative. On April 5. 1843. a resolution was adopted requesting the Louisiana representatives and senators in Congress to use their best efforts to secure the passage of law refunding to Gen. Andrew Jackson the fine of $1,000 imposed by Judge Hall in March, 1815, with six per cent interest ; and, if such a law was not passed by Congress, "the legis- lature will, at the next session, direct the sum of $1.000 with six per cent interest to be paid." The governor was directed to trans- mit copies of the resolutions to the Louisiana delegation in Con- gress, and to Gen. Jackson.
During the year the industrial and financial conditions evidently improved, for in his message of Jan. 1. 1844, the governor said : "We have passed the deplorable crisis of immorality and distress, in which idleness. extravagance and reckless speculation. engen- dered by improvident legislation, the credit system and paper money had involved the whole country. Industry now animates all classes of society, and economy surrounds every fireside. * *
* The planter, mechanic and professional man has each returned to his peculiar occupation and proper pursuits ; and none are now seduced by the bright, but fallacious. prospects of fortune without labor." At this session the general assembly declared that "it is our deliberate opinion that a majority of the people of Louisi- ana are in favor of the immediate annexation of Texas to the United States by any lawful and constitutional means ; provided, it be stipulated in the act of annexation that Texas shall enjoy all the rights and privileges now secured to that portion of the territory ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana and lying south of 36° 30' north latitude."
In the presidential campaign of 1844 the Whigs, under the leader- ship of such men as ex-Govs. Roman, White and Johnson and Judah P. Benjamin, pointed out the fact that Mr. Polk. the Demo- cratic candidate for the presidency, had voted for the reduction of the duty on sugar. and urged the election of Henry Clay, prom- ising the restoration of the duty. Among the Democratic leaders were Jolin Slidell. Gov. Mouton. Pierre Soule. Charles Gayarre and John R. Grymes. Owing to the crude state of the election
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laws of that period, considerable confusion occurred at the polls, each party accusing the other of fraud. The electoral vote of the state was finally cast for Polk and Dallas.
Great excitement prevailed for a time in New Orleans in the early part of 1845 over the arrival of a Mr. Hubbard, who came as the agent of the State of Massachusetts to investigate the report that some persons of African descent, citizens of Massachusetts, had been imprisoned in New Orleans for coming into the state in violation of law. Hubbard was authorized by the Massachu- setts authorities to bring suit in the name of that state, in one or more cases, on behalf of any citizen so imprisoned, with a view to having the constitutionality of the Louisiana statute tested in the U. S. supreme court. He soon discovered. however, that he would not be permitted to stir up commotion that might result in mis- chief, and not long after his arrival wrote to Gov. Mouton that, satisfied his mission would be ineffectual, he was ready to leave the state and to surrender his commission to the authorities that had granted it, adding that he saw "high moral influence which must pervade and prevail in the city of New Orleans, in the courte- ous, bland and humane manner in which her citizens of the first respectability have conveyed to me their sentiments respecting my agency and the excitement it occasioned."
Much of the governor's message of Jan. 6, 1845, was taken up by a discussion of the question of annexing Texas to the United States. (See War with Mexico.) At this session a bill regulating the relation of the state to the banks was passed, and by its opera- tions over $3,000,000 of the state debt was liquidated, leaving a balance of $1.600,000, some of which did not fall due until 1872. For the payment of this balance ample provisions were made, thus placing the finances of the state on a solid footing.
The people of the state having expressed themselves in favor of the revision of the constitution, a convention for that purpose assembled at Jackson on Aug. 5, 1844, but adjourned on the 24th to meet in New Orleans the following January. (See Constitu- tional Conventions.) The new constitution was ratified by the people and became effective on May 14, 1845. In accordance with one of its provisions, Gov. Mouton issued a proclamation dissoly- ing the old legislature and ordering an election for state officers . and members of a new general assembly. The Whigs nominated for governor. William De Buys, who had served as speaker of the house in 1839-40, and the Democrats put up Isaac Johnson as their standard-bearer. The Democratic ticket was elected, John- son receiving 13.380 votes and De Buys 11,101. Trasimond Lan- dry was elected lieutenant-governor, an office created by the new constitution. The general assembly met on Feb. 9. 1846. with Lieut .- Gov. Landry presiding over the senate and David A. Ran- dall as speaker of the house. The next day Gov. Mouton delivered his farewell message, and on the 12th his administration came to an end.
Mouton, Alfred, soldier, was born at Opelousas, La., Feb. 18,
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1829, and was christened Jean Jacques Alexandre Mouton. He was appointed to the U. S. military academy, where he was gradu- ated in 1850, but resigned from the army the following September. From 1852 to 1853 he was assistant engineer of the New Orleans & Opelousas R. R. He joined the Louisiana state militia and from 1852 to 1861 was brigadier-general of the state forces. When the Civil war broke out he recruited a company among the farmers of Lafayette parish, where he was living at the time, and when the 18th La. was organized he was elected colonel, receiving his com- mission on Oct. 5, 1861. His services were confined entirely to the West. At the battle of Shiloh he was severely wounded, and for gallant conduct in that engagement was given a commission as brigadier-general on April 16, 1862. After recovering from his wound he was assigned to command a brigade in Louisiana and from that time until he fell. he was on the battlefields of the state, first in the Lafourche district, commanding forces east of the Atchafalava and later at Berwick bay and on Bayou Teche. Dur- ing the Red River campaign he opened the battle of Mansfield, April 8, 1864, and fell on the field at the moment of victory.
Mumford, William B., a highly respected young citizen of New Orleans at the beginning of the Civil war, died a martyr to the cause of the Confederacy by order of Gen. B. F. Butler. The cir- cumstances that led up to his execution were as follows: On April 26, 1862, while Farragut's fleet was lying before the city, but before a formal surrender had been made, a boat's crew came ashore and hoisted a U. S. flag over the mint. This was done without Farra- gut's orders, though he afterwards assumed the responsibility for the action. Mumford, like many others, was indignant at this premature raising of the colors of an enemy, and with three com- panions, Harper, Canton and Burgess-all young men-decided to pull down the flag. Harper was the first to reach the flag, but Mumford got possession of it and dragged it through the streets until it was torn to shreds. The city surrendered on the 29th and was occupied by Gen. Butler's troops on May 1. Mumford's com- panions escaped, but he fell into the hands of the Federals, was tried by a military commission which took no account of the ex- cited state of public opinion on April 26, and on June 5 Gen. Butler issued his Special Order, No. 70, of which the following is a copy : "William B. Mumford, a citizen of New Orleans, having been convicted before the military commission of treason and an overt act thereof, tearing down the United States flag from a public building. of the United States, for the purpose of inciting other evil-minded persons to further resistance to the laws and arms of the United States, after said flag was placed there by Commander Farragut, of the United States navy: It is ordered that he be executed according to sentence of said military commission on Saturday. June 7. inst., between the hours of 8 a. m. and 12 m. under the directions of the provost-marshal of the District of New Orleans, and for so doing this shall be his sufficient warrant."
The execution caused widespread indignation throughout the
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South, and even in the North the harshness of Gen. Butler's order was severely criticised. In his address "To the People of Louisi- ana" on June 18. Gov. Moore said: "Brought in full view of the scaffold, his murderers hoped to appall his heroic soul by the exhi- bition of the implements of his ignominious death. With the evi- dence of their determination to consummate this brutal purpose before his eyes, they offered him life on the condition that he would abjure his country and swear allegiance to her ioe. He spurned the offer. Scorning to stain his soul with such foul dis- honor, he met his fate courageously and transmitted to his country- men a fresh example of what men will do and dare when under the inspiration of iervid patriotism."
Myrtistown (R. R. name Myrtis), a post-village and station of Caddo parish, is situated on the Kansas City Southern R. R., 3 miles east of the Texas boundary, and about 28 miles northwest of Shreveport, the parish seat. It is the supply and shipping town for all the northwestern part of the parish, has lumber industries, several commercial establishments, and in 1900 had a population of 400.
Myrtlegrove, a post-village in the western part of Plaquemines parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river and is a station on the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grand Isle R. R., 10 miles above Pointe a la Hache, the parish seat.
Mystic, a post-hamlet of Calcasieu parish, is situated about 30 miles northwest of Lake Charles, the parish seat, on a short line of railroad that connects with the Kansas City Southern at Smyth Junction. It is located in the pine belt, with saw mills as the prin- cipal industries.
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Naborton, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of De Soto parish. is situated on a confluent of the Red river. about 8 miles east of Mansfield, the parish seat and nearest railroad town.
Naff, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Morehouse parish. is situated on a confluent of Bartholomew bayou, about 2 miles northeast of Stevenson, the nearest railroad town, and 10 miles north of Bastrop. the parish seat, in a rich farming district, and in 1900 had a population of 31.
Nairn, a post-village in the central part of Plaquemines parish, is on the west bank of the Mississippi river and is a station on the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grant Isle R. R. It is a landing place on the river and the shipping point for fruit and truck farm produets, as it is surrounded by some of the finest orange groves and vegetable farms in the state. It has an express office. tele- graph station, several good commercial establishments, and is the trading center for a considerable district. Its population in 1900 was 276.
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Naomi (R. R. name Alliance), a post-hamlet and station in the northwestern part of Plaquemines parish, is situated on the west bank of the Mississippi river and the New Orleans, Fort Jackson & Grand Isle R. R., about 20 miles south of New Orleans.
Napoleonville, the capital and principal town of Assumption par- ish, is located in the east central part on the Southern Pacific and Texas & Pacific railroads, which furnish the town with excellent transportation and shipping facilities. When the parish was created in 1807 the seat of justice was fixed at the site of Napoleonville, which was then called "Canal" or "Courthouse." It is a busy little city, having a large cottonseed oil mill, a cotton compress, two banks, large lumbering interests, a money order postoffice, tele- graph and express service, good schools and churches, and a num- ber of well stocked stores, while the press and the professions are well represented. Some idea of the growth of Napoleonville may be gained from a comparison of the latest census reports. In 1890 the population was 172; in 1900 it was 945, and in 1909 it was estimated at 2,000.
Narvaez, Panfilo de (sometimes written Pamphilo), Spanish ex- plorer, was born at Valladolid, Spain, about 1480. Soon after the discovery of America by Columbus, he sailed for the West Indies and participated in the conquest of Santo Domingo, Jamaica and Cuba, being second in command to Velasquez during the latter part of the campaign. In 1520 Velasquez sent him to Mexico to arrest Cortez and assume the reins of government there, but upon reaching Zampoalla he was overpowered by Cortez, captured, and held a prisoner for five years, many of his men, lured by the hope of acquiring riches, joining the forces of Cortez. When he was liberated he returned at once to Spain. In recognition of his ser- vices in the West Indies, and as a partial recompense for his long imprisonment, he was granted a large tract of land in Florida, and immediately took steps to occupy it. In 1527 he fitted out an expedition in the West Indies, landed at Tampa bay early in the following year with 400 men and began looking for a suitable place to found a settlement. He was disappointed in finding the soil poor and the natives bitterly hostile, and after working his way westward along the coast as far as Apalachee bay, embarked late in September in small boats for Mexico. Somewhere near the mouth of the Mississippi his boat was sunk and he was drowned. (See also Explorations.)
Nash, Charles E., member of Congress, was a native of Opelousas, La., but moved to New Orleans, where he received an education in the public schools. He was a bricklayer by trade; enlisted in the army at the beginning of the war; was a private in the 83d regiment United States Chasseurs d'Afrique: was promoted to sergeant-major. and at the storming of Fort Blakely he was severely wounded. In 1874 he was elected to the 44th Congress as a Republican, but was defeated for the 45th Congress.
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