USA > Louisiana > Louisiana; comprising sketches of counties, towns, events, institutions, and persons, Volume II > Part 79
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"After removing the captured guns. I resumed my original posi- tion with the intention of preparing for an advance early the next day upon the enemy's stronghold below Canal street ; but so com- plete, in my opinion, was the demoralization of the enemy from the. action of Monday, evidence of which I had received during the night from citizens and soldiers active in our cause, corroborated by the surrender to my command of large bodies of metropolitans. that the capture of these strongholds seemed but a question of time. To press this capture, Col. Angell, supported by Capt. Cole- man's artillery, was ordered to move forward early in the morning on these points, leaving his position occupied by the commands of
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Capts. Mitchell and MeIntyre. By 10 o'clock a. m., Col. Angell was in full possession of all the enemy's important points below Canal street, having received material assistance from Capt. Ma- checa. Information of this result was immediately transmitted to our headquarters."
Following this advance of Angell the arsenal and Jackson square were captured by Capt. McGloin's company, the state house was surrendered, Gov. Kellogg taking refuge in the custom-house, and by 1 p. m. the city was as quiet as though nothing out of the ordi- nary had happened. The streets were cleared of the barricades that had been erected, the cars began running again, ladies appeared on the streets, and business was resumed. The White League lost 16 killed and 45 wounded, and the metropolitan police lost 11 killed and 60 wounded. Gen. Ogden reported 2,800 members of the league in New Orleans at the time of the action, though his entire force, including the militia called out by Lieut .- Gov. Penn, num- bered about 6,000. The Kellogg government was reinstated by Federal bayonets, fresh troops being sent to Louisiana for that purpose, but the lesson of Sept. 14 and 15 was not entirely lost upon the negroes and carpet-baggers, who carried on the govern- ment in a less high-handed manner than before the uprising. The league did not disband, and on Jan. 9, 1877, it established the Nich- .olls government by the capture of all the public buildings in New Orleans except the state house.
In 1891 a monument was erected at Liberty Place in New Or- leans, "on the spot made sacred by the blood of martyrs who fell in defence of the freedom and honor of Louisiana." On this monu- ment are engraved the names of Antoine Bozonier, Jr., Michael Betz, Charles Brulard, James Crossin, James Considine, Adrien Feuillan, Albert M. Gautier, Joseph K. Gourdain, John Graval, Robert G. Lindsey, F. M. Mohrmann, Samuel B. Newman, Jr., William C. Robbins, E. A. Toledano, William A. Wells and John M. West, the 16 men who sacrificed their lives upon the altar in order to establish an honest, representative government in Louisiana.
White Sulphur Springs, a post-hamlet in the southwestern part of Catahoula parish, is situated on Trout creek, 6 miles south of Little Creek, the nearest railroad station. It is a local watering place and in 1900 had a population of 52.
Whiteville, a money order post town in the northern part of St. Landry parish, is situated on Bayou Boeuf and the Southern Pacific R. R., about 15 miles north of Opelousas, the parish seat. It has an express office and telegraph station and is the trading and shipping center for a considerable area in the northern part of the parish.
Whitford, a post-hamlet of Winn parish, situated on the line of the Louisiana Railway & Navigation company. 9 miles southwest of Winnfield, the parish seat, in the great pine forest which covers a large part of the parish. It has a telegraph station, an express office, and is a trading center for a considerable section of the parish.
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Whitley, a post-village in the northwest corner of De Soto par- ish, is about 3 miles east of the Texas boundary and 5 miles south- west of Keatchie, the nearest railroad station.
Whittington, a post-station of Rapides parish, is situated on the line of the Louisiana Railway & Navigation company, about 12 miles southeast of Alexandria, the parish seat.
Wickliffe, Robert Charles .- 13th governor of Louisiana after it became a state, was born at Bardstown, Ky., Jan. 6, 1820, a son of Charles A. and Margaret (Cripps) Wickliffe. His father was one of the leading attorneys of Kentucky in his day ; took part in the War of 1812, being on the staff of Gen. Caldwell at the battle of the Thames; served in the Kentucky legislature; was for a time acting governor ; was in Congress for a number of years, and was a mem- ber of President Tyler's cabinet, holding the portfolio of postmaster- general. Robert C. Wickliffe received a fine education. For a year he attended St. Joseph's college, then entered Augusta college, but left after two years to enter Center college at Danville, Ky., where he graduated in 1840. He then studied law in Washington, D. C., and began practice in his native town. Two years later his health failed and he removed to Louisiana, located at St. Francisville, where he combined law practice with the business of a cotton planter. He was an aggressive Democrat and soon became one of the party leaders in his parish. In 1851 he was elected state sen- ator; was twice reelected, and when Lieut .- Gov. Farmer died he was chosen president of the senate. In 1855 he was nominated by his party for governor and was elected by a majority of over 3,000 votes. When the secession agitation started in Louisiana he dis- approved the doctrine, but later he became a strong supporter of the Confederacy. Upon retiring from the governor's office in 1860 he resumed his law practice and the oversight of his plantation un- til 1866, when he was elected to the lower house of Congress, but was refused admission, as were all the representatives from the state. In 1876 he was an elector-at-large on the Democratic presi- dential ticket and made a vigorous campaign in favor of Tilden and Hendricks, but through the operations of the returning board and the electoral commission the electoral vote of Louisiana for that year was counted for the Republican candidates. Gov. Wick- liffe was prominent in Masonic circles, and his success as a lawyer may be judged from the fact that it is stated on good authority that of all those whom he defended only one man was ever con- victed. J. C. W. Beckham, late governor of Kentucky, is a grand- son of Gov. Wickliffe, who died at Shelbyville, Ky .. April 18, 1895.
Wickliffe's Administration .- Gov. Wickliffe and Lieut .- Gov. Mouton took the oath of office on Jan. 22, 1856. In his inaugural address the governor commented at length upon the attitude of the North on the question of slavery. In referring to the tendency of Congress to assume powers that of right belonged to the states, he said: "It is not my purpose to review the history of what has been justly regarded as the usurpations of Congress, nor to trace out the manner in which its limited powers have been extended to subjects
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not properly within its control, and made to bear on the highest interests, which ought to have been, and were reserved as exclu- sively appertaining to the state governments. But I am compelled to say that the steady encroachments made by Congress on the reserved rights of the states have not only sanctioned but encour- aged outrages, that, if not checked, will undoubtedly result in a dissolution of the Union. " Disregarding the rights of the states, Congress seems to have looked mainly to the interests of a section of the country, until that favored section has begun to consider the constitution, not only made for its advantage alone, but actually as a means of aggression upon the rights, the interests and the honor of the slave states; so that, at this time, a party has been formed, and is in a relative ascendency in the lower branch of Congress, with no other bond of union than a settled purpose to make war on the institutions of the South, not that these institu- tions are hurtful to the North, but because they are in conflict with one of the forms of fanaticism, which the misguided people of the North have adopted through the designs of artful men, covetous only of their own political advancement. * * It has, therefore, become the painful duty of every slave state distinctly to declare that no further aggression will be permitted, and to invite the co- operation of every state in vindicating, to the last extreme, the rights secured by the constitution, and which are immeasurably of more value than the constitution itself."
Concerning the conditions prevailing in the state, he said: "Boun- tiful as nature has been to Louisiana, the skill of the engineer is still essential to her full development. With 25,000,000 acres of fertile lands, hardly a tenth is in cultivation; with a sea-coast a third in length of the state, we have a tonnage almost in its infancy. With capacity to produce all the cotton needed for the British Empire, and all the sugar required for this great Confederacy, we are as yet but laggards in their growth. With thousands of miles of internal navigation, our productions frequently can find no market, and North and South Louisiana are strangers to each other.
A fund for internal improvements has existed for years. Large amounts of it have been expended. Yet it would be difficult for even a curious inquirer to discover any benefit that has resulted from it. * *
* It is passing strange that, in a popular govern- ment, without privileged classes, without stipendiaries on the bounty of the state, mismanagement and recklessness should be tolerated. *
* * May the future redeem the past, and, striking boldly and freely at all maladministration, vindicate the purity and wisdom of republican institutions, while we promote and enlarge our material interests."
In February the legislature adopted a resolution to the effect "That the bold and unequivocal position assumed by President Pierce in his late annual message upon the constitutional relations of slavery meets the unqualified approbation of the people of this state." Following out the suggestions of the governor, the state engineer was instructed to report a complete system of internal
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improvement, especially as to measures for keeping the Mississippi within its natural banks. A vote of thanks and a gold medal were presented to Elisha Kent Kane for his great discoveries in the Arctic regions, and the Howard association of Baton Rouge was incorporated.
By the act of June 3. 1856, Congress made large grants of land to several railroads in Louisiana, the grants to consist of the alternate sections designated by odd numbers for six sections in width on either side of the right of way of said roads. except where such sections were occupied by actual settlers, in which case the railroad companies were permitted to select other lands.
In the presidential campaign of this year the Know Nothings took the name of the "American Party." and presented as candi- dates for the presidency Millard Fillmore and A. J. Donelson. The Democratic candidates were James Buchanan and John C. Breck- enridge, and the Republicans put forward John C. Fremont and William L. Dayton. This was the first appearance of the Reput, lican party in national politics, and its candidates received no votes in Louisiana. Buchanan received 22.164 votes and Fillmore 20,709. In his message of Jan., 1857, the governor congratulated the general assembly on the result of the recent election, and ex- pressed the opinion that the "wise and conservative rule" of the incoming administration would bring peace and quiet to the coun- try and restore the fraternal good feeling that existed during the early days of the republic, adding: "Should, however, those bright and cheering anticipations, which we now so fondly indulge. not be realized, when freedom and equality in the Union are denied us of the South by the people of the North, then Louisiana will take her position and maintain her rights by the strong arms and bold hearts of her brave sons."
At the election referred to by the governor, out of nearly 12,000 voters in the city of New Orleans about 3,500 did not vote. This situation he commented on in his message as follows: "It demon- strates that some extraordinary cause was at work to prevent a large proportion of lawful voters from enjoying the sacred fran- chise of the constitution. It is well known that at the last two general elections many of the streets and approaches to the polls were completely in the hands of organized ruffians, who committed acts of violence on multitudes of our naturalized fellow-citizens who dared venture to exercise the right of suffrage. * * * The expression of such elections is an open and palpable fraud on the people, and I recommend you to adopt such measures as shall pre- vent the true will of the majority from being totally silenced." He also called attention to the fact that for several years the immi- gration of free negroes into Louisiana from other states had been on the increase, and recommended that steps should be taken to remove all such negroes as soon as it could be done without viola- tion of law.
U. S. Senator, Judah P. Benjamin. who had been elected as a Whig, had aligned himself with the Democratic members of that
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body, and in Feb., 1857, the Louisiana legislature adopted the iol- lowing resolution : "That we approve and endorse with sentiment- of highest admiration and esteem, the recently assumed political position and course of our senator in Congress, the llon. Judah P. Benjamin ; that we view in that act of our public servant the noble triumph of the patriot over the partisan, in merging, as he did, all past party prejudices and antipathies in a superior devotion to his state's and his nation's good, and that we still recognize in him, though changed in his political relations, the true and faithful representative of the popular political opinions and sentiments of the state of Louisiana." The legislature at this session protested against the proposed removal of the duty on sugar "until such time as all other articles are admitted free of duty." The Wash- ington monument association of New Orleans was incorporated and an appropriation of $15.000 was made toward the cost of erect- ing a monument on the battlefield of Jan. 8, 1815.
At the state election of 1857 the Democratic majority was mate- rially increased in all parts of the state, the legislature chosen at that time being more strongly of that party than any previous one. When this legislature assembled in Jan., 1858, Gov. Wickliffe sub- mitted a message dealing largely with the financial condition of the state. He reported the receipts for the year-less the unexpended balance of the various special and trust funds-as approximately · $222,506. "It will be readily perceived," he said, "that the current general resources of the state are gradually sinking below the gen- eral and extraordinary expenditures; and, each year, the state has been forced to borrow a larger sum from the special and trust funds of the treasury, to make good this continually swelling deficit. It is time this vicious practice be corrected, and the expenditures of the government confined within the limits of its own proper revenues." This advice was all the more apropos when it recalled that Louisiana was just then passing through one of those periodical depressions that occur in the country. (See Panic of 1857.) With regard to Federal relations, the governor informed the legislature that "the affairs of the Federal government have been seriously disturbed by evil-disposed persons." This reference was to the trouble with the Mormons in Utah, where U. S. troops had been sent to quell a prospective rebellion, and to the "border war" in Kansas.
The speeches of Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln, in their joint debates in Illinois in 1858, were read with close attention by a great many people in Louisiana. In December Mr. Douglas visited New Orleans, where he addressed a large and enthusiastic meeting in Odd Fellows hall. Pierre Soule presided and the local newspapers of the next day published the speech of Mr. Douglas in full.
At the state election in 1859 Thomas O. Moore, the Democratic candidate, was elected over his opponent, Thomas J. Wells, by a · vote of 25,556 to 15,388, a majority unparalleled in the history of the state. The campaign was stormy and the election was attended
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by violence, and in some places by bloodshed. The New Orleans Courier of Nov. 1 said: "It would be difficult. if not impossible, to point to a phase in the political history of the country which has any resemblance to the present imbroglio of parties in New Or- leans." That paper supported what was called the "Independent Democratic" movement, which resulted in uniting all factions of the Democracy against the united Whigs, Americans and Repub- licans, thus winning a victory.
In his final message to the legislature in 1860, Gov. Wickliffe took a more optimistic view of the financial condition of the state. He showed that there was a balance of $133,696 in the general fund on Dec. 31, 1859, and estimated a balance at the end of 1860 of $164,142. "It will therefore be seen, said he. "that without in- creasing the rate of taxation, the annually increasing revenues of the state will enable her to meet promptly all the wants of the government." Much of his message was taken up with the dis- cussion of the all-absorbing topic of Federal relations. He referred to the attempt of John Brown and his associates to capture the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Va., as follows: "The number actively engaged in it were insignificant ; but when we take into considera- tion that they committed the crimes of treason and murder, and were provided to equip with arms, for the work of death, several thousand slaves or other confederates ; that the general press and people of the extreme North, on various grounds, sympathized with the traitors and murderers and solicited their pardon, we cannot close our eyes to the inauspicious condition of affairs."
"The times that are upon us," he observed, "are rapidly precipitat- ing a crisis which must be met manfully. In any event, I know that the people of Louisiana will not be found wanting in a practical vindication of their assailed rights and a proper defense of their honor. The times and the crisis to which I have alluded will bring into requisition, I apprehend, all the qualities indispensable to the vindication of the one and the defense of the other. The character of Louisiana has not yet been stained with servility or dishonor, and I know her people in the present, like her people in the past, would gladly accept any alternative which carries with it honor and in- sures self-respect, rather than take a position which might secure more temporary profit at the sacrifice of every principle of man- hood, every element of independence, every attribute of that lofty sovereignty upon which we have so justly prided ourselves. And when it is taken into consideration that submission will hardly in- sure temporary security-for compacts with cravens are invariably broken by the stronger party the very instant they have answered their purposes-that aggression after aggression invariably succeeds each compromise of constitutional right and submission to wrong -it is not possible that Louisiana will abate one jot or tittle of her inalienable prerogatives, or swerve in the least from the true, just and patriotic position she has ever nobly occupied." With these serious and manly reflections Gov. Wickliffe retired from the office
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which he had filled with such signal ability, and was succeeded by Gov. Moore.
Wilbert, a postoffice in the central part of West Baton Rouge parish, is about 8 miles west of Port Allen, the parish seat and most convenient railroad station.
Wilburton is a post-hamlet of St. Landry parish.
Wilcox (R. R. name Baines), is a post-hamlet in the southern part of West Feliciana parish. and is a station on the Yazoo & Mis- sissippi Valley R. R., 4 miles north of St. Francisville, the parish seat.
Wilda, a postoffice of Rapides parish, is located about 15 miles due west of Alexandria. the parish seat, and 3 miles southeast of Stephens, which is the nearest railroad station.
Wildsville, a money order post-village in the western part of Concordia parish, is a station on the Natchez & Western R. R., about 20 miles west of Vidalia, the parish seat. Its population in 1900 was 38.
Wildwood, a money order post-hamlet in the eastern part of Catahoula parish, is near the Tensas river and about 2 miles north- east of Greenville, the nearest railroad station.
Wilkinson, James, soldier, was born in Calvert county, Md., in 1757. He enlisted under Washington at the beginning of the Revo- lutionary war and served as a captain in Benedict Arnold's inva- sion of Canada, where he formed the acquaintance of Aaron Burr. with whom it was alleged he was afterward associated in the at- tempt to establish an independent empire in the southwest. (See Burr Conspiracy.) Wilkinson was sent as a messenger to Con- gress with the news of Burgoyne's surrender, but he was nearly three weeks on the road. and the news was a week old in Congress when he arrived. On a fictitious claim to a daring act performed by Col. John Hardin of Kentucky he was made a brevet brigadier- general, but in an unguarded moment he let it be known that he had been connected with the "Conway cabal" against Gen. Wash- ington, and was compelled to forfeit his rank. After the war he located in Kentucky. In June, 1787, Wilkinson visited New Orleans and obtained from Gov. Miro a permit to sell Kentucky products in that city. It is generally believed that Wilkinson and the Span- ish governors were in some sort of a conspiracy to establish in the southwest a separate empire-a belief that is borne out by docu- ments found in the Spanish archives. In 1791 he was reinstated in the army as a lieutenant-colonel, and upon the death of Gen. An- thony Wayne became brigadier-general in command of the army. During the next ten years he assisted in the negotiations of sev- eral important treaties with the Indians, and in 1805 was appointed governor of Louisiana territory, that part of the Louisiana Pur- chase lying north of the Territory of Orleans, of which Claiborne was governor. Then came the Burr fiasco, but Wilkinson managed to retain the favor of the national administration, and in 1800 was assigned to command at New Orleans. He encamped his men at a swampy place known as Terre aux Boeufs, where they suffered
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severely from sickness. Out of 2,000 men, 765 died and 166 de- serted. A scandal resulted, Gen. Hampton was placed in command, and .Wilkinson was ordered to Washington to answer charges. In 1811 he was court-martialed, charged with treasonable connection with Burr and the Spanish governors. The evidence showed that for several years he had been a pensioner of Spain. Burr emphatic- ally declared that Wilkinson was involved in his scheme-a declara- tion that was believed by many, including Gen. Andrew Jackson, who publicly denounced Wilkinson as a traitor. He was acquitted, however, was appointed major-general in 1813, but got into trouble with other officers and was again made the subject of a court of inquiry. At the close of the War of 1812 he was dismissed from the army and went to Mexico, where he died on Dec. 28, 1825.
Wilkinson, Theodore Stark, planter, and member of Congress, was a native of Plaquemines parish, where he was born on Dec. 18, 1847. He received only a common school education before and during. a part of the war, but after peace was declared he attended Washington college, Lexington, Va .. for 2 years. In 1870 he be- came engaged in sugar planting : was a member of the school board of his native parish ; was appointed a member and president of the board of levee commissioners for the 3d levee district ; was nom- inated and elected to the 50th Congress in 1886 as a Democrat ; and was reelected to the 51st Congress.
Willhite, a postoffice in the southern part of Union parish, is about 12 miles southeast of Farmerville, the parish seat, and 8 miles north of Cheniere, which is the nearest railroad station.
Williams, a post-village in the northwest corner of Red river parish, is a station on the Texas & Pacific R. R., 15 miles northwest of Coushatta, the parish seat. It has a telegraph station, an express office, and is the shipping and supply town for a considerable dis- triet of the rich Red river farming land in the northwestern part of the parish.
Willing Expedition .- While the Revolutionary war was in prog- ress the American posts on the upper Mississippi and Ohio rivers frequently received military supplies from New Orleans. To trans- port these supplies up the river required both tact and bravery, as the Indians, acting under orders of British Gen. Hamilton, of Detroit, were watching the rivers. In 1777 Capt. James Willing, of Philadelphia, Pa., tried to get the English inhabitants of the · Floridas to join the Americans in the fight for independence, but did not succeed. He then turned his attention to the work of con- veying- stores and munitions of war from New Orleans to the posts above. In Jan., 1778, he arrived at New Orleans with 50 men in two keel-boats. According to Monette, Willing had been a resident of Natchez some years before the breaking out of the war, and on his way down the river he landed there and entered into a sort of treaty of neutrality, under which he agreed to refrain from making any attack on the colony, if the people there would refrain from giving any support to his enemies and permit him to ascend the river unmolested. Willing took Col. Anthony Hutchins with him
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