Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 1

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1030

USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 1

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GENEALOGY COLLECTION

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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016

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MISSISSIPPI

Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form

PLANNED AND EDITED BY DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D.

DIRECTOR, MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY; MEMBER, AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. I

ATLANTA SOUTHERN HISTORICAL PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 1907

1148897

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION.

That there is a need for a comprehensive history of Mississippi based upon original sources and extending from the earliest ex- plorations to the present time will be readily granted. It has been impossible, hitherto, owing to the unavailable condition of the official archives of the State, to prepare, from original sources, such a history. Since the creation of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, historical materials of the most valuable and interesting character have been made accessible to students and investigators. These collections have been extensively used for the first time, in the preparation of this publication; so that it may be said with entire accuracy that the Encyclopedia of Missis- sippi History is the first story of the State, the facts of which have been taken from original sources.

The purpose of this work is to give a concrete knowledge of the State of Mississippi, as a political division of the United States, which, after all, is a record of the social, political, industrial and institutional development of its people.

The rapid and marvelous development of the United States into one of the foremost nations of the world has had a tendency to direct the attention of the historian to national, rather than to State affairs. This tendency has gone so far that we are deficient in that concrete knowledge of the States of the Union which is so necessary in recording the history of the Nation.

The plan upon which this work is projected is, to combine the best features of histories for continuous reading with the cyclo- pedic style for ready reference. This is a new departure in State histories which, it is believed, will be acceptable to the serious student as well as to the busy man of affairs.

If history can be made immediately accessible, without in any way impairing its accuracy and readableness, a forward movement has been made in popularizing its study. It is therefore the design of this publication to present in comprehensive form, arranged in alphabetical order, a complete history of Mississippi, from 1540 to 1906. In addition much biographical matter has been included

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in the work. This feature deals with the lives of men who have left their impress on the history of the State and passed out of its life. It also includes contemporary biography and genealogical notes, which are valuable in tracing the origin of population. It is well, however, to state that the editor is responsible alone for those biographies which have become historical.

Mississippi is a typical State of the lower South, and its history furnishes an interesting and instructive study of the evolution of one of the great commonwealths of the American Union.

DUNBAR ROWLAND.

Jackson, Miss., January 21, 1907.

SELECTED SOURCES OF MISSISSIPPI HISTORY.

The historian of to-day relies largely, for source materials, on documents, in manuscript or printed form. A critical study of such sources, which constitute the safest evidence of the facts with which they deal, is the best basis for accurate and reliable history. The use of original documents, however, does not pre- clude the careful historian from the use of secondary sources of recognized value.

The sources of Mississippi history consist of both primary and secondary materials, and it is the purpose of this essay to make a somewhat critical study of these sources, and to list them for the use of students and investigators.

The three great colonizing nations of Europe, England, Spain and France, fought for supremacy in Mississippi. Spain explored it, France colonized it, and England developed it into a self-gov- erning community.

Spanish Explorations, 1540-1699.

Nearly three-quarters of a century before English colonies were planted at Jamestown and Plymouth, the hardy and adventurous Spaniards were exploring the region which now constitutes the State of Mississippi. The coming of De Soto and his soldiery marks the beginning of Mississippi history. Its opening chapters tell the story of his wanderings in a vain search for gold; his con- flicts with the warlike Creeks and Chickasaws; the sufferings of his men; his discovery of the great "Father of Waters", on Mis- sissippi soil and his tragic death and burial.

Thus ended the most elaborate attempt of the Spaniards to ex- plore the interior of North America.

The contemporary narratives of the romantic expedition of De Soto constitute the first sources of Mississippi history, and are principally valuable for their descriptions of Indian life. These sources have an added value in being the first accounts of European contact with primitive conditions in the Western Hemisphere.

The sources dealing with this period of Mississippi history are:

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Biedma, Luys Hernandes de: Relation of the Conquest of Florida; presented by Luys Hernandez de Biedma, in the year 1544, to the King of Spain in Council; published in 1841.

Bourne, Edward Gaylord: Narratives of De Soto; 2 Vols., Trail Maker series (1904).

Elvas, Gentleman of: A True Relation of the Conquest of Florida; published in Evora, Portugal in 1557.

French, B. F .: Historical Collections of Louisiana and Florida; published in seven volumes. Part I (1846), Part II (1850), Part III (1851), Part IV (1852), Part V (1853), Part VI (1869), Part VII (1875).

King, Grace: De Soto and his men in the land of Florida ( 1898).

Graham, R. B. Cunninghame: Hernando De Soto (1903). Lewis, T. M .: Route of De Soto's Expedition from Taliepacana to Huhasene; Vol. VI, Publications Mississippi Historical Society (1902).

Lanzas, Pedro Torres: Relacion Descriptiva de los Mapas, Planos, & de Mexico y Floridos existentes en el archivo general de Indias por Pedro Torres Lanzas, Jefe de dicho archivo, Seville, Imp. de El Mercantil, San Eloy 16th, 1900.

The above is a description of the Maps in the Spanish archives in Seville relating to Florida and Mexico, published in 1900 by the Chief of Archives.

Lowery, Woodbury: The Spanish Settlements Within the Pres- ent Limits of the United States, 1513-1561 (1901). Meek, A. B .: Romantic Passages in Southwestern History (1857).

Rangel, Rodrigo (De Soto's private Secretary) : De Soto's Expedi- tion based on his (Rangel's) Diary kept on the march; published in 185I in Amador de los Rios's edition of Oviedo's Historia General y Natural de las Indias, and made accessible in English for the first time by Edward Gaylord Bourne, in Narratives of the career of Hernando De Soto (1904).

Shipp, Barnard: De Soto and Florida 1512-1568 (1881).

Vega, Garcilaso de la: History of the Conquest of Florida, pub- lished by Barnard Shipp in 1881, and by Edward Gaylord Bourne in 1904.

It is probable that patient research among the archives in Seville, Madrid and Simancas might bring to light new manuscript ma- terial relating to this interesting period.

French Exploration and Settlement, 1699-1763.

After the death of De Soto, no further efforts were made by Spain to explore the great central basin of the Continent, and it

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remained an unknown region for more than a century. In the meantime France had planted colonies on the St. Lawrence, and her adventurous pioneers and priests had penetrated to the great river which De Soto had discovered. In seeking to extend the power and dominion of France, her representatives turned their eyes to the great valley to the South, and Robert Cavelier de La Salle was selected to explore and take possession of the country in the name of the King of France. The great explorer descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, and on April 9, 1682, took formal possession of the country and named it Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV. The first settlement in Louisiana by the French was made on Mississippi soil by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, Feb- ruary 13, 1699.

The Manuscript Sources for the French period are :

The colonial archives of France, of the following departments of government, and of other repositories; Archives of the Marine, Bibliotheque Nationale, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prefecture de Seine et Oise, Seminary de Saint Surplice and in the ministère des colonies, in the attic of the Louvre. The manuscripts relating to Louisiana are arranged in 54 registers which cover the period from 1678 to 1736. Extensive searches in the archives of France have been made by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and manuscript materials relating to the early history of Louisiana of the most valuable and extensive character, have been brought to light. That which is specially valuable for Mississippi history has been summarized as follows :

Correspondance Générale Louisiane.

Vol. I

1678-1706 Gov. De Bienville,

Vol. 2

1707-1712 Gov. De Bienville,

Vol. 3

1713-1715 Gov. Cadillac,

Vol. 4 I716 Gov. Cadillac,

Vol. 6 to 10

1720-1726 Gov. De Bienville,

Vol. 16 to 27 1733-1742 Gov. De Bienville,

Vol. 28 1743-1744 Govs. Vaudreuil and De Bienville,

Vol. 29-35 I745-175I Gov. Vaudreuil,

Vol. 36-37 1752-1754 Govs. De Kerlerec and Vaudreuil.

These records are being calendared and copied for the Department of Archives and History.

Printed Sources.

The work of Pierre Margry, which was published by an appro- priation made by the Congress of the United States, is an inval-

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uable publication of documentary materials which relate to this period. It is in six volumes, the subjects treated being as follows :

Vol. I, Discovery of the great Lakes, Ohio and Mississippi; II, Cor- respondence of La Salle; III, Search for the Mississippi mouth; IV, Iberville's discovery of the mouth, and his Gulf establishments; V, Forming a Chain of posts from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf; VI, Exploration of the Mississippi affluents and the Rocky Mountains.

Du Pratz, Historie de la Louisiana (1758); Latour, Historical Memoir of the War in Louisiana and West Florida (1816) ; Darby's Louisiana (1817) ; Martin, History of Louisiana ( 1827-29) ; Bun- ner, History of Louisiana (184I); French, Historical Collections of Louisiana ( 1846-75); Gayarre, History of Louisiana, 3 vols. (1866- 67), new edition in 4 vols. (1903); Dimitry, History of Louisiana, Its Geography and Products (1878); Hennepin, Description of Louis- iana, translated by Shea (1880) ; Fortier, History of Louisiana, 4 vols. (1904) ; Publications of the Louisiana Historical Society.

English Dominion, 1763-1779.

The Seven Years War in Europe began in 1756, but actual hostilities had been in progress in America between France and England before the open rupture in the mother countries. The war ended disastrously for France, and resulted in the loss of Canada and Louisiana. The treaty of Paris was signed February 10, 1763, and, by its terms, France ceded to England the river and ports of Mobile and all its possessions east of the Mississippi excepting the Island of Orleans. In the same year the Brit- ish Province of West Florida was established by royal proc- lamation, the northern boundary being fixed at the thirty-first degree of north latitude and extending east to the Chattahoochie river. In 1764 the boundaries of West Florida were more accu- rately described as follows: "A line to begin at the mouth of the Yazoo, where the stream joins the Mississippi, and to run east to the Chattahoochie; thence down the Chattahoochie to the mouth of the Apalachicola ; thence westward along the coast of the Gulf, and through lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain and Maurepas, up to the river Amite, then along Bayou Iberville to the Mississippi river, and up the middle of that river to the mouth of the Yazoo."

Manuscript Sources.

The manuscript sources of English dominion in Mississippi are in the Record office and British Museum in London. One of the most valuable collections relating to Mississippi are the Haldi-

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mand papers on file in the Museum. Frederick Haldimand was in command of the British forces in West Florida from 1767 to 1773. He was very active in the discharge of his duties, visited all the posts of the province, carried on an extensive correspond- ence, and carefully preserved everything that he wrote and every- thing that was written to him. This collection was preserved by the Haldimand family and presented to the English Government in 1858. Copies of these papers are on file in Ottawa. The reports · of the provincial governors, and the acts and resolves of the West - Florida Legislature, have been preserved and are the most valuable source materials of this period. Some of the most important are listed as follows :

America and West Indies. Public Record Office, London.

Vol. 252. 1763-5. Original papers and enclosures to the Secre- tary of State from Maj. Farmer and Gov. Johnston.

Vol. 253. 1765-6. Letters from Gov. Johnston and Lt. Gov. Browne.

Vol. 254. 1766-7. Letters from Gov. Johnston and Lt. Gov. Browne.

Vol. 255. 1767-8. Letters from Lt. Gov. Browne and Gov. Eliot.

Vol. 256. 1768-9. Letters from Lt. Gov. Browne and Gov. Eliot.

Vol. 257. 1769-70. Letters from Lt. Gov. Browne and Lt. Gov. Durnford. Vol. 258. I770-I. Letters from Gov. Chester. Vol. 259. 1771-2. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 260. I772-3. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 261. I773-4. Letters from Gov. Chester.

I774-6. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 262. Vol. 263. 1776-7. Letters from Gov. Chester. Vol. 264. I777-8. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 265. 1778-80. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 266. 1780-81. Letters from Gov. Chester.

Vol. 267. 1778-81. Letters from Gen. Campbell.

These archives are now being transcribed for the Department of Archives and History.

Printed Sources.

Monette, Valley of the Mississippi (1846) ; Pickett, History of Ala- bama (1851) ; Claiborne, Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State ( 1880) ; French, Historical Collections (1846-75); Winsor, The Mississippi Basin (1898); Hamilton, Colonial Mobile (1898);

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Meek, Romantic Passages in Southwestern History (1857); Hamil- ton, Colonization of the South (1905) ; Thwaites, France and England in America (1905); Martin, Gayarre and Fortier, Histories of Louisi- ana; American State Papers; American Archives; White, New Col- lection of Laws, Charters (1839) ; Rowland, Mississippi Official and Statistical Register (1904).

Spanish Dominion, 1779-1798-1813.

In September, 1719, Bernardo de Galvez, the Spanish Governor of Louisiana, taking advantage of the war, which the American colonies were waging against England, attacked Fort Bute, the British Post, at Manshac and captured it by assault. Before the close of the year the Spaniards were in control of the posts at Baton Rouge and Fort Panmure and their authority was supreme throughout the Natchez District. Mobile surrendered in the fol- lowing March, and Pensacola in May, which completed the con- quest of West Florida.

Manuscript Sources.

The Colonial Archives of Spain are in Madrid, Seville and Simancas. The most valuable, for Mississippi purposes, are the Archives of the Indies in Seville. These records give the details of colonial administration in all its branches. Some of the docu- ments, in which students of Mississippi history are interested, are classified as :

Archivo de Indias-Seccion de Audiencias. Audiencia de Santo Domingo, Louisiana y Florida.

Correspondencia official con los gobernadores, 1717-1789. Asuntos de guerra, y expedientes militaries, 1767-1787; Fortificaciones, per- trechos de guerra y situados de tropa de la Louisiana, 1771-1787; Cor- respondencia general de D. Bernardo de Galves, 1780-1786.

The Spanish Archives of the Natchez District, of the Province of West Florida, are valuable original documents relating to Mis- sissippi history. This collection is on file in the State Department of Archives and History and is arranged in forty-one leather-bound volumes. For purposes of classification the documents may be divided into: royal orders from the crown; proclamations and orders from the governors-general and district commandants ; records of suits at law ; petitions for redress of grievances ; bills of sale of personal property including slaves; wills, inventories of estates, reports and settlements of executors and administrators ;

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land records, including grants, patents, deeds, plats and certifi- cates of survey; laws and orders promulgated by the gover- nors-general and district commandants; miscellaneous collections including correspondence between officers and people. This col- lection gives a history of the early settlers, their names, occupa- tions, customs, manners of life, methods of agriculture, means used for the development of a new country, and numberless other facts of value to the historian.

The Claiborne collection in the Department of Archives and - History contains the papers of Anthony Hutchins and Isaac Guion, which give in detail conditions preceding the American occupa- tion.

Printed Sources.

Monette, Valley of the Mississippi; Claiborne's Lowry and Mc- Cardle's Mississippi; Riley's School History of Mississippi; Bar- tram's Travels (1792) ; Pickett's Alabama; Hamilton's Colonial Mo- bile; Ellicott's Journal; Sparks' Memoirs of Fifty Years (1870); Draper, Narrative of a journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90 by S. S. Forman (1888) ; American State Papers; American Archives; Bossu's Travels (1771) ; Pope's Tour (1791).

Mississippi Territory, 1798-1817.

By the treaty of Madrid between the United States and Spain made Oct. 27, 1795, the southern boundary of the United States was fixed at the line of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochie; thence down the mid- dle of that river to the junction with the Flint; thence to the head of St. Mary's river ; thence down that river to the Atlantic.

The Congress of the United States passed an act establishing the Mississippi Territory, April 7, 1798, the boundary being de- scribed as follows: "All that tract of country bounded on the west by the Mississippi; on the north by a line to be drawn due east from the mouth of the Yazoos to the Chattahoochie river; on the east by the river Chattahoochie and on the south by the thirty- first degree of north latitude, shall be, and hereby is constituted one district to be called the Mississippi Territory."

The territorial government was organized May 7, 1798, by the appointment of Winthrop Sargent, governor, John Steele, secre- tary, Peter Bryan Bruin and Daniel Tilton, judges of the territorial court; on June 28, 1798, William McGuire was appointed chief- justice of the court.

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Manuscript Sources.

The territorial archives of Mississippi are on file in the State Department of Archives and History, and cover a period from 1798 to 1817. The records of the territorial period have been care- fully preserved and are reasonably full and complete. Some of the most important records of that time are listed here.

Official Journal of Gov. Winthrop Sargent, 1798-1801.

Official Journal of Gov. W. C. C. Claiborne, 1801-1803.

Official Journal of Gov. Robert Williams, 1805-1809.

Official Journal of Gov. David Holmes, 1809-1817.

Record of Superintendents of Indian Affairs (Governors), 1803. Archives of the Legislature of the Mississippi Territory, 1800-1817. Letters to the Governors of the Mississippi Territory, 1798-1817. Claiborne Collection, 1798-1817.

Printed Sources.

Mississippi Territorial Archives, 1798-1803 (1905), edited by Dun- bar Rowland; Claiborne's History of Mississippi; Lowry and Mc- Cardle's History of Mississippi; Riley's School History of Missis- sippi; Duval's School History of Mississippi; Publications, Mississippi Historical Society, edited by Franklin L. Riley; James Hall, A Brief History of Mississippi Territory (1801); Papers in Relation to the official conduct of Winthrop Sargeut (1801) ; Annals of Congress (1798-1817); Niles Register, 1811-1817; Journals of the House of Representatives, 1800-1817; Journals of the Council, 1800-1817; Territorial Laws, 1800-1817; Bailey's Tour, 1796-97 (1856) ; Cum- ing's Tour, 1807-09 (1810, 1904) ; Pickett's Alabama; Owen, Publi- cations of Alabama Historical Society (1898-1900) ; McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy ( 1903) ; Volney's Travels (1803); Phelps' Memoirs and Adventures (1802); Callot, Voyage of North Ameri- ca, 1796 (1826) ; American State Papers; American Archives; Mis- sissippi Gazette, 1800-1815; Washington Republican, 1804-16; Weekly Chronicle, 1808-09; Mississippi Almanacs, 1810-17; Halbert and Ball, The Creck War ( 1895).

The State of Mississippi, 1817-1906.

On March 1, 1817 the Congress of the United States passed an act to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi Territory to form a Constitution and State Government, and for the admission of said State into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, with the following boundaries: "Begin- ning on the River Mississippi, at the point where the southern

MISSISSIPPI

boundary line of the State of Tennessee strikes the same; thence east along the said boundary line to the Tennessee River; thence up the same to the mouth of Bear Creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington; thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico; thence westwardly including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the eastern junction of Pearl River with Lake Borgne; thence up said river to the thirty- first degree of north latitude; thence west along the said degree of latitude to the Mississippi River; thence up the same to the- beginning."

After the adoption of a Constitution August 15, 1817, the ma- chinery of government was organized by the election of David Holmes, governor, and Duncan Stewart, lieutenant-governor. The election was held September 1-2, 1817, at which time the State Legislature was selected.

Manuscript Sources.

Archives of the Executive Department, 1817-1906.

Archives of the Legislative Department, 1817-1906.

Archives of the Judicial Department, 1817-1906.

Writings to all Departments of the Government, 1817-1906.

Official Records of Departments, 1817-1906.

Original Journals of Constitutional Conventions, 1817-1890.

Unofficial Manuscript Collection, 1817-1880.

The above broad classification of manuscript sources of the State period will give some idea of the vast extent of the collec- tion. The greater part of the official records of the State, not in daily use, are on file in the Department of Archives and History, and are rapidly being made accessible to the investigator. For a more minute description of these collections, see Annual Reports of the Director of the Department of Archives and History, 1902- 03-04-05.

Printed Sources.

Claiborne, Mississippi as a Province, Territory and State (1880); Rowland, Mississippi Official and Statistical Register (1904); Good- speed, Memoirs of Mississippi, 2 vols. (1891) ; Riley, Publications of Mississippi Historical Society (1898, 1905); Claiborne, Life and Times of Gen. Sam Dale (1860) ; Claiborne, Life and Correspond- ence of John A. Quitman, 2 vols. (1860) ; Sparks, The Memories of Fifty Years (1870) ; Shields' Life and Times of S. S. Prentiss ( 1883) ; Davis, Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881) ; Brown,

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Speeches and Writings, Cluskey (1859); Davis, Reuben, Recollec- tions of Mississippi and Mississippians (1891); Waddell, Academic Memorials (1891); Jones, Methodism in Mississippi (1887) ; Van Winkle, Nine Years of Democratic Rule (1847) ; Foote, Texas and the Texans ( 1841), Bench and Bar of the South and Southwest (1876), Casket of Reminiscences (1874) ; Lynch, Bench and Bar of Mississippi (1881); Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi (1901); Why the Solid South ( 1890); Leavell and Bailey, A Complete His- tory of Mississippi Baptists (1904); Flint's Geography (1832); Records of the Union and Confederate Armies ( 1881, 1901) ; House and Senate Journals of the State of Mississippi (1817-1906) ; Reports of Departments ( 1817-1906) ; Mayes, L. Q. C. Lamar, His Life, Times and Speeches (1896); French, Two Wars, Mexico and Confed- erate (1901) ; Ingraham, The South West, 2 vols. (1835) ; Baldwin, Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi; Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States (1864) ; Olmstead, A Journey in the Back Country ( 1863) ; Heitman, Historical Register and Directory of the United States Army (1903); Evans, Confederate Military History (1898); Fulkerson, Early Days in Mississippi; Memoirs of S. S. Prentiss, 2 vols. (1858) ; Smedes, A Southern Planter (1900) ; Files of Mississippi Newspapers 1805-1905; Biographical Congressional Directory (1903).

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.

Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 1

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association Number of Pages: 1030

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1030