USA > Mississippi > Pike County > Pike county. Mississippi, 1789-1876: pioneer families and Confederate soldiers, reconstruction and redemption > Part 1
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.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30
Gc 976.201 P63c 1969346
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
7 ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02282 2404
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/pikecountymissis00cone
PIKE COUNTY C
MISSISSIPPI
1798-1876
Pioneer Families and Confederate Soldiers Reconstruction and Redemption
-
1
--
1
BY
LUKE WARD CONERLY -
-
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE BRANDON PRINTING COMPANY
1909
1969346
Locke W Conerly
Copyright, 1909, by Luke W. Conerly.
MISSISSIPPI
TAMIRTUTE
ARMIST
NE TW
To the Pioneer ancestors
Patriotic and Devoted Women and Confederate Soldiers of Pike County, Mississippi This Work is Dedicated by Che author
-
Introduction
The object of writing this book was the preservation of the names of the Confederate soldiers of Pike County, Mississippi.
In presenting it to the public the author does so with the con- sciousness of having performed a sacred duty, purely and simply, and he believes that without his work much would have been lost of historical interest and importance to the future of Pike County and to the historian.
It was not a part of his plans to enter into details of the Civil War except such as related to Pike County and the gallant men whose names appear on the rolls of the companies incorporated in the work and remembrance of the women of that period; and, in connection with them, it seemed just and proper to go back to the carly days of the pioneer settlement of the territory embraced in Pike County and give a record, as far as possible, of the brave men and women who left their homes in the older States to locate in the wilds and amid the dangers of a new territory; men and women who became the ancestors of a hardy, self-reliant race of unbending fortitude and heroic virtues. To his mind there is a glory enshrining their memory akin to that which belongs to and embelishes the Revolution of '76.
An examination of records in the Department of Archives and His- tory in the State House disclosed to the writer that the muster rolls and records were incomplete, being those made out and filed in 1861, and not containing names of recruits that entered the Confederate service with these companies and served through the war, nor any final statements, thus leaving out of the records a large number of
men who were engaged in the most eventful scenes of the great con- flict, and some companies not appearing among the records at all. This made it necessary to obtain them otherwise, which has required many years and a most careful revision through the aid of survivors of the different companies The names of many who went into the service with other commands have been lost, but the author feels that so far as concerns the names of members of companies organized in and going out from Pike County his record is measurably correct, and trusts that his care and labor and great personal expense will prove useful, instructive and valuable, as well as interesting, and will be appreciated by those into whose hands it may come.
History of Pike County, Mississippi
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF MISSISSIPPI.
The territory of Mississippi was owned and occupied by the Natchez, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Biloxi, Pascagoula, Chocchuma, Tunica and Yazoo Indians.
The Chickasaws and Choctaws were the most powerful and occu- pied the northern, central and southern parts of the territory.
The Natchez lived along the Mississippi River, the Biloxies and Pascagoulas on the Gulf coast, and the Tunicas and Yazoo tribes lived on the Yazoo River.
The Chocchumas lived in the eastern part of the territory.
Spain nominally possessed this territory until 1699, when the French under Pierre LeMoine d'Iberville made a settlement at Biloxi and called it Louisiana, with Biloxi the seat of government.
In 1763 Mississippi Territory became a province of England, known as West Florida, and a province of Spain in 1781, the Spanish seat of government being at Natchez.
In 1795 the Natchez district became a part of the United States, and the Mississippi Territory was formed by act of Congress in 1798.
While a territory of Georgia that portion lying east of the Missis- sippi River between latitude 31° and the mouth of the Yazoo River was called the county of Bourbon.
In 1795 Georgia sold to four companies about three millions of acres of this territory for two and one-half cents per acre.
The census of 1800 gave Mississippi Territory a population of 8,850 for the counties of Pickering, Adams and Washington, and the ·census of 1810 gave a population of 40,352 for the counties of Picker- ing, Adams, Washington, Baldwin, Amite, Claiborne, Franklin, Madi- son, Jefferson, Warren, Wayne and Wilkinson.
10
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
The District of Mobile, lying east of Pearl River, west of the Per- dido and south of the 31st degree of latitude, was annexed to Missis- sippi in 1812.
Hernando DeSoto and his Spanish followers were the first white men mentioned in our histories to explore the territory now the State of Mississippi. They came in on the Black Warrior and Tombigbee Rivers in 1540.
In 1673 Pere Jacques and Louis Joliet came down the Mississippi River, probably as far as Natchez.
In 1683 LaSalle, a French explorer, passed down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
A colony was planted on the Bay of Biloxi in 1699 by Pierre LeMoine d'Iberville.
Fort Rosalie, where Natchez stands, was built in 1716 under direc- tion of Bienville, Governor of Louisiana.
In 1721 a colony was started at Pascagoula. The Mississippi Territory became a part of Georgia in 1732.
In 1809, under the administration of Gov. David Holmes, the Indians began to give trouble and in August, 1812, Fort Mims was attacked by 1,000 Creek Indians and their British allies under Weather- ford, McQueen and Francis, and 260 of the garrison massacred. The following year their holy city, Escanachaha, was destroyed by an expedition of Mississippians under General Claiborne.
PIKE COUNTY.
The territory of which the county of Pike is a part was originally occupied by the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Natchez Indians.
According to our histories, the first European who visited the region of country of which the State of Mississippi was then a part, was Hernando DeSoto, a Spaniard who, having projected the con- quest of Florida, came from Cuba in 1539 with a considerable force and traversed the country to a great distance, and, in the spring of 1541, first discovered the Mississippi River, five or six hundred miles above its mouth.
11
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
In 1683 M. LaSalle visited the same region and gave it the name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIVth of France. We are told by early writers that over this undefined but vast extent of country the French claimed jurisdiction, and, in 1716, they began a settlement at Natchez on the Mississippi River, and erected a fort.
In 1763 they ceded the country east of the Mississippi River to the English, and the latter ceded it to Spain in 1783.
In 1798 the Spaniards abandoned it to the United States.
In 1798 the territory lying between the western boundary of Georgia and the Mississippi River, and which until now had been claimed by Georgia and called the Georgia Territory, was erected by Congress into a district territorial government by the name of the Mississippi Territory.
Under this government, with Winthrop Sargent at its head, the Territory was divided into two counties-the southern portion being called Adams County and the northern portion Pickering County.
Under acts of December 9, 1811, all that tract of country within the following boundaries, to-wit: "Beginning on the line of demarka- tion where the fourth range of townships east of Pearl River inter- sects the said line, thence west with said line of demarkation to the sixty mile post east of the Mississippi, being the first range of town- ships west of Tansopiho; thence north on said line of townships to the Choctaw boundary line; thence along the said Choctaw boundary line to the fourth range of townships east of Pearl River; thence with said range to the beginning, shall constitute a county which shall be called Marion" (named in honor of Gen. Francis Marion).
John Ford, George H. Nixon, William Whitehead, Stephen Noble and John Graves were appointed commissioners for Marion County with power to establish a seat of government, which was located on Pearl River at a place called Columbia.
At this period the country was comparatively an unbroken wilder- ness with but few inhabitants who had been lured by the thoughts of adventure to abandon their homes in the older States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee, and with their families and transportable property, penetrated the depths of this wilderness
12
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
as pioneers, to begin the foundation of new homes and a great State government.
John Applewhite and Jacob Ford, with others from North Carolina, with their families, embarked in flatboats on the Cumberland River, floated down to Natchez and moved across to Pearl River and settled, and Michael Harvey came in there from Georgia in 1808. As far back as 1798 immigrants began to come in and locate on the different
THE ALFORD BRIDGE OVER BOGUE CHITTO RIVER IN THE NORTHERN PART OF PIKE COUNTY
streams threading the extensive territory embraced in Marion County, the Pearl and Bogue Chitto Rivers receiving the larger number and extending in groups along the Tansopiho, the Otopasas, Magees Creek and their numerious tributaries.
John Warren is said to have settled on the Otopasas about seven miles north of the town of Holmesville as early as 1799; and John Magee even earlier than this on Magees Creek, and Jacob Owens on Dry Creek about 1800. Between this time and 1816 they came in
13
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
larger numbers, locating themselves more nearly to the beautiful clear-water streams and tributary branches.
The river and creek bottoms were covered with a dense growth of wild cane and the pine hill regions with a wild pea commonly known as partridge pea, beggar lice and other rich vegetation and grasses, affording magnificent pasturage for horses, cattle, sheep, goats and hogs; and the swamps with mast-producing trees, and the streams abounding with an inexhaustible supply of fish. Wild deer, turkeys, bear, wolves, panthers, cats, coons, opossums, beavers, otters, squirrels and the numerous feathered tribe for game were practically inexhaustible.
Reports going back from those who were first to venture into these regions to their friends and kindred in the States induced others hence, and during the intervening years prior to 1815 the population had increased so as to be numbered by the thousands instead of the few dozens, scattered over the 20,000 square miles of this county of the Mississippi Territory. Nearly, if not all, of the first settlers of Marion County embraced within the designated lines of Pike County squatted on public lands, built their homes and lived on them long before acquiring deeds from the government, and hence the map of the first entries cannot be relied upon as a guide to determine the date of settlement, and some of them not for nearly a half century afterwards.
While yet a territory the seat of government of Mississippi was located alternately at Washington and Natchez.
By an act of December 9, 1815, of the Territorial General Assem; bly, the county of Marion was divided in the following manner, which record was transcribed from the county records of Pike several years before the destruction of the courthouse in Magnolia, when the records of court were lost:
"Beginning on the line of demarkation at the southeast corner of Amite County, running from thence east along said line thirty miles; thence a line to run due north to its intersection with the summit of the dividing ridge between the waters of Bogue Chitto and Pearl Rivers, after the same shall cross the waters of Magees Creek; thence along the said ridge until it intersects the south- ern boundary of Laurence County; and all that tract of territory fromerly a
14
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
part of Marion County, lying north and west of the lines thus described, shall form a new county to be named Pike" (in honor of General Zebulon Pike).
Until the commissioners appointed to fix the permanent seat of justice had designated the spot, the place of holding court in Pike County was at the residence of Gabriel Allen, who acquired owner- ship to the north half of section 28, township 3, range 9 east in Janu- ary 17, 1815, and March 8, 1816, on the west side of the Bogue Chitto River, near the geographical center of the new county.
Benjamin Bagley, Peter Felder, Sr., Obid Kirkland, William Bullock and David McGraw, Sr., were appointed commissioners to fix on the site for public buildings, to be located at the most eligible place within three miles of the geographical center of the county of Pike, said place so fixed to remain as the permanent seat of justice. These commissioners were required to procure, by purchase on the best terms, or by donation, as much land as necessary for the seat of justice, provided the quantity was not less than forty acres nor more than one hundred and sixty acres, and to have an equal regard for eligibility of situation and the convenience of the inhabitants, so . as to promote the best interests of the county. Said lands to be laid off in town lots, reserving a sufficient quantity for a public square, a courthouse, jail and church; the balance to be sold and the proceeds used for county purposes.
The commissioners having located the spot and procured the prop- erty as required by the law, an act was passed by the General Assembly, December 11, 1816, ratifying the action of the commissioners and giv- ing it the name of Holmesville, in honor of Maj. Andrew Hunter Holmes .*
The commissioners, in selecting this spot for a seat of justice, acted with great wisdom, not only on account of its being near the geo- graphical center of the county, but from a picturesque point of view,
*Major Andrew Hunter Holmes was an army officer: Captain, of the 24th Infantry, in 1812; he was major June 8th to September 4th, 1813; was major 32nd Infantry, April 18, 1814. He was killed August 4th, 1814, in an attack on Fort Mackinac, Michigan.
15
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
its sanitation and its availability as a business center and watering facilities.
The town was located on a sloping hummock, partly in section 28, acquired by Gabriel Allen, and partly in section 21, acquired by R. Hardly, at the base of a high range of pine hills gently circling its western and southern borders, spreading out fan-like northeastward, with the beautiful Bogue Chitto River forming its northeastern boun- dary.
This stream takes its rise from a multitude of springs and branches that come out north and west of Brookhaven, in Lincoln County, Bogue Chitto and Johnson stations, and flows in a southeasterly direction through Pike County and Washington Parish and empties into Pearl River in St. Tammany Parish, La. It is one of the most lovable and picturesque streams to be found anywhere in the South. Its waters, coming from pure limpid springs that supply its numerous tributaries, flow softly and sweetly over gravel beds from the northern boundary of the county till it passes away in its meanderings into Louisiana, mirrowing in its bright waters the grand scenery bordering either side of it for over a hundred miles. At intervals, and alter- nately, it is overlooked by high ridges covered with majestic pine, oak, beech, magnolia and a multitude of other valuable growth, that moan eternally as they are fanned by the ocean's breezes. Its waters, like all other inland streams, were full of fish, and its forests inhabited by wild game in great abundance, and the trapper and the hunter had all the employment desired.
Just at the foot of the hammock, on which the town of Holmesville. was built, was a ravine or slough that reached from the river above, passing on down and emptying into it below, forming a small island between the base of the town and the river. Along this ravine was a network of fresh-water springs which were utilized for drinking and household purposes by the first settlers, but wells were afterwards dug and good water obtained at a depth of twenty feet and over.
The river for a long distance in front of Holmesville was deep and unfordable and had to be crossed on flatboats made for the purpose and used as public ferries. The first one of these was located above
16
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
the town some distance near the home of widow Mulligan, known as Carroll's ferry, where General Carroll, commanding a small division of Tennessee troops, crossed on his route to New Orleans during the War of 1812 and 1815. This was afterward abandoned and another one was established below the island in front of the town and was worked by Solomon Quin, a negro slave who belonged to Mrs. Martha Quin, widow of Col. Peter Quin, one of the original settlers of the town. For many years after this Solomon was a noted ginger-cake and corn beer vendor at all the gatherings and occasions of public interest in the history of Holmesville.
General Carroll, above mentioned, marched through the country all the way from Tennessee to New Orleans and cut his trail, or path, through the forests as he traveled, for the purpose of reaching New Orleans in time to aid Gen. Andrew Jackson in defence of that city against the British invaders under General Packingham. His route through Pike County was nearly due north and south, crossing Bogue Chitto above the town of Holmesville at a point afterwards known as Carroll's ferry, and passing down on the west side of the river, keeping the main ridge route as nearly as practicable to Love's Creek, through the Brumfield, Forest, Leggett, Pound, Walker and Simmons neighborhood, and thence dae south on through Washington Parish, La. After the battle of Chalmette, fought on the 8th of January, 1815, General Carroll returned with his Tennessee troops through Pike County the same route he had blazed out on his advance, and camped for awhile on Loves Creek.
There were a few pioneer settlers in this section at that time with family names as above mentioned. While camped here he lost one of his men and buried him in the woods beside the trail he had cut out and marked the grave with a slab hewed out of a tree cut from the woods. In this particular section this trail has since been kept well marked and the pioneer settlers, their children and grand children and great grand children have kept an eye on the grave of this gallant Tennessee soldier all along down the passing years.
While compiling notes and records for this work the writer had occasion to accept the hospitality of Henry S. Brumfield, who lived
17
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
nearby, and who was born and raised in the neighborhood. Mr. Brum- field's ancestors and others had transmitted to him a knowledge of this grave and he made it a point to care for it in order that its identity might not be lost. He mentioned the circumstances to the writer and the following morning went with him and showed him the grave, a note of which was taken at the time.
In 1907 Congress passed an act making appropriation for the Chalmette Cemetery, records and monuments, or memorials, to the heroes of that bat- tle. This fact coming to the knowledge of the writer, he addressed a letter to Hon. Luke Wright, Secretary of War, acquainting him with the traditions and history of Gen. Carroll's march through Pike County and the death and burial of this soldier in an isolated place in the woods of Love's Creek, suggest- ing that if the government would furnish a suitable, lasting slab or mark for the grave, Mr. Henry S. Brumfield and himself would put it up, both being ex-Confederate soldiers and feeling an interest in so doing; and, inasmuch as the government was going to make Chalmette a National Cemetery and mark the graves of soldiers who fell there, it seemed to him proper that the. govern- ment should have a consideration for, and not overlook the remains of this one who had served in that memorable campaign, whose name had been lost by the decay of the wooden slab that bore its inscription, but the identity of whose last resting place was without a question of doubt in his mind. The result was that the matter was referred to the Quartermaster General of the army, and through correspondence between Captain P. W. Whitworth, Quar- termaster U. S. A., Washington, D. C., and the writer, and Captains Louis F. Gerrard and Arthur Cranshon, Quartermasters U. S. A., and Major Arthur M. Edwards, Commissary, U. S. A., New Orleans, La,. arrangements were made and instructions given to Capt. Thomas O'Shea, Superintendent of the Chalmette Cemetery, to be accompanied by the writer from Gulfport, to proceed to Pike County, locate the grave and disinter the remains and convey them to New Orleans for reinterment in the Chalmette Cemetery. This was done October 9, 1908. Arriving at Magnolia on the night of the 5th, they proceeded the following day, being conveyed to the spot by Henry Brum- field, Jr., where they procured the assistance of Elisha Thornhill and son and Capt. Frank Grouche, formerly of Baton Rouge, ex-officer of the regular army of the Spanish War period, who assisted in the work of taking up the remains. Ninety-three years had passed since the event. The soldier was buried in his uniform without a coffin. The remains were flattened to a thickness of about one inch and the bones greatly crumbled. There was a thin, dark streak indi- cating the uniform, and some of the army brass buttons used at that time were recovered, and some of the teeth-altogether perhaps about fifteen or twenty pounds, which were placed in a zinc-lined box prepared for the pur- pose. On the 7th of October, the remains were conveyed to New Orleans and on the 8th reinterred at Chalmette. Mr. Elisha Thornhill, above mentioned, 2
18
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
is a grandson of William Thornhill, one of the first pioneer settlers of the Tyler- town district. He married Hettie Forest, a daughter of David W. Forest and Amelia Hall and granddaughter of Richard Forest and Mary
from Alabama, who settled near Love's Creek, where he raised his large family of sons and daughters.
Capt. Frank Grouche is a son of Mr. Alex. Grouche, the noted hotel keeper in the city of Baton Rouge. He married Etta Mahier, daughter of Mrs. A. T. Mahier, both of the first French families of that city.
The following letters were received by the author from the War Department in reference to this incident :
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE QUARTERMASTER GENERAL.
(234,383)
Mr. Luke W. Conerly,
WASHINGTON, August 18, 1908.
Gulfport, Miss.
SIR:
I am directed by the Quartermaster General to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of July 18, 1908, addressed to the Secretary of War, reporting the finding of the grave of one of General Carroll's men in Pike County, Miss., who died while traveling with his command on the way to New Orleans in 1814-15; and in which you request that. a suitable marker be furnished for his grave, which is now only temporarily marked with a slab hewed out of yellow pine, and is decaying very rapidly.
In reply you are informed that an effort has been made to obtain the name and service of this soldier from the records of the office of The Adjutant General of the Army, but I regret to state that such effort has proved fruitless. If, however, no objection be interposed, the necessary steps will be taken for the disinterment of these remains and shipment to the national cemetery at Chal- mette, La., for reinterment. There the grave will be appropriately marked and perpetually cared for.
Respectfully,
P. WHITWORTH,
Captain and Quartermaster, U. S. A.
WAR DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE OF THE QUARTERMASTER, 416 HIBERNIA BANK BUILDING.
NEW ORLEANS, LA., August 20, 1908.
Mr. Luke W. Conerly, Gulfport, Miss.
SIR:
The Quartermaster General of the Army has furnished this office with a copy of his communication to you dated August 18, 1908 (No. 234,383), relative to your report of the finding of the grave of one of General Carroll's men in
19
HISTORY OF PIKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI
Pike County, Miss., who died while traveling with his command on the way to New Orleans, La., in 1814-15.
With a view of having the remains disinterred and removing same to the Chalmette, La., National Cemetery, near New Orleans, La., for reinterment, I have the honor to request that you please furnish this office with the follow- ing information, viz .:
I. The name, date of death, etc., of the deceased, and any other informa- . tion which you might give bearing on the subject.
2. If practicable, the exact location of the grave, and the approximate dis- tance to the nearest railroad leading to this city.
3. The approximate cost of making a pine box 10x10x26 inches, of one inch lumber.
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.