USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 12
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"The ablest and most active man that ever swayed Lou- isiana, Don Bernardo de Galvez, was then civil and mili- tary Governor. He immediately proposed to expel the En- glish from Florida, but the old fogies in his cabildo, or council, recommended delay. Paying little heed to their sugestions, the General proceeded with his arrangements, and on the 7th of September attacked and stormed Fort Bute, at Manchac. With some fifteen hundred men he ad- vanced rapidly up the river to Baton Rouge, a post com- manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Dickson, of the 16th regi- ment, with a garrison of four hundred regulars and one hundred and fifty militia of the country, with abundant supplies. One hundred and twenty of the garrison were on the sick list. Galvez opened his batteries of heavy ar- tillery, and after a brisk fire of three hours, the British commandant displayed a white flag and proposed to capit- ulate. He was permitted, with his command, to retire to Pensacola, but he surrendered all the British posts, in- eluding Baton Rouge, Fort Panmure, Fort Bute, the posts on the Amite and Thompson's Creek, and the entire dis- trict of Natchez.
Leaving Col. Grandpre in command at Natchez, Galvez returned to New Orleans, and in January. 1780, set out to reduce Mobile. He encountered a hurricane which in- flicted much damage upon his transports, and retarded his operations. But on the 10th of March he entered Mobile harbor, and on the 14th opened six batteries on Fort Char- lotte. Seeing a serious break in his works, and the Span- iards preparing for an assault, the commandant capitu- lated and surrendered Mobile and the whole country from
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the Perdido to the Pearl. The next object of Galvez was Pensacola, the seat of government of West Florida. Knowing the strength of its garrison and fortifications, he went to Havana and obtained reinforcements and heavy artillery. His forces from New Orleans were transported to the Perdido, and thence marched to Pensacola, where he was waiting for them with a formidable fleet, and a regiment of Spanish infantry. Galvez opened the bom- bardment from his ships and land batteries April 2d, 1781, and kept it up, with little intermission, for a month. The garrison made a stubborn resistance, and it is doubtful what would have been the issue, but on the 9th of May the magazine in the fort exploded, and a capitulation be- came inevitable. General Campbell surrendered the gar- rison as prisoners of war, and with it the entire province of West Florida, after an occupancy of nineteen years."
Thus the territory embraced within the limits of the present State of Mississippi, in less than a quarter of a century had acknowledged the sovereignty, and paid the tribute of obedience to three several foreign masters, and in that short period of time had owed allegiance to the flags of the three then most powerful nations of the world.
Immediately following the surrender of Pensacola, strong garrisons of Spanish. soldiers, then renowned the world over for courage and discipline, occupied Pensacola, Mo- bile, Baton Rouge, Manchac, Natchez, Nogales, (now Vicks- burg,) and other points, "all under the control," says Clai- borne, "of the ablest soldier and administrator of his times."
Thus passed away forever the rule of England over the territory of Mississippi, to be followed in less than twelve months by the defeat and surrender of Lord Cornwallis, and the British army at Yorktown, and the consequent loss of her colonies on the continent of North America. This left England in possession of the Canadas alone. She still held, and holds to this day, the Dominion of Canada., with the almost impregnable fortress of Quebec, which has been illustrated by the valor of three great nations, and consecrated with the blood of Montcalm, Wolfe and Mont-
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gomery, three representative heroes of France, England and America.
The Royal Governors of the English Province, were :
First, Captain George Johnstone, of the Royal Navy. Second, the Honorable Montford Brown.
Third, the Honorable Peter Chester.
The seat of the Provincial government was held at Pen- sacola during the entire occupancy of the English.
CHAPTER VI.
MISSISSIPPI AS A SPANISH PROVINCE, FROM 1781 TO 1798.
A N abortive attempt was made by the British subjects and American citizens, who preferred the rule of Eng- land to that of France or Spain, in April, 1782, to recapture Fort Panmure, at Natchez. These gentlemen reposed great confidence in English valor, and really believed British soldiers were invincible. Pensacola was a long distance from Natchez, with a vast wilderness intervening, and knowing that Governor Galvez had sailed for Pensacola, with the view of reducing that stronghold, determined to create a diversion in favor of General Campbell, the officer in command there. Having dispatched a courier to Gen- eral Campbell, informing him of their purpose, the General wrote them to seize and hold Fort Panmure, and he would send troops to support them. Rumors were abroad, too, of the arrival of an English fleet at Pensacola, with large reinforcements for the English. These gentlemen suc- ceeded in obtaining a surrender of Fort Panmure by a ruse, with the stipulation that the garrison should march to Baton Rouge under the escort of Captain Winfree and a guard. The victors marched in, and the flag of England waved once more over the ramparts of Fort Panmure. The elation of the insurgents, however, was of brief duration, and their triumph most evanescent. Intelligence was soon received of the surrender of Pensacola, with the entire prov- ince of West Florida, ard the reported English fleet with reinforcements proved to be a Spanish fleet with strong reinforcements for the Spaniards. The revulsion from triumph to dispair was instantaneous. The bold leaders of the revolt looked after their safety by immediate flight. The most of them had families, and many of them possessed large and valuable property. There was no time to be
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lost. These men remembered the harsh rule of the second Spanish Governor, O'Reilly, in New Orleans, in dealing with some French malcontents, and they fled the country precipitately, taking with them their families as best they could. Few incidents in the early years of Mississippi caused more suffering or distress than the flight of the men and women of that day, consequent upon the foolish and abortive attempt to resist the power of Spain. Col. Claiborne gives the following pathetic account of the suffer- ings of a large number of the fugitives :
"A more precipitate and distressing exodus never oc- curred. Leaving their homes, which they had made com- fortable by severe toil, their property, which had been accumulated by patient industry ; with no transportation but a few pack-horses, with no luggage but their blankets and some scanty stores, they gathered their wives and children and struck into the wildernes. Fearful of pur- suit, fearful of ambush, dogged by famine, tortured by thirst, exposed to every vicissitude of weather, weakened by disease, more than decimated by death, the women and children dying every day, this terrible journey makes the darkest page of our record. But the courage and perse- verance they evinced, the uncomplaining patience and for- titude of refined and delicate women, at that period of suf- fering and peril, shed a glow of sunshine over the story, and their descendants, still numerous in Mississippi, will read it with mingled pity and admiration.
"Among these fugitives were the Lymans, Dwights, and many of the most cultured families of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The supplies they took with them were soon consumed, and then they lived on roots, herbs, and what- ever they could gather in their flight. Some of the Indians they fell in with seized their pack-horses; others, more humane, would divide with them their meat and corn. Having broken the only compass in their possession, they traveled by the sun and stars. They crossed the numer- ous rivers on their route on rude rafts bound together with vines. When they got to Bayou Pierre it was very high, with a fierce current, and to cross it on a frail raft was too hazardous. They tried various expedients and failed, and
9
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at last most of the men threw themselves on the ground, and declared they might as well die there, unless provi- dence opened a way to cross over. One man only insisted that on the opposite shore, in all probability, Indian boats were secreted, and that if one or more would join him they would attempt to swim their pack-horses and make a search. No one seconded the proposal, until Mrs. Dwight said that she would venture. Her husband, roused by her intrepidity, declared that he would make the trip, but his wife insisted on accompanying them, and all three plunged into the turbid and rapid stream. They were swept down by the violence of the current, and were given up for lost, but providentially they struck a reef where the water was shallow, and finally reached the shore. After a long search they found an old Indian pirogue, full of cracks and seams which they caulked by tearing up a por- tion of their ragged garments, and then, by constantly bailing, the travelers contrived to get over three at a time
"At one point on the journey, when, owing to cloudy weather, they had not been able to regulate their course, and had wandered into the prairies, they had been thirty- six hours without water. The pangs of hunger were hard to bear, but their thirst became intolerable. On the morning of the second day, perceiving no sign, they halted, leaving Mrs. Dwight and two others in the camp, and scattered in different directions in search of water. Late in the after- noon, one at a time, these parties came in, broken down, with fatigue, unsuccessful and despairing. To press for- ward, to remain, or to retrace their footsteps, either seemed inevitable death. The heroic woman, who had led the way across the swollen stream, now staggered to her feet and said: "Christians never despair. I will proceed onward in the search and not stop as long as my limbs will sup- port me." Followed by two men and two women, in the course of an hour, when they were nearly exhausted, she paused at a spot where the grass was luxuriant and the soil spongy. "Here," said she, "we must find water or die." By digging with their hands and sharp bits of wood, the water slowly oozed up, and thus, a second time the whole company was saved by the faith and fortitude of
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one feeble woman. At length, naked and emaciated from sickness and famine, the few survivors reached Savannah. Doctor Dwight and his wife returned to Northampton, Massachusetts. He was afterwards lost on a voyage to Nova Scotia, and the heroic woman who had resisted suffering and inspired the despairing, succumbed under the blow. Such is the nature of those we love best. Endur- ing physical ills, reverses of fortune, privation and dan- ger with more than the patience and fortitude of men, but fading and sinking under the slightest wound to their affections and their faith."
It is creditable to the generosity and magnanimity of the Spanish authorities, to learn that all the fugitives that sur- vived their sufferings were permitted to return, and where their property had been sold, the sales were declared in- valid, and the property was returned to the former and rightful owners.
While the first impetus was given to immigration into the Colony of Mississippi, under English rule, it steadily increased under Spanish domination. For this increase of immigration there were obvious reasons. The genial cli- mate of the country, together with the boundless fertility of its soil, furnished great attractions to the industrious and enterprising immigrant from other colonies, and the wretched condition of the colonists, who had just emerged successfully, it is true, from a seven years struggle with one of the greatest powers on earth, furnished additional inducements to immigrate to the New Eldorado on the margin of the great river. In addition, the mildness of the Spanish rule in Mississippi should not be forgotten. From the days of Galvez, down to the hour when Gov- ernor Gayoso retired under treaty stipulations, surren- dering every foot of her soil to the United States, the rule of Spain was mild, forbearing and generous. The Spaniards were Catholics, of course, but members of the Protestant churches were allowed to worship God after their own fash- ion, with as much freedom as is allowed to any worship- pers of Almighty God in any quarter of the United States to-day.
Grants of land were made with great liberality, and at
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trifling expense to the grantee. Claiborne, referring to this period of our history, and to the mild rule of the Spanish Governors, has this to say of Don Estevan Miro, one of the most popular Spanish rulers of Mississippi a century ago :
"During his administration, the excitement of the insur- rection having subsided, the immigration of Americans into the district was renewed. The clemency of the Span- ish authorities, the easy terms on which they granted lands, the exemptions from taxes and from military ser- vice, their interposition to protect the honest debtor from usurers and alien creditors, the unrivaled fertility of the country, and the free access to New Orleans permitted to settlers, were powerful inducements to colonization.
"The immigration, as we have seen under British rule, consisted for the most part of those who sought this re- mote retreat to escape the calamities of civil war. Many of these were Highlanders from North Carolina. After the fatal battle of Culloden, in 1745, large numbers of the followers of the Stuarts left their country and settled along the Cape Fear river, and gradually spread over the counties of Bladen, Anson, Moore, Richmond, Robeson and Sampson. Remembering the horrors of their own rebellion, and having then preserved their lives by taking an oath of allegiance to the house of Hanover, they now generally sided with the Crown. The Scotch-Irish, con- sisting of emigrants from the north of Ireland, descend- ants of Scotch parents, intermarried with the Irish, were numerous in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina, in 1775, and generally took up arms for the colonies, but many of them, finding their neighbors and friends divided, and the feeling becoming more vindictive every day, fol- lowed the British authorities into Florida, and were among the earliest and most valuable settlers in the Natchez dis- trict. The immigrants who came to the Natchez after the Spaniards regained West Florida in 1782, came chiefly to better their fortunes, and with the conviction that the United States had a just claim to the country, and would assert it. The Greens, Wests, Montgomerys, and others, were the leaders of this class. They brought with them
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culture, social position, enterprise and considerable wealth, and these elements controlled and characterized the com- munity. At no period since has there been better order and fewer crimes. The Spanish authorities had no disposition to be severe, nor did they manifest any desire to be so. The successive commandants at Natchez, and the Governor- General of Louisiana, were accomplished gentlemen, trained to arms, stately but courteous, punctilious, fond of etiquette and pomp, but hospitable, generous and forbear- ing. It was a community of Protestants under a strictly Catholic dynasty, in an age of intolerance. But here there was little persecution, no proscription, no civil distinctions made, and never any interference, except in one or two in- stances, when the preservation of public order was impera- tive. Sir William Dunbar, a British subject, brought up in the discipline of the Scottish Presbyterian church, who settled at Baton Rouge in 1775, and had every opportunity of observation, in the private journal which he kept, notes little interference with the rights of conscience, and tes- tifies to the impartial administration of justice. ‘British property,' he writes, 'is in perfect security. An English- man may come here and recover his debts, and obtain jus- tice as soon as in Westminister Hall.'" "This is," says Claiborne, 'a remarkable tribute to the integrity of the Spanish officers. Debts were promptly collected. The initial process was by petition setting forth the amount of the claim and the consideration, and all the circumstances, whereupon an order issued to the party to appear on a cer- tain day, and arbitrators, usually the best men in the com- munity, were designated by the commandant to decide the matter, a tribunal preferable to the jury system, as it is now conducted, when the highest rights of property, de- pending on intricate questions of law, are submitted to men, often notoriously ignorant and corrupt, picked up in the grog-shops around the court-house."
During the administration of Governor Miro, the follow- ing decree was issued :
"It is declared that what is called lawful interest, in the stipulations between the inhabitants of Natchez and their creditors, is to be understood at the rate of five per centum
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only, and the same, by any delay in the payment thereof, shall not be converted into principal, and interest be paid upon interest, because that would be manifest usury. The accounts of the said inhabitants shall be settled upon this principle, abating such as have been previously paid at a higher rate than is here prescribed. And for the due per- formance of this provision, the parties interested are to be furnished with authenticated transcripts hereof, on ap- plication."
The legal rate of interest in Mississippi to-day is six per centum, while by contract as much as ten per cent. may be collected by law, or double the amount fixed by Gov- ernor Miro, more than one hundred years ago. Judging by this, no progress has been made in a hundred or more years, unless it has been made in what the late Henry S. Foote described as "advancing by a retrograde movement," in his celebrated "bout" with Col. Benton, forty years ago on the floor of the United States Senate.
The first crop raised by the planters of Mississippi for exportation was tobacco. On the virgin lands of the country the yield was from fifteen hundred to two thous- and pounds to the acre. In order to promote the cultiva- tion of tobacco in his colony, the king of Spain had agreed to purchase all the tobacco produced at the rate of ten dollars per hundred weight, but a visit of General James Wilkinson, of the United States army, to Governor Miro, in 1787, had favorably brought to the notice of the Spanish government, the tobacco produced in Kentucky and Ten- nessee, and this induced the king of Spain to annul his offer to the planters of his own colony to purchase their crops. This produced considerable disappointment and excitement and finally led to the abandonment of the cultivation of tobacco, and the planters turned their attention to the pro- duction of indigo. This article usually commanded from a dollar and a half to two dollars and a half a pound, and was regarded as a remunerative crop until 1795, when it was generally abandoned, the reason for this being that it was assailed by a small insect that devoured the leaves and buds and finally destroyed the plant.
The planters next turned, their attention to the cultiva-
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tion of cotton. The first mention of the cotton plant in Mississippi, was made by Charlevoix, who saw some plants growing in a garden at Natchez in 1722. Bienville also wrote in 1735 that cotton grew well on the Mississippi, while Vaudreuil, in 1746, informed his government that "cotton had been received in New Orleans from the Illi- nois." It is well to remember that the French called everything above the mouth of the Yazoo, on the west of the great river, "the Illinois." It is quite probable that the cotton referred to by Governor Vaudreuil was pro- duced in the vicinity of "Arkansas Post," where a settle- ment was early made by the French.
There was considerable difficulty experienced by the early cotton planters in regard to seed, which were first obtained from the Island of Jamaica and from Georgia. These were black seed producing a fine silken fiber and good staple. These seed continued to be planted until 1811, when the plant was attacked by rot, and in a few years became very destructive, sometimes destroying more than half of the crop. The next seed were obtained from the Cumberland Valley. in Tennessee. These were of the green seed variety, and produced a short staple, coarse fibred, inferior cotton. The next variety produced was from seed brought from Mexico, which subsequently be- came known as the Petit Gulf seed, which was very suc- cessfully cultivated on the cane hills of Jefferson county, in the rear of the Petit Gulf, now known as Rodney. These seed were the germs of all the known varieties of the present day, and were undeniably the foundation of the magnificent wealth and progress of the cotton culture in Mississippi and her sister States in the cotton produc- ing zone.
Speaking of the introduction of the Mexican cotton seed into Mississippi, Mr. B. L. C. Wailes, the State Geologist at that period, in his report published in 1854, says :
"The Mexican seed is believed to have been introduced by the late Walter Burling, of Natchez. It is related by some of our older citizens, who were well acquainted with him and the facts, that when in the City of Mexico, where he was sent by Gen. Wilkinson, in 1806, on a mission con-
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nected with a threatened rupture between the two coun- tries, he dined at the table of the Viceroy, and in the course of conversation on the products of the country, he requested permission to import some of the Mexican cot- ton seed, a request which was not granted, on the ground that it was forbidden by the Spanish government. But the Viceroy, over his wine, sportively accorded his free per- mission to take home with him as many Mexican dolls as he might fancy-a permission well understood, and which in the same vein was as freely accepted. The stuffing of these dolls was understood to have been cotton seed !"
Mr. Wailes, in his observations on the cotton culture of the State, has this to say :
"When and from whence the plant was first introduced into Mississippi, is not certainly known. Most probably by the early French colonists from San Domingo. It would seem, indeed, that its cultivation here, and in Louisiana, on a small scale for domestic purposes, preceded that of Georgia."
The invention of the cotton gin by Whitney, in 1794, gave a great and immediate impulse to the production of cotton in the Southern States. Prior to the invention of Whitney, the process of separating the seed from the fleecy staple, was slow and tedious, nothing less than the use of the fingers in picking the fibre from the seed, usually at night, around the fireside by members of the planter's family. In 1796, an ingenious mechanic, named David Greenleaf, commenced the construction of cotton- gin stands in the neighborhood of Natchez. In 1801, Isaac Nerson was manufacturing gin stands on Pine Ridge, in Adams county.
In 1807 Eleazer Carver was manufacturing gin stands at Washington, in Adams county, then the capital of the Territorial Government of Mississippi. He subsequently removed to Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he engaged extensively in the manufacture of gin-stands, and to-day his name and fame are known wherever cotton is grown. He was the inventor of, and first introduced the use of grates in the cotton gin. "Cotton," Claiborne tells us, "was at first put up in long bags, as is still practiced with
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Sea Island cotton. The rude, wooden box or press, worked by levers, was next employed. The first screw press was made in Philadelphia for Sir William Dunbar, in 1801, after a model sent by him to Mr. John Ross. Its cost was over $1,000. On its receipt he wrote to his correspondent : "I shall endeavor to indemnify myself for the cost by making cotton seed oil! It will probably be of a grade between the drying and fat oils, resembling that made from linseed in color and tenacity, but less drying. Where shall a market be found for such an oil ?"
"This," continues Claiborne, "is the first suggestion of that product which has now become a great article of com- merce." It is gratifying to know that this great and constantly increasing industry, which now adds annually fully fifty millions of dollars to the wealth of the cotton producing States, had its birth in the brain of a Missis- sippi cotton planter ; a man of education, character, sagac- ity and enterprise, who devoted the best years of his life to the prosperity of Mississippi, and whose ashes now re- pose in the soil of the State.
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