USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 13
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In connection with the early production of cotton in this State, the following from Claiborne is not without in- terest, as exhibiting the character of the paper currency in vogue in the early years of the nineteenth century :
"It was the ambition of every planter to have his own gin, but for the accommodation of the community gener- ally, there were numerous public gins. The proprietor gave the planter a receipt specifying the amount of cotton delivered, and these receipts, by usage at first, and after- wards by law, became the paper currency of the country, and were received in payment of all dues, the only paper currency we have ever had here with a substantial basis !"
The Spanish authorities were greatly disturbed by the action of the Georgia Legislature in the year 1785, in es- tablishing the county of "Bourbon" in what Georgia claimed to be her territory. This county of Bourbon was established with the following well defined boundaries : "Beginning at the mouth of the Yazoo river, where it empties into the Mississippi river, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river until it shall inter-
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sect the northern-most part of the thirty-first degree of north latitude; south by a line to be drawn due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north of the equator as far as the lands reach, which, in that district have, at any time, been relinquished by the Indians; thence along the line of said relinquishment to the said river Yazoo; thence down the said river to the beginning ; and the said county shall comprehend and include all lands and waters within the said description."
This act of the Georgia Legislature also provided for the opening of a land office in the disputed district, for the sale of land at a rate not exceeding twenty-five cents an acre.
This county of Bourbon comprehended all the territory embraced in the present counties of Warren, Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams, Franklin and Wilkinson. Fourteen magistrates for the county were appointed, and Abner Green, Esq., a native of Virginia, a man of high and hon- orable character, a gentleman of education and refinement, was appointed register of probates. Col. Claiborne, in speaking of these appointments of magistrates and regis- ter of probates, has this to say of them :
"All the appointees were representative men-men of property. Many of them were well educated immigrants from Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia. The list em- braced gentlemen who fought under the Continental flag during the war just closed, and likewise of pronounced loyalists who would not serve against the king, but had sought new homes in these remote districts rather than take up arms against their countrymen."
The descendants of these officers of the county of Bour- bon are numerous, highly respected, and are performing all of the duties of good citizens in the States of Missis- sippi, Texas and Louisiana to-day. Many of them did good service in behalf of their native State during the recent terrible war between the States.
The autumn of the year 1790 was distinguished by the arrival at Natchez, in the Spanish province of Mississippi, of Mrs. Rachael Robards, a lady who was destined to
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reach the highest social position, as the wife of General Andrew Jackson, one of the most distinguished military chieftains this country ever produced, who was subse- quently elected to the presidency of the United States in 1828, and re-elected by the people, after a most animated contest, in 1832. The administration of General Jackson, extending through a period of eight years, was one of the most brilliant and remarkable that has ever graced the annals of the country. Da
Mrs. Robards was the daughter of Col. John Donaldson, a prominent citizen of Tennessee, of which territory she was a native. Miss Donaldson was married at an early age to Mr. Robards, a young Virginian, a lawyer by pro- fession, and a young man of good family, but he was in- sanely jealous of the most ordinary courtesies paid by other gentlemen to his young and handsome wife. An- drew Jackson chanced to become an inmate of the board- ing house in Nashville, where Mr. Robards and his wife were domiciled, and it soon dawned upon him that Ro- bards had become jealous of his attentions to his wife. With the frankness and promptitude which was the lead- ing characteristic of his whole life, Jackson sought an- other boarding house, but the demon jealousy, once aroused in the human heart, dwells there for all time. After a year or two of marital infelicity, Mr. Robards, in a moment of passion, filed an application for a divorce, abandoned his young and handsome wife, and returned to Virginia. This absence was a protracted one, but finally Mrs. Robards was startled by the intelligence, which seemed to be known to everybody, that her husband in- tended to return to Nashville for the purpose of "haunting her" and making her life intolerable. Mrs. Robards had some friends in the vicinity of Natchez whom she deter- mined to visit, thus putting a long distance between her- self and her tormentor.
Col. Stark, a gentleman venerable in years, and distin- guished for services, with his family, were about to em- bark on a flat-boat for Natchez. Hearing of the desire of Mrs. Robards, Col. Stark and his family invited her to make the voyage in their boat and under their protection.
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Voyaging down the Cumberland and the Mississippi in 1790 was not the pleasure trip it became half a century later, on palatial steamers. Indians were swarming in every bend of those rivers at that early day, and the leaves and tangled vines of the forest afforded a safe ambush for those merciless savages. The dangers of a voyage to Natchez could scarcely be overestimated, and Andrew Jackson at once organized an armed guard of trusty friends and followers, and offered to accompany Col. Stark as a protection for the ladies of his party. This offer was gratefully accepted by Col. Stark, and the entire party soon after embarked on the long and dangerous voyage. Without incident or accident worthy of note, the party arrived in safety at Natchez, and after seeing Mrs. Robards domiciled in the house of her friends, Jackson returned to Nashville.
Mrs. Robards divided her time between the families of the brothers, Thomas M. and Abner Green. both of whom were leaders in public affairs and in social life. The first sat in the Congress of the United States as the second dele- gate from the Mississippi Territory, at a later period. The second held various positions of trust and honor in the Territory, and both were held in the highest esteem as men of courage and unsullied honor. Thomas M. Green re- sided near the bank of Coles Creek, in what is now known as Jefferson county, and his brother Abner had his home on Second Creek, in Adams county. The next year, 1791, Andrew Jackson returned to Natchez and during the sum- mer of that year, he and Mrs. Rachael Robards were mar- ried at the residence of Thomas Marston Green in Jeffer- son county.
Ten years previously the State of Georgia, claiming the entire territory had established the county of Bourbon, extending from the mouth of the Yazoo river to the thirty- first degree of north latitude, and embracing all the terri- ritory now comprised within the limits of the present counties of Warren, Claiborne, Jefferson, Adams and Wil- kinson. Col. Thomas Green, the father of Thomas M. and Abner Green, had been for years the agent of the State of Georgia, and upon the establishment of the county of
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Bourbon, in the Mississippi Territory, was appointed a magistrate of the county, and he it was, in the capacity of a justice of the peace, who united Mrs. Rachael Robards and Andrew Jackson in the sacred bonds of marriage, at the residence of his son Thomas Marston Green, as has been already mentioned.
Referring to the temporary residence of Mrs. Robards in Mississippi, prior to her marriage with Andrew Jackson, Col. Wm. H. Sparks, in his "Memories of Fifty Years," has this to say :
"That there was anything disreputable attached to the lady's name is most improbable. She was more than fif- teen months an inmate of the house of Green, who was a man of wealth, and remarkable for his pride and fastidious- ness in selecting his friends or acquaintances. He was the second Territorial Representative of Mississippi in Con- gress, was at the head of society socially, and certainly would never have permitted a lady of equivocal character to the privileges of a guest in his house, or to the associa- tion of his young daughters. During the time she was awaiting a divorce (which she had applied for from the Spanish tribunals) Mrs. Robards was at times an inmate of the home of the family of Abner Green, of Second Creek, where she was always gladly received, and he and his family were more particular, if possible, as to the char- ter and position of those they admitted to their intimacy, than Thomas M. Green."
Referring to the marriage of Andrew Jackson, and Mrs. Rachael Robards, Col. Sparks proceeds as follows :
"Whatever the circumstances of the separation, or the cause of it, I am ignorant. At the time of her coming to the home of Thomas M. Green, the civil authority was a disputed one, most of the people recognizing the Spanish authorities. A snit was instituted for a divorce, and a decree of divorce was granted by a Spanish tribunal. There was probably little ceremony or strictness of legal proceedings in the matter, as all government and law was equivocal, and of but little force just at that time in the country. It was after this that Jackson came and married her in the house of Thomas M. Green."
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In the same volume, Col. Sparks thus refers to the early commercial transactions of Andrew Jackson in the Mis- sissippi Territory :
"Many will remember the charge brought against him pending his candidacy for the Presidency, of having been, in early life, a negro trader, or dealer in slaves. This charge was strictly true. Jackson had a small store, or trading establishment, at Bruinsburg, near the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, in Claiborne county. It was at this point he received the negroes, purchased by his partner at Nashville, and sold them to the planters of the neighbor- hood. It was during the period of his commercial enter- prise in Mississippi that he formed the acquaintance of the Green family. This family was among the very first Americans who settled in the Territory, while it was yet under the domination of Spain. Thomas M. and Abner Green were young men at the time, though both were men of family. To both of them, Jackson at different times sold negroes. The friends formed in this section of the country by Jackson were devoted to him through life, and when later he brought his future wife to Mississippi, it was to the house of Thomas M. Green."
In 1789, the State of Georgia, acting through the legisla- ture, determined still further to assert her authority over the territory she claimed, and sold 5,000,000 acres to the South Carolina Yazoo Company for $65,000. This sale embraced what now constitutes the central counties of Mississippi. To the Virginia Yazoo Company, Georgia sold 7,000,000 acres, embracing the northern counties, for $93,000. To the Tennessee Company, there was sold by Georgia, 3,500,000 acres, embracing the northern counties of the present State of Alabama, for $46,000.
Spain claimed to own the disputed territory by virtue of her treaties with France and England, while the native Indians, the Creeks, Cherokees, Choctaws and Chickasaws. claimed it by inheritance. But the Indians were power- less, and looked upon the struggle for their God-given heritage with stoical indifference.
The purchasers of these lands, however, alarmed by the numerous adverse claims, and the opposition of the United
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States, the Indian tribes and the Spanish authorities, refused to meet their payments, and the legislature re- scinded the contracts. Georgia was annoyed, irritated and disgusted by this constantly recurring interference with her boundaries, as well as with her title, and determined to demonstrate, not only her confidence in the assertion of her rights, but to remove the obstacles to the settlement of her territory. With this purpose in view, the legislature, on the 7th of February, 1795, passed an act, by which, for the sum of $5,000,000, she sold twenty-one million five hundred thousand acres, to four companies, composed chiefly of her own citizens. Anticipating, it would seem, the howl of opposition this measure would arouse, the act of sale had a preamble which contained a declaration of the rights of Georgia in the premises. In this preamble it is declared :
"That by the articles of confederation each State was to retain its own territory. That by the treaty of 1783, com- monly called the treaty of Paris, the boundaries of Geor- gia and of the other States were confirmed. That they were consistent with all the former legislation of Georgia, and with the action of the Convention between Georgia and South Carolina in 1787. That the State had the right of redemption and full territorial jurisdiction. That the treaty made between the President and McGillevray, was in contravention of the rights of Georgia, and that the guarantees made by the President to the Indians were without authority and invalid; and that Georgia had the fee simple in and to all her lands, and would dispose of them, to individuals or companies, at her own pleasure."
There can be no question of the absolute verity of every declaration contained in this preamble. The first com- pany, composed of James Gunn, Mathew McAllister, George Walker and others, was styled the Georgia Company ; and for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, one-fifth cash, the remainder to be paid in nine months, in specie, United States bank notes, or military warrants issued by the State in 1791. This company bought the entire country now embraced within the limits of Kemper, Neshoba, Leake, Madison, Yazoo, Issaquena, Washington, Holmes,
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Attala, Winston, Noxubee, Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Choc- taw, Carroll, Sunflower, Bolivar, Tallahatchie, Yalobusha, Chickasaw and Monroe counties of Mississippi, besides some twenty counties in Alabama.
Nicholas Long, Thomas Cumming, A. Gordon, Thomas Glascock and others, formed another company, and for one hundred and fifty-five thousand dollars, these gentlemen bought all the land comprised within the territorial limits of Greene, Perry, Marion, Pike, Amite, Wilkinson, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Copiah, Simpson, Smith, Jasper, Clarke, Lauderdale, Newton, Scott, Rankin, Hinds, Warren and Claiborne counties in Mississippi, with a small slice of three counties in Alabama.
Wade Hampton, John B. Scott and John C. Nightingale, bought for thirty-five thousand dollars, all the land em- braced in the counties of De Soto, Marshall, Tippah, Tish- omingo and a portion of Tunica.
While the bill was pending in the Georgia legislature, for the sale of this immense territory, the State was con- vulsed with excitement. Charges of corruption were hurled in great profusion in both houses, but when the Governor approved the bill and made it the law of Georgia, the ex- citement knew no bounds. The people were frantic with indignation at the accomplishment of this act of robbery and spoliation, known from that day to this as the "Yazoo Fraud." Prominent and patriotic gentlemen took the stump in the denunciation of this stupendous swindle. Charges that the law had been carried by bribery were abundant, and even the Governor, who approved the meas- ure, did not escape severe denunciation. It is impossible, after the lapse of nearly a century, to judge with any degree of accuracy of the truth of the charges made against those who were instrumental in securing the pas- sage of the law, under which these immense sales were made for a song. But the people were aroused from the mountains to the sea shore, and the cry of "repeal" rang through the State of Georgia, like the blast of a trumpet calling men to arms. After a most exciting campaign the "repealers" carried the legislature by a decided majority, and when that body met in 1796, a bill was promptly passed
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repealing the obnoxious act, and in addition, the original records were ordered to be publicly burned. This was accordingly done, but to make the public indignation more marked and emphatic, these records were burned by fire drawn by a convex glass, from the sun, the great luminary of the world, and thus, while the original records of this most odious law were consumed, literally by fire drawn from the heavens, the authors and abettors of the shame- less fraud were blasted by the fiery breath of public indig- nation. The sale of the immense territory embraced in the claims of the various Yazoo Companies, does not seem to have aroused so much opposition, as the manner in which the law authorizing it was passed. The sale of these lands would probably have been quietly submitted to by the the people, though the purchasers paid a very inadequate price for them, but the conviction that bribery had been resorted to in securing the passage of the act authorizing the sale, aroused a frenzy of indignation among the people, and all who came under public suspicion of having re- ceived a bribe for their votes, were doomed men. Sparks in his "Memories of Fifty Years," referring to the passage of the obnoxious law, says :
"The act was passed by a bare majority of both branches of the Legislature, and the sale was consum- mated. Before the passage of this measure, the will of the people had been sufficiently expressed in the indignant outburst of public feeling, as to leave no doubt upon the minds of the corrupt representatives, that they had not only forfeited the public confidence, but had actually im- perilled their personal safety. Upon the return to their homes, after the adjournment, they were not only met with universal scorn, but with inappeasable rage. Some of the most guilty were slain; some had their houses burned over their heads, and others fled the State; one was pursued and killed in Virginia, and all not only en- tailed upon themselves infamy, but also upon their inno- cent posterity ; and to-day, to be known as a descendant . of a Yazoo man, (that is, a man who voted for the Yazoo fraud), is a badge of disgrace."
The original purchasers of what to-day constitutes the 10
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best part of Mississippi, and a large portion of Alabama, were not slow to assert their rights in the courts. The cause finally reached the Supreme Court of the United States, where, in the case of Fletcher versus Peck, the court affirmed the power of the State to sell its public do- main, and the validity of the sale made by Georgia to the Yazoo companies. An amicable adjustment was subse- quently made by a tripartite arrangement between Geor- gia, the United States, and the Yazoo Land Companies.
Meanwhile, President Washington had deemed it his duty to direct the attention of Congress to the transac- tion, as one that "might deeply affect the peace and wel- fare of the United States," and that body directed the Attorney-General to investigate the title of Georgia.
"All these proceedings," says Claiborne, referring to them, "directly affected the Spanish authorities of Louis- iana. The State of Georgia had sold the very ground oc- cupied by her garrisons on the Mississippi. The compa- nies who bought would bring in thousands of colonists with arms in their hands. The president had brought the matter before Congress, and plainly manifested a disposi- tion to occupy the country. An agent of Georgia, General Mathews, protected by the usages of diplomacy, had arrived at Natchez, to reassert the claim of that State. Badgered and worried at every point, Spain, proverbially dilatory, obstinate and punctilious, at length gave way, and on the 27th day of October, 1795, a treaty was signed at Madrid, by which it was agreed that the southern boundary of the United States should be the line of the thirty-first degree of north latitude, from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochie; thence down the middle of that river to its junction with the Flint; thence to the head of St. Mary's river; thence down that river to the Atlantic. That all Spanish posts north of this line should be re- moved within six months, and American posts and inhab- itants living south of it should be removed within the same period. That the navigation of the Mississippi, should, through its whole length, be free for the commerce of both nations; that both would co-operate to cultivate peace with the Indians; and that before six months a
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joint commission should run out the line of boundary, under the protection of the two powers."
Under the stipulations of the treaty, by which Spain ceded to the United States a large portion of the territory now included within the limits of Mississippi and Ala- bama, it was provided that the southern boundary between Spain and the United States should be established by a joint commission composed of a representative of each government, within the period of six months, Spain, in the meantime, retaining possession until the boundary line should be formally established. Under this provision, Andrew Ellicott, a native of Pennsylvania, and an astron- omer of some repute, was appointed on the part of the United States to perform this duty. But it was not until February 24th, 1797, that Mr. Ellicott arrived at Natchez. He left Pittsburg soon after his appointment, and there engaged twenty-five woodsmen, and left on three barges furnished by the government, with a small escort under the command of Lieutenant McCleary, of the United States army.
In his descent of the Mississippi he stopped at the Span- ish posts of New Madrid, Chickasaw Bluff, (now Memphis,) and at Walnut Hills, (now Vicksburg), where he was treated with all the courtesy and politeness due to the official representative of the United States government. He also stopped at the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, in Claiborne county, to interview Maj. Peter B. Bruin, who had served with distinction in the Continental army, and who was present at the storming of Quebec under General Montgomery. He was near that General when he fell, and was himself badly wounded. He was appointed an Alcalde under Spanish rule, and when the Mississippi Ter- ritory was established, he became one of the three judges. He retained office until 1810, when he resigned. His resi- dence was on a plantation near the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, where he died universally respected. His place was long known as "Bruinsburg," a shipping point of con- siderable importance in early times, and has been made historic as the point where General Grant landed th. United States forces in May, 1863, preparatory to the battle
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of Port Gibson, and the memorable seige of Vicksburg. Referring to Judge Bruin, Claiborne says : "His name is extinct, but he has left descendants of the well-known names of Briscoe, Watson and Scott. When Aaron Burr came down the river he also landed and paid a visit to Judge Bruin, who had known him during the revolutionary war. Some attempt was made by heated partizans to implicate Judge Bruin, but no one who knew the venerable patriot tolerated the suspicion for a moment. Judge Bruin, in all probability, like many others, did not impute treasonable intentions to Burr, a point which to this day remains an open question."
Andrew Ellicott appears to have been a vain, weak man, of a suspicious nature, ignoble tastes and passions, and withal had very exalted ideas as to his own character and attainments. He evidently came to Mississippi with the most inordinate notions of the importance of the position he occupied. Instead of regarding himself as a mere astronomer, engineer or surveyor, to run out and establish a line between the possessions of Spain and the United States, he imagined himself to be a sort of an ambassador, or an envoy extraordinary, and his pretentious and inflated vanity made him the laughing stock of those with whom he was brought in contact. His temper was irrascible and moody, and his frequent potations did not tend to sweeten his disposition.
Ellicott had left his escort, Lieutenant McCleary and twenty-five men, at the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, but on the 16th of March, 1797, he arrived with his men, and camped at Bacon's landing, a short distance below Natchez. "The first detachment," says Claiborne. "of national troops that trod our soil." "From this time," says the same author, "Ellicott poured upon Governor Gayoso a volley of notes, remonstrances and expostulations, day after day. and often three times a day, assuming the action of a first- class diplomatist, and the authority of a commanding gen- eral, until the Governor, concluding that he had really been sent to Natchez with extraordinary powers, replied formally and respectfully to his bulletins, always conclud-
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