Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 37

Author: Dunbar Rowland
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant
Number of Pages: 1020

USA > Mississippi > Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II > Part 37

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 (link on the Part 1 page).

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mandant at Pensacola could be heard from, but on the third night he had Lyman under arrest. Some of the soldiers and volunteers then left the garrison, and when Lieutenants Pentacost and Holmes were sent to order them back, with loaded muskets, one of the volunteers, Felt, a Lyman settler, shot Pentacost, fatally wound- ing him, and forced the other officer to disarm. Lyman managed to gain control again, but finally was put under arrest and in close confinement by his irrepressible rival. Then Capt. Foster was sent up from Manchac by Col. Dickson, and Jackson secretly decamped, says Claiborne, "carrying with him all the portable property he could lay his hands on. The officers and men who had acted with Jackson, were sent under guard to Pensacola, where several were ordered to be shot." While the district was in this deplorable condition the Spanish took control. Fort Pan- mure and two small posts on the Amite and Thompson's Creek were included in the capitulation of Col. Dickson to Gen. Galvez, at Baton Rouge, September 22, 1779. The entire district of Nat- chez at once passed under the administration of the governor of Louisiana. When Galvez retired, Col. Carlos de Grand Pré was left in command at Baton Rouge, with subordinate officers and garrisons at Panmure and Bute.

Congress, meanwhile, had commissioned James Robinson, a friend and companion of Willing, to return to Natchez and again attempt to secure the allegiance of the inhabitants, and hold the district as territory of the United States. He arrived with 30 or 40 men, after the Spanish had made their occupation. "The expe- dition was broken up and dispersed, and the leader soon afterward died."

The settlers were not disposed to submit without a struggle to the easy conquest by the Spanish. To the Eastern colonists it was particularly intolerable to assume the role of heretics under the dominion of his Catholic Majesty. The remarkable ability of Galvez inspired respect, and it was well remembered how, ten years before, Lafreniere, Noyan, Caresse, Marquis and Milhet, distinguished citizens of New Orleans, had been put to death for resisting the power of Spain ; yet, the scattered people of this lit- tle settlement, hundreds of miles from any support, began to pre- pare for war, refusing to believe that Great Britain would permit them to be overwhelmed and sacrificed. The fall of Mobile in 1780 was discouraging, but when they learned that an expedition was on foot against Pensacola, they sent word to Governor Ches- ter and General Campbell, and proposed to drive the Spaniards out of Natchez if they could have assistance. (See Revolt of 1781.)

Natchez District, Spanish. On July 29, 1781, Don Carlos de Grand Pré, lieutenant-colonel of the Royal regiment of Louisiana, entered upon his duties as "civil and military commandant of the post and district of Natchez." His administration was mainly devoted to the arrest of "rebels" and the confiscation of their property, an account of which is given under the title, "Revolt of

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1781." In September, 1782, Col. Estevan Miro, a Spaniard who had acted as governor-general at New Orleans in the absence of General Galvez, was in command at Natchez, and was succeeded in November by Don Pedro Piernas, who was promoted to col- onel when Miro was made brigadier-general. The successor of Piernas, ad interim (June to August 3, 1783) was Capt. Francisco Collel, who gave way to Lieut .- Col. Phelipe Trevino, both of the regiment of Louisiana. Natchez was honored in the assignment of commandants from the famous Creole regiment. In 1785, Don Francis Bouligny became "lieutenant-governor" and commandant, and in March, 1786, Colonel Grand Pré was again assigned. In July, 1792, Lieut .- Col. Manuel Gayoso de Lemos was put in com- mand. He, a thorough Spaniard, of English education, remained until July 26, 1797, when he left to take the office of governor-gen- eral, August 1, 1797, and after that Capt. Stephen Minor, Gayoso's post major, acted as commandant until the evacuation, the re- appointment of Colonel Grand Pré, in 1797, being protested by the inhabitants. These commandants or "governors" had the gen- eral duties of a civil administrative officer and military commander, under the orders of the governor-general of Louisiana. They ap- pointed alcaldes, or justices, in the various districts of the Natchez, of which there were nine or ten in 1797, and themselves heard appeals from these justices. They performed the duties of gov- ernor, legislature, mayor, court of appeals, magistrate, chief of police, town marshals, etc. There could be no auction without their permission in writing. They granted permission to go to New Orleans, and sometimes refused it to individuals who had debts, unless they gave security. Divorces were also within their jurisdiction. The records show traces of some domestic upheavals that must have agitated society. Mrs. Rachael Robards came down from Nashville in 1790, and obtained a Spanish divorce, pre- liminary to her marriage to Andrew Jackson. There was no law- making body. The law at New Orleans was the code of O'Reilly, and the edicts of the governor-general, the council of the Indies and his Catholic Majesty. At Natchez law proceeded from the commandant. Francis Baily (q. v.) in 1797, sought justice from Gayoso, when Vidal had offered him depreciated post certificates at face value in payment for a purchase, and asked Gayoso to show him the law for such an imposition. "I shall never forget the looks of the man at this (what he called impertinent) question ; for, wondering at my assurance, and threatening me with the hor- rors of the Callibouse if I any longer disputed his authority, he laid his hand upon his breast, and told me that he was the law ; and that as he said the case was to be determined." The essential difference, under the forms, of two civilizations, is shown in Baily's comment: "I could not help laughing at the insulting ef- frontery of the man when he made this speech, at which he seemed more than ever enraged." (Baily's Journal, London, 1856, p. 289.)

Yet there is evidence that the inhabitants had some initiative re- garding local laws. Governor Gayoso proclaimed a set of laws

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February 1, 1:93, saying that "the inhabitants in a full meeting of the principal planters" had represented to him the need of pens and pounds for cattle ; their fears of the ravages of "wild beasts of prey, particularly the tiger and wolf," and their desire to guard against the natural inconveniences that attend the making of in- digo. He instructed that "pens or pounds" should be constructed by Isaac Galliard and Abram Ellis, Samuel Hutchins and J. H. White, D. Williams and I. Lintot, R. Bacon and N. Tomlinson, R. Swayze and P. Shiltin, D. Grafton and I. Bernard, C. Board- man and W. Pipes, James Bonner and T. Jordan, A. Bealt and J. Girault, J. Lum and N. Joy, A. and J. Henderson, J. Calvit and B. Belk, Jeremiah Coleman and J. Foster, R. King and B. Curtis, I. Johnson and R. Ford, S. Keady and J. Oglesby, J. Armstreet and F. Mory, J. Minor and S. Holmes, A. Scanlin and C. King, P. Presler and J. Carter. (The I's and J's are indistinguishable.) This was for the region about Natchez. William Murray and John Smith were ordered to point out the places for pens in the district of Villa Gayoso; Col. Peter Bruin and William Brocas on Bayou Pierre ; Garrett Rapalje and Tobias Brashear on Big Black; James Nicholson and Ruffin Gray on the south side of Homochitto; Charles Percy at Buffalo; Francis Poussett and H. Hunter on Bayou Sara. The estray law announced in the same proclamation required stray cattle to be put in these pounds and notice given. A lawful fence was also defined as staked and ridered and five English feet high. A reward of five dollars was offered for wolf and tiger scalps. Makers of indigo were required to burn the weed as soon as possible after it came out of the steeper, and forbidden to drain the vats into any creeks used by the inhabitants as a source of water.

To remedy the nuisance of vagrants who lived in the woods under the pretense of hunting, by which the good and industrious inhabitants suffered much in regard to stock, it was forbidden to fire-hunt or set guns, under any pretense, or upon any occasion, and people were forbidden to hunt on their own lands without per- mission in writing from an alcalde. Ezekiel Freeman was ap- pointed treasurer to receive the proceeds of the sale of stray ani- mals and pay rewards for scalps.

The provincial government entirely ignored the boundary of the United States as recognized by Great Britain in the treaty of 1783. This matter was taken up between the United States and Spain, and the negotiations continued for twelve years. The inhab- itants of the district, meanwhile, submitted with such grace as they could to the transfer from vassalage to the king of England to vassalage to the king of Spain. A few had been American citizens to the extent that citizenship had been imparted by Captain Wil- ling. but that had been promptly renounced for what they consid- ered good reasons. There was, however, a readiness to welcome the authority of the United States as soon as the terms of the treaty with Britain became known, and before it was made ap- parent that Spain would ignore the definition of limits.

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There is a suggestion of this in the correspondence of William Dunbar, who lived near Baton Rouge, in June, 1783: "I am sorry to say that our plantation falls considerable without the American line, in consequence of which it may not be worth a pinch of snuff as a salable commodity. As Natchez is considerably above latitude thirty-one degrees, we believe here it must soon be- come a settlement of great consequence, although we have not learned the intentions of Congress respecting it. Mrs. Pollock gives out that her husband (Oliver Pollock) is coming out as gov- ernor." Dunbar, before long, did move near Natchez, believing the treaty would eventually be carried into effect. Many others, says Wailes, influenced by similar considerations, removed to the district.

August 18, 1783, Stephen Miro, temporary governor under the Count of Galvez, published a proclamation which was counter- signed at Natchez by Commandant Phelipe Trevino. It recited that "the too great number of strange Famillies, who begin to in- troduce themselves into this Province (Louisiana) and that of West Florida, under the names of Irish, American and German Catholicks, requires the most particular attention of Government," therefore his Excellency had "resolved that hereafter there shall be only admitted such Famillies as shall profess the Catholick, Apostolick and Roman Religion, according to what is wisely pro- vided by our Laws in the Recapitulation of the Indias; on the express condition : That those Famillies which are admitted shall employ themselves in the cultivation of lands, and in the mechan- ical arts, and nowise in the exercise of rowing or hunting, or directly or indirectly to trade with any of the Indian nations of the province." The reason given was that long and fatal experience had proved that all the rogueries committed on the river and in the upper posts of the country were occasioned by "vagabonds without religion or subordination, principle or the least notion of the natural rights of the people."

The inclination to assert citizenship in the United States was also shown in 1785 by the Bourbon county episode (q. v.), which Governor Miro treated as a sedition or rebellion. This was the result of immigration from Georgia soon after the suppression of the revolt-bringing the Virginians headed by Thomas Green. Throughout the period of waiting. the district was subject to the tangled intrigues that distracted the people of the western settle- ments, but the people were complimented by Governor Carondelet, in 1790, for such staunch lovalty that encouraged the French of New Orleans to remain quietly under Spanish .rule despite the appeals of their countrymen. Meanwhile, as Wailes savs. "some of the English royalists of the Natchez district." the original set- tlers, adhered to that party which "looked with a distant and vague hope to the re-establishment of the British rule."

In 1785 a census was taken of Louisiana, which includes the following, the population being given by districts: Manchac, 77; Baton Rouge, 270; Natchez, 1,550; Mobile, 746.

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By the same census the population of New Orleans was 4,980; St. Louis, 897; Galveston, 242. The most populous district was Tchoupitoulas, 7,046.

In his proclamation concerning the "sedition" of 1785, Governor Miro advised the inhabitants that they must take the oath of al- legiance, which some had refused to do. He told them that those who attempted to alienate themselves were the more guilty because the government they were under was "the most easy, without paying any duties, having the liberty to sell at the city all their pro- duces, even cattles, to a great advantage, with the faculty of being paid in ready cash, for the richest, which is tobacco, that his majesty paid to them double the price of all other nations."

In the same year Governor Miro granted "some indulgence and extension of time, in relation to their selling their property, col- lecting their debts and removing away their persons and effects." This was confirmed by the royal order communicated by the Mar- quis de Sonora, April 5, 1786, to Count de Galvez, captain-general of the two Floridas. This edict recited that in consequence of a letter from Galvez, October 27th last, and an enclosure from Don Stephen Miro, governor of Louisiana, "concerning the inconven- iences that attend the removal of the English and American fami- lies settled in Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola and Natchez, out of the said provinces, agreeably to the late treaty of peace," it had pleased the king to approve the directions given Miro by Galvez "for not changing the situation of the aforesaid families. It being his royal will and pleasure to continue to them the permission of inhabiting their respective settlements upon this indispensable condition, that they make solemn oath of fidelity and obedience to his majesty, that they do not go out of the limits in which they are now settled, and shall not any time hereafter remove to any other part, without an express license from government. That those who do not come under these just conditions shall go by sea to the colonies of North America at their own cost, or if they be not able, it shall be done at the king's expense and reimbursed out of their property as soon as possible. That the Natchez and other parts of the Floridas where convenient shall be divided into parishes to be served by Irish clergymen, in order to bring over the said colonists, their children and their families to our religion. with that mildness which the religion itself dictates." Galvez and his subordinate governors were instructed to report the number of parishes, and in the meantime directions were given "to the Bishop of Salamanca to provide four of known leal. virtue and literature from the university or any other." (Spanish Rec- ords of Natchez District, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.)

The statement of William Dunbar is that after the eighteen months granted in the treaty for British subjects who would take the oath of allegiance or were absent, to dispose of their property, the Spanish government by proclamation twice prolonged the period two years or more, and it was not until after the second

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term that the lands were considered as reverted to the crown, and were granted out to petitioners. The lands of the leaders of the rebellion were declared forfeited, and sold.

In 1785, also, Governor Miro interposed to relieve the planters from distress at the hands of the collecting agents of the Jamaica merchants, permitting the seizure of property only in such cases as showed fraud or bad faith.

While Governor Miro, in league with General Wilkinson, was intriguing to promote the acquisition of Kentucky and Tennessee by Spain, Gardoqui, the Spanish minister to the United States, worked effectively to encourage immigration to the Natchez. In 1788, says Gayarré, "Col. Peter Brian Browin (Bruin), among others, with a number of families, provided with passports from Gardouqui, had arrived to settle in the district of Natchez." In 1790 the Forman colony came to Natchez, including Capt. Benajah Osmun, all distinguished Revolutionary characters. It is not to be concluded that such immigrants had any sympathy with the Spanish hope to create a settlement hostile to the United States. It is even possible to believe that Wilkinson's intrigue was a great scheme to work the Spaniards, in his private interest, as Miro frequently suspected.

The conditions of settlement may be inferred from the instruc- tions given to Grand Pré regarding the D'Arges project. The settlers must pledge themselves by oath on the Holy Evangelists to be what the officers briefly designated as "good Spaniards" even against their American brethren, should the latter invade the Natchez district. They could believe in privacy what they pleased about religion, but Irish priests were sent from the university of Salamanca to perform the public rites of worship. (See Religious Toleration.)

There seems to have been some local military appointments, but according to Governor Sargent, "there was no militia in the Natchez district. Governor Gayoso once contemplated such es- tablishment, but the Baron Carondelet forbade it."

The census taken in 1788 showed that Natchez district had in- creased in population to 2,679, a more rapid growth than was shown by New Orleans or St. Louis.

Following this there was considerable settlement from the western country, in response to the efforts of the Spanish agents, chiefly, says Wailes, in the Natchez district and Feliciana. "Many however, under the pretense of settling permanently in the coun- try, took advantage of the permission to make several trips and to introduce their goods and produce free, and in this manner a market was gradually opened for the produce of the Ohio."

After 1789, according to Pickett's history of Alabama, the popu- lation was increased by a number of adventurers who came out expecting to obtain lands under the Georgia deals with the Caro- lina land companies, but found no land for them unless they could acquire it from the Indians, which was forbidden by the laws of

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the United States, including Georgia. Their efforts, also, were considered as inimical to the sovereignty of Spain.

The planters were in a serious financial condition in 1:89-90 and for several years later. They had embarked in the culture of to- bacco, under the royal agreement to take 200,000 pounds annually, and contracted large debts for negroes and implements. In 1789 untoward circumstances prevented their meeting their obligations, and in 1790 the royal government dropped its offer for tobacco to 40,000 pounds. At the same time the concessions made to Wilkinson brought Kentucky tobacco into the market in such abundance as to seriously lower the price. For this reason the culture of indigo was renewed and cotton introduced. Governor Carondelet presented these facts to the king's minister in 1794, and said that if the law was permitted to have its course, these peo- ple rather than allow themselves to be utterly ruined, would take refuge with their negroes on the territory of the Indians and the Americans. It is to be supposed that the petition was granted, and the planters were granted a delay of payment until the gather- ing-in of the crop of 1800, provided annual payments were made in the meantime. According to later representations, the district, at the close of Spanish dominion, was in a condition of financial prostration, but on the verge of recovery through the culture of cotton.

In 1790, by the treaty of Natchez, the boundaries of the district were reaffirmed, on the old lines, with a new cession of a site for Fort Nogales, on Walnut hills.

The official communications indicated no expectation of giving up the country to the United States. The continual effort, on the other hand, was to enlarge the dominion of the king, up to the Ohio river, if possible. Finally, when the treaty of relinquishment was made in 1795, it was understood as a temporary expedient of international policy in Europe, resorted to in the confusion of the Napoleonic era, when royalty of the Bourbon stamp was strug- gling for existence. It does not appear that the governor of Louis- iana or his subordinates expected the treaty to be carried into ef- fect. They had some hope that the inhabitants would remain loyal to the king. The subject is further presented in "Advent of the Flag" and other articles.

The first treaties of the United States with the Indians of the Southwest after the settlement of the question of American suprem- acy over the Indians, which was an essential part of the treaty with Spain, were those at Chickasaw Bluffs and Loftus Heights, by General Wilkinson, to secure the right to improve the Natchez Trace. the famous route for river traders returning northward from New Orleans. Next came the treaties at Fort Confederation which provided for the resurvey of the old line of Natchez district, which had been neglected during the Spanish regime.

Concerning this negotiation with the Choctaws President Jef- ferson wrote in his message to congress December 15, 1802: "The country to which their title had been extinguished before the Rev-

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olution is sufficient to receive a very respectable population, which Congress will probably see the expediency of encouraging, so soon as the limits shall be declared. We are to view this position as an outpost of the United States, surrounded by strong neighbors, and distant from its support." (Authority, Spanish Records of the Natchez District on file in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Used for the first time in this work.)

Natchez Fencibles, a famous volunteer military company organ- ized under the leadership of John A. Quitman, April 21, 1824, with the motto, "Try Us." The stated days of parade were Janu- ary 8, February 22, April 21 and July 4. In 1827 the officers were : John A. Quitman, captain; John I. Guion, first lieutenant; Duncan S. Walker, second lieutenant; A. Bingham, third lieutenant; G. Powell, W. H. Chaille, Daniel C. Miller, Henry Millard, sergeants ; Henry T. Miller, Benjamin Wade, James Ferguson, Eli Mont- gomery, corporals; William C. Grissam, treasurer; David John- ston, inspector. Under this name Company G, 12th regiment, was mustered in April 5, 1861.

Natchez Hospital. The Natchez hospital was incorporated January 18, 1805. Governor Holmes addressed the governors of Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, in May, 1818, stating that the hospital had hitherto received its principal support from the legislature and the donations of charitable individuals, but as it was intended chiefly for stran- gers, the boatmen of the river, other States were asked to contribute to its maintenance. "It may however be proper to say that the best medical assistance is rendered gratuitously, and that the building, which is situated on a healthy eminence, is well calcu- lated to answer the purpose for which it was intended." In 1840 the State hospital at Natchez treated 166 patients, $5,000 was an- nually drawn from the State treasury, $500 from special taxes and $5,697 from relief committees. The hospital is now mainly main- tained by the State, the appropriations of 1904-05 aggregating over $35,000.

Natchez Indians. The Natchez Indians have long since been extinct as a nation, and they live only in story and tradition, and in the name of the beautiful old city of Natchez, built in the heart of the region they once inhabited. Dim traditions hint that they were once a powerful people, boasting some sixty villages and eight hundred suns or princes. Father Charlevoix wrote of them in 1721: "About six years ago they reckoned among them four thousand warriors. It appears that they were more numerous in the time of M. La Salle, and even when M. d'Iberville discovered the mouth of the Mississippi. At present the Natchez cannot raise two thousand fighting men. They attribute this decrease to some contagious diseases, which in these last years have made a great ravage among them." Father le Petit declared that the Natchez were reduced to six little villages and eleven suns, at the time of the massacre of the French in 1729. The Taensas Indians, who oc- cupied the present parish of Tensas in Louisiana, were an offshoot

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of the Natchez, with the same religion, manners and customs. The fertility of the Natchez district at once appealed to the French, and d'Iberville took pains to conclude a formal treaty of peace with the tribe in 1700; and in 1716 Bienville built Fort Rosalie and established the first French post among them. From this time on many French settled among them. The first settlers bought their lands of the Indians, but afterwards little regard was shown for Indian proprietorship. This steady encroachment of the French on their domain, combined with ill-treatment and cupidity, precipitated the fatal massacre of 1729. (q. v.)

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 37

Author: Dunbar Rowland Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant Number of Pages: 1020

Author: Dunbar Rowland
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Madison, Wis. : S.A. Brant
Number of Pages: 1020