Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 50

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 50

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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arriving, could have overwhelmed the invading army and main- tained our position at Vicksburg."

The condition of the people was indicated by prices, reckoned in this State or Confederate States money. In December, 1862. flour was selling at $50 to $75 a barrel in North Mississippi. It was $200 about Jackson next year. Men's boots sold at $30 to $50 a pair, calico $2 a yard. Watermelons brought $10 to $25 apiece. Envelopes were 5 cents each, matches of the poorest quality 25 a box.

April 30 Grant landed 20,000 men at Bruinsburg, a place famous in the old days of Aaron Burr. May 3 the governor issued a proc- lamation to the people of Mississippi, calling for a supreme united effort. "The chivalry of her people, the glory of her daring deeds upon foreign fields should not be tarnished and her streaming battle-flag dragged to the dust by barbarian hordes on her own soil. Awake then-arouse, Mississippi!" On the same day he called for 500 negroes to work on fortifications about Jackson. May 5 the State officers were instructed to prepare for removal on a half hour's notice the records and material necessary to carry on business.

May 12 there was a bloody battle at Raymond. The Federal columns pushed on to Jackson, and the capital was evacuated by Gen. Johnston and the State government May 14. Sherman took possession, with orders to destroy railroad and manufacturing property, after which he marched to rejoin Grant on the movement to Vicksburg. The State government was removed temporarily to Enterprise. From Meridian, June 27, the governor issued the proclamation calling the October elections. From Jackson, July ?, he called for 7,000 volunteers to serve six months from August 1, under authority of the war department. Two days later, Sher- man was before the fortifications of Jackson, with an army that compelled Johnston to retreat to Meridian on the 17th. August 11, Gov. Pettus proclaimed the removal of the seat of government from Meridian to Macon, Noxubee county. From there, October 4, he called the legislature to meet at Columbus. James Coates was appointed, October 9, librarian and keeper of the capitol and public grounds. On the first approach of Grant's army twenty- five convicts in the penitentiary, said to be unfriendly to the Con- federacy, were transferred to the prison at Wetumpka, Ala .; oth- ers were pardoned and mustered into the Confederate army, and the remainder were turned loose. The penitentiary, really a great manufactory, mainly military, making the State a profit of $60,- 000 a year, was entirely destroyed on Sherman's first visit. The Lunatic asylum did not suffer except in the damage to fencing and outbuildings during the siege in July. The Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind institution buildings were taken by the Confederate authorities as hospitals, and the furniture appropriated. The buildings of the first suffered considerably during the siege. The Blind institute was removed to Monticello and kept in operation, but only three of the deaf and dumb were held together.

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The State armory, which had been brought from Panola to Brandon earlier in the war, was moved to Meridian, where tem- porary buildings were erected for the reception of the machinery, unfinished guns and guns out of repair, and ordnance stores on hand. But the effectiveness of the armory was practically de- stroyed. The supreme court was authorized to meet wherever convenient, but it was in fact, practically suspended from 1861 to 1865.

The funds of the State treasury were taken first to Enterprise, thence to the Bank of Mobile, and from there, after the fall of Vicksburg, to the Central bank at Montgomery.

At the election in October votes were cast for Gen. Charles Clark, Gen. A. M. West, and Gen. Reuben Davis, for governor. No returns reached the legislature from Adams, Claiborne, Harri- son, Issaquena, Tunica, Warren and Washington. Some of the returns were unsealed. Of the sealed votes counted, Clark re- ceived 11,876, West 3,302, Davis 1,469. The unsealed votes were in about the same proportion.

There was in the treasury at the close of the Pettus administra- tion $408,000 subject to the payment of general warrants. By the issue of treasury notes a debt of about $8,000,000 had been in- curred, but $600,000 of the Cotton notes had been paid back into the treasury.

In his message of November, 1863, Gov. Pettus wrote: "There have been a flood of rumors as to the disloyalty of particular dis- tricts and localities of the State, but I have received no reliable information of any considerable disaffection in any quarter. It is perhaps true that some individuals, taking counsel of their fears, have taken the oath of allegiance to, and sought the protection of the government of the United States. But the great heart of the people of Mississippi remains as true to the cause, and their deter- mination to succeed in the great struggle in which we are en- gaged, and is as hopeful and bouyant as when the contest first be- gan."

Peyton, a postoffice of Claiborne county, about 12 miles south- east of Port Gibson, the county seat and nearest banking town.

Peyton, Ephraim Geoffrey, was born near Elizabethtown, Ky., Oct. 29. 1802. When 17 he emigrated, with an older brother, to Mississippi, and worked in a printing office in Natchez for a short time. Later he taught school and read law in Wilkinson county, near Woodville, until the winter of 1824-25, when he was ex- amined at Natchez and admitted to the bar. He began his practice at Gallatin, then the county-seat of Copiah county, and soon estab- lished a mercantile business at Grand Gulf on the Mississippi in addition to his law practice. About 1830 he married Artemisia Patton, of Claiborne county. In 1839 he was elected district at- torney of what was then the 4th judicial district, and was reelected several times, finally resigning to return to his general practice. As he was a pronounced Whig, his election in this strongly Demo- cratic district was a well merited compliment to his ability and his

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reputation for integrity. He bitterly opposed secession, and after the war became a Republican. In 1867 he was appointed to the Supreme Court (then the High Court of Errors and Appeals) by the military authorities; and, on the reorganization of the judiciary by the Constitution of 1869, he was commissioned, May 10, 1870, as chief justice, and reappointed in 1873 for nine years, but re- signed, May 1, 1876, and died at Jackson, Sept. 5, 1876. (Sce Supreme Court.) "His opinions as a judge are of the finest type," says Edward Mayes. He was such a close student that A. G. Brown said that for fifty years he studied law each day as if he ex- pected to be examined for the bar the next day. In his message of January, 1877, Governor Stone mentioned his death. "in justice to the worth and memory of one who was for many years an hon- ored and conscientious public servant," and added. "An eminent jurist and a man of incorruptible integrity, he discharged the duties of the exalted and responsible position with honor to him- self and the State."

E. G. Peyton, son of the foregoing. was born in Copiah county March 16, 1846; was a soldier in the Twelfth Mississippi regiment until captured at Fort Gregg. April 2, 1865; was admitted to the bar in 1867, and district attorney 1869-70; chancellor 1870-88; died June 19, 1889. He was an able chancellor and a great lawyer.

Pharsalia, an abandoned town in the northeastern part of Talla- hatchie county (q. v.), located on the south bank of the Yacona river. The town started about the time the county was organ- ized, and after weathering a severe small-pox epidemic and the great financial panic of 1837, it died out in 1842. Its prominent settlers were Dr. Broome. Dr. Shegog, J. Hunter, Augustus B. Saunders (Auditor of Public Accounts of Mississippi, 1837-1842), Goode and Keeland, Methodist ministers, James McClain and Eu- gene Stevens, school teachers, Col. Thos. B. Hill and Charles Bowen. Politics were rife here in the early days, and we are told that it "was the scene of many memorable political debates." Dr. F. L. Riley, in his sketch of the old town relates the following incident concerning one of these debates between John A. Quit- man and Henry S. Foote: "Quitman, being the first speaker, fin- ished his address and left. Foote then arose and alluded to Quitman's action in the following words: 'This reminds me of the days of old, when Caesar stood on the plains of Pharsalia and viewed the retreating Pompey. I. like Caesar, am left victorious at Pharsalia.' This created great enthusiasm for Foote."

Pheba, an incorporated post-village in Clay county, on the South- ern Ry .. 18 miles west of West Point, the nearest banking town. The village was named for Mrs. Pheba Robinson. It is located in a fine agricultural and stock raising country. Population in 1900, 300.

Phelan, James, was born at Huntsville. Ala., November 20, 1820, and was a descendant of an ancient family in Ireland. At the age of 14 he became an apprentice in the office of the Huntsville Dem- ocrat, but he had mental qualities of a high order and soon at-

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tracted attention as an editorial writer; was called by the Demo- cratic managers to take charge of their organ, the Flag of the Union, at Tuscaloosa; wielded a powerful influence, and in 1843 was elected State printer. He studied law and was admitted to the bar of Alabama in 1846; began practice in Huntsville, where he married Eliza Moore, and in 1849 removed to Aberdeen, Mis- sissippi, and rose to eminence as a lawyer. He espoused the cause of secession ; was elected to the State Senate in 1860, and was a senator in the first Confederate Congress ; earnestly supported the administration of Jefferson Davis, and after his term in the senate expired he held the position of military judge until the close of the war. He found himself impoverished at the close of the war, but President Johnson permitted him to resume the practice of law, and he removed to Memphis in 1867, where he practiced with marked distinction until his death, May 17, 1873.

Phelps, Alonzo, the "Rob Roy" of Mississippi, was a native of New England, who, according to his own story, fled to the Mis- sissippi valley after killing a rival in love. Roaming along the great river, he became a wild man, seldom entering a house as a friend, living on wild game, and committing crimes without appar- ent compunction. He committed numerous murders and robberies, and though often caught, a dozen times broke jail ; his crimes were often committed under circumstances more ludicrous than tragic. He was nearly six feet in height, with keen gray eyes and blood- red hair that stood up stiffly on his cranium. When finally cap- tured in 1832 and tried, he was defended by Henry S. Foote and prosecuted by Seargent S. Prentiss, Foote being at the time on crutches from his last duel with Prentiss. Judge Montgomery presided; John Gilbert, of Woodville, and Pelton, of Natchez, as- sisted Foote, and Gen. Felix Huston and others were associated with Prentiss. It was one of the most famous trials in Missis- sippi history, and the occasion of one of Prentiss' masterpieces of oratory. The outlaw was found guilty, but while in his cell, after sending for a minister, and having finished the writing of his autobiography, and despite his manacles, he made a slingshot of his leaden inkstand and a stocking, struck down the jailer when the minister was ushered in. He escaped from the jail but was shot and killed as he fled.

Phelps, Matthew, of Harwington, Conn., between the years 1773 and 1780, made two voyages to the Mississippi river; first, in search of health, and with a possible view of purchasing land and settling in that distant region. He invested in a tract of land on the Big Black river and returned east to get his family. After some delays incident to the breaking out of the struggle between the Colonies and Great Britain, he returned to Mississippi in 1776. His impressions of the region are set out in a book entitled Memoirs and Adventures of Captain Matthew Phelps, compiled by Anthony Haswell, from the original journal and minutes kept by Mr. Phelps, and published in 1802. His comments on the expedition of Capt. Willing to the Natchez District in the spring of 1778 are inter-

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esting. He says: "On the seventh of March, 1728, the distresses of the Revolutionary war began to afflict our remote settlements, and on a sudden put a stop to the efforts of honest industry, and agricultural enterprise among us. The first introduction of this distressing calamity, was communicated to us by the arrival of one James Willing, formerly of Philadelphia, with a small body of American soldiers in our quarter. His friends had, through the influence of Mr. Robert Morris, as it was believed, furnished him with a commission in the army, at once to rid themselves of an incumbrance which they deemed too heavy for them longer to sustain, and to oblige the country to contribute to the support of a spendthrift, of whose too profligate manners they had become heartily tired. Willing having thus obtained a commission, and being entrusted with the command of a few men, was ordered into our remote regions, to concilitate the affections of the settlers, and check the progress of the British trade, which was then flour- ishing in that quarter. As soon as Willing came into our vicinity he began to sound the disposition of the inhabitants, and to en- deavor to engage the men for the American service. He had blank commissions with him for subordinate officers, which he filled up as occasion required, and our settlers being well disposed to the American cause, almost universally, he met with so great success in recruiting, that in the settlements of our vicinity he enlisted about eighty hunters. . . In the addresses of Willing to the

settlers, he plead the cause of America with such persuasive elo- quence, and represented the justness of their warfare, the bravery of their soldiers, and the moral certainty of their ultimate success, in so engaging a point of view; that backing his persuasive rhet- oric with the most solemn assurances that five thousand American troops were on their way to this quarter, to establish a territorial boundary and protect the settlers against the Indians, Britons and Spaniards, or any of them, should they dare to make any intru- sions, he prevailed on the settlers very generally, to take an oath of strict neutrality, they being as before observed. with very few exceptions, friendly to the cause of liberty. Willing having en- listed about an hundred men in our vicinity, and commissioned officers to command them, proceeded to Manchac. At this place,

by a stratagem, he made himself master of an English armed ship, which he took down to New Orleans, and there sold to the Span- iards; and (as it was reported and believed among us) soon wasted the whole avails, or at least all that he could retain to himself, in a series of extravagance and debauchery. At length running short of the means to support himself in his wild career, he began to display the real vileness of his character, by the execution of a most detestable business. This was no other than going to Man- chac, with two subalterns, and about 35 or 40 men, of his original party, where they plundered the honest settlers without distinc- tion ; thus by proving themselves no better than a banditti of rob- bers, they did incalculable injury to the American cause." He then details what he claims was an attack on the settlers at the

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Natchez by a portion of Willing's force under one Harrison, and the successful resistance of the settlers, organized as "an armed association of about 500 men." As a result of "this most detes- table business, we resolved that we would form ourselves into a garrison, acknowledge ourselves British subjects, and turn out as universally as necessary to protect ourselves and the settle- ment : the proceeding of the banditti under Willing and Harrison having absolved us from the obligations, under which we had formerly lain. . The first military operation of consequence which we performed, was fixing up an old fort at the Natches, called fort Panmure, where we entered on regular garrison duty, and on the first of April we raised a corps of volunteers, and marched to the relief of the inhabitants of Manchac, or Manshac, who were still oppressed by the marauding of Willing and the residue of his gang, who fled at our approach. Here we repaired another old fort, which we left well garrisoned in a few days after by a party of associated settlers. Thus were the Americans dives- ted of the friendship of the settlers on this important frontier, by the villainy of this unprincipled little band of wretches." After a long account of the dissensions in the British garrison at Fort Panmure in the winter of 1778-9 and the spring of 1779, he thus speaks of a journey to fort Panmure from New Orleans, just prior to the surrender of that fortress to the Spaniards: "I sat out on my return to the Natches the last day of July (1779), and on the eighteenth of August arrived there safe, in tolerable health and spirits, my barge being the last boat the Spaniards permitted to pass, as the war between them and the British was formaliy de- clared at New Orleans in a few days after we left it, and on the eighth of September following the Spaniards invested the English forts in these quarters, but allowed the garrisons, in every instance to capitulate and surrender on honorable terms; permitting the soldiers to retire with the honors of war, and without molestation, to any British post they may chuse, and allowing the settlers eight months to dispose of their property, in case they did not incline to reside there and become Spanish subjects."

"Some time after I left the Mississippi, I met with my old friend Capt. Lyman, from whom I received information, that soon after the surrender of Fort Panmure by the British troops, to the Span- iards, himself and a number of Americans determined to return home if possible, or at least to put the fort into the possession of American troops, which lay at a small distance up the river, if practicable, in order probably to reap the emoluments from the public property in the garrison. To effect this design they artful- ly fomented uneasiness, and secretly planted the seeds of disaf- fection which by careful culture they matured to the growth of a general insurrection of the inhabitants, and a revolt from the newly established Spanish government, in the neighborhood of Fort Panmure. To protect themselves against the Spanish sol- diery, and carry their project into effect, the more securely, they conveyed intelligence of their procedure to the American com-

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mander, with whom they concerted a plan to take Fort Panmure from the Spaniards by stratagem, in which if they succeeded they would immediately hoist the British standard, and then he should come down, and make a vigorous sham attack upon the fort, after which they would surrender the fort to him, and the garrison should be allowed to retire with their effects, &c. to such place as they may chuse." Lyman having succeeded in his plan and gained possession of the fort by stratagem, "raised the British standard, and looked with impatience for the arrival of the Ameri- can party, but unfortunately for the revolters the Americans did not come down, according to agreement, but for what reason their deserted expectants never knew. The consequences of this fail- ure, were peculiarly fatal to the party, as the depth of their strat- agems were soon fathomed, their weakness discovered, and the Spaniards and Indians combined for their destruction, were pre- paring to come down against them in great force. Thus circum- stanced, the unfortunate Lyman and his party, conceived they had but one course to take; they prepared what provision they con- veniently could, and with a number of pack-horses, made their escape into the cane forests, and accompanied, many of them by their wives, children and negroes, determined to explore their way, if possible, to Georgia, through wilds of tedious length, and dangerous passage ; and over many a region till then untrodden by the foot of man. The undertaking of this journey was indeed an act of desperation. Its distance in a direct line, was many hun- dreds of miles, but it was rendered additionally tedious, by the existing necessity of avoiding the country of several inimical tribes of Indians, whose territory intercepted their direct course. The circumstances of this distressful tour were affecting beyond con- ception. Persons yet living in Springfield and its vicinity, who endured the perils of the journey, could fill an interesting volume, with the account of their extraordinary perils, sufferings, and es- capes, during their progress thro' the desert, in the course of which almost all the women, children, and negroes died."

"Among those concerned in the revolt and capture of Fort Pan- mure, there was one Col. Hutchins, who acted a conspicuous part, and was perhaps more influential than any other person in effec- ting the business. This man was supposed to be a confidential friend by the Spanish commandant, was admitted into his privy council at times, when he would get undiscovered to the fort, and by that means promoted its capture. But finding that the Americans had failed to take the fort, and that to conceal his treach- ery was impossible, he followed the example of Lyman and his party, by escaping into the cane forests with a number of pack horses, and about twenty men. Receiving information, however, that the Indians were in the canes in search of them, stimulated by the Spanish proclamation offering a handsome reward for their scalps, they took the track of Lyman and his party, aiming to make their way through the woods to Georgia, leaving their fami- lies and the residue of their effects behind them. Hutchins in par-

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ticular left an excellent plantation under good improvement, and tilled by twenty slaves, with nearly seventeen hundred head of neat cattle, and abundance of other stock. This great possession was confiscated except sufficient barely to support his wife, and the unfortunate party on the first or second night after they quitted the canes, was overtaken by the Indians, and all but two killed. Hutchins and only one more escaped under favor of the night, each of them with a gun, and who, when they reached Georgia, had not so much as the collar of a shirt hanging on them, and whatever became of him afterwards Captain Lyman could not inform." (See Anthony Hutchins.)

Philadelphia, the county seat of Neshoba county, is an incor- porated town of 700 people on the new line of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., 34 miles north of Newton. Twelve miles north of the town is the site of Nanih Waiya, (q. v.) the celebrated sacred mound of the Choctaw nation, and the greatest of the pre- historic monuments of the State. On the site of the town formerly stood the Indian town of Lune-bu-osh-ah, or "burnt frog." There is much to indicate that the country about Philadelphia was once the gathering center of the great Choctaw nation of Indians. Many evidences of their former occupancy of the region abound.

Philadelphia has two churches, several mercantile establish- ments, two saw milling plants, a large cotton compress, a cotton gin, and a bank, The Bank of Philadelphia, organized in 1904. The Neshoha Democrat is a weekly paper, edited by W. T. Quinn. The town supports an excellent high school. The Masons, Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the World have lodges. There are 4 rural mail routes leading from Philadelphia.

Philipp, a hamlet in the southwestern part of Tallahatchie county, on the Yazoo River, and a station on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 18 miles north of Greenwood. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 110.

Phillips, James, was born August 5, 1789, came to Mississippi about 1813, and was elected state treasurer, in 1828, and reelected. He resigned in January, 1835, saying of himself in his annual re- port, "Twenty-two years mark the length of my residence in Mis- sissippi-twenty years of which have, in some station or other been devoted to public life." He believed he saw the State just begin- ning to develop, under the influence of internal improvements, into commercial wealth and political supremacy. His parting ad- vice was, "that by extending legislative patronage, not to any par- ticular, local or sectional interest, but to the increasing and enter- prising industry of the great body of the people throughout the State, thereby stimulating them to put in requisition the whole of their moral and physical energies, the time will ere long arrive when the onerous system of direct taxes may with perfect safety be stricken from the pages of our statute book." He was represen- tative of Hinds county in the legislature, 1837. He died August 11, 1838.

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 50

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