Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 58

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 58

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Quitman County was established late in the history of the State, February 1st, 1877, during the administration of Gov. John M. Stone, and was named in honor of Gov. John A. Quitman. The county has a land surface of 409 square miles. It was carved from

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the counties of Tunica, Coahoma, Tallahatchie and Panola. Its limits are defined as follows: "Beginning at the northeast corner, of Coahoma county, and running thence south with the boundary of Coahoma county to the northeast corner of section 33, T. 28, R. 2 west; thence west on section lines to the range line between ranges 2 and 3 west; thence south on the range line to the south- west corner of T. 26, R. 2, west; thence east on the township line to the range line between ranges 1 and 2 east; thence north on said line to the boundary line between the Chickasaw and Choctaw ces- sions ; thence northwest with the said line to the point at which it touches the western boundary of Panola county ; thence north with the said boundary to the northeast corner of T. 7, R. 10, west of the Chickasaw survey, thence west with the northern line of said township to the township line between townships 7 and 8; thence west with said tonship line to the beginning." The act creating the county directed that the county site be located by the Board of Supervisors at a point on the west side of Coldwater river, and that it be called Belen. The old boundary line between the Choc- taw and the Chickasaw cessions cuts across its northeast corner and forms the northeastern boundary for a short distance. It lies entirely within the Mississippi and Yazoo Delta Region, in the northwestern part of the State, is a narrow, irregular shaped body of land, bounded on the north by Tunica county, on the east by Panola and Tallahatchie counties, on the south by Tallahatchie county and on the west by Coahoma county. It is the most sparsely settled county in the State, has no towns or villages of any size, but possesses a soil of immense fertility with ample shipping facilities for its products. Settlers have begun to come in rapidly during the last few years. The white population is still very small indeed, numbering in 1900 only 1,258 souls. Belen, the county seat, is a small village of 177 people (census, 1900) in the western part, off the railroad, and was named for the battle ground where Gen. Quitman fought during the Mexican War. Other towns in the county are Sabino, VanBuren, Yarbrough, Darling and Sledge. The Yazoo & Miss. Valley R. R. traverses the county from north to south, branching at Yarbrough to run to Yazoo City and Durant. The Coldwater river flows from the north in a winding course through the center and unites near the southern border with the Tallahatchie and Yocona rivers to form the sluggish Yazoo. These streams, together with Cassidy's Bayou and Opossum Bayou, afford it good water facilities. There are 23,360 acres of cleared lands in the county according to the census of 1900. On the balance of the land is a considerable timber growth of very large white oak and cypress, red and sweet gum, poplar, black walnut and hickory. The soil is all alluvial, bottom land, and will produce from one to two bales of cotton per acre and from thirty to sixty bushels of corn. These are the principal crops, but oats, wheat, sorghum, millet and tobacco are also grown and do well when properly cultivated. Vege- tables and fruits also do well while Bermuda, Orchard, Herds, Johnson and other grasses, and red clover, grow luxuriantly. Pas-

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turage for stock is good the year through, grasses in summer and cane-brakes in winter. In common with most of the Delta Region, the healthfulness of Quitman county is now radically improved by tapping the artesian basin underlying it for pure cold water, The school and church privileges to be found here are fairly good considering the sparsely settled condition of the county.

The following statistics were taken from the twelfth U. S. cen- sus for 1900 and relate to farms, manufactures and population :- Number of farms 1,031, acreage in farms 56,813, acres improved 23,363, value of land exclusive of buildings $703,290, value of build- ings $125,360, value of live stock $190,900, total value of products not fed to stock $536,930. Number of manufactures 13, capital invested $66,653, wages paid $3,874, cost of materials $10,911, total value of products $30,604. The population in 1900 consisted of whites 1,258, colored 4,177, total 5,435, increase of 2,149 over the year 1890. The total assessed valuation of real and personal prop- erty in Quitman county in 1905 was $1,385,016 and in 1906 it was $1,483,457.50, which shows an increase of $98,441.50 during the year.

Quitman, John A., was born at Rhinebeck, N. Y., September 1, 1798. He was the grandson of a Prussian of some distinction, who resided near the city of Cleves, on a small island in the river Rhine. His son, Frederick Henry Quitman, born there, was edu- cated at the University of Halle, and was sent, as a missionary, to the Dutch island of Curacoa, where he married the daughter of the governor. Removing thence to New York State, he was a Lutheran pastor of distinction and president of the general synod of that church in the United States. John Anthony Quitman, the youngest of three sons, was educated at Schoharie and Chadwick, and before he was twenty-one was an instructor at Mount Airy college, near Philadelphia. His father had directed his education toward the ministry, and he was trained in modern and ancient languages, including the Hebrew, but his own taste was for the law. In 1820 he went west, to Chillicothe, Ohio, to teach and study, and passed the year's residence required for admission to the bar as clerk in the land office at Delaware, Ohio. But on his voyage to Ohio he had made the acquaintance of the wife and daughter of Judge Griffith, of New Jersey, and the advice of Mrs. Griffith that he should go to Mississippi, had great influence with him.

In 1821 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Ohio militia, made a master mason, and licensed to practice by the supreme court, October 22. Then he started out to ride horseback to Natchez, but was swindled in a horse-trade, and having no money to better himself, took steamer from Louisville. Arriving at Natchez, he presented William B. Griffith, then a famous lawyer, a letter of introduction from his mother, and was given a place in his office. In the course of a year he became a partner. December 24, 1824, he married Eliza, daughter of Henry Turner, of Wood- lands, near Natchez, a brother of Judge Turner, whose daughter was the wife of Mr. Griffith. In 1827 Griffith died, and Quitman

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took as a partner John T. McMurran, a young man lately from Ohio. It was a time of great extravagance, fees were large, litiga- tion abundant, and the firm rapidly gained wealth and importance. Quitman established here his home of "Monmouth." He was a man of stalwart frame, with powerful fists that he occasionally used aggressively. The wealth he acquired he dispensed royally.

In 1827 he became a candidate for the legislature, independent of politics, against the redoubtable Adam L. Bingaman, and won the honor by his feats of wrestling, boxing, running and shooting as well as by other abilities. He revised the militia code, and in 1828 was unanimously elected chancellor of the State. "He was the youngest man that had ever been raised to a judicial office of such dignity in any part of the Republic. He sustained himself well in this very responsible position, and to the entire satisfaction of all parties." (H. S. Foote.)

He seems to have first plunged into national politics in 1831-32, when he declared for ultra State sovereignty, joining Poindexter in opposition to Jackson. He was a candidate for the constitutional convention in 1832, and elected. He framed those sections of the constitution of 1832 relating to the judiciary; he was also the author of the original draft of the section, modified before adoption, which restricted the pledging of the faith of the State in support of banking enterprises, etc. This section was appealed to in 1841 to relieve the State of the incubus of Union bank bonds. After the convention he was elected by popular vote as chancellor of the State.

In 1833 the cholera invaded the State and two of his children died. In 1834 he resigned the chancellorship. His biographer says "those who disputed his decisions never doubted his conscientious- ness and integrity." Sparks wrote, (Memories, 346) : "His admin- istration was weak and wild; a vast number of his decisions or awards in chancery were overruled, and in disgust or from a con- sciousness that a chancery judgeship was not his specialty, he re- signed." He was known as a leader of the small party of Nulli- fiers ; when they met in convention at Jackson, May 21, 1834, he wrote their address to the people. He had a very slight following in that respect in Adams county, but he was so personally popular that in December. 1834, he was elected to the State senate. In 1835, when Gov. Runnels refused to serve more than two years, exactly, the senate was called in special session to elect a president, who should be acting governor. and Quitman was chosen. As acting-governor he served until the governor-elect was inaugurated in January following. He sent a message to the legislature, taking advantage of the opportunity in a way unique among the messages of the governors of Mississippi in that period, dwelling at some length on the subject of "federal relations," "Centralism," and slav- ery. He further declared that the Five per cent. fund from the sales of public land of the United States was not "a gift or donation." He suggested a doubt if congress had any right to impose condi- tions regarding the public lands when the State was admitted to

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the Union. In regard to the omission in the Chickasaw treaty to reserve the school sections, he advised that the State declare the "contract" with the United States violated, and levy taxes on the land in disregard of the agreement that new settlers should have five years of grace. He urged with great force establishment of common schools (see Education), the encouragement of railroads of manufacturing, and an increase of banking capital.

He declined appointment to the supreme court, and became pres- ident of a company organized to build a railroad from Natchez to Jackson. He wrote his brother that he was president of the State Rights association, of the Anti-Abolition society, of the Anti-Gambling society, of the Mississippi Cotton company, of the Anti-Duelling society, of the Railroad company, director of the Planters bank, grand master mason, captain of the Natchez Fencibles, trustee of Jefferson college and Natchez academy, be- sides having charge of a cotton and a sugar plantation and 150 negroes.

Quitman was a great expansionist-a devout believer in "mani- fest destiny." After his service as acting governor his main thought was of the war in Texas, in which he was anxious to take part. His darling passion was the military. April 21, 1824, he had organized the famous Natchez Fencibles, of which he was yet the captain. When the news reached Natchez, in March, 1836, that Sam Houston was retreating before Santa Anna in Texas, Capt. Quitman organized a company of volunteers and set out for Texas, reaching San Jacinto in time to join the jubilation over the defeat of the Mexican troops. To avoid the neutrality laws of the United States, he and Felix Huston published a statement that they were going to travel up the Red river, but there was no secrecy about their intentions. This adventure cost him $10,000, but the expen- diture was cheerfully made. Later in the year he was a candidate for congress, but was defeated by the Administration candidate, Gholson, the vote being 9,676 to 8,897. A canvass for congress at that time cost about $10,000.

In 1837 he was elected major-general of militia, over William M. Gwin. In 1839, in company with Judge Thatcher, he visited Europe to sell bonds of the Planters bank and the Mississippi rail- road company. After his return he was deeply embarrassed finan- cially, but a few years of practice as a partner of McMurran served to restore his prosperity. January 8, 1840, he was commissioned justice of the High court, to succeed P. R. R. Pray, but he declined the honor. Next came on the repudiation question. He had op- posed the chartering of the Union bank, and he now argued that the State, having sold the bonds and taken the money, was morally bound to redeem the bonds. He opposed McNutt in 1843 and de- nounced the unseating of Prentiss.

He expected to be elected to the United States senate as a result of Foote's campaign against McNutt in 1845, but Foote was the choice of the legislature. Quitman "was deeply stung with what he considered ingratitude, and had good reason to consider treach-

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ery, and for a period he expressed himself with bitterness." (Clai- borne.) On the other hand Foote had a complaint of ingratitude and treachery against Quitman in 1850. (Reminiscences, p. 352.) The military movements on the Rio Grande now absorbed attention, and as major-general of militia he tendered his services to the gov- ernor, in preparing for war. Gov. Brown responded, "It will be your right to have the first command in case of a call, and that right will be respected so far as I have anything to do with the matter." When congress authorized the general call for troops, May 13, 1846, Quitman was mourning the death of children. But he tendered his services to President Polk on the 21st, and started to Wash- ington. Polk was chilly, but the pressure of friends secured Quit- man a commission as brigadier-general July 1, He was back at Natchez July 28 and visited his desolate home. In his diary he wrote: "I was saddened and depressed, and should have felt alone in the world, but the mild spirits of my lost children came to fill my heart. The little group of angels, John, Edward, Mary and Sarah, seemed to gather visibly about me, and my mind was soothed with gentle and tranquil visions." Reaching the Rio Grande in August, he was soon assigned to brigade command. (See Mexican War.) He and Worth led the two columns into Monterey that compelled its surrender. Quitman's horse was shot, and he received a contusion from a fragment of shell. He did not admire General Taylor, and disapproved the terms of capitu- lation, writing to that effect to Robert J. Walker, secretary of the treasury, when the administration was condemning Taylor, who was defended by Col. Jefferson Davis. Quitman was there for a war of conquest and subjugation and annexation of the entire republic of Mexico. For gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Monterey he was commissioned brevet major-general, September 23, 1846. In January, 1847, he was ordered, with almost all of Taylor's army, to report to Gen. Scott. He took part in the siege of Vera Cruz; was associated with Commodore Perry in the Alvarado campaign, spring of 1847, and secured "two fine Mexican guns of the calibre of 18 pounds," which he presented to the State in the spring of 1848. In March, 1847, congress voted him a sword "in testimony of the high sense entertained by congress of his gallantry and good conduct in storming Monterey." and April 14, 1847, he was commissioned in the full rank of major-general, United States army. While marching to the front of the column that was pushing toward the capital city, he received this commis- sion. Brevet Maj .- Gen. Worth continued in command of the ad- vance, however, and Gen. Quitman, who considered himself the officer next in rank to Gen. Scott, asked for command accordingly. Scott replied that he would have the new volunteer regiments, when they arrived, to fill up his division. He submitted to this sit- uation, though his command was only part of a brigade. During the battles ending with Churubusco, he was in command of the depot at San Augustin. In the attack upon the castle of Chapulte- pec he commanded the column that advanced along the Tacubaya

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causeway. Successful in this bloody assault, he ordered his col- umn against the Belen gate of the Mexican capital, and was among the first to reach the guns of the enemy's battery. Next morning he led his brigade to the grand plaza, and saluted the American flag on the dome of the capitol at 7 a. m. Scott, upon joining him, immediately gave him command of the city as civil and military governor. After restoring order, he applied for command of a full division, and not being gratified, obtained orders to report at Washington. He was given a grand reception at New Orleans and Natchez. The toast of Felix Huston was: "General Quitman : Second to none; six hours before any other chieftian, he fought his way into the heart of Monterey; eight hours before any other leader, he stormed the Garita and entered the city of Mexico; the first to plant the stars and stripes over the Halls of the Monte- zumas!"

On reaching Washington he presented plans for the permanent occupation of Mexico, and when the President offered him any po- sition to which his rank entitled him, asked for command of Gen. Taylor's district. This was promised but the arrival of the treaty of peace ended his hope of further military service. He was honorably discharged July 20, 1848.

He received a considerable support in the Democratic convention at Baltimore in 1848 for nomination to the vice presidency, and in the same year he was one of the presidential electors of his State.

In 1849 he was nominated by spontaneous meetings and after- ward by the State convention as Democratic candidate for gover- nor, though some of his best friends were averse to it. He was elected by a majority of about 10,000. (See his administration.) When he resigned and submitted to service of the writ from the United States court he was cheered by letters from all over the South. On reaching New Orleans he was serenaded and much lionized. He gave bond and awaited the trial of Gen. Henderson, which resulted in the failure of the jury to agree. Thereupon the indictment was dismissed in March, 1851. His relations to the Lopez movement may be indicated by the following extract from a letter to him from Gen. Henderson, after the trial: "With un- abated zeal, I present the project to your consideration for further pecuniary assistance, if you can devise the means to render it that assistance." He was also, apparently, expecting, while governor, to take command of the army of liberation as soon as the political issue at home was settled.

The collapse of his effort to lead Mississippi in rejecting the Compromise of 1850 of his gubernatorial campaign was a severe blow. So decided was the opposition that he abandoned his can- didacy in the midst of the campaign. (See Guion Adm.) Upon the meeting of the constitutional convention (q. v.) that he had called, it rebuked him in the most emphatic terms. Naturally. for a time he was out of politics, saying that nothing in his life had so mortified him as the backing-out of the Democratic leaders. "By sternly standing by our principles, a time may come for us to

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strike with effect. We may succeed in securing an equality in the Union, or our independence out of it, or at least fall gloriously." He continued to take a sectional view of the Union. He refused to take any part in the campaign of 1852, but wrote a letter in favor of Pierce, that was widely circulated. The Alabama South- ern Rights party nominated as a national ticket, Troup and Quit- man.

In 1853 he entered into a written agreement with the Cuban junta to accept command of the Cuban revolution with the powers of a dictator. The junta also voluntarily promised him one million dollars in case of success. He went to New Orleans after that and was actively engaged in organizing an invasion. The move- ment for a time promised success. Soulé, Buchanan and Madison, diplomatic representatives of the United States, issued the Ostend Manifesto, October 18, 1854, arguing that Spain should cede the island to the United States, because there was danger of a revolu- tion establishing an independent black government in Cuba, which would be a menace to the safety of slavery in the South. But, Marcy, the secretary of state, refused to pursue this policy, which would have led to intervention, as in 1898. In June, 1854, Quitman and others were summoned before the grand jury of the United States court at New Orleans, and he refused to testify. He was re- quired to show cause why he should not give bond to observe the laws of the United States regarding neutrality, and after a hearing was ordered under arrest, when he gave bond. In April, 1855, he resigned his commission from the junta, on account of disagree- ments.

In 1855, he was elected to congress from the Fifth district. Two years later he was reelected. When he took his seat he was made chairman of the committee on military affairs, a post he held until the termination of his public service. In April, 1856, he made a speech for the repeal of the neutrality laws, which was widely circulated. In this speech he plainly stated that he meant aid to the expedition of William Walker, then in Nicaragua, in order that that region might be added to the United States. He continued in the same general policy he had followed for years, looking toward separation of the South. In congress he carried his defense of slavery to the degree of denying the power of congress to prohibit the slave trade. He expected to be nominated for vice president at the Cincinnati convention of 1856, and did receive the highest vote on the first ballot, but was put aside for the nomination of Buchanan and Breckinridge. In 1857-58 he and Bonham of South Carolina stood out alone against the Kansas compromise bill; de- siring the direct issue to be met.

His last session of congress was that bitter one that culminated in the encounter between Grow of Pennsylvania and Keitt of South Carolina. Reuben Davis recorded in his Recollections that to his query as a new member, "Have you any definite policy," Quitman replied, "We have, and its aim and end is disunion." Quitman, with a martial spirit, hailed the Albert Sidney Johnston

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expedition against Utah as a forerunner of war, for the indepen- dence of the South.

His health became greatly impaired during that winter. With others he had suffered the mysterious sickness that followed the National Hotel banquet to President Buchanan, in the spring of 1857.

In May, 1858, he addressed the Palmetto regiment of the Mexi- can war at Columbia, S. C., and was received with great enthusi- asm. After his return to Washington he rapidly failed, and almost continually slept. Friends tenderly escorted him to Natchez, where he died at 5:30 p. m., July 17, 1858, aged fifty-nine years. The legislature and the bar of the State, and congress of the United States, and the Masonic order at large, paid every honor to his memory. His biographer, Mr. Claiborne, denies that he made Mr. Calhoun his model; declares that Calhoun was inconsistent and never fully trusted, lacking the heroic elements that Quitman possessed. "He had just lived long enough to have his principles fairly understood, and even those who differed with him confided in his unquailing courage and firmness. He was personally, the most popular man in America at the period of his death; and for six years previous to his death, could the machinery of parties have been dispensed with, the popularity he brought from Mexico, and his grand ideas of American progress, would have carried him to the head of affairs." Gen. Foote wrote: "He was truthful, hon- est, brave, of a slow and plodding intellect, but, in regard to ordi- nary matters, sound and practical in his views. He was over ambitious, fond of taking the lead in all things, somewhat given to selfishness, and was altogether the dullest and most prosy speaker I have ever known who could speak at all." (Remin- iscences, 356.) "He died too soon to take part in the great strug- gle on which his heart was set," wrote Reuben Davis. "A more ambitious man never lived. He desired office for its power and distinction. He was greedy of military fame. His nature was essentially military, and he was fond of the pomp and clash of arms. His courage amounted to indifference to danger. He was no actor. Naked heroism in battle, stripped of every thing like sham, sat upon him as gracefully as gentleness and goodness in private life." (Life and Cor. of John A. Quitman, by J. F. H. Claiborne.)

Quitman's Administration. Governor Quitman's inauguration, January 10, 1850, was made as splendid as possible, "and all that military pomp could do to add grandeur to the occasion was added. Governor Quitman was dressed in the uniform he had worn in Mexico, and mounted upon a white war-horse, with gorgeous trap- pings. Maidens dressed in white strewed flowers before him, and sang 'Hail to the chief who in triumph advances.'" The executive officers were: Secretary of state, Joseph Bell, December. 1850, to January, 1852; auditor, George T. Swarm; treasurer, Richard Griffith ; attorney-general, John D. Freeman. (See Matthew's Adm.)

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 58

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