USA > Mississippi > Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II > Part 64
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His obituary notice in the Natchez "Southern Galaxy" reads: "In person Mr. Reed was above the ordinary height, but of delicate frame. He possessed a pleasing address-affable and urbane. . As a lawyer, Mr. Reed had obtained a high eminence. In popular declamation before a jury, he may not have been pre-eminent ; but in legal argument, we shall give no offence when we say, he had no equal. His deficiency in the knowledge of mankind and in moral courage-in firmness and promptitude of action, were the great source of his errors. Hesi- tating under the fear of going wrong, he was exposed to the very errors he would have avoided. As a man, Mr. Reed was, we be- lieve, universally respected."
The wife of Senator Reed was Margaret A., daughter of Isaac Ross. In maidenhood she was betrothed to a young lawyer named Fry, who was killed in duel by Daniel Beasley, who out of remorse joined the troops at Baton Rouge, was commissioned major, and
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was in command at Fort Mims when killed. She was the widow of one of the Archers when she married Reed.
Reese, a postoffice of Coahoma county.
Rees Store, a post-hamlet of Monroe county, situated on Butta- hatchie river, about 12 miles southeast of Aberdeen, the county seat. Population in 1900, 50.
Reeves, a post-hamlet of Carroll county, 16 miles south of Car- rollton, the county seat. Population in 1900, 20.
Reform, a post-hamlet of Choctaw county, situated 6 miles north- east of Chester, the county seat, and 8 miles north of Ackerman the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 63; in 1906 it was esti- mated at 200. It has a saw mill and cotton gin, and is on the M. J. & K. C. R. R.
Refuge, a post-hamlet of Washington county, on the Mississippi river, 10 miles below Greenville. Population in 1900, 30.
Reganton, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of Claiborne county, one mile east of the Big Black river, and about 20 miles northeast of Port Gibson, the county seat. Population in 1900. 48. It has 2 stores, one church and a school.
Reid, a post-hamlet of Calhoun county, 10 miles northeast of Pittsboro, the county seat. Population in 1900, 17.
Reids Switch, a postoffice of Benton county, on the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham R. R., 15 miles south of Ashland, the county seat.
Relay, a postoffice of Smith county, about 12 miles northeast of Raleigh, the county seat.
Religious Toleration. Concerning the toleration of religious freedom during the Spanish dominion, it is said by Claiborne, in his "Mississippi," pp. 136-7:
"A large majority of the settlers were Protestants, who enjoyed their faith and the right of private worship. No attempt was made to proselyte or proscribe them, nor was there ever any official interference unless the parties in their zeal, or under in- discreet advisers, became offensively demonstrative. There was in fact, more religious freedom and toleration for Protestants in the Natchez district, than Catholics and dissenters from the ruling denominations, enjoyed in either Old or New England. The re- ligious bigotry and proscription so prevalent at that day, in Mas- sachusetts-the sectarian frenzy which has been witnessed, in our own times, distracting families, burning convents, enforcing test oaths and carrying religion into politics, and politics into the pul- pit. were entirely unknown. It was a community of Protestants under a strictly Catholic dynasty, in an age of intolerance." This statement might be misleading.
It is evident that the treatment of the inhabitants of West Flor- ida, with respect to being allowed to remain in their homes upon a mere oath of allegiance. without being required to profess the religion of their conquerors, was due to the enlightened policy of Gen. Galvez and Gov. Miro. But it was contemplated that under religious instruction they, or their children, would embrace the
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established religion. Hence no Protestant preachers were to be allowed. The situation at Natchez, according to Gov. Miro (see D'Arges Colony) was that the settlers were not to be disturbed by solicitation to become Catholics, but "they are not to have the free exercise of their religion"-that is, not to have the privilege of religious assembly. In 1786 the king ordered that parishes be formed, and put under the direction of Irish clergymen, in order to bring over the inhabitants and their families to the Catholic faith.
When the Yazoo companies threatened an American settlement in Mississippi, Miro wrote, in 1789, "It is to be feared that the conformity of language, manners and religion, the free and public exercise of which would be permitted, would draw thither a con- siderable number of the families now established in the Natchez district."
A commissary of the Holy Inquisition was appointed in New Orleans in 1789, during the revival of bigotry which followed the accession of Charles IV. This official notified Miro that he might need some guards soon, at a late hour of the night, to assist him in his operations. Miro wrote home, "When I read the communica- tion of that Capuchin, I shuddered." He sent an officer and guards, at a late hour of the night, to the priest's room, seized him, and put him on a ship for Spain. "The mere name of the Inquisition uttered in New Orleans," he wrote, "would be sufficient to check immigration, but would also be capable of driving away those who have recently come."
Miro refused to sanction the privileges of the proposed Morgan colony which founded New Madrid, because, having self-govern- ment, "they would declare themselves independent, and what is worse, having the free use of their respective religious, they would never become Catholics."
"While Protestants were tolerated, they were not free in the practice of their religion. Rev. Adam Cloud, the first Episcopal minister in this section, was persecuted and driven away. and many interesting accounts are extant, illustrations of the spirit of Span- ish bigotry and persecution."-Gerard Brandon, "Historic Adams County."
For more than thirty years anterior to March 30, 1798, says the Rev. John G. Jones, in his History of Methodism, "a Protestant population had been gradually accumulating in the Natchez dis- trict." because of the claims of Georgia and the United States, "in either case affording reasonable assurance that the country would ultimately be opened for the free introduction of the Protes- tant faith and forms of Christianity. But these first Protestant families had to endure a long and bitter persecution from the ad- herents of Catholicism, under a rigid Catholic government, even to personal abuse, imprisonment and banishment from the coun- try." Of the experience of the Swayze settlement, after the Span- ish conquest, Mr. Jones writes: "The public worship of all Protestants was prohibited under heavy pains and penalties, and for the succeeding nineteen years could only be kept up clandes-
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tinely. Wherever their bibles and other Protestant books could be found by the emissaries of the priesthood, they were committed to the flames. Rev. Mr. Swayze often concealed himself and his bible in the hollow of a large sycamore tree, standing on the margin of what is still known as Sammies Creek, in the midst of a dense canebrake."
In June, 1791, Governor Gayoso gave permission for a Baptist clergyman to preach one Sunday, at the home of Col. Hutchins, "which was the first time a protestant minister had been allowed to hold religious services." (Forman's Journal, p. 58.)
Governor Gayoso at Natchez, September 20, 1793, proclaimed the recently expressed intentions of his gracious sovereign regarding his subjects in Louisiana and the Floridas who did not profess the Catholic religion, "to furnish them the means of legitimatizing their posterity." It was, in order to bring about this highly desir- able end, ordained that "contracts of matrimony between his be- loved subjects, either Protestant with Protestant, or Catholic with Protestant, shall be celebrated before the Parish Priests established in his said dominions." The priests were informed that this was one of their principal duties.
March 29, 1897, Gayoso issued a proclamation intended to con- ciliate and hold the affections of the inhabitants, at a critical mo- ment, and this contains the most liberal provision regarding relig- ion that the Spanish government had made. He said: "The mis- construction of what is meant by the enjoyment of the liberty of conscience is hereby removed, by explaining it positively to be, that no individual of this government shall be molested on account of religious principles, and that they shall not be hindered in their private meetings ; but no other public worship shall be allowed, but that generally established in all his Majesty's dominions, which is the Catholic religion." (Ellicott's Journal, p. 66.)
This was followed in June by the arbitrary sending to the stocks of Hanna, the Baptist pioneer preacher, for the reason, according to the governor's own statement, that he was insolent to him in demanding redress for an assault suffered. This proceeding brought on the revolution that ended the Spanish government in the Natchez.
September 9, 1797, after he had become governor-general, Gayoso gave the following instructions regarding settlers in Spanish ter- ritory: "The privilege of enjoying liberty of conscience is not to extend beyond the first generation. The children of those who enjoy it, must positively be Catholics. Those who will not conform to this rule are not to be admitted, but are to be sent back out of the province immediately, even though they possess much prop- erty. The commandants will take particular care that no Protes- tant preacher, or one of any sect other than the Catholic, shall in- troduce himself into the province. The least neglect in this re- spect will be a subject of great reprehension."
Remus, a hamlet of Leake county, situated on Humbleton creek, an affluent of the Pearl river, about 14 miles northeast of Carthage,
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the county seat. The postoffice here was discontinued in 1905, and it now has rural free delivery from Edinburg.
Renalara, a post-hamlet of Coahoma county, on the Riverside Division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 12 miles west of Clarksdale. Population in 1900, 50.
Reneau, Sallie Eola. This lady, the pioneer of higher education for women in Mississippi, then having her home at Grenada, sent to Governor McRae in 1856 an elaborate memorial, accompanied by a scheme of organization. The legislature passed an act of in- corporation of a State Female college, to be located in Yalobusha county, but there was no endowment. An attempt to obtain the same from congress was unsuccessful. Again, in 1872, Miss Reneau secured an amendment to the charter of the State university, es- tablishing the Reneau female university as a branch, the amend- ment to become operative when congress should bestow an endow- ment. The latter was not forthcoming for this, nor for the Female university to be located at Sardis, chartered in the following year. "Thus baffled, after a contest of twenty years, Miss Renau left the State, and fell at the post of duty at Germantown, Tenn., in the epidemic of 1879. . In the noble cause to which she devoted much of her life she displayed an energy and a courage worthy of success, and although victory perched not on her banner, yet should her name along with Mrs. Peyton's be ever honored." (Chancel- lor Mayes.)
Renfroe, a post-hamlet of Leake county, situated on Yellow Creek, 10 miles north, northeast of Carthage, the county seat. Pop- ulation in 1900, 21.
Renova, a postoffice of Bolivar county, on the Yazoo & Missis- sippi Valley R. R., 3 miles north of Cleveland. It has a large saw mill plant and the town is growing rapidly.
Repudiation Resolution. (See Banking.) The political issue in the election of a governor and legislature in 1841 was the proposed repudiation of the Union bank bonds. Tilghman M. Tucker, the repudiation candidate, was successful by a majority of 2,286. "The vote for governor by counties shows that the repudiators were uniformly successful in the poor and sparsely settled agricultural districts of the State, while heavy majorities against repudiation were returned in Adams, Hinds, Madison and Warren counties, that represented the bulk of the State's population and taxable property. On February 18, 1842, scarcely a month after the new administration had gone into office, there passed by the impressive majorities of 16 to 10 in the senate and 54 to 37 in the house, the famous repudiation resolution reported by the special committee. This resolution is worded as follows: That for the reasons set forth in the foregoing report, this legislature denies that the State of Mississippi is under any legal or moral obligation to redeem the five millions of bonds, sold by the com- missioners of the Mississippi Union bank to Nicholas Biddle on the 18th day of August 1838. But while the Legislature does most solemnly repudiate said bonds, and declare the sale thereof as il-
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legal, fraudulent and unconstitutional, yet, that the holders of those bonds may have every possible legal and equitable remedy for collecting the amount paid on said bonds, they are hereby invited to pursue the remedy afforded by our laws and Constitution against the Mississippi Union bank and against all and every person who, by his, her or their connection with said institution, have rendered him, her or themselves liable, either in law or equity, for the debts of said bank.'" The High court of Errors and Appeals decided in 1853 by unanimous vote that the reasons upon which the legis- lature based this declaration, were inconsequential, and that the bonds were a debt of the State. "However, this decision was nul- lified the same year by a vote of the people repudiating the Planters' as well as the Union bank bonds, and was given its coup de grace by the Constitution of 1890, which expressly prohibits the payment of any indebtedness alleged to be due by the State of Mississippi to the Union and Planters' banks. This indebtedness consists of $2,000,000 of Planters' bank bonds and $5,000,000 of Union bank bonds." It has been suggested by Major R. W. Millsaps that the people of the State have in the expenses of obtaining loans since the act of repudiation, more than paid the amount repudiated, to financiers not entitled to the same, leaving the victims of the bonds unrequitted. (History of Banking, C. H. Brough, Publ. M. H. S., III, 317.)
Rest, a post-hamlet of Neshoba county, 9 miles due north of Philadelphia, the county seat. Population in 1900, 36.
Retreat, a postoffice of Calhoun county, 8 miles southwest of Pittsboro, the county seat.
Retta, a postoffice of Attala county, about 16 miles north of Kosciusko, the county seat.
Retus, a postoffice of Sunflower county, 18 miles due north of Indianola, the county seat, and one mile south of the station of Halstead, on the Boyle & Sunflower branch of the Yazoo & Miss. Valley R. R.
Revels, Hiram R., the first negro United States senator, was born at Fayetteville, N. C., September 1, 1822. He was unable to obtain an education in his native State, moved to Indiana, attended the Quaker seminary in Union county, and was a preacher in Bal- timore, Md., at the beginning of the war. He assisted in organiz- ing the first two colored regiments in Maryland. He taught school in St. Louis, moved to Vicksburg, and afterwards to Natchez. He held various local offices, and was elected United States sena- tor, serving from February 25, 1870 to March 3, 1871. He was president of Alcorn university for the next ten years; removed to Richmond, Ind., and became pastor of the African Methodist church. He died at Aberdeen, Miss., January 16, 1901.
Revenue Agent. Owing to the character of tax-collectors during the period from 1868 to 1876, a large amount of money collected failed to reach the government. By act of March 4, 1875, the gov- ernor was authorized to appoint one or more agents, at a compen- sation of not more than 50%, to bring suit on the bonds of tax
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collectors of counties or levee boards, where money collected had been improperly withheld or where any erroneous or false state- ment of the amount of tax had been made. In order to make way for a more stringent law, this act was repealed without the ap- proval of Gov. Ames, January 28, 1876, and on April 15, Gov. Stone approved an act fixing compensation at 25%, and stating with much more minuteness the cases where suit could be brought. The provisions of this act were slightly extended in 1877 and 1880, and in 1884 the law was extended to include cities and towns. No great amount of good seemed to be done, as at this time most of the officials were honest in collections, and the trouble was seen to be in the assessment. In 1888 the supreme court held that the office had expired. By an act of February 22, 1890, revised by the code of 1892, the office of Revenue Agent was again created, the agent to be appointed by the governor for two years, and, after 1895, to be elected for four years, who should collect taxes not only from officers, but also from persons and corporations when not paid promptly, and who could in addition have the power of assessing property not properly assessed. In the March, 1893, term of the Supreme Court this law was held unconstitutional, as it transferred by legislation to the Revenue Agent duties assigned by the constitution to the assessor. The law under which the Agent acts at present is that of February 7, 1894, and it avoids the constitutional point by requiring the Revenue Agent to in- form the assessor of property not duly assessed and to bring suit on this assessment. Public attention was attracted to it by the famous cases in 1898 against the Illinois Central and Yazoo Mississippi Valley railroads. The cases were appealed to the United States Supreme Court, and the case of the State sus- tained at every point, so that near a million dollars was collected from these roads. These are the "back tax cases." but the law has also become well known to individuals and corporations in all parts of the State.
Gen. Wirt Adams was appointed State revenue agent by Gov- ernor Stone in 1880, served until his resignation November 12, 1885, when Wirt Adams, Jr., was appointed. Continuing in the office, he was elected for a term of four years in 1895, and has since then been reelected.
In his message of 1902 Governor Longino said: "The amounts collected by and through the State revenue agent and paid into the State, county, municipal and levee board treasuries for the past two years, is unprecedented in the history of that office, and is ample evidence of the efficiency of Agent Wirt Adams, who has conduc- ted all suits instituted by him with fairness and impartiality. By reference to his report it will be seen that he has paid in to the State treasury the sum of $345,552. into county treasuries the sum of $435,654. into municipal treasuries $43,930, and into levee board treasuries $3.521. which, together with amounts in hands of tax collectors ($52.150) makes a grand total of $1.096,958, less his fees."
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In 1905 the revenue agent made an investigation of the fiscal affairs of the various institutions of the State, which he reported in 1906. The collections by and through the office in 1904 and 1905 were over $250,000.
Revive, a post-hamlet of Madison county, about 18 miles north- east of Canton, the county seat and nearest banking town. Popu- lation in 1900, 47.
Revolt of 1781. Gayarre, in his history of Louisiana, ascribes the revolt of Natchez district in 1781 mainly to "the British ad- herents who had settled in that neighborhood in 1775, under Gen- eral Lyman. These men had seen with much regret the British flag succeeded by the Spanish. When they heard that Galvez had dared invade Florida, their patriotism did not doubt of his defeat, and, in the excess of their zeal, they determined to give a proof of their loyalty to their sovereign. They secretly formed the plan of driving away the Spaniards, engaged most of the other inhabitants in the conspiracy, and secured the coopera- tion of some of the neighboring Indians." Wailes, in his Histori- cal Outline, names Thaddeus Lyman (son of the general) and his associates, as prominent in the movement. According to Calvin Smith (son of the Congregational minister) an eye witness in his boyhood, the persons actively in the lead were Col. Anthony Hutch- ins, Capt. D. Blomart, Jacob Winfrey, Christian Bingaman, all of whom had held commissions in the king's service, the two Alstons, and Turner Mulkey, a Baptist preacher. The district had been under Spanish control for two years. There was yet no reason to hope that Protestants would be permitted to remain in the country. There was a strong Protestant spirit animating the Ly- man and Swayze colonists. Spanish dominion meant an oath of allegiance to His Catholic Majesty, successor of Philip II. If Spanish dominion continued, therefore, they must seek homes else- where, but where would they go? The only chance was the desper- ate one of revolt, in the hope that it might prove a straw to throw the balance for British success. The religious hostility to Spain that was the spur to enterprise in the day of Sir Walter Raleigh and the beginnings of Virginia, had another manifestation here on the banks of the Mississippi.
In preparing for the revolt, a messenger, Mann, was sent to Governor Chester, at Pensacola, asking assistance. Chester and Campbell, in daily anticipation of an attack by an armada from Havana, sent such supplies as they could spare, (by packhorses, it may be inferred), but instructed Mann to stop in the Choctaw country with Fulsom, a white who had married in the nation and wait for further orders. Mann disregarded these orders, says Wailes, in the hope of plunder. He and Fulsom collected a party of about fifty (Wailes has it about twenty whites and as many Indians) and, approaching Natchez, precipitated the attack on the Spanish garrison. The inhabitants collected for action, believing they had the support and authority of Governor Chester. "As- sembling at the house of John Row, afterward the residence of Job
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Routh, the British flag was raised on April 22, in full view of the fort." (1781, not 1782, as given by mere oversight in both Wailes and Claiborne. Chester surrendered May 9, 1781.) During the night they came nearer to the fort (according to the story in Mar- tin's Louisiana) and brought some artillery to bear upon it, but a heavy fire from the Spanish guns soon forced them to retire. From the 24th to the 28th hostilities were kept up between the insurgents and the Spanish, and some gunshots were exchanged, which killed a few men. "On the 28th, the commandant of the fort sent one of his officers to the insurgents, to represent to them the danger to which they exposed themselves by a rebellion against their lawful sovereign, recommending to them, at the same time, to deliver up their leaders and disperse, and promising that, if they did so, the royal clemency should be extended to them. They promised to send an answer the next day. Accordingly, in the morning, a planter came to the fort with a letter from McIntosh, one of the most respectable inhabitants of the district, informing him that what the messenger would say could be relied on. This man, on being questioned, said the fort was undermined, and would be blown up on the following day. There was a deep valley at a very short distance from the fort, at which the Spaniards had noticed a considerable number of persons during the preceding days, a circumstance which gave some credit to the story. On the 29th, the men, according to the report of the commandant, being exhausted with fatigue and watching, and the provisions and am- munition being nearly consumed, the fort was surrendered, the garrison being permitted to march to Baton Rouge."
The narrative of Wiales is that the Spanish flag was sent out as soon as the fort was menaced. The warning of a mine was sent in by one Stille, who lived with Capt. Alexander McIntosh on St. Catherine, and was caught carrying a message of encouragement to the Spanish commandant. John Alston, "who had the art of imitating handwriting" prepared the substituted message, which was sent in to the garrison. The insurgents, under the command of Captain Blomart, with Winfrey and Smith as lieutenants, had been bombarding the fort from a position near Row's house, pro- tected by a deep ravine. using an old gun found at the French meadows on the St. Catherine, probably a relic of 1729, and two swivels captured from a Spanish gunboat waylaid below Natchez. With this equipment they could not do much damage to the heavy earth ramparts, or the stockade of cypress logs. In the exchange of shots, the Spanish demolished a small house in which some be- siegers took shelter. "A shot from the assailants passed through the commandant's house in the fort. and a corporal in the garrison was killed, the only life lost, it is said, in the attack." (See Wailes. of which Claiborne's account seems to be a confusion.) It was after a siege of this nature, "continued for a week with more noise than effect." says Wailes, that the ruse of a mine was successfully used. "The fort was strong, and said to be well provided with provisions and ammunition, and capable of sustaining a long siege.
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