Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 75

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 75

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).

The revenues of the last year, outside of separate districts were. balance on hand, $361,000; from distribution of State tax $1,110,- 851; polls, $305,596; Sixteenth section fund, $147,765; Chickasaw fund, $60,000; County levy, $156,000; and smaller items making a total of $2,170,648. The separate districts had a revenue of $750,- 000, of which the largest items were $237,374, city levy, and $164,- 863, State distribution. The total revenue for the State was $2,- 921,784, of which practically all was paid by taxation, as the so- called funds are all debts of the State treasury. The disbursements were $2,329,311.

Schooner, a postoffice of Chickasaw county.

Scobey, an incorporated post-town in the southwestern part of Yalobusha county, on the Memphis Division of the Illinois Central R. R., 13 miles north of Grenada, and 11 miles west of Coffeeville, one of the county seats of justice. Oakland is the nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 146. Two public cotton gins are located here.

Scooba, an incorporated post-town in the northeastern part of Kemper county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 41 miles north of Meridian, and 6 miles west of the Alabama line. Big Scooba creek, an affluent of the Tombigbee river flows a short distance to the south of the town. Scooba is an Indian word meaning "reed brake." Scooba lies near the northeastern prairie region of the State, and is surrounded by a good farming section. The Kemper Herald, a Democratic weekly, established in 1876, is published here. A. W. Struthers is the editor. The town has several good general stores, two saw milling plants, a fine Munger System cotton gin, five churches, three white and two colored ; a graded school and a bank, Bank of Kemper, established in 1904 with a capital of $25,000. The

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population in 1906 was estimated at about 600. During the first six months of 1906 three large brick business houses, eight dwell- ing houses and a large hotel containing 19 rooms were erected. One of the best livery barns in the county is located here. The Scooba postoffice is the third largest distributing office on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., between Mobile, Ala., and Jackson, Tenn., and the town has held its own with Meridian as a cotton market for the last twenty years.

Scotland, a postoffice in the extreme southeastern part of Talla- hatchie county, on Hurd creek, an affluent of the Tallahatchie river, about 15 miles southeast of Charleston, the county seat.

Scott, a post-hamlet of Greene county, situated on the Leaf river, about 14 miles southwest of Leakesville, the county seat. It is about 2 miles from the station of Leaf, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R. Population in 1900, 40.

Scott, Abram M., was a native of South Carolina, who settled in Wilkinson county before 1810, when he was appointed assessor. In 1812 he was collector of taxes. As a young Mississippian he had such prominence in 1812-13 that he was commissioned one of the captains in the First Mississippi regiment, United States volunteers, and served in this rank in the war with the Creeks. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1817, and represented Wilkinson county in the State senate in 1822, 1826 and 1827. He was a colonel on the governor's staff in 1822. In 1824 he was appointed sheriff. In 1831 he was elec- ted governor, receiving about one-third of the total votes, but having a small plurality over H. G. Runnels, the nearest of his four competitors. His administration and death are noted in a separate article. The State Rights Banner, of Jackson, announcing his death, spoke of him as "one of the best men, the most devoted public ser- vant. He fell a victim to his sense of public duty ; for nothing but the pressure and importance of official business has kept him in this place since the cholera made its appearance."

At his death he was 48 years of age. On his monument in the old graveyard at Jackson it is inscribed that "as a man he was honest, generous and brave; as a friend ardent, disinterested and sincere; the stranger's patron and the poor man's friend ; as a cit- izen he was orderly, active and patriotic; as a soldier daring, bold and energetic. He filled many important offices, always usefully, creditably and satisfactorily. He rose from one position unto another until he became the governor of the State, which office he filled when he died."

In his public papers are many admirable sentences, of which the following is an example: "Legislation should take enlarged views. A wise policy will rarely attempt any restraint on the pursuits of individual interest; but rather to awaken the inclination. Guard and watch over the interest of all, and leave every man to take his own track."

Scott's Administration. Governor Abram M. Scott was inaugu- rated in January, 1832, with Fountain Winston as lieutenant-gov- 40-11

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ernor. This was the year of the constitutional convention (q. v.) ; of the second Jackson presidential campaign; of the South Caroli- na nullification discussion, in which Senator Poindexter (q. v.) was a conspicuous figure ; of the Black Hawk war in the Northwest, in which Jefferson Davis served as a lieutenant from West Point, of the terrible cholera (q. v.) epidemic all over the United States; of revolutions and wars and rumors of wars throughout the world. There were three electoral tickets before the people in 1832, for Jackson and VanBuren, Jackson and Barbour, and Clay and Sar- geant. The reelection of Plummer to congress indicated that Mis- sissippi adhered to Jackson as opposed to Calhoun and Poindexter.

The prevailing spirit of revolution, evident in Mississippi as else- where, rendered some men ardent and hopeful of greater good to result from enlarged self-government, and others scornful and dis- posed to cling to the narrower ideals of the past. Governor Scott was one of the enthusiasts, viewing the year as the era of "a new term of political existence, unshackled by the prejudices, errors and forms which, in old communities, sanctified by time and strength- ened by habit, too often acquire the force and energy of nature." He regarded the new constitution as pushing popular rights to the "utmost verge."

He said in his message of January, 1833, to the first legislature under the new constitution :

"Representing a youthful and enterprising State, which, with a fearlessness of consequences and in a spirit of reform, characteris- tic of the age in which we live; throwing aside many of the received doctrines of the existing school of politics, and advancing boldly upon the field of experiment, in the organization of its government has pushed to its utmost verge the doctrine of popular rights, your duties will be equally delicate, difficult and important. Whatever difference of opinion may exist, in relation to the ex- pediency of the novel doctrines infused into the fundamental law of Mississippi, in your patriotism I have the best assurance, and in your wisdom the surest guarantee, that that efficiency and direction which is best calculated to advance the glory and prosperity of our country will be given to it." He urged the paramount duty of pro- viding for schools, the encouragement of agriculture by improve- ment of roads and all means of transportation, and regulation of the banks and currency.

The State was in an excellent financial condition. The receipts from November, 1831, to January, 1833, were $106,000; expendi- tures, $91,000. Political discussion, of the questions of protective tariff and nullification, occupied the legislature to a considerable degree, the opposition to Calhoun and Poindexter being led by the great Whig Mississippian, Adam L. Bingaman (q. v.).

The governor, referring to the Mississippi resolutions of 1829, in opposition to the tariff, said congress, notwithstanding the pro- tests of the South generally, had "persisted in this most injust and oppressive system, until one of the States, affording the purest patriots and most talented statesmen, has been induced to believe

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that no relief was to be expected, and has entered upon a course which seems to threaten the dissolution of the Union." He hoped congress would modify the obnoxious law. But in the campaign for reelection as governor which followed, he published a denial that he was a "nullifier." Auditor Hadley proposed that the South- ern States put a tax of fifty per cent. upon the sales of all articles manufactured in the United States, which were benefited by the protective tariff. "It would effectually shut out those articles from the Southern markets, without which the manufacturers of them could not long exist," and the market could be supplied by foreign made goods. (Journal of House, 1833, p. 60.) On the subject of the Indians the governor said: "The rapid emigration of the Choc- taws to their homes in the west will in a very limited time leave us in undivided possession of the territory acquired by contract from them by the general government."

At the same session the legislature authorized the sale of bonds to the amount of $1,500,000 for the basis of additional currency to be issued by the Planters bank, in confidence that the great prosperity of the State would make easy the payment of the bonds out of the bank profits. These bonds were sold to Northern capitalists at New York in August, at a premium of 13 per cent.

The new constitution adopted in October, 1832, provided that the governor and all officers, civil and military, should continue until superseded pursuant to the provisions of the constitution. Tem- porarily, the first legislature was elected in December following, to meet on the first Monday of January, and provided for an election of State and county officers on the first Monday of May, 1833, to serve until the succeeding general election, in November and after, as if they had been chosen at that general election. The legislature by act of March 2d, provided for the May election, also that the regular general election of State and county officers, members of legislature and congress, should occur on the first Monday of No- vember, and the day after, biennially. At the election of state officers in May, 1833, Governor Scott was defeated by Hiram G. Runnels, the vote being 6,675 to 6,117. Governor Scott continued in office, however, until his death.

The cholera, scattered along the Mississippi river, from New Orleans to St. Louis, appeared at Natchez in March, 1833, and from the river towns it spread inland. Governor Scott remained at Jack- son to transact the public business, after many had fled, and was taken with the disease in the evening of June 12, 1833, and died at the home of Col. Grimball, at 11 p. m. The president of the sen- ate, Charles Lynch, was acting governor until after the time of the November election, when Governor Runnels took office as if he had been elected then. The succession of officers in this transi- tion period is difficult to ascertain, because laws and journals are missing. But the facts are as above stated. The State officers through this administration were the same as in the Brandon ad- ministration.

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Scott, Charles, chancellor of the State from 1853 to 1857, was born at Knoxville, Tenn., November 12, 1811. He was a son of Edmond Scott, for thirty years circuit judge of the Knoxville dis- trict ; was a grandson of Maj. Joseph Scott, wounded at the battle of Germantown and afterward United States marshal of Virginia, whose brother Gen. Charles Scott, was famous in the Indian wars on the Ohio, and later governor of Kentucky. Chancellor Scott be- gan the practice of law at Nashville, but soon moved to Jackson, Miss., and became a partner of George S. Yerger, who married his sister. As chancellor he entered the decree in the famous case of Johnston vs. The State, asserting the liability of the State for the payment of the bonds of the Union bank, affirmed by the high court of errors and appeals, but overruled by the popular vote. In 1859 he removed to Memphis, but returned to Jackson, in 1861, de- termined to cast his lot with the State with which he had been so long identified. But he died at Jackson, May 30, 1861. He was grand master of the Mississippi grand lodge of Masons in 1850, and author of two books that were widely circulated in the frater- nity throughout the United States. He was deeply read in liter- ature, and was devoted to poetry and sacred literature; "a man of noble candor and knightly courtesy."

Scott County was organized December 23, 1833, and was named in honor of Abram M. Scott, seventh Governor of Mississippi. The act which established the county defined its boundaries as follows : "Beginning at the northwest corner of Jasper county, and running from thence north, with the line between ranges 9 and 10 east, to the line between the townships 8 and 9; from thence west with said line to the line between ranges 5 and 6 east ; from thence south with said line to the western boundary of the Choctaw nation; from thence directly south, to a point directly west of the line, be- tween townships 4 and 5: and from thence east with said line to the place of beginning." February 8, 1838, the county was enlarged by the addition of "all that portion of territory lying east of Pearl river and the old Choctaw boundary line, designating the dividing line between the Indian and white settlements prior to the treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, in 1830, from the point where the said boundary line crosses Pearl river, to the point where the same intersects the present western boundary line of the county of Scott." It is now a nearly square area of land in the center of the State, containing about 584 square miles of territory, and was one of the sixteen counties formed at the above time from the territory ceded by the Choctaws in the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, September 27, 1830. It is bounded on the north by Leake county, on the east by Newton county, on the south by Smith county and on the west by Rankin county ; the old Choctaw boundary line, treaty of Doak's Stand, October 18, 1820, forms part of the western boundary be- tween Scott and Rankin, and the Pearl river, in the extreme north- west corner separates it for a short distance from the county of Madison. The first members of the Board of Police for the county were John Dunn, President of the Board ; James Russell, Wade H.

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Holland, Stephen Berry and Jeremiah B. White. The first sheriff was John Smith, the first Clerk of the Probate Court, Nicholas Finley, and Wm. Ricks, Sr., was the first Probate Judge, and served in that capacity for several years. Besancon's Annual Register, for 1838, gives the following list of county officers at that time: M. Patrick, E. Smith, J. L. Denson, J. Summers, J. Carr, members of the Board of Police; J. J. Chambers, Clerk of the Circuit Court ; J. J. Chambers, Clerk of the Probate Court ; Wm. Ricks, Sr., Probate Judge; J. B. White, Sheriff, Assessor and Collector ; A. Eastland, Ranger and Coroner; M. D. Young, Treasurer; W. J. Denson, Surveyor. The original county seat was located at Berryville, about four miles southwest of Forest, but after the streets were laid out, it was abandoned within twelve months and the court house was removed to Hillsboro in the fall of 1836, where it remained for thirty years. (See Goodspeed's Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi, Vol. 1, p. 244.) It was finally removed to Forest, on the Alabama & Vicksburg R. R., which is a thriving little town of 1,000 people and the center of trade for the region round about it for some distance. Some of the other towns are Harper- ville (pop. 130), noted for the excellence of its Collegiate Institute and schools; Morton (pop. 200) and Lake (pop. 236), situated on the railroad, and Pulaski (pop. 200), Ludlow, Norris and McDill. The Alabama & Vicksburg R. R. runs through the center of the county from east to west and affords an outlet for the products of the county. The numerous creeks in the northern and south- western sections are tributaries of the Pearl river, and those in the eastern and southeastern part are tributary to the Leaf river. Most of the county is undulating in character, with some level stretches on the creek and river bottoms, and some hilly portions. About one-third of the acreage is improved and the timber growth con- sists of long and short leaf pine, oaks, hickory, poplar, beech, red and sweet gum, etc. Scott county lies in the central prairie region of the State and the soil is extremely varied in character. Sandy in the hills, scattered patches of black prairie, pine and bottom lands. The "reed brakes" are very fertile and when properly drained and cultivated, produce from 50 to 80 bushels of corn to the acre. Considerable limestone and extensive beds of marl are found in the county, providing excellent fertilizers, which have been extensively applied at small cost. The last census reports an expenditure of $19,756 in the county for fertilizers for the year 1900. Much of the county is readily cultivated and the products are those common to the middle section of the State and the yield good. Fruits and vege- tables do well and it has all the requirements of a good stock country, as Bermuda and other grasses grow luxuriantly. Manu- factures have attained a small start ; there is a large spoke factory near Lake, and a number of other manufactories elsewhere.

The following statistics were taken from the twelfth United States census and relate to farms, manufactures and population : Number of farms 2,083, acreage in farms 236,061, acres improved 70,943, value of the land exclusive of buildings $599,310, value of

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buildings $330,910, value of live stock $376,662, total value of products not fed to stock $687,820. Number of manufactures 28, capital invested $85,570, wages paid $12,695, cost of materials used $44,461, total value of products $86,047. The population in 1900 consisted of whites 8,107, colored 6,209, total 14,316, increase of 2,576 over the year 1890. The population in 1906 was estimated at 16,000 which shows a prosperous growth. The total assessed val- uation of real and personal property in Scott county in 1905 was $1,681,235 and in 1906 it was $2,828,525 showing an increase of $1,147,290 during the year.

Scranton, the old county seat of Jackson county, which was recently incorporated with Pascagoula under the name of Pas- cagoula, was named for the important city of Scranton in Penn- sylvania. It was known far and wide for many years as Mis- sissippi's only seaport, and does an enormous lumber manufac- turing and shipping business. The city is a thriving station on the Louisville & Nashville R. R., located immediately on the Gulf, and the Federal Government has expended over a half million dollars making a ship canal from Horn Island Harbor into the Pas- cagoula river, at whose mouth it is situated. The Pascagoula river and its tributaries drain some thirteen counties of the State and af- ford the means of outlet and transportation for the logs and timber of all these counties. The port here is the distributing point for this immense output of timber, and the annual product of the mills in this neighborhood approximates 100,000,000 feet of lumber, which is shipped from here to all parts of the world. The city, in- cluding old Pascagoula, contains about 4,000 inhabitants, while in its immediate vicinity some 12,000 more people are congregated. It is a modern city in every sense of the word, equipped with tele- graph, telephone, express, electric lighting, waterworks and ample banking facilities. An electric road connects the city with Moss Point on the north, and beautiful shell drives extend from Scranton to the neighboring towns. The Federal census of 1900 credits the city with a number of large manufacturing establishments, whose output in the previous year was nearly a third of a million dollars. Its importance as a seaport will continue to grow with the development of the State. See Pascagoula.

Scutch, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Claiborne county, about 16 miles from Port Gibson, the county seat. The station of Utica is the nearest railroad and banking town.

Sears, Claudius W., was commissioned colonel of the 46th Mis- sissippi regiment, December 11, 1862, which became a part of Bald- win's brigade, of the army for the defense of Vicksburg. He and his men took part in the famous defeat of Sherman at Chickasaw Bayou, soon after the organization of the regiment. and repelled the Federal attacks at Fort Pemberton early in 1863. After fight- ing at Port Gibson May 1. they served in the trenches at Vicks- burg. through the siege. For several months following they were under parole, but on being exchanged the regiment was again on duty, and, upon the death of General Baldwin, early in 1864, Col-

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onel Sears was in command of the brigade. He was commissioned brigadier-general March 1, 1864. His brigade was the only part of the army under General Polk that reached Georgia, in the spring of 1864, in time to take part in the battle of Resaca. During the remainder of that campaign he was on active duty until the siege of Atlanta, when he was disabled by illness. He was distinguished at the battles of Allatoona and Franklin, under General Hood; commanded his brigade, under Forrest, in the siege of Murfrees- boro, and finally was with his men on the lines about Nashville, where, December 15, 1864, he was severely wounded, causing the loss of a leg, and was made a prisoner of war. On the close of hos- tilities Gen. Sears returned to his home in Mississippi.

Sebastopol, a post-hamlet in the extreme northeastern corner of Scott county, about 18 miles from Forest, the county seat. It has two churches and two stores. Population in 1900, 43.

Secession, 1860-61. For preliminary events, see the following administration articles : Matthews, Quitman, Guion-Whitfield, Foote, McRae, McWillie, and Pettus; also Constitutional Conven- tion of 1851, and Nashville Convention. See also Runnels Adm., and Bingaman, A. L.

The general causes which led up to the Secession movement and to the bold and decisive steps taken by the Southern States in 1860- 61, it is now possible to discuss without passion or prejudice. It is certainly true that for many years after the formation of the Repub- lic few would have questioned the legal theory upon which the Southern Commonwealths based their right to withdraw from the Union, whatever resistance might have been offered to actual with- drawal. The wise men of 1787 were forced to appease many jeal- ousies and to adjust many delicate situations before the constitu- tion could win the necessary support to insure its adoption by the States. This brought about the many well known compromises of the constitution, together with some significant omissions in the in- strument. If the right of secession was nowhere mentioned, neither was it negatived ; nor was there anywhere a grant of power to the National government to coerce a recalcitrant State. The prevail- ing early view of the constitution and the nature of the Union is well illustrated in the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798; in the attitude of those New England States which condemned the embargo laid upon shipping by the National government in 1808, declared it unconstitutional and refused to enforce it: in 1812, when Massachusetts and Connecticut refused to honor the requi- sition of the President for the use of the militia of those States without their borders, on the ground that the act of Congress au- thorizing the requisition was unconstitutional; in 1828-30. when Georgia refused to obey an act of Congress regarding the Chero- kee Indians, and defied the Federal authority ; and finally in 1832, when South Carolina through State convention and by legislative enactment declared null and void the tariff imposed by Congress, and was prepared to secede if necessary. All these incidents serve to show that the secession idea was no new one. Those States

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which finally seceded in 1861 justified their course by the claim that the National Union was formed by a compact between inde- pendent States, each of which could judge for itself, whether the compact had been violated, and secede for such violation. A State, by virtue of its individual, sovereign right, could repeal or withdraw its act of acceptance of the constitution, as the basis or bond of union, and resume the powers which had been delegated and enumerated in that instrument. This action was that of the people of the State, in the assertion of a power above that of Federal or State governments.

Apart from the legal grounds upon which the right of secession was based, the interests of the North and the South had grown widely apart. In the progress of the years the social and economic development of the two sections had diverged more and more. The South believed that its enormous agricultural interests, and its peculiar institution of African slavery, were in grave peril, and that Seward's "irrepressible conflict" could not be long deferred. It felt that slavery was an indispensible economic necessity in the produc- tion of its great staples, cotton and tobacco-products which had made her rich and prosperous. Its future depended on the perpet- uity of its industrial system, now gravely threatened by the results of the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency-a man who had declared that he looked forward to seeing slavery "put where the people would be satisfied that it was in course of ultimate ex- tinction.'

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Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II, Part 75

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