USA > Mississippi > Encyclopedia of Mississippi History Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions and Persons, Vol. II > Part 83
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There were three distinct classes of slaves: (1) the domestic slaves or servants, some of whom were taught to read and write, and readily imitated the manners of their masters; (2) the town slaves, including the negroes working at the various trades and as draymen, hucksters, etc. White mechanics had one or more as- sistants of this sort when they could afford it; and some free
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negroes owned slaves. "Many of the negroes who swarm in the cities are what are called hired servants, hired out by their masters or allowed to hire their own time," paying a tribute to their masters according to their earnings. Some saved their earnings until they were able to buy their freedom. "There are indeed few families, however wealthy, whose incomes are not increased by the wages of hired slaves, and there are many poor people, who own one or two slaves, whose hire enables them to live comfortably. From $3 to $5 a week is the hire of a female, and 75 cents to a dollar a day for a male. The city slaves are distinguished as a class by superior intelligence, acuteness and deeper moral degradation. (3) The third and lowest class consisted of those slaves who are termed field hands."
Mrs. Jefferson Davis wrote (biography of Jefferson Davis) concerning James Pemberton, the colored man who was selected by Jefferson Davis as overseer of his plantation, that he "took charge of Briarfield, and managed the negroes according to his master's and his own views. They were devoted friends and always ob- served the utmost ceremony and politeness in their intercourse, and at parting a cigar was always presented by Mr. Davis to him. James never sat down without being asked, and his master always invited him to be seated, and sometimes fetched him a chair. James was a dignified, quiet man, of fine, manly appearance, very silent, but what he said was always to the point. His death, which oc- curred from pneumonia in 1850, during our absence, was a sore grief to us, and his place was never filled." See Davis, Joseph E .; Dabney, Thomas ; Cameron, J. S.
Thomas Dabney, writing in 1884, noted that the negroes left at home by Confederate soldiers were never rude to the women and children. "The more the problem is studied the greater is the marvel. I have arrived at the conclusion that the universal acquiescence of the negroes was due to their enlightenment, and not to their ignorance. You will remember that the San Domingo ne- groes were nearly all savages but recently imported, and very few to the manner born. It was the common practice among Southern ladies to teach their servants to read, and as many of the out ne- groes as chose to attend. That amount of knowledge enabled them to separate the clothes when they came in from the laundry, and deposit each piece in its proper drawer. That might have been motive enough ; but many were educated far above that. A negro man, living on a very fine plantation but a few miles below Vicks- burg. rented the plantation as it stood, from his former master, at the close of the war, and was soon known as the best planter in the county, and perhaps in the State. His cotton, at the Cincin- nati Exposition, took all of the prizes. . The good behav- ior of the negroes was not due, as you suggest, to their ignorance." In this connection it is well to note that servile races have never revolted in times of war.
Marriage between slaves had no recognition in law. Hence the condition of the slaves in this respect varied with the character of
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the masters. The essential feature of slavery, as a continuing in- stitution, was that the offspring of slaves were the property of the master. Whether this property right should be asserted to the ex- tent of selling off, depended upon the character of the masters, also. In cases of financial emergency, it was difficult to resist the exer- cise of the legal right to sell. Selling off also became necessary where the plantation operations were not extensive, or the growing population of the quarters would ruin the master. Thomas Dabney (q. v.) was a Virginian who was remarkably considerate of his negroes. He sold but four in his life time-one who killed her hus- band, one who attempted to kill the overseer, a thievish girl and one who desired to be transferred. He disapproved of hiring out servants, but at times hired out good mechanics. For one, a black- smith, he received $500 a year.
Mississippi was never such a slave exporting State as Virginia, but was the famous destination of the slave gangs that were marched through the wilderness, brought down the Ohio, or by ship from Norfolk or Alexandria to Natchez. There was a general impression outside that in Mississippi the lot of the slave was much harder than in the region where he was reared. That the policy of labor in the Southwest was to get the utmost out of a slave during his years of greatest capacity, regardless of his fate afterward, was the general understanding, as appears, in numerous publications of the ante-bellum period. This understanding was prevalent among the negroes of Virginia and Kentucky also. J. H. Ingraham wrote in 1835: "Perhaps two-thirds of the first slaves came into the State from Virginia; and nearly all now introduced, of whom there are several thousands annually, are brought from that State. Kentucky contributes a small number, which is yearly increasing; and since the late passage of a slave law in Missouri, a new market is opened there for this trade. It is computed that more than $200,000 worth of slaves will be purchased in Missouri this season, for the Natchez market. A single individual has re- cently left Natchez with $100,000 for the purpose of buying up negroes in that State to sell in Mississippi. The usual way of transporting slaves is by land, although they are frequently brought round by sea. Last year more than 4,000 were brought into the State, one-third of whom were sold in the Natchez market. The prices of slaves vary with the prices of cotton and sugar. At this time, when cotton brings a good price, a good field hand can- not be bought for less than $800 if a male; if a female for $600. Body servants sell much higher, $1,000 being a common price for them. Good mechanics sometimes sell for $2,000, and seldom for less than $900. The usual price for a good seamstress or nurse is from $700 to $1,000. An infant adds $100 to the price of the mother, and from infancy the children of the slaves increase in value about $100 for every three years. All domestic slaves or house servants often sell at the most extravagant prices -the best, native or acclimated, at $1,800 to $2,000.
Negro traders soon accumulate great wealth, from the immense
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profit they make on their merchandise. One of their num- ber, who is the great Southern slave merchant, and who, for the last fifteen years, has supplied this country with two-thirds of the slaves brought into it, has amassed a fortune of more than a mil- lion of dollars by this traffic alone."
The slave market near Natchez was about a mile from the town-a courtyard surrounded by low buildings. The negroes for sale were dressed in black fur hats, roundabouts and trousers of corduroy velvet, good vests, strong shoes, and white cotton shirts. The females were dressed in neat calico frocks, white aprons and capes, and fancy kerchiefs. This market was visited often by In- graham, as well as others, where several hundred slaves of all ages, colors and conditions were exposed for sale. "I have con- versed with a great number of them, from the liveliest to the most sullen, and my impression, which is daily strengthened by a more intimate knowledge of their species is, that the negro is not dis- satisfied with his condition-that it is seldom or never the subject of his thoughts-that he regards it as his destiny, as much as a home about the poles is to the Laplanders; nor does he pine for freedom more than the other after the green hills and sunny skies of Italy. Negroes, when brought into market, are always anxious to be sold; and to be sold first is a great desideratum, for in their estimation it is an evidence of their superiority." Owners frequently refused to sell negroes so as to part sisters attached to each other ; but negroes related frequently preferred to be sold to different owners, so that they might have pretexts for visits.
The State treasurer's report of 1854 states that the average price of slaves (including children, it may be inferred) was $600 in 1844, and had increased in ten years to about $800. The number of slaves listed in 1844 was 288,707, and the number in 1854 was esti- mated at 300,000. The total value would be $250,000,000. But taxation fell very lightly upon this sort of property. Owners were taxed for slaves, of any age, under 60 years, 60 cents each under the law of 1844, and this rate was cut in half by the law of 1850. It was a rate of about 5 cents on the $100. in 1844, and 2 or 3 cents in 1850. An owner was taxed as much for an infant as for a field hand value at $1,500, or a good mechanic, worth from $2,000 to $4.000.
Judge William Yerger said in the constitutional convention of 1865 (q. v.) : "The president of the United States, by a proclama- tion, issued as a war measure, on the 1st day of January, 1863, declared that slavery was thenceforward abolished. But that proclamation, being a mere declaration, did not abolish it. Some- thing more was necessary. Before the issuance of this proclama- tion, the president, in September, 1862, had issued another proc- lamation, calling upon the people of the Southern States to lay down their arms and return to their allegiance to the government of the United States-assuring them that if they would do so they would be protected in all their rights to person and property, in- cluding slaves, guaranteed to them by the constitution ; but warn-
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ing them, if they did not do so, he would, on the first day of January, 1863, declare, by proclamation, that all slaves in the in- surrectionary States should be free. This proclamation was de- rided-the warning was disregarded-the insurrection continued- and the war was carried on until the armies of the United States entered into every States and compelled the surrender of all the forces arrayed against them-and thus carried into execution the proclamation of emancipation. Hence, as a fact, slavery has not been abolished by the sole act of the United States-but its aboli- tion has been produced by the joint action of the government and the people of the Southern States."
In "A Southern Planter," recalling the life of the Dabneys, of Hinds county, Susan Dabney Smedes writes: "Very many slave- holders looked on slavery as an incubus, and longed to be rid of it, but they were not able to give up their young and valuable negroes, nor were they willing to set adrift the aged and helpless. To have provided for this class, without any compensation for the loss of the other, would have reduced them to penury. Now that the institution is swept away, I venture to express the conviction that there is not an intelligent white man or woman in the South who would have it recalled, if a wish could do it. Those who suf- fered and lost most-those who were reduced from a life of afflu- ence to one of grinding poverty-are content to pay the price. Good masters saw the evil that bad masters could do. It is true, a bad master was universally execrated, and no vocation was held so debasing as the negro traders. Every conscientious proprietor felt that these were helpless creatures, whose life and limb were, in a certain sense, under his control. There were others who felt that slavery was a yoke upon the white man's neck almost as gall- ing as on the slaves; and it was a saying that the mistress of a plantation was the most complete slave on it."
The effort to maintain slavery had, of course, back of it, the self- ish motives of property. But the war could never have gained such great popular support in the South unless there were a worthier reason. Nations and individuals, when at their best, understand least their real motives. There is something of cause they cannot fathom. It may be seen now, in all sections of the Union, that the fundamental wrong, to which slavery was incidental, was that the negro was injected, as the laborer, into a community founded on the principle of giving the laborer equal rights with the rich and powerful. The community could not survive as an American community with truth to American ideals, and oppress any part of the population ; and, on the other hand, the white population could not contemplate a condition in which the negro should be the political master by force of numbers.
As John Sharp Williams has said, "the philosophy of our sec- tional history-the purpose, conscious or unconscious, of our sec- tional strivings-will be shown to have been always consistent." always with one purpose. "And that purpose, however the shib- boleth of the hour, State's Rights, secession, sanctity of slavery,
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equal citizenship in the Territories, anti-reconstruction, or what not, may more or less have obscured it to the eyes of others and for a time to our own-that unvarying purpose is this-the pre- servation of our racial purity and racial integrity ; the supremacy of the white man's ethics and civilization. There has been no 'lost cause,' but a preserved cause, though many things thought at many times to be a necessary part of the cause have been lost. For example, Secession has been lost. It was the remedy resorted to to assert the Cause. Slavery has been lost, but it was not our Cause, though we thought so once, and fought for it, among other things. But why? Was it not because our people thought that with the enfranchisement of the negroes would necessarily come the downfall of the white man's civilization and the destruction of his family life, whence is evolved his code of ethics and upon which is based his civilization? The event has proved that the appre- hended result was not a necessary result, but how well-founded was the apprehension, judging by San Domingo, Mexico and South America, whose experience alone history had then furnished us. Moreover, how hardly did we escape it? Would we have escaped it at all, but for the fortitude, patience, constancy, self-discipline, self-command, and solidarity and capacity for organization learned during four years of hardship and war?"
Slayden, or Slayden's Crossing, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Marshall county, 12 miles north of Holly Springs. Popu- lation in 1900, 26.
Sledge, a postoffice in the northern part of Quitman county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 12 miles northeast of Belen, the county seat.
Small Pox. The first quarantine law was enacted by Governor Sargent and the judges, and opportunity for its application was given by the prevalence of small pox at New Orleans in 1802. William Dunbar wrote Governor Claiborne urging quarantine and suggesting that the new discovery of vaccination be made use of. The terms of the law hardly covered the case, and the governor could only warn the merchants of Natchez not to expose for sale goods from New Orleans. He suggested that the citizens by sub- scription employ a messenger to bring vaccine from Kentucky. This was done, but the virus proved ineffective. The small pox was ranging at Natchez when the legislature met in special ses- sion in May, and the governor urged the enactment of a health law, to prevent the introduction of infectious diseases.
A small pox camp was established by order of Governor Clai- borne, and Drs. D. and W. Lattimore put in charge of it. Their report, showing that few deaths resulted is recorded in the gov- ernor's journal. Following is an extract: "The well-known ex- ertions which your excellency used to preserve the territory from the small-pox, and the influence you have exercised in favor of vaccination, induce us to believe that you will be highly gratified to hear that the latter has prevented the ravages of the former, by a very general circulation. We conceive that two-thirds of
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the inhabitants must have undergone vaccination, and in no case that we have heard of has it produced mortality. It is not easy to say what might have been the fate of this menaced country, without the advantage of this invaluable preventative ; but it would seem as if its opportune arrival amongst us was something provi- dential. No case of small-pox, as far as we know, now exists in the territory."
At the session of the legislature of 1846, much alarm prevailed on the subject of the small pox, and by the act of March 2, 1846, a vaccine depot and agency was established at Jackson, with an annual salary of $400 to the agent. In 1852 the governor recom- mended that the agency be abolished, the cause of alarm having long since passed away and vaccine matter being accessible to all at trifling expense. For recent epidemics, see Board of Health.
Smedes, a post-hamlet. in the southwestern part of Sharkey county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 16 miles south of Rolling Fork, the county seat and nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 41.
Smiley, James Malcolm, vice-chancellor 1846-52, was born in Amite county, Miss., October 25, 1812, was educated at Jefferson college, Pennsylvania, and at Oakland college, Mississippi, being the first graduate of that institution and the entire "class" of 1834. He read law with William Dillingham, of Liberty, completed his studies at New Orleans and at Transylvania university, Ky., and began the practice in Amite county in 1837. He was elected to the legislature in 1841, 1843 and 1845, and in 1846 was elected vice- chancellor for the southern district of the State, defeating Pow- hatan Ellis by a large majority. He was reelected in 1850, but resigned in 1852 to make his home at New Orleans. There he was concerned in important litigation, including the celebrated Gaines case, in which he was one of the counsel for Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, daughter of Daniel Clark, Jr. Judge Smiley returned to Amite county in 1859, was elected circuit judge in 1865, and held that office by various reappointments until January, 1878, when he resigned. His death was at Magnolia, April 8, 1879. In politics, so far as he permitted himself to participate, he was a Whig. He was particularly noticeable as bringing down to times not far re- mote the characteristics of the bench and bar of a much older period.
Smith, Benjamin F., a native of Kentucky, when a boy of six- teen, enlisted with the troops under Gen. Jackson and served in the battles of the Creek campaign and at Mobile, Pensacola and New Orleans, as a private and officer gaining the favorable atten- tention of his general. Subsequently he removed to Mississippi with his father, Maj. David Smith, a hero of the revolution. The family settled in Hinds county, not long after that region was yielded by the Choctaws, and B. F. was the first representative of Hinds in the legislature. Afterward he was appointed agent among the Chickasaws by President Jackson. Joining the Austin colony
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in Texas he was adjutant of the revolutionary troops at the begin- ning of hostilities in 1835, under Col. Austin.
Smithburg, a post-hamlet in the south-central part of Pike county, 10 miles east of Osyka, the nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 36.
Smith, Cotesworth Pinckney, was born in the district of Nat- chez, the son of Peter Smith, a planter who immigrated from South Carolina in 1785, and died in 1837, leaving a large estate. In early manhood he engaged in the practice of law. In politics he was a Whig. In 1826 he was elected representative of Wilkin- son county and was chairman of the committee on internal im- provements in the house. In 1830 he was elected to the State sen- ate, and after the new constitution went into effect he was elected one of the three judges of the High court of errors and appeals. He served until 1837 by this election ; for a few months in 1840, by appointment of the governor, was the successor of Judge Pray, and in 1849 was again elected to the court for a full term, and in November, 1851, was chosen chief justice, a dignity which contin- ued to be his until. his death, November 11, 1862. He delivered the opinion of the court in the famous case of Johnson vs. The State, sustaining the validity of the Union bank bonds, in contra- diction to the political decision on this subject. The resolutions of the bar, presented by Hon. T. J. Wharton, February 23, 1863, recite: "Born in Mississippi while yet under the Territorial gov- ernment of Georgia, Judge Smith grew with the growth of his State. Honored and trusted at all times by his fellow-citizens, he never sought rewards or honors from any other source, and never held an office not conferred by them. . Learned, conscien- tious, fearless and upright, for nearly twelve years he presided in this court."
Governor Clark wrote of him in a message of December, 1863: "Sad as have been the inroads which death has made upon our State in the last twelve months, the demise of none of her sons has caused a wider or more heart-felt sorrow. Born upon the soil of Mississippi, devoted heart and soul to her interest, and watching with zealous care over her honor, Judge Smith spent a long and laborious life in her service. In the forum, in the senate chamber and upon the bench, he labored with a zeal that knew no weari- ness, and with a purity of patriotism and loftiness of purpose that has had few parallels. In every position he occupied, his great talents, his profound erudition, his extensive legal attainments and the unquestioned purity of his character, shed unfading luster upon the annals of his native State."
In the winter of 1861 Judge Smith asked and was given a place on the staff of Gen. Reuben Davis, in command at Corinth. "I considered this a very great honor to me," Davis wrote, "as he was a gentleman of sixty-five years of age, of unusual dignity of char- acter, a ripe scholar, and the ablest jurist in the State, excepting Judge W. L. Sharkey." He was interested in the movement for the liberation of Cuba, in 1850, and while he was judge of the
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high court his name appeared on the bonds that were put in cir- culation by Lopez.
Smith County was established December 23, 1833, and was named in honor of Major David Smith, of Hinds county. The county has a land surface of 610 square miles. It lies a little to the south of the center of the State, and was the southwestern corner of the large area of land finally ceded to the United States by the Choc- taws, in the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, September 27, 1830. Its limits were defined as follows by the act which created the county : "Beginning on the line between ranges 9 and 10 east, at the point at which the line between townships 4 and 5 crosses said line, and from thence south with the said line between ranges 9 and 10 east, to the southern boundary of the Choctaw nation ; from thence west, with said southern boundary line, to the western boundary line of said Choctaw nation ; from thence north with said western bound- ary line, to the point at which the line between townships 2 and 3 strikes said western boundary line; from thence west to the line between ranges 5 and 6 east; from thence north with said line be- tween ranges 5 and 6 east, to the line between townships 4 and 5; and from thence to the place of beginning." A large influx of set- tlers from the older parts of the State poured into the new county at an early date, and by 1837 there were 1,085 free whites, owning some three hundred slaves. A list of the county officers for the year 1838 follows: Abraham Carr, Sampson Ainsworth, Emanuel A. Durr, Thomas J. Husbands, John Sprinks, Members of the Board of Police ; James B. Graham, Sheriff, Assessor and Collector ; Ben- jamin Thornton, Clerk of the Circuit and Probate Courts; John Campbell, Judge of Probate ; James L. McCaugh, County Surveyor ; Abner Lewis, Coroner ; Charles C. Horton, Ranger ; Reuben Craft, County Treasurer ; David Ward, Justice of the Peace; Jesse Rose, Constable.
The original county site was located at Fairchild, about four miles south of Raleigh, but was soon abandoned. The county seat was then established at Raleigh, so called for Sir Walter Raleigh, and was a place of 200 inhabitants in 1900, situated near the center of the county. There are no large settlements in the region, but numerous small villages abound. Two of the oldest towns are Polkville and Trenton, established during the 40's and located on the east and west bank of Strong river in the northwestern corner. Some of the other towns are Boykins (pop. 350), Lorena, Lemon, Sylvarena, Taylorsville and Summerland. The only railroad in the county is the Laurel branch of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., which cuts across the southern part of the county from west to east. The water courses are Strong and Leaf rivers and their numerous tributary streams, affording very good water power. About one-fourth of the acreage of the county is now improved, and the balance is well timbered with long-leaf pine for the most part; on the river and creek bottoms are found white, red and black oak, hickory, chest- nut, beech, magnolia, pecan and cypress. The surface of the land is level on the bottoms, undulating and hilly elsewhere. The soil is of various kinds ; partly red and black prairie, good for corn and
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