Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 102

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1030

USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 102

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 twelfth United States census, 1900, gives the following statistics for the county : Number of farms, 2,259 ; acreage in farms, 272,395 ; acres improved, 80,228; value of lands exclusive of build- ings, $691,300; value of buildings, $264,530; value of live stock, $451,626, and total value of products not fed, $747,445. The number

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of manufacturing establishments was 27, capital $63,452 ; wages paid, $10,240; cost of materials, $36,839, and total value of products, $63,694. The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in the county in 1905 was $1,072,249 and in 1906 it was $1,510,149, which shows an increase during the year of $437,900. The popula- tion in 1900 consisted of 12,202 whites, 1,342 colored, a total of 13,544 and an increase of 1,836 over the year 1890. In 1906, the population was estimated at 15,000. Land values are increasing.

Ittabena, an incorporated post-town of Leflore county, at the junction of the main line of the Southern Ry., and its Tallahatchie branch, and 10 miles west of Greenwood, the county seat. There are two banks-the Bank of Ittabena and the Ittabena Banking & Trust Co. ; also several fine general stores, a cotton-seed oil mill and some other manufacturing plants. The population in 1906 is esti- mated at 1,000.

Ituma, a post-hamlet of Holmes county, about 9 miles north of Lexington, the county seat. Population in 1900, 22.

Iuka, the county seat of Tishomingo county, is an incorporated post-town on the Southern Ry., 22 miles southeast of Corinth. The original name of Iuka was Gresham's Mills, and there are seventeen mineral springs here, which attract many visitors every year. The following information is taken from Goodspeed's Memoirs of Mississippi: "The county of Tishomingo was named in honor of an Indian (Chickasaw) chief who died about 1836 at Iuka Springs and was buried on the site of Iuka. The town of Iuka was named in memory of Iuka, a chief who died also while camping at the springs and was there buried. The Iuka Springs were looked upon by the Indians as the pools of new life, and to them they were carried when age overtook them to partake of their waters and to receive a renewal of youth, but to such new life could not be given. Thus the locality of Iuka became a burial place for Indians, and when the town was established, the graves were visible all over the site. The first paper published at Iuka was established in 1850 or thereabouts. E. P. Oden started one called the Tishomingo Herald, in 1867, and the same year Dr. M. A. Simmons issued the Iuka Mirror, and Dr. Davis the Iuka Gazette. J. J. Chambers took the Iuka Mirror in 1881, and later called it the Iuka Reporter." (Mem. of Miss., vol. i, p. 259). The Vidette, a Democratic weekly, was founded here in 1881, G. W. Dudley, editor and owner. Iuka was the scene of much fighting during the War 1861-5, Here occurred an indecisive battle between Gen. Rose- crans and Gen. Price, on the 19th of September, 1862, and a fight July 7 and 9, 1863. A branch bank of the Tishomingo Savings In- stitution, of Corinth, Miss., was established here in 1897, with a capital of $10,000. The town is located in a good farming and stock- raising district. It has an express and telegraph office, and several churches. The Iuka Female Institute is located here. Its popula- tion in 1900, was 882; in 1906 it was estimated at 2,000. There are a score or more of good general stores, a saw mill, a planing mill, a steam laundry, a grist mill, cotton gin, bottling works, and an

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electric light plant owned and operated by the town. There are two good hotels and two livery barns. The following fraternities have lodges here : Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias, and Woodmen of the World. The following religious denominations have churches: Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and Christian.

Iuka, battle of. This was an attempt by Gen. Grant to crush the command of Gen. Sterling Price, which had taken an exposed position at Iuka. (See War of 1861-65.) Two Federal columns were to close in upon Iuka, Sept. 19, 1862, one under Rosecrans on the Jacinto road, and one under Ord north of the railroad. Price had troops posted to meet an attack from the north, when about noon his pickets were driven in by Rosecrans from the south. Gen. Henry Little, of Missouri, commanding one of the divisions, was ordered to meet Rosecrans, and Col. Wirt Adams was depended upon to check the advance of Ord. Little sent the brigade of Gen. Louis Hebert to take position to hold the cross roads, about a mile south of Iuka, and keep Rosecrans from the Fulton road, Price's only path of escape. Sanborn's Federal bri- gade came up and went into battle against Hebert about four o'clock in the evening, and was reinforced by another brigade, while Col. John D. Martin's Mississippi brigade (36th, 37th and 38th Miss. and 37th Ala.) was brought to support Hebert, with whom was one Mississippi regiment, the 40th. These brigades bore the brunt of the battle which raged fiercely until dark, though other brigades were in line toward the last. Hebert reported that his and Martin's brigade were only 3,179 strong. Probably about the same number of Federals were in line of battle. Price's entire command was about 17,000 and Ord and Rosecrans together had about the same, but only a small part of either army was engaged. Gen. Little himself led the 37th and 38th into the fight, and while so doing was hit in the forehead by a minie ball and instantly killed. He was one of the most promising soldiers of the army, abler than many of his superior officers. Col. Colbert then took command of Hebert's brigade, and Hebert of the battle line. Most of the fight centered about an Ohio battery of six guns stationed near the cross roads, which was taken and retaken, many soldiers falling in the struggle. But the Confederates finally held it. King's St. Louis battery was the only Confederate artillery in action.

There was a strange circumstance connected with this battle, and essential to its understanding. Gen. Ord, waiting to hear the sound of Rosecrans' cannon, never heard them, and consequently did not attack, saving Price from disaster. Gen. Grant, at Burns- ville, frankly admitted that he did not hear the guns, and news- paper correspondents explained it by saying that he was drunk, almost putting an end to his career. But Confederate soldiers also testified that at four miles distance they did not hear the battle. There was a stiff breeze from the north all day, which explained this remarkable condition. (Iuka Vidette, 1896.)

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The loss in, killed and wounded by the Mississippi regiments was, 36th, 22; 37th, 32 ; 38th, 8; 40th, 49. Martin reported that his men behaved like veterans, though for the first time under fire. Colbert's regiment was particularly praised by Price. In the night, Maury's division was withdrawn from in front of Ord, who had been too slow to carry out Grant's plans ; Hebert moved away unmolested from the front of Rosecrans, who had been severely punished, and Price's army marched out by the Fulton road, the cavalry of Adams and others holding the enemy in check, and on the 22d went into camp at Baldwin. The total Federal loss was reported at 790; Confederate, 86 killed and 438 wounded.

Jacinto, a post-village in the southeastern part of Alcorn county, about 16 miles southeast of Corinth. Rienzi is its nearest rail- road and banking town. It was named from a Spanish word mean- ing "hyacinth." It lies in a hilly country, and has a church and an academy. Population in 1900, 89.

Jack, a hamlet in the northern part of Copiah county, 10 miles west of Crystal Springs, the nearest railroad and banking town. The postoffice at this place was discontinued in 1905, and it now has rural free delivery from Utica. Population in 1900, 45.

Jackson, the State capital, is located in the county of Hinds, on the west bank of the Pearl river, 175 miles north of New Orleans and 45 miles east of Vicksburg. After the admission of Missis- sippi as a State in 1817, the capital was more or less peripatetic. Washington and Natchez, the old capitals, were not deemed near enough to the center of the State, and other towns were trying to secure the location of the capital in their midst. The Legislature of 1821 met in the courthouse of Columbia, Marion county. On February 12, of this year, it appointed Thomas Hinds, James Patton and William Latimore Commissioners, to locate a seat of government for the State. November 28, 1821, this act was amended to read as follows: "Thomas Hinds and William Lati- more, Commissioners appointed by the act of which this is a supple- ment, and Peter A. Van Dorn are hereby authorized and empowered to locate the east halves of sections 3 and 10, and the west halves of sections 10 and 11 in township 5, range 1, east of the basis meridian, as a permanent seat of government of the State. The said Commissioners are hereby authorized and empowered to lay off a town on such part of the location so made, and on such a plan as said Commissioners may deem most advisable. The town shall be called and known by the name of Jackson, in honor of Major- General Andrew Jackson." The Commissioners were also author- ized to appoint a Superintendent of buildings, whose duty it should be to employ "one or more suitable persons to build a commodious house on an economical plan for the reception of the General Assembly."

The Commissioners duly carried out these instructions and in January, 1822, the sixth session of the Legislature of the State of Mississippi met for the first time in Jackson in the little brick State House building, which had been erected at a cost of about $3,000.

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GOVERNOR'S MANSION.

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The State officers were housed elsewhere. The Constitutional Con- vention of 1832 met in this building, and it continued to serve as the meeting place of the Legislature until the completion of the second State Capitol in 1839, now known as the "Old Capitol." Among the more noteworthy events connected with this historic old structure, are the reception of Henry Clay, the "Great Pacifica- tor," as a public guest beneath its roof in 1844; the Convention of 1850, called to inquire into the question of Federal relations; the famous Secession Convention that met in the Hall of Representa- tives on the morning of January 7, 1861, and, three days later, passed the momentous ordinance of secession amid a breathless silence, by the decisive vote of 84 to 15; the notorious "Black and Tan" Con- vention, which began its sessions in the Hall of Representatives on January 7, 1868, presided over by "Buzzard" Eggleston, of Lowndes county, and sat until May 18th; the expulsion of Governor Humphreys from the Executive Office by force of arms in June, 1868; the presentment of articles of impeachment against Governor Ames in March, 1876; the last public appearance of the venerable and revered Jefferson Davis, when he appeared at the Capitol in response to an invitation of the Legislature of 1884; and finally, the Constitutional Convention of 1890, which met on August 12th, and framed the present constitution of the State. In 1903, the mag- nificent new capitol building, erected on a hill to the north of the old capitol on the site of the State penitentiary grounds, at a cost of a little over $1,000,000, was completed. It is worthy of note that it was finished within contract time, without extras and within the estimated sum of the contract. It is built of Bedford stone on a base of cement concrete and Georgia granite, and rises to a height of 135 feet. The classic lines of its architecture render it one of the most imposing and beautiful public buildings in the country. Jan- uary 19, 1904, Gov. James Kimble Vardaman took the oath of office in the new building, and the same year it was occupied by the other State officials, the Supreme Court and the Legislature.

Jackson is situated on high ground and is regularly laid out. It is healthy, progressive, and in the center of a rich cotton growing district. In four years it has more than doubled its population and trebled in business. By reason of its location at a distance of 175 miles from a large city it commands an immense territory for its wholesale trade. The Pearl river is navigable for eight months in the year for more than 100 miles above the city, offering a splendid field for the establishment of wood-working industries, using timber from the primeval forests which abound along the upper reaches of the Pearl and its tributaries. Several magnificent new buildings have recently been erected, including two bank and office buildings, and the new deaf and dumb institute, constructed by the State at a cost of $100,000. Besides the State capitol and the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Jackson is the seat of the Mississippi State Institution for the Blind and has three orphanages with 300 children being cared for. Five institutions of learning are located here with an annual enrollment of 1,000 students, among them the well known

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Millsaps College, and Belhaven Female College. The city has five graded schools, with a total enrollment of nearly 2,500 pupils, con- stituting one of the best public school systems in the State. Among its other educational establishments are the Mississippi Conserva- tory of Art and Expression, four business colleges, Jackson College and Campbell College for negroes.

During recent years it has become the greatest railroad center in the State, and lines of railroad now radiate from Jackson in seven directions. The following lines enter the city: The Illinois Central, the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, the Alabama & Vicksburg, and the Gulf & Ship Island. These provide the city with excep- tional shipping facilities in every direction, and as a direct result, its manufacturing population has risen rapidly within the last decade. In proportion to capital invested, Jackson has the largest manufacturing output of any city in the State, and is second in number of establishments. The census of 1900 gives the following manufacturing statistics for the city: Number of establishments, 83 ; capital, $953,508; average number of wage-earners, 735; wages paid, $263,645 ; cost of materials used, $1,075,845 ; value of products, $1,724,395. The manufacture of commercial fertilizers has long been one of its chief industries, and it now has what is perhaps the best equipped fertilizer factory in the State. A great growth is shown in the manufacturing industries since the census of 1900, the number of manufacturing plants now in the city being placed at 56, which give daily employment to 3,000, with a weekly pay roll of approximately $25,000. Among these are several large cotton seed oil mills, three large fertilizer factories, iron foundries, six wood working plants, an ice factory, etc. It has twelve wholesale firms handling a business of more than $10,000,000 annually, and does a large shipping business in cotton and other produce.

Jackson has several miles of well paved streets, an excellent sewerage and water works systems, an electric street railway system covering the principal part of the city, gas and electricity, and an up-to-date fire department, with modern stations and paid service. It has two Baptist churches, two Methodist, two Presbyterian, an Episcopal, Catholic, Christian and Jewish church, besides churches of all denominations for the colored population. There are five hotels, and eleven banking institutions, with a combined capital and surplus of $1,375,000, and deposits varying from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000. The First National Bank was established in 1885, capital $100,000; the Jackson Bank established in 1889, capital $100,000 ; the Merchants' Bank established in 1896, capital $100,000; the Mississippi Bank and Trust Co., established in 1903, capital $100,000; the Capital National Bank established in 1903, capital $200,00 ; the Citizens State Bank & Trust Co., capital $25,000. There are two daily papers, the Clarion-Ledger and the Evening News, both Democratic in politics. The Leader, and the Reporter, are weekly Republican papers. Other publications are the People's Defender (colored), a Republican weekly; the Baptist, a weekly church publication; the Mississippi School Journal, and the Mis-

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sissippi Teacher, monthly educational journals, and the Church News and American Churchman, an Episcopalian monthly.

The position of Jackson as the political center of the State, the seat of the State's highest court and the Federal courts, and the home of many of the State's public institutions, its ample railroad facilities, and remarkable commercial development within recent . years, its modern improvements, fine hotels, city hall, public works, parks, etc., and its beautiful homes, cultured population, and its religious and educational advantages, render it one of the most at- tractive and prosperous cities in the South. In 1905, the city debt was $305,000 ; assessed valuation of property, $7,757,425.59 ; tax rate, 18 mills ; with a population of 36,000 estimated on the city directory and children enrolled in the public schools.

Jackson, Andrew. "General Jackson was one of those rare cre- ations of nature which appear at long intervals to astonish and delight mankind. It seems to be settled in the public mind that he was born in South Carolina, but there is no certainty of the fact. His early life was very obscure, and he himself was uncer- tain of his birthplace, though he believed it was South Carolina." Some of his friends believed he was born in Ireland and brought to the Carolinas in infancy. His mother was 'a little, dumpy, red- headed Irish woman.' When Andy left home to go to Tennessee, she told him, 'Never tell a lie, nor take what is not your own, nor sue anybody for slander or assault and battery. Always settle them cases yourself.' Jackson was a restless and enter- prising man, embarking in many schemes for the accumulation of fortune, not usually resorted to by professional men, or men en- gaged in public matters. In business he was cautious. He was a remarkable judge of human character, and rarely gave his confi- dence to untried men. Notwithstanding the impetuosity of his nature, upon occasion he could be as cool and as calculating as a Yankee. He was in the habit of trading with the low country, that is, with the inhabitants of Mississippi and Louisiana. Many will remember the charge brought against him pending his candidacy for the presidency, of having been, in early life, a negro- trader, or dealer in slaves. This charge was strictly true, though abundantly disapproved by the oaths of his principal partner. Jackson had a small store, or trading establishment, at Bruins- burgh, near the mouth of the Bayou Pierre, in Claiborne county, Miss. It was at this point he received the negroes, purchased by his partner at Nashville, and sold them to the planters in the neighborhood. Sometimes, when the price was better, or the sales were quicker, he carried them to Louisiana." This was during the Spanish occupation of Natchez district. "Thomas M. Green and Abner Green were young men at the time, though both were men of family. To both of them Jackson, at different times, sold negroes, and the writer now has bills of sale for negroes sold to Abner Green, in the handwriting of Jackson, bearing his signa- ture, written, as it always was, in large and bold characters, ex- tending quite half across the sheet. At this store, which stood

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immediately upon the bank of the Mississippi, there was a race track, for quarter races (a sport Jackson was then very fond of) and many an anecdote was rife in the neighborhood of the skill of the old hero in pitting a cock or turning a quarterhorse." (W. H. Sparks, Memories of Fifty Years.)

When at Nashville, Jackson made his home for a time at a board- ing house where two other inmates were a young Virginian, Robards, and his wife, Rachael, daughter of Col. John Donelson. Perceiving that Robards was jealous of the ordinary courtesies that a young and handsome woman attracts, Jackson changed his abode. A year or two later Robards applied for a divorce and abandoned his wife. Jackson arranged that she should go to Nat- chez, down the river, with the party of Col. Stark, in 1790. For more than 15 months she was entertained at the home of Thomas Marston Green, until she had been granted a divorce by the Span- ish government. In 1791, Jackson came down to the settlement, and they were married by Thomas Green, acting as a magistrate. Robards and Miss Donelson had been married in Kentucky under Virginia law. He petitioned the legislature of Virginia for a di- vorce. The legislature, by act, authorized the supreme court of Kentucky to try the case, but Robards took no action, until after the Natchez marriage. Then he could, of course, obtain a formal decree in 1793, and Jackson and his wife had another marriage ceremony performed in 1794.

In the early part of the war of 1812, Jackson experienced one of the most painful trials of his career, in Mississippi. He had, act- ing as Gen. Claiborne had done, in response to the appeal for as- sistance, organized a brigade of militia at Nashville, composed of 1,400 infantry and riflemen and 670 mounted riflemen. "On the 7th of January, 1813, he broke up his camp at Nashville; the mounted infantry took up the line of march through the Indian country to Natchez, during inclement weather, and over roads almost impassable. The infantry embarked in thirteen boats, and set off in the midst of a severe winter on their perilous voyage down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers, more than fif- teen hundred miles. After a voyage of five weeks they arrived at Natchez on the 15th of February, and encamped on the west side of Washington, the territorial capital. Here they were joined by the mounted troops, which had arrived a few days before." Or- ders were soon received from the secretary of war, to discharge his men from service, and "deliver all the public stores and prop- erty in his possession into the hands of General Wilkinson, com- mander of the Seventh district." This was something that An- drew Jackson would never do for James Wilkinson, of all men. Despite the efforts of Wilkinson to persuade him to obey, he de- termined to hold his command intact to march back to Tennes- see, and obtained funds on his own responsibility. Wilkinson sent recruiting officers to bring Jackson's Tennesseeans over into Claiborne's camp of United States volunteers, but they were noti- fied that they would be drummed out of camp. "The line of march

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was at length taken up for Tennessee through the Chocktaw and Chickasaw countries, the commander refusing to leave a single man behind who had life in him."

Such is the story in Monette's history of the Valley. But the secretary of war explained to Jackson that, the order of Feb. 5 for the discharge of the troops was intended to reach him before he came down the Mississippi. Funds were provided for the pay of the troops as soon as they returned to Tennessee. The cause of the apparent mistreatment of Jackson and his troops was that Congress; before Jackson could leave Tennessee, burning for the conquest of Mobile, Pensacola and St. Augustine, had declined to approve the president's policy to occupy the two Floridas. Thomas H. Benton, while at Natchez, did not agree with Jackson about the situation, and before they returned to the Mississippi territory, for the 'Creek war, they had a street fight in Nashville, that left the general with a crippled arm.

The Mississippi archives show that on March 16 Gen. Jackson informed Gov. Holmes of his "intention to leave the territory in pursuance of orders from the general government." The gover- nor assurred the general that the patriotic enthusiasm of the Ten- nessee people and the conduct of the troops while in Mississippi territory had excited feelings of gratitude and respect. In his ad- dress to his troops at Nashville, April 24, the general "acknowl- edged with gratitude the many obligations we owe to his excel- lency, Governor Holmes, for his liberality and humanity, while in the Mississippi territory, and for his offering facilities and the means of comfort for the sick on their return march." After the War with the Creeks (q. v.) in January, 1814, the Mississippi legis- lature adopted resolutions of thanks and voted a sword to General Jackson.

In 1820, after two failures to make a treaty with the Choctaws, the Mississippi delegation in congress asked President Monroe to entrust the task to Gen. Jackson, with whom Gen. Hinds was to be associated, and the delegation sent him a letter begging his acceptance. Jackson responded, in a letter to John C. Calhoun: "I had determined to never have anything to do again in Indian treaties," but, "I never can withhold my services when required by Mr. Monroe. I owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Mis- sissippi and their late governor for their support in our late strug- gle with Great Britain; by him and them I was well supported. I feel it a duty, therefore, to endeavor to serve them, when they, by their representations, believe I have it in my power." Conse- quently the general attended the council of Choctaws at Doak's station on the Natchez road, October, 1820, and was successful in adding a large area of land to the available domain. Within this was located the State capital, which was named in his honor. He was entertained at Jackson, during his first candidacy for the presi- dency, toward which the State gave him her support in 1824, 1828, and 1832. His last visit was in January, 1840, returning from his trip to New Orleans to witness the laying of the cornerstone of

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 102

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association Number of Pages: 1030

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1030