USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 22
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lawyer and debater. In 1857 and 1859 he was reelected without opposition. Barksdale was an active member of the State Rights wing of his party in 1851, and was among those who maintained the theory of peaceable secession as a remedy during the next ten years. He urged Governor Pettus to radical measures as soon as the election of Mr. Lincoln became certain. Resigning his seat in Congress, January 12, 1861, he was elected colonel of the 13th Mississippi regiment, organized in Virginia. He was in battle at Manassas and Edwards' Ferry, commanded a Mississippi brigade in the campaign before Richmond, and in August was commis- sioned brigadier-general. He and his brigade were particularly distinguished at Fredericksburg in the battle of that name, and also during the Chancellorsville campaign, and fought gallantly at Gettysburg, where he was killed July 2, 1863 (See Army of Northern Virginia).
- Barsdale, William Russell, was born in Lauderdale county, Ala., April 26, 1834, and his parents, natives of Tennessee, moved in October of the same year to Yalobusha county, Miss. He was graduated at the University of Oxford in 1855, and completed the law course there in 1857, after which he began the practice of law at Grenada. He was a conspicuous member of the secession con- vention of 1861, and soon entered the Confederate military service. As major and adjutant-general he was a member of the staffs of Generals Featherston and Walthall, 1862-65. At the battle of Franklin he was severely wounded. He was elected district at- torney in 1865, and later was a member of the legislature. In 1875-76 he was a leader in the overthrow of the Ames administra- tion, and leader of the impeachment of Lieutenant-Governor Davis. The way was opened for a public service for which he was highly qualified, but he died at Grenada, January 10, 1877.
Barland, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Claiborne county, about 12 miles southeast of Port Gibson. Population in 1900, 41.
Barlow, a post-village in the western part of Copiah county, about 18 miles southwest of Hazelhurst. It has several stores, churches, a high school, an oil mill and cotton gin. Population in 1906, 250.
Barnard, Frederick Augustus Porter, was born in Sheffield, Mass., May 5, 1809. He graduated at Yale in 1828; became a tutor in that institution in 1829; served as teacher in the deaf and dumb asylums of Hartford and New York; was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in the University of Ala- bama, 1837-48; took orders in the Episcopal church in 1854; be-
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came professor of mathematics and astronomy in the University of Mississippi, and was elected president of that institution in 1856. In March, 1860, he was arraigned before the trustees of the University on two charges, one of disloyalty, and the other of discharging a student on negro evidence. He denied the charge, and proved in the investigation that he was not guilty. The board of trustees reported that the charges were wholly unsustained by the evidence. "Professor Barnard testified before the board as follows: 'I am a slaveholder, and if I know myself, I am sound on the slavery question.'' Jefferson Davis strenuously urged him to accept government service under the Confederacy, but he de- clined. His departure from the State was the cause of great re- gret among the University trustees, Judge Sharkey declaring it to be nothing less than a public calamity." -- (Garner's Reconstruc- tion.)"""He left Mississippi in 1861; became president of Columbia university in 1864; was United States commissioner to the Paris exposition in 1867; was assistant commissioner general at the Paris exposition in 1878; was a member of the astronomical ex- pedition to observe the total eclipse of the sun at Labrador in 1860; had charge of the publication of charts and maps of the United States Coast survey in 1863; was elected president of the American association for the advancement of science in 1860; and of the American institute in 1872. He was one of the original in- corporators of the American Academy of Science, and became for- eign secretary of that body. He was the author of a number of standard scientific works.
Barnes, a postoffice in the extreme north-central part of Leake county, 12 miles north of Carthage, the county seat.
Barnett, a post-station in the extreme western part of Clarke county, on the New Orleans and North Eastern R. R., about 12 miles west of Quitman, the county seat. Population in 1900, 56.
Barr, a postoffice in the southeastern part of Tate county, 10 mile's east of Senatobia, the county seat. It has one good general store, a cotton gin and a good school.
Barry, William Sullivan, was born at Columbus, Miss., Decem- ber 10, 1821, of Virginian ancestry. He was graduated at Yale college in 1841, read law at Columbus and began the practice there as a partner of Judge J. S. Bennett, but in 1847 retired from the profession to become a planter. He became the owner of sev- eral plantations and many slaves; resided for some years in Ok- tibbeha county, where he was elected to the legislatures of 1850 and 1852, and in the latter year removed to a region then in Sun-
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flower county. In 1853 he was elected to the United States con- gress, as a Democrat in opposition to the American party. He resumed the practice of law, at Columbus, as a partner of Thomas Christian. There he was elected to the legislatures of 1856 and 1858, and was chosen speaker of the house. His was one of three votes from the northern counties that elected Jefferson Davis to the United States senate in 1857. He was president of the con- stitutional convention of 1861, one of the seven delegates to the congress at Montgomery, and was elected a member of the con- gress at Richmond, but resigned his seat there to return to the State and organize a regiment, the Thirty-fifth Mississippi, of which he was colonel. He served during the siege of Vicksburg, and after being exchanged shared the service of Sears' brigade in the Atlanta campaign, at times in command of the brigade. He was wounded at Allatoona, and rejoined his regiment in time to be captured at Blakeley, Ala., April 9, 1865. Afterward he was despondent, yielded to disease, and died at Columbus, January 29, 1868.
Bartlett, a post-hamlet in the extreme southwestern part of Newton county, about 15 miles from Decatur, the county seat.
Barton, a post-hamlet in the extreme northwestern corner of Marshall county, near the Tennessee line, 18 miles distant from Holly Springs, the county seat, and about 6 miles north of Byhalia, the nearest railroad station. Population in 1900, 45.
Barton, Roger, of Holly Springs, stood singularly high in the estimation of his contemporaries. One of the best sketches in Lynch's Bench and Bar (p. 265) is in appreciation of his remark- able character. He was born in Tennessee, near Knoxville, Octo- ber 10, 1802, son of Dr. Hugh Barton, a native of Virginia. Seth Barton, a famous politician and journalist, was undoubtedly kin to his family, and Roger Barton is said to have been quite a near relative of the famous senator from Missouri of the same name, the colleague of Thomas H. Benton, and one of the most vivacious, sarcastic and eloquent public speakers that the Mississippi valley ever produced. Roger Barton obtained a classical education in East Tennessee, read law under William E. Anderson, of Knox- ville, and after practicing there some years, became a partner at Bolivar of Judge V. D. Barry, whose daughter he married. He was elected to the Tennessee legislature and chosen attorney-gen- eral of that State, and consequently had considerable fame when he crossed the line and made his home at Holly Springs in 1836. "In 1837, in connection with Governor Vroom, of New Jersey,
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he was appointed by the president a member of the commission to examine the claims of the Choctaw Indians to contingent reser- vations under the treaty of Dancing Rabbit creek, a matter of great importance to settlers in Northern Mississippi." He became the law partner of Joseph W. Chalmers, an association which con- tinued until Chalmers was elected chancellor. He was elected to the lower house of the legislature in 1838 and again in 1849. In 1858 he was a candidate for United States senator, against Jefferson Davis, and received a considerable support. Lynch says he was the candidate of the northern part of the State, and would most likely have obtained the honor, had it not been for the mili- tary glory of Mr. Davis. Both he and Davis were counted .on by Governor Quitman as friends in the famous State Rights move- ment of 1849-51. In 1849 also he declined a nomination for Con- gress. Later he declined the tender by President Pierce, of the office of consul to Cuba. He was just about removing to Cali- fornia, says Henry S. Foote, when he died suddenly, of acute rheumatism, March 4, 1855. Reuben Davis, who ranked with him as a famous criminal lawyer, wrote: "He was as great in mind ." as he was good in heart, and that goodness was as nearly perfect as mortal can attain. I never knew a man of more profound and continuous thought. It was said of him that he was never a stu- dent, and that was true. He was one of those men born to think out and formulate opinions for others, instead of receiving them at second hand. An oracle himself, he had less need to seek in- spiration from the books of the Sibyl. He was a great lawyer, and in politics had the broad views of a statesman. Both in pub- lic and private life he was the soul of truth and honor, and in- capable of an unworthy action." (Recollections, p. 87.) Foote said he "left behind him a reputation such as few lawyers have been able to acquire." "His logical powers," said Lynch, "were as intuitive and spontaneous as his judgment. He adhered to no fixed rules or conventional arts of speech. His eloquence was polished simplicity, fascinating candor and forcible originality knit with the closest logic and presented with rich and striking illustration. He united the withering sarcasm of Sheridan with the amiable temper of Sir Matthew Hale." Though quite negli- gent of luxury and plain in dress and surroundings, he accumu- lated little property. He was very generous and improvident. "When he left Tennessee and came to Holly Springs, his brother gave him two sections of the best land in Marshall county. It seemed to take wings and fly away."
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Bartram's Visit .- William Bartram, botanist, visited the gulf coast of Mississippi in the summer of 1777, sailing from Mobile in the trading boat of a French gentlemen who was general in- terpreter of the Choctaw nation. This man was making a return voyage to his plantation on the banks of Pearl river. Until he arrived there Bartram was blinded with fever, and almost frantic with pain, so that he was near to death, and was taken to Pearl island, where Mr. Rumsey relieved him by 'applying a cantharides blister to the spine, so that the botanist passed into "a pleasing delirium" from which in time he recovered. His convalescence he passed strolling through the "awful shades, venerable groves and sublime forests" of Pearl Island, or Las Conchas. By the Amite and Manchac bayou, he sailed to the trading houses, and head of navigation, nine miles east of the village of Manchac, on the Mississippi, and proceeded by road to Manchac, where there were large English trading houses, the Swanson & Co. buildings being preeminent. Across the Iberville, connected by a narrow bridge, was the Spanish fort. Bartram visited New Richmond (Baton Rouge) also the Indian town of the remnant of Aliba- mons; White Cliffs, the plantation of Governor Brown, and Pointe Coupee, but did no more than sail along the shore and note "the beautiful bay, St. Louis," on his return voyage. (Bar- tram's Travels, London, 1792.)
Barttahatchie, a hamlet in the eastern part of Monroe county, near the Alabama State line, and about 12 miles east of Aberdeen. It has rural mail service from Gattman.
Basic, a post-station in the northern part of Clarke county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 12 miles northwest of Quitman, the - county seat.
Basin, a post-hamlet in the north central part of Jackson county, near the east bank of the Pascagoula river, and 30 miles north of Pascagoula, the county seat. Population in 1900, 60.
Bassfield, a post-station in the southwestern part of Covington county, on the Mississippi Central R. R., 10 miles southwest of Williamsburg, the county seat. The town has several stores and a bank. The People's Bank was established in 1906. The popula- tion in 1906 was estimated at 500. If Jefferson Davis county is formed as the last legislature voted, Bassfield will be in Jefferson Davis county.
Bates Mill, a post-station, and little logging town in Amite coun- ty, on the Liberty-White R. R., 7 miles east of Liberty, the county seat, and nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 43.
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Batesville, a flourishing town in the central part of Panola county, on the line of the Illinois Central R. R. Its presnt popula- tion (1906) is about 800, and it is the seat of justice for the second judicial district of Panola county. The long drawn out contest between the old extinct towns of Belmont and Panola (q. v.) over the location of the county seat has given rise to the two districts into which the county is now divided. With the advent of the Mississippi & Tennessee railroad (now the Illinois Central), the town of Batesville sprang up in 1855, and it soon absorbed the town of Panola, only one mile distant. Its first merchants were David Butts and John Shuford. About 20 substantial business houses now comprise the mercantile features of the town, and there are a number of manufacturing industries such as the Panola Gin & Lumber Co., which includes two saw mills and a grist mill ; there are also a spoke factory, and a round and square bale gin. The town is embellished with 4 well built churches, an excellent public school, court house, jail, etc. The Methodists built the first church in 1857. Dr. Randolph and Dr. Phillips were two of the first physicians. Some of the other poneers of the old town were David Butts, John Shuford, Andrew Rayburn, Anthony Foster, Dr. Sam- uel Martin, Col. Calvin Miller, Col. John Fiser, S. Ward, Jack Browder, Wiley Baker, Wm. Harris, Sterling Harris, Thos. Clark, Judge Harrison, John Harrison, Joshua Fletcher, Maj. Rawlins and Judge Vaden. The town was named for Rev. J. W. Bates, another of its first settlers.
Batesville supports one newspaper, "The Panolian," a weekly Democratic newspaper founded in 1872 with E. M. Cage, editor and proprietor. The Bank of Batesville was established here in 1897. The town is lighted by electricity and supplied with excel- l'ent artesian water. It has the Cumberland system of telephones, with several rural branch lines. Two rural mail routes emanate from Batesville. It ships about 5,000 bales of cotton annually.
The adjoining country is fertile and produces excellent crops, and some attention is paid to raising early fruits and vegetables for the northern market, for which the locality is well adapted. The presence of large bodies of fine timber a few miles west of the town renders it an excellent point for the establishment of wood- working industries.
Baton Rouge, Battle of. The troops brought up from New Or- leans in the first campaign against Vicksburg, in 1862, were re- turned to Baton Rouge in June, and on July 27 Gen. John C. Breckinridge started from Vicksburg to attempt the capture of
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the command. The attack was to be made August 5, aided by the ironclad Arkansas, but the latter met with an accident and was destroyed. Nevertheless the attack was made on the day set. Gen. Charles Clark, of Mississippi, commanded one of the divi- sions, and had with him the 22d regiment, under Capt. F. Hughes, who was mortally wounded ; the 31st, under Maj. H. E. Topp, and the 15th, Major Binford. General Clark was badly wounded, and the first two regiments named lost about 150 in killed and wounded. After the failure of this attack, General Breckinridge began the fortification of Port Hudson. August 19, with a por- tion of his command, he moved to Jackson, Miss.
Baton Rouge Revolution. This was a sequel of the Kemper affair of 1805 (q. v), and an important step toward the acquisition of the Gulf Coast. It was encouraged by the claim of the United States under the cession of Louisiana, and the conquest of Spain by Napoleon, who, after failing to hold Louisiana, sought to ac- quire by war the remaining Spanish possessions in the Americas. The junta of Seville, in 1808, sent over orders which resulted in the viceroy of Mexico being imprisoned and his wife sent to a con- vent. In December Colonel Grand Pré and several of the mili- tary officers at Baton Rouge were ordered to report at Havana. It was understood that the veteran Creole colonel was to undergo punishment on the charge of being subject to French influence. A great body of the inhabitants rallied about him, asking that he remain as governor at their own expense, but he told them at the farewell meeting that he was a soldier and must obey orders, and was not so much attached to what remained to him of life, that he should hesitate to lay it down. This was followed by the ban- ishment of many of the French inhabitants. To succeed Grand Pré, Thomas Estevan was appointed governor of the district of New Feliciana. Colonel Grand Pré died in 1809. Charles De- hault de Lassus seems to have been governor in 1810. He was the commandant at New Madrid when Ellicott came down the river in 1797.
Renewed depredations by the banditti on both sides of the line in the vicinity of Pinckneyville occupied the attention of Gover- nor Holmes and Colonel Cushing, at Fort Adams, much of the time in 1809. The patrol was renewed, and militia held in readi- ness to support the officers of the law, who were unable to en- force the writs of the court.
Governor Holmes wrote to the secretary of state, June 20, 1810, that from information lately received "concerning the present po-
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litical situation of the inhabitants of West Florida, I am inclined to think occurrences may take place there, interesting to the United States, or at least to their adjacent territories. For some time past the commandants have refused to exercise any authority in important cases, whether they related to general policy, or existed between individuals. The power of government has been so much relaxed in every respect that a sense of common danger has induced some of the inhabitants to establish a kind of neigh- borhood police, which, having no fixed rule for its guide, is con- sequently in its operation inefficient and in many instances un- just. This state of things has become alarming to the most respectable part of the community, and they are determined, I be- lieve, to endeavor to bring about a change. Unfortunately, from the mixed nature of their population, they are divided in opinion as to the means best calculated to insure the safety of society. There is distinctly marked an American party, a British party, a Spanish party, and until of late there existed a French party. The wish of the American party is that the province may become a part of the United States; the most prudent of them, however, are not in favor of taking immediate steps to effect this object, lest by failing of success they might hereafter be punished for the attempt, yet it is probable they would incur the risk rather than to be subjected to any foreign power, or to encounter the perils of anarchy, and in the prospect of either event I do not doubt but that they would solicit the protection of the United States. It is the wish of the British party to see the country under the power of Great Britain, and they would readily aid any pro- ject to effect that purpose, which might promise success. They profess, however, to support the right of the Spanish king, and generally act in unison with the Spanish party. The French have been ordered to leave the country, and most of them have actually removed into the Orleans territory. This measure has occasioned some ferment; the French threaten to return reinforced and to take satisfaction for the injury, but I do not believe they will make the attempt. The proclamation commanding them to leave the country I understand was issued at Baton Rouge. . . . A great portion of the population of West Florida consists of slaves and persons without character or the means of procuring a com- petent living. What effect would be produced by a state of an- archy and confusion there, upon the adjacent territories of the United States, is a question worthy of consideration. If in the struggle that portion of the population (which I have described)
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should overcome the well disposed and respectable part of the community, we shall be placed in a very unpleasant if not in a precarious situation as respects our slaves. There is nothing to be apprehended from the interference of any foreign nation ex- cept that of Great Britain. She may be solicited by a party to extend protection to the people thus left almost destitute of gov- ernment." July 11, 1810, the governor wrote: "On the first day of this month a considerable number of the inhabitants of the four upper districts which comprise that part of the province called Feliciana, met pursuant to a notice at the farm of Mr. Sterling, about fifteen miles from the Mississippi and about ten from the line of demarcation. The ostensible object of the meeting was to take into consideration the state of the province and to adopt some mode of rendering their situation more secure against both foreign invasion and internal disturbances. Those who had been active in procuring the assemblage, submitted to the considera- tion of the people a project (previously arranged), which was agreed to by almost an unanimous voice. Out of five hundred per- sons, which I have been informed was about the number present, there were but eleven who dissented. Conformable to the plan thus adopted the people proceeded immediately to elect from among themselves four persons to act as representatives of the four upper districts. The names of the persons chosen are: John Rhea, John Johnson, William Barrow, and John Mills, all of them wealthy and respectable men. It is made their duty in the first place to communicate with the people of the other districts in the province, [West Florida], and to endeavor to prevail upon them to adopt a similar course by electing from each remaining dis- trict (being six in number) one representative. This council, which will consist of ten members (provided the inhabitants come into the measure), are invested with general powers, to be exercised in any way they may think best calculated to promote the good of the community. The necessity of dismissing the Spanish officers was not suggested to the people at the meeting; on the other hand, it was tacitly understood that the council, when organized, would suffer them to remain in office, provided they acknowledged the new authority and consented to be controlled and regulated thereby. You may readily conjecture how this business will ulti- mately eventuate. I am satisfied from a knowledge of the senti- ments of some of the most respectable inhabitants that the whole proceeding may be considered as an incident to the most decisive
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and important measure of asking the protection of the United States."
According to Fortier there was a convention at Buhler's Plains, July 17, which adopted a plan of constitutional government. The convention met again at Baton Rouge August 22, with repre- sentatives from New Feliciana, St. Helena, Baton Rouge and St. Ferdinand. The governor approved all the proposals for reform in government, but it was discovered September 20 that he had sent to Governor Folch at Pensacola for troops. Thereupon it was decided at a secret council to capture the fort and declare indepen- dence. Col. Philemon Thomas, with the grenadier company under Col. Bollinger and the Bayou Sara cavalry under Capt. Griffith, in all about seventy-five, attacked the fort September 23. It seems that Lieut. Louis de Grand Pré, son of the old colonel, was in com- mand of the garrison, probably less than fifty men. There was fir- ing between the garrison and assailants. Unfortunately a ball found young Grand Pré, and he, like his father, did not live to see the banner of Spain withdrawn from the north Gulf coast. Twenty prisoners were taken, among them Col. De Lassus. The death of young Grand Pré was deeply regretted by all concerned in the affair. There was a love story that added to the romance of the hero's death. The Creoles of New Orleans glorified his memory. Governor Claiborne secured for his surviving brother a midshipman's appointment in the Mississippi river navy.
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