Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 27

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 27

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There had been a decision to the same effect at the January term, 1842, in the case of Campbell vs. Mississippi Union bank, reported in 6 Howard. Circuit Judge Harris first ruled that the supple- mental act (see Banking) was constitutional and the bonds valid,

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and the High court affirmed the decision, opinion by Chief Justice Sharkey, Justices Turner and Trotter concurring.

Bondurant, Alexander Lee, was born in Buckingham county, Va., June 22, 1865, of French Huguenot ancestry ; he was prepared for college by private teachers; was graduated at Hampden Sydney college in 1884; later at the University of Texas, and in 1887 en- tered the University of Virginia. He became assistant professor of Latin and Greek in the University of Mississippi in 1889. In 1892 he was awarded a fellowship at Harvard, and spent a year in that institution, securing his A. M. degree. He then returned to the University of Mississippi, and became professor of Latin in 1895. He is the author of a number of monographs, and an active member of the Mississippi Historical Society. Prof. Bon- durant has had the best advantages to be had in foreign univer- sities in Latin, his specialty.

Boneyard. A village in Alcorn county, established in the early '30's on the stage road running from Jacinto to Lagrange, Tenn., by William Powell. As Mr. Powell was a very lean man, the village received the name of "Boneyard." It once had about 100 inhabitants; a Masonic lodge (No. 179) ; three merchants; two shops; and a carding machine, operated by M. Suitor, who is said to have carded wool for the people within a radius of fifteen miles. The place was destroyed by the Federal troops during the War, and its site is now marked by a public school building, about eleven miles southwest of Corinth. J. M. Lynch and M. Suitor, of Kossuth, were residents of the town before its destruction.

Bonhomie, a station in the northwestern part of Perry county, on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., three miles southwest of Hattiesburg. Postoffice discontinued in 1905 and mail goes to Hattiesburg. Population in 1900, 20.

Bonita, a post-station of Lauderdale county, one mile east of Meridian. It has a money order postoffice. There is a large brick yard located here, also an oil mill and ice factory.

Bonner, Sherwood, was a native of Holly Springs. Her father, Dr. Chas. Bonner, was a native of Ireland, who came to Missis- sippi and married Mary Wilson. Sherwood Bonner was the oldest child of this union. She had the advantages of wealth and social position. At the age of fifteen her first story was published in the Boston Ploughman. In 1871 she married Edward McDowell. Soon after there was a financial crisis in the family and she went to Boston to do literary work. She became the private secretary of the poet Longfellow. In 1878, when the yellow fever broke

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out she returned to Holly Springs. She escaped the fever, but her father and brother both died. She returned to Boston, but was stricken with a fatal disease and died July 22, 1883. She was the author of a number of books and many magazine and newspaper articles. Some of the best known of her works are: "Like Unto Like," "Sewanee River Tales," "Miss Willard's Two Rings," 1875; "From '60 to '65" and "Gran'mammy Stories."

Bonnie, a post-hamlet in the west-central part of Jackson county, situated on Bluff creek, about 20 miles northwest of Pas- cagoula.

Bonus, a post-hamlet in the north-central part of Franklin county, 6 miles north of Meadville, the county seat.

Boon, a post-hamlet in the east-central part of Winston county, about 6 miles east of Louisville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 23.

Booneville, the capital of Prentiss county, is a thriving station on the Mobile & Ohio R. R., 21 miles south of Corinth, and 308 miles by rail from Mobile. It was named for an early settler, Colonel Reuben Boone, and became the seat of justice when Pren- tiss county was formed in 1870. The first courthouse was com- pleted in 1872 at a cost of about $15,000. This building was condemned in 1904 and a new courthouse to cost $35,000 is in process of erection. It has 3 banks, the Bank of Booneville, the Tishominga Savings Institution and the Booneville Banking Co., telegraph and express offices, half a dozen churches, a female institute, a fine high school, two brick and tile plants, two cotton gins, a bottling plant, a carding factory, and a sash, door and blind factory. Cotton, fruit growing and truck farming are the leading industries of the locality. When the Mobile & Ohio railroad was being graded, a large bed of oyster shells was opened up in a cut near the town. The Prentiss Plain- dealer, a Democratic weekly paper, James N. Boone, editor and publisher, was established here in 1885; the Banner, another Democratic weekly, was established in 1898, Thomas L. Betters- worth, editor and publisher. Booneville's population increased from 748 in 1890, to 1,050 in 1900, and in 1906 it was estimated at 1,250. The town has 2 hotels and 2 livery barns, and is equipped with an excellent electric light plant.

Booneville, battle, see Army of the Mississippi.

Booth, a post-station in the northeastern part of Issaquena county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 10 miles northeast of Mayersville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 25.

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Bossu's Visit. This French traveller was born in France about 1725. He was a captain in the French marines, and was one of the earliest travellers to explore what was then the great French prov- ince of Louisiana. He made three journeys to this country by order of his government, and published an account of his explora- tions in two works entitled "Nouveaux Voyages Aux Indies Oc- cidentales," translated into English by John Reinhold Forster, F. A. S., with the title "Travels through that part of North Amer- ica, formerly called Louisiana." (London 1771).

His first journey was made in 1751. September 10, he writes "After eighty leagues navigation from the capital of Louisiana, we arrived at the post of the Natches, which, about twenty years ago, was very considerable, but is very insignificant at present.

The fort is situated on an eminence, which commands the Mis- sissippi, from which it is about the distance of a cannon shot. The ground, which in this country is always rising higher, would be one of the most fertile, if it were cultivated; tobacco, cotton and maize succeed very well in it."

Concerning the massacre of the French by the Natchez tribe in 1729, he says "they murdered near two thousand persons; only twenty-five or twenty-six negroes escaped, and most of them were wounded. One hundred and fifty children, ninety women, and as many negroes, were taken prisoners, in hopes of selling them to the English in Carolina. . Since that time this country is not inhabited: The Natchez, being pursued by the French, and being too weak to resist them, took refuge among the Chicachas (Chickasaws), where they found an asylum. We still have a fort here, but the colony is far from brilliant; the means of establishing it would be to attract other Indians to it."

In 1759, having received orders to "command a convoy of pro- visions and ammunition to the fort Tombekbe, which is situated on a river of the same name, about ten leagues from the nation of the Chactaws," he "left Mobile on the 20th of August 1759, with three boats, in which were soldiers and Mobile Indians," and at last "happily arrived at Fort Tombekbe on the 25th of Septem- ber, after going a hundred leagues by water, without seeing a single habitation. Every night we are obliged to camp in the woods upon the banks of the river; but the greatest inconvenience are the Muskitoes or Maringoins, a kind of gnats which are in- supportable in Louisiana. In order to be free from them, we put great weeds into the ground, and bent them over like arches; we then covered them with a linen cloth, and laid down a bear's skin

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as a matrass. All the voyages made by the people of the colony are done in the same manner by water." Speaking of the Choc- taws at this time, he writes: "The Chactaws are entirely the friends of the French. . This nation can bring four thousand war- riors into the field, who would march with pleasure. It would be easy to stir them up to revenge us against the English, who are committing hostilities in our possessions in Canada." Of the Chickasaws, or "Tchicachas," as he calls them, he says: "This nation is not so numerous as the Chactaws, but more terrible, on account of their intrepidity. All the northern and southern In- dian nations, and even the French, have attacked them, without ever being able to drive them out of their country, which is the finest and most fruitful on all the continent. The Chickasaws are tall, well made, and of an unparalleled courage. The English have always been in alliance with these valiant warriors; they have always traded with them, and supplied all their wants. As these Indians gave shelter to the Natches, after the massacre of the French, the latter armed in 1736 against, and attacked them, with the united forces of the whole colony, but without success."

In a long letter devoted to a description of "curious animals and salutary simples to be met with in Louisiana, "he thus speaks of sugar-cane, indigo and cotton : "Whilst I was in Louisiana, the inhabitants got from St. Domingo plants of sugar-canes, in order to make plantations of them. M. Dubreuil, who commands the militia of citizens, was the first planter that built a sugar-mill at New Orleans."

"Indigo is a plant resembling the Broom or Genista very much. A kind of it is growing in Louisiana spontaneously, and common- ly upon hills and near woods. That which is cultivated is brought from the West Indian isles. There are two crops of it every year. It grows to the height of two feet and a half. When it is ripe, it is cut, and brought into the place where it is to rot; this is a build- ing twenty feet high, without walls; but only supported by posts."

"The cotton-shrub is no bigger than a rose-bush, but spreads more. It does not succeed so well in strong or rich grounds as in others; therefore, that which grows in Lower Louisiana is in- ferior in goodness to that which is cultivated in the higher parts of that province. The cotton of this country is of that species called white cotton of Siam. It is neither so fine or so long as the silky cotton, but is, however, very white and very fine. Its leaves are of a lively green, and resemble spinage very much ; the flower is of a pale yellow, the seed contained in the capsule is

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black, and oval like a kidney-bean: it is commonly planted in such grounds as are not yet fit for tobacco or for indigo; for the latter requires the greatest care. Each capsule contains five, six, or seven seeds, of the size of pease; the cotton sticks to them, and it is therefore difficult to get the seeds out, except in time and with patience; for this reason, however, many planters have been disgusted with the culture of cotton." A foot-note ex- plains that "the people in the English colonies, and in China, em- ploy an instrument which separates the pods from the cotton with great ease."

He thus characterizes the buffalo: "The wild ox is very large and strong; the French and the Indians make various uses of it; they eat its flesh, which they salt or dry; they make coverings of its hide. The wild bull is covered with a very fine wool, with which they make very good matrasses; of its tallow they make candles, and its pizzles afford cords to the Indian bows. The In- dians work its horns, and make them into micouens or spoons, and into powder horns. The wild ox has a bunch or hump on its back like a camel. It has long hair on the head like a goat, and wool on its body like sheep, which the Indian women spin into threads."

Boundaries. The first boundary fixed by European peoples in the neighborhood of the present domain of the State of Missis- sippi, was between Spanish and British possessions. The treaty of 1763 made the middle line of the channel of the Mississippi river, as far south as Bayou Manchac, the line of demarcation. This was the line specified also in the treaty of 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, and of 1795, between Spain and the United States. But the language of the act of April 7, 1798, forming the Mississippi territory, is, "bounded on the west by the Mississippi." (See Territorial Enactment.)

The boundary clause of the Enabling act of March 1, 1817 (See Statehood), is as follows:

"The said State shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, towit : Beginning on the river Mis- sissippi at the point where the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee strikes the same, thence east along the said boundary line to the Tennessee river, thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington, thence due south to the Gulf of Mex- ico; thence westwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the most easterly junction of Pearl river

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with Lake Borgne; thence up said river to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence west along the said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning."

In 1826 the legislature memorialized Congress to extend the western boundary of the State to "the middle of the Mississippi river, or eastern boundary of Louisiana," to remedy the evil of the existing situation, "which affords immunity to crime and asy- lum to delinquents to the civil obligations of society." Evidently no action was taken. In the Mississippi code of 1857, the subject of this boundary is discussed, with the conclusion: "We must understand the general expression 'up the same (the Mississippi) to the beginning,' as having reference to the middle of the river, or thread of the stream, as the line had been previously defined, and it follows that the State has a right, by act of the legislature, to extend her jurisdiction that far, as this has undoubtedly been the precise boundary line between the territory lying east and west of the Mississippi river, ever since 1763." The foregoing has the weight of the opinion of Judge Sharkey, head of the commis- sion that prepared the code, which includes a statute defining the western boundary of the State according to the above interpre- tation. This boundary, however, is the most indefinite of the demarcations of the State. The river changes its bed occasionally. It has been pleaded by a retailer accused of violating the Mis- sissippi laws that he was not amenable, having been changed from Arkansas to Mississippi without his consent. A tract of land in Boliver county has been sold for delinquent taxes in both Ar- kansas and Mississippi. Plantations have been doubled in size and others swept away. Even towns have yielded to the caprice of the mighty flood. An act of 1888 authorized the governor to appoint three commissioners to treat with the States of Louis- iana and Arkansas regarding the readjustment of boundary lines caused by the changes of the river, but no action was taken. Gov- ernor Stone suggested a new commission in 1896.

LOUISIANA LINE.

After Spain lost control of the western end of West Florida through the Baton Rouge revolution (q. v.), Governor Claiborne, under instructions from President Monroe, took possession of Baton Rouge and the other districts west of Pearl river and the gulf coast east to Mobile (all south of 31°) as a part of Louisiana. This was made necessary by the diplomatic contention at that time, on the part of the United States, that West Florida, includ-

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ing Mobile, was part of the Louisiana ceded to the United States. But to have intrusted Governor Holmes with the taking posses- sion would give color to the contention of the Spanish govern- ment that the region in dispute could not properly be considered part of Louisiana. Mississippi territory was the real successor of West Florida, and, to maintain the old divisions, all the newly acquired region, down to the Manchac and Lake Pontchartrain, should have been annexed to Mississippi territory, as soon as the 31° boundary was obliterated. The diplomatic situation, how- ever, reinforced by the influence of Governor Claiborne, resulted in Mississippi's loss. In 1811, George Patterson and 410 other inhabitants of West Florida (Baton Rouge, etc.) petitioned con- gress for annexation to Mississippi. A congressional committee, of which George Poindexter was chairman, reported favorably to that proposition. Claiborne opposed it, and by actual possession was in position to offer a "compromise" on the Pearl river line. When the bill came up for the disposition of the new territory, Poindexter found it necessary to accept the "compromise."

For the history of the 31° line see British West Florida, Geor- gia Domain, Dunbar's line, Boundary of 31°, etc. The line was established in 1798.

ALABAMA LINE.

The Alabama line, it will be observed, had two points fixed : the mouth of Bear creek, which was an important point on the Ten- nessee river from the days of the first Indian treaties with the United States; and the northwest corner of Washington county, which was the point where the trading road northwest from Mo- bile crossed the line of the first cession from the Choctaws. The line between Bear creek and the Washington corner divided about equally the lands east and west of the natural boundary, the Tom- bigbee river.

The line running due south from the Washington county corner would cut off the eastern ends of the counties of Wayne, Greene and Jackson, which extended to the trading road previously re- ferred to, and, in the case of Jackson, to the ridge of high land west of Mobile bay. This would be true no matter with what variation from south it should be run to the gulf west of Mobile bay. But the Alabama enabling act of March 2, 1819, made the slight concession that if the surveyors found that the line due south would encroach on the counties of Wayne, etc., then it should be altered to run from the Washington county corner to a

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point on the gulf ten miles east of Pascagoula river. Thomas Freeman, surveyor-general for Mississippi, and Gen. John Coffee, surveyor-general for Alabama district, met and determined the Washington county corner in 1820, and George Dougharty, under the direction of Freeman, ran an experimental line 10512 miles south, reaching salt water near the mouth of Pascagoula. He then marked a point ten miles east of that river, and ran the per- manent line back to the beginning. His bearing westward as he ran north was 10° 40', in which he figured the magnetic variation as 8° 40', but subsequent surveyors (1841), put the variation from true north as 2° 30'. Dougharty finished his line July 19, 1820. It was partly retraced by John B. Peyton, under the direction of Levin Wailes, surveyor-general, in 1823, and from Grand gulf north by Julius Monet and Elihu Carver in 1841.

The line north of Washington county, to the Tennessee river, was run by James W. Exum, under the direction of Gen. John Coffee.

Harper's geological report (1857) says the north end of the Alabama-Mississippi line bears north 15° east, and the south end, south 15° 25' east (as. quoted, Publs. M. H. Soc., VIII, 326). This is incorrect. The line north of the Washington county corner is marked on the United States survey of the State (Records State land office) as bearing north 6° 17' east. Governor Poindexter said, in his message of January, 1821: "The commissioners ap- pointed, under the authority of the United States, to run the boun- dary line between this State and Alabama, have, I am informed, finished that work."

TENNESSEE LINE.

In 1828 there was an investigation of the possibility of a navi- gable channel from the Mississippi below Chickasaw bluffs to the upper Yazoo, and perhaps out of this arose the suggestion in Gov- ernor Brandon's message in January, 1829, that many intelligent persons believed the north line of the State was south of where it should be, to be on the 35th parallel, and that an agreement should be made with Tennessee to retrace the line. The selection of the 35th parallel as a boundary had its origin in the western extension of the line between the two Carolinas. (See Treaty of Beaufort.) As a boundary between Tennessee and Alabama, it was first marked in 1818 by General Coffee, surveyor-general, and the survey was carried to the Mississippi river by General Win- chester, in 1819. Ten years later the correctness of the line was

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challenged by Mississippians so far as to claim that Memphis would be south of a correct location of the 35th parallel. There was, of course, no Memphis when the geodetical line was first se- lected as a boundary, and though the site of Memphis was claimed and once occupied by the Spanish of Natchez, their claim had no definite northern limit except the Ohio river, if it did not ex- tend to Lake Michigan.

In November, 1831, Governor Brandon reported that Maj. John Holbrook, commissioner to verify the line run in 1819, had dis- covered that the marked line was so nearly correct, that it would be useless to agitate the subject further. In fact it appeared that the line was too far north. Tennessee was interested in this dis- covery, and a line was marked on her behalf by Engineer Thomp- son, either at the same time or later. Governor Carroll, of Ten- nessee, took up the subject, urging that the line should be fixed according to the Thompson survey. Governor Scott referred the correspondence to the legislature in 1832, and a house committee reported that there was no urgent necessity for further proceed- ings. ,

In January, 1837, the governor was authorized to appoint a com- mission of three to run the boundary line, but Tennessee did not take action immediately. In the legislature, F. H. Walker re- ported in April that the line run by Winchester was the only legal line; that the line run by Thompson was an ex parte proceeding on the part of Tennessee.

The commission appointed in 1837 was composed of B. A. Lud- low, a surveyor of public lands, D. W. Connelly and W. Petrie, in behalf of Mississippi, and J. D. Graham and Austin Miller, for Tennessee. They determined by astronomical observations, where the line should be, found it was so far south of the Winchester line that the domain of Tennessee was enlarged by about two hundred square miles, and marked the line from a point on the Tennessee river six chains south of the mouth of Yellow creek, to a point on the bank of the Mississippi river, opposite Cow isl- and. Mississippi adopted the report of these commissioners by act of legislature, February 8, 1838.

The boundary of the State as declared by the constitution of 1890, begins on the Mississippi, at the point fixed by the above survey, follows the Tennessee line to the point on the Tennessee river above described, "thence up the said river to the mouth of Bear Creek; thence by a direct line to what was formerly the nothwest corner of the county of Washington, Ala .; thence on a

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direct line to a point ten miles east of the Pascagoula river, on the gulf of Mexico; thence westerly including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the most eastern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne; thence up said Pearl river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence west along the said degree of latitude to the middle or thread of the stream of the Mississippi river ; thence up the middle of the Mississippi river, or thread of the stream, to the place of beginning, including all islands lying east of the thread of the stream of said river; and also including all lands which were at any time heretofore a part of this State." The source of this description, except the last clause, is the code of 1857.

MARITIME BOUNDARY.

When Judge Sharkey interpreted the words of the enabling act in 1857, he did not consider it necessary to discuss the words: "thence westerly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the most eastern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne." A league is three geographical miles, and six leagues is a little more than 20 land miles. A line twenty miles from the shore includes all the islands of the bar of Mississippi sound, within the limits specified, but, as Lake Borgne is approached, the limits become involved in obscurity among the islands and sand bars off the Louisiana coast. In that region are many oyster reefs, and the conflict of authority of the two States in regard thereto, led to a meeting of commissioners from both at New Orleans in 1901, and again in 1902. A temporary line was agreed upon, which occasioned much protest on the part of Mississippi fishermen, but was maintained. The question was brought before the United States supreme court, as an original suit, on the com- plaint of the State of Louisiana vs. the State of Mississippi, un- der the clause of the constitution extending the jurisdiction of that court to "controversies between two or more States," and de- cided in March, 1906, in favor of Louisiana's title to islands within three leagues of her shore. (See Boundary Case; also article by Monroe McClurg, Publ. M. H. S., VII, 293.)

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 27

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