Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 3

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 3

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 county has a land surface of 438 square miles. Like most counties in the State Adams county is well watered, the principal streams besides the Mississippi and Homochitto rivers on its western and southern boundary, being Second, St. Catharine's and Sandy creeks. Nearly the whole of the county lies in the so called Bluff Formation of the State, and the surface of the land is undu-

MISSISSIPPI

lating, rolling and hilly, with level stretches along the river and creek bottoms. Many of its forests have been cleared away in the development of its many rich plantations, but the county is still rich in timber, consisting of white, red, live and water oaks, gum, ash, cottonwood, poplar, beech, pine, walnut, cypress and magnolia. Its soil is a rich alluvial loam, very fertile, producing cotton, corn, sugar-cane, oats, sweet and Irish potatoes, peanuts, hay and all kinds of vegetables. Fruits of various kinds, both the large and small varieties, flourish in the kindly soil and climate of this favored region. Excellent pasturage for stock can be found throughout the year, and the live stock industry has attained large proportions, being valued at nearly one half a million dollars in 1900. While it must be admitted that Adams county, like the rest of the State, lacks many of the elements that foster a manufac- turing population, it is yet fortunate in the possession of a kindly climate and soil, excellent shipping facilities, and valuable woods and clays.

The following statistics, from the twelfth U. S. Census for 1900, relate to farms, manufactures and population :- Number of farms 2,583, acreage in farms 141,222, acres improved 73,756, value of the land and improvements, exclusive of buildings $1,114,520, value of the farm buildings $461,580, value of live stock $464,572, total value of all products not fed $1,280,026.

Number of manufactures 80, capital invested $1,474,448, wages paid $222,522, cost of materials used $718,172, total value of prod- ucts $1,322,171.

The population of the county in 1900 consisted of whites 6,439, colored 23,672, total 30,111, an increase of 4,080 over the census returns for 1890. (See Natchez Indians, Fort Rosalie, Natchez, Washington Territorial Administrations.)

The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in Adams county in 1905 was $6,470,748, and in 1906 it was $7,299,674, which shows an increase of $828,926 during the year.

Adams, Daniel W., son of Judge George Adams, was educated at the University of Virginia. Soon after his return home, circum- stances noted in the sketch of his father involved the State in great excitement, and arrayed people in opposing factions. His father was, as the young man felt, maliciously accused. As a result he killed Editor James Hagan (q. v.), of Vicksburg, in 1843, with much provocation and under circumstances that at least strongly suggested self-defense on his part. He was tried for murder, in Hinds county, with Henry S. Foote, George S. Yerger and John

MISSISSIPPI

I. Guion as his counsel, and acquitted. A few months later he began a successful career as a lawyer at Jackson, and while there was elected to the State Senate, 1852. Afterward he removed to New Orleans. He opposed the early movements looking toward secession, but in 1861 entered the military service of the Confed- erate States and was commissioned colonel of the First Louisiana infantry. He served at Pensacola and Mobile in garrison duty, and first gained distinction in the battle of Shiloh, where he was seriously wounded. With promotion to brigadier-general, he did valuable service at the great battles of Perryville, Ky., Murfrees- boro, Tenn., and Chickamauga, Ga. In both the latter engage- ments he was severely wounded. After a long disability he had command of a cavalry brigade, and was in charge, successively, of the districts of Central Alabama and the entire State north of the coast region. His last battle was April 16, 1865, with Wilson's cavalry. He was commended by superior officers for "extraordi- nary judgment and courage and unparalleled cheerfulness under suffering." After the war he resided for a time at New York, but returned to New Orleans, and died there, suddenly, June 14, 1872.

Adams, George, one of the prominent early lawyers of the State, began the practice of his profession at Frankfort, Ky. He was ad- mitted to the bar about the same time as Henry Clay, and the two were intimate friends and correspondents through life. He was married in 1811 to Miss Anna Weissiger, a native of Lexington, Ky., of a Virginia family. In 1825 he moved with his family to Natchez, and thence, in 1831, to Holmes county. He has been characterized in Foote's "Bench and Bar" as "alike revered for his learning, his domestic and social virtues, and his elevated patri- otism." He was a candidate for attorney-general of the State in 1825, and was elected in 1828, but resigned in the following year. He was appointed district attorney for the United States court in 1830, reappointed in 1834, and held that office until appointed judge of the United States court for Mississippi, January 20, 1836. He was upon the bench three years, being succeeded by Samuel J. Gholson in 1839. In 1843, he and H. S. Foote were called upon by the governor to conduct an examination of the Graves defal- cation, and the bitter comments upon the escape of the delinquent State treasurer led to a deplorable tragedy. Judge Adams died in August, 1844.

Adams' Message. Upon the information sent to the govern- ment by Commissioner Ellicott (see Ellicott and Gayoso), Presi-

MISSISSIPPI

dent John Adams addressed a special message to Congress, June 12, 1797, and made the following statements and recommendation :

"I have determined to leave to the discretion of the officers of His Catholic Majesty, when they withdraw his troops from the forts within the territory of the United States, either to leave the works standing or to demolish them; and I shall cause an as- surance to be published and to be particularly communicated to the minister of His Catholic Majesty and to the governor of Louisiana that the settlers or occupants of the lands in question shall not. be disturbed in their possessions by the troops of the United States, but on the contrary, that they shall be protected in all their lawful claims; and to prevent or remove every doubt on this point it merits the consideration of Congress whether it will not be expedient immediately to pass a law giving positive assurances to those inhabitants who, by fair and regular grants or by oc- cupancy, have obtained legal titles or equitable claims to lands in that country prior to the final ratification of the treaty between the United States and Spain on the 25th of April, 1796.

"This country is rendered peculiarly valuable by its inhabi- tants, who are represented to amount to nearly 4,000, generally well affected and much attached to the United States, and zealous for the establishment of a government under their authority. I therefore recommend to your consideration the expediency of erecting a government in the district of Natchez similar to that established for the territory northwest of the river Ohio, but with certain modifications relative to titles and claims to lands, whether of individuals or companies, or to claims of jurisdiction of any individual State."

Adams, Robert H., was born in the county of Rockbridge, Va., in 1792; was a cooper by trade, and worked at this several years before beginning to read law. In early manhood he made his home at Knoxville, Tenn., where he rose to distinction. After a brief residence at Nashville, he moved to Natchez, where, "in five or six years, he became recognized as a well-informed and industrious barrister, and a bold, earnest and energetic speaker." He and Robert J. Walker were very intimate friends, and they had agreed to move to New Orleans to practice law in partner- ship before the sudden and unexpected election of Mr. Adams to the United States senate (Foote's Reminiscences), in 1830, to succeed Thomas B. Reed, deceased. His majority was one vote, over George Poindexter, Joshua Child and Robert J. Walker.

MISSISSIPPI

Before his election to the senate he had represented the city of Natchez in the legislature.

After serving one term in the United States senate, from Feb- ruary to May, 1830, in that short experience sustaining the great promise of his brief career, he died suddenly at Natchez, July 2, 1830.

Henry S. Foote wrote of him that he "was in some respects one of the most remarkable men that this country has produced." His early education must have been remarkably defective, and Foote, a scholar, wondered at his power in English without a knowledge of Greek or Latin or even British classics. Yet there was no doubt that "in some way or other," when he made a speech, his hearers were impressed with the thought that they were in the presence of "one of nature's most wonderful productions." He was able to encounter any speaker of his time on any subject, with indisputable credit. He seemed to have no lack of legal lore. In statements before a jury he could so state the facts that no op- ponent could befog them, and if humor, or sarcasm, or pathos were needed, he was in each a master. Those who knew him best believed him possessed of greater native ability than any of his rivals, and if he had lived a few years longer, with the advantages of a seat in the senate, "there is no knowing what amount of fame he might have acquired, or what wonders he would have achieved upon the theatre of national affairs." He was beloved by many and died without an enemy.

Adams Station, a post-town in the western part of Hinds county, on the Natchez division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about twenty miles southwest of Jackson. Utica is the nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice, a church, and a school. Population in 1900, 100.

Adamsville, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Greene county, on the Chickasawha river, 10 miles north of Lakesville, the county seat. Population, 26.

Adams, Stephen, was born in Franklin county, Tenn., received a public school education, studied law and was admitted to the bar in his native State, where he also gained such political promi- nence as to be elected to the State senate. Removing to Missis- sippi in the '30s he became a lawyer at Aberdeen. In 1841 he was elected circuit judge, and in 1845 was elected a representative in Congress, in which capacity he served from December, 1845, to March, 1847. In 1850 he was a representative of Monroe county in the State legislature. At this political crisis he was a Union

MISSISSIPPI

Democrat, and aided materially in the election of Governor Foote. In 1852, when the Whigs and Union Democrats had a majority on joint ballot in the legislature, he was a candidate for United States senator, to fill the unexpired term of Senator Davis, and was elected (see Senators, U. S.), took his seat, March 17, 1852, and served until March 3, 1857. When his term expired, he was not a candidate for reelection, the Union party having disinte- grated long before that time. Jefferson Davis was elected to suc- ceed him, and he removed to Memphis, Tenn., where he died May . 11, 1857.

Adams, Thomas A. S., son of Abram Adams, of Welsh-Irish descent, was born on a farm in Noxubee county, Miss., February 5, 1839. His father was a soldier in the war of 1812. When about to become a cadet at West Point, he was converted at a camp- meeting and began preparation for the ministry. He entered the University of Mississippi in 1857, and in 1860 was graduated at Emory and Henry college, Virginia. He was a school teacher in 1861, when he enlisted in the Eleventh Mississippi volunteers as a private, and later became chaplain. He taught school in Vir- ginia in 1863-70; was pastor of the Methodist church at Green- ville, Miss., 1871-72; afterward principal of the Methodist high schools at Black Hawk and Kosciusko; pastor at Columbus, 1878-80 ; president of Soule Female college at Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1880-85; president of Centenary college, Louisiana, 1885-87. He died from apoplexy at the railroad depot in Jackson, Miss .. December 21, 1888. In 1882 he published a book of poems. His famous poem, "Enscotidion, or Shadow of Death," appeared in 1876, "Aunt Peggy and Other Poems," in 1882.

Adams, William Wirt, a son of Judge George Adams, was born at Frankfort, Ky., March 22, 1819. Thence the family moved to Natchez, in 1825. He was educated at Bardstown, and on his re- turn from college in 1839, enlisted as a private in Colonel Burle- son's command, with which he marched on foot to the site of the city of Austin, Texas, where the regiment was organized and mounted. He was appointed adjutant of Burleson's regiment by President Lamar, and in that rank took part in the campaign against the Indians in northeast Texas under the chief, Old Bowles. Here young Adams first met Albert Sidney Johnston, who was then secretary of war for the republic of Texas. He re- turned to Mississippi in the fall of 1839; after the death of his father settled the estate, and in 1846 removed to the parish of Iberville, La., and engaged in sugar planting. In 1850 he was

MISSISSIPPI

married to Sallie Huger Mayrant, at Jackson, where he made his home in 1851 and engaged in banking and planting at Jackson and Vicksburg. He was elected to the legislature from Issaquena county in 1858 and 1860, and served two sessions. Upon the secession of Mississippi, in January, 1861, he was appointed com- missioner to Louisiana, and visited the legislature of that State at Baton Rouge, inviting cooperation in the movement. In Feb- ruary he was called to Montgomery, Ala., and tendered the place of postmaster-general in the cabinet of President Davis, which he felt compelled to decline on account of his important business interests. As soon as he had settled up his banking affairs he announced his purpose to organize a cavalry regiment to serve for the period of the war, and was soon offered eight companies from Mississippi, five from Alabama, and two from Louisiana, which were ordered to rendezvous at Memphis, where the regiment was organized in August. In September they were ordered to Columbus, Ky., and thence in October to the headquarters of Gen. A. S. Johnston at Bowling Green, Ky. They were on out- post duty during the winter of 1861-62. The four extra companies were then detached, and the regiment was thereafter composed of the two Louisiana companies commanded by Capts. Isaac F. Har- rison and Albert G. Cage; two Alabama companies, Capts. S. B. Cleaveland and S. B. Bowie; and six companies from Mississippi, Capts. Lowery, Muldrow, Barnes, Lachote, Yerger and Haynes. This regiment was known as the First Mississippi cavalry. They were the rear guard of the retreat from Bowling Green to Nash- ville and Corinth, under the independent command of General Hardee, and were first in battle at Shiloh, where there was little opportunity for cavalry work. After the battle, on April 8th, when General Breckinridge desired to rest his corps, at Mickey's, Col- onel Adams sent Harrison's company, the Tensas cavalry, to hold the Federal advance. Assisted by Col. N. B. Forrest, with some 20 men, Harrison made a brilliant attack, throwing the Federal column into disorder and bringing off sixty prisoners-an achieve- ment the credit for which is given entirely to General Forrest by his biographers. During the subsequent Corinth campaign the regiment was on outpost duty, under General Bealls, chief of cav- alry. After the retreat to Tupelo, four companies had a spirited engagement with the enemy near Booneville, "charging, routing and pursuing two miles a Federal regiment under command of Maj. Phil Sheridan."

In the summer Adams' cavalry was part of a cavalry force of

MISSISSIPPI

six regiments sent under General Armstrong into west Tennessee to make a diversion in support of Bragg's movement, and after several unimportant affairs was distinguished at Denmark, where, after the repulse of McCulloch, Pinson and W. H. Jackson, Adams' regiment charged and captured a battery. Afterward Colonel Adams reported to General Van Dorn at Holly Springs, was pres- ent at the attack on Corinth, in which cavalry was not employed, and on the retreat, with his own and Slemmons' Arkansas regi- ment, was entrusted with guarding the bridges and wagon trains, a duty performed with wonderful success, involving many acts of remarkable daring. Adams, with the two regiments, was at Iuka with Price, and near Burnsville captured a train load of Federal troops sent out from Corinth. After this Colonel Adams and his men were stationed in Washington county, guarding the plantations and observing the movements on the river against Vicksburg. With pickets along the river and a line of couriers to Vicksburg, he was able to promptly advise General Pember- ton of Sherman's movements. Thence being ordered to Vicks- burg, Adams stationed his men at Warrenton and Grand Gulf, under orders to impress hands and erect batteries under the direc- tion of the engineer officers. While near Port Gibson, with only sixty men in camp, other companies being at Natchez and Rodney, Adams was ordered to pursue Grierson, making his famous raid through Mississippi. He ordered a concentration at Hazelhurst, but was not able to overtake Grierson, who was checked in his advance on Natchez by the two companies of Adams' men ad- vancing from that place. On his return from the Grierson chase, Colonel Adams found that General Grant had landed his army in Mississippi during his absence, overwhelmed the heroic Bowen, and advanced as far as Rocky Springs. Adams then moved to Ray- mond, took part in the gallant battle there, and covered Gregg's re- treat in the night, thence marching to Bolton to protect the railroad and wires, skirmishing there, and proceeding to Edwards, where his force was increased to 400 by the addition of 200 of the Twentieth Mississippi mounted infantry. He and his men were in constant activity throughout the brief Champion's Hill campaign. By order of Pemberton he reported to General Johnston and was stationed between the Big Black and Yazoo to watch the enemy and pre- vent raids. Two successful fights were made near Mechanicsville. When Sherman advanced against Jackson, after the fall of Vicks- burg, Adams with his regiment and the Twenty-eighth Missis- sippi, harassed his advance, skirmishing all the way. In October

3-I

MISSISSIPPI

following, a large Federal force advanced toward Canton from Messinger's ferry, which he checked at Brownsville. where Cap- tain Bowie, with his Alabama squadron, drove from the field a Federal regiment. Adams was commissioned brigadier-general September 18, 1863, and in November assigned to command of a brigade composed of his own regiment and Colonel Logan's com- mand. Soon afterward he made a rapid march toward Natchez, hoping to surprise the Federal garrison, but was frustrated by in- telligence being conveyed to the Federals from Brookhaven. Con- sequently he occupied Ellis Cliffs, hoping to use his battery on the enemy's shipping. But he was compelled to retire, after defeating a strong force sent against him, Natchez having been heavily re- inforced to thwart his plans. He made demonstrations against Port Hudson and Baton Rouge, until called to meet Sherman's advance on Meridian in February, 1864. He engaged the advance of the army near Bolton, with 800 men, and held them in check throughout an entire day, a daring deed that elicited the praise of General Sherman as well as the Confederate generals. Under Gen. S. D. Lee, they hung upon the flank of the enemy during the ad- vance, but without opportunity to strike his column except at Decatur, where Adams' brigade charged the wagon train and caused the destruction of forty wagons. They had another ac- tion near Canton, in this campaign, in which a number of Federals were captured. In April, 1864, when Lee moved the main part of his command to north Mississippi, General Adams was given com- mand of cavalry in the department of West Mississippi and East- ern Louisiana, which he retained for twelve months, a period of laborious service in which several raids of the enemy were met. Within this period, Col. John Griffith, of his brigade, with 200 men, captured and destroyed the Federal ironclad, "Patrol," on the Yazoo river, which enabled General Adams to present eight heavy Dahlgren guns to the Confederate navy, for which he received the acknowledgments of Admiral Buchanan. In the latter part of March, 1865, he marched his brigade from Jackson to Macon and West Point, to join General Forrest, and was ordered to meet Croxton's brigade of Wilson's Federal corps, in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa. He attacked the latter at Northport, April 6, bringing on a serious engagement, in which, according to General Wheeler's account of the war in Alabama, only the firmness of a Michigan cavalry regiment saved Croxton from defeat. This was one of the last engagements of that campaign,-it might be said to be the last between regular troops,-for the action at West Point, Ala.,

MISSISSIPPI

April 16th, and Croxton's fight near Talladega, April 23d, were with the reserves. Adams' brigade was surrendered with General Taylor's forces and paroled at Gainesville, Ala. His farewell ad- dress to his command was delivered May 6, 1865. (The above from autobiographical notes.) After the war, residing at Vicks- burg, he was active in the revival of enterprise. He was appointed State revenue agent in 1880, and resigned in 1885 to become post- master at Jackson by appointment of President Cleveland. He was killed May 1, 1888, in an encounter with John Martin, who also lost his life, following an attack upon him by the newspaper of which Martin was editor.

Adaton, a postoffice of Oktibbeha county, on Cane creek, six miles east of Starkville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 50.

Addie, a postoffice in Simpson county, 4 miles north of West- ville, the county seat. It is on the Columbia branch of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., and a good saw-milling plant is located here.

Addine, a post-town in Jasper county, 9 miles south of Paulding, the county seat.

Addison, a postoffice of Perry county, and a station on the New Orleans & North Eastern R. R., three miles north of Hattiesburg. Population in 1900, 20.

Aden, a post-hamlet in Neshoba county, 14 miles northeast of Philadelphia, the county seat.

Advance, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Lamar county, on Upper Little River, about 18 miles northwest of Purvis, the county seat. Population in 1900, 40.

Advent of the Flag. The treaty of San Lorenzo was made, from the Spanish point of view, to protect Louisiana and make a friend of the United States. While the negotiations were in progress, the United States crushed the British-Indian power in the north- west, and made the Jay treaty with England, that seemed to prom- ise a close friendship between the English-speaking peoples. It was feared that this would result in an invasion of Louisiana from Canada, with the permission of the United States, if Spain con- tinued to make pretensions to all the Mississippi valley south of the Ohio. Spain was apprehensive, also, that France, though seek- ing alliance, was not so warm a friend that she would scruple to take Louisiana by force of arms. It was hoped that the San Lor- enzo treaty would divide the kindly feelings of the United States, and partly nullify the Jay treaty. But before the treaty of San Lorenzo could be ratified, France agreed to alliance with Spain without insisting on the cession of Louisiana, and the United

MISSISSIPPI

States was thrown into an attitude of possible hostility to Spain because of strained relations with France, Spain's ally. There are various theories to explain the political events of this period, but a wise observation is that which Thomas Power wrote later to James Wilkinson: "The crazy, tortuous, vacillating politics of our Court baffle the common rules of political prescience, and even elude the grasp of our conjecture." Governor Gayoso in June, 1796, according to Major Stoddard (Sketches of Louisiana), wrote to a confidential friend: "The object of Great Britain in her treaty with the United States about this period, was to attach them to her interests, and even render them dependent upon her, and therefore, the Spanish treaty of limits was made to counter- balance it; but as Great Britain had totally failed in her object, it was not the policy of Spain to regard her stipulations." Mr. Pickering, then secretary of state, laid stress upon the French relations as the real cause of the Spanish attitude, writing, "The true reason is doubtless developed by the Baron [de Carondelet] in his proclamation of the 31st of May [1797]. The expectation of an immediate rupture between France, the intimate ally of Spain, and the United States." Marbois, in his history of Louis- iana, corroborates the accuracy of Pickering's judgment.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 3

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