Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 32

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 32

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).

In 1859 his "Speeches, Messages and Other Writings," edited by M. W. Cluskey, were published in a volume of 600 pages.

Before the nomination of Breckinridge in 1860, some Missis- sippi papers were flying the ticket: For president, Albert G. Brown; for vice-president, Fernando Wood.

He and Jefferson Davis were the senators from Mississippi in 1857 to 1861. Their seats in the United States senate were de- clared vacant March 14, 1861, Senator Brown having withdrawn January 14.

Brown had advised Mississippi as early as 1850 to keep her "powder dry," but he listened in tears to the speeches of the other seceding senators in 1861; he contributed in cash to the arming of the first State troops, and was enrolled himself as captain of a company of the Seventeenth regiment, until he took his seat as a senator of the State in the Confederate States congress. In recon- struction times he maintained that the most dignified course was to quietly conform to the results of war, and in 1867 he was ready to "meet Congress on its own platform and shake hands." He was then. the subject of distrust by his party, though the great deference in which he was held protected him from derision. After the white restoration in 1876 it was recognized that the policy he recommended might have saved the State from the "iron scourge" and "the flight of the Harpies." His subsequent life was uneventful. He died suddenly, at his home near Terry, Miss., June 12, 1880. Buried with him at Jackson is his son, Col. Robert Y. Brown, born in Copiah county, October 8, 1841; died at New Orleans, October 15, 1866.

He was "the best balanced man," of Reuben Davis' recollec- tions, and the most successful in his life. Without apparent ef-

314

MISSISSIPPI

fort he seemed to gain about everything he desired; an impres- sion arising, doubtless, from his placid and happy temperament. He never was known to make an unkind remark of any one and no one could speak unkindly of him. He was a remarkably hand- some man, had a bearing devoid of vanity but commanding re- spect, and was a politician of great skill without the shabby tricks of the petty creature. His wife was one of the most elegant women of the State.

Brown's Administration. Governor A. G. Brown made his in- augural address January 10, 1844, giving most of his attention to the bonds, declaring that the Union bonds were not a debt of the State as were the Planters bonds. He said he would make this one effort to roll back the tide of obloquy, and meet the opprobrious epithets which were being hurled at his beloved State. "She has decided not that she will repudiate her debts, but that this is not her debt, and she spurns alike the carping enemies who would seduce her into an abandonment of her position."

Jesse Speight was president of the senate, J. L. Totten speaker of the house. Wilson Hemingway was secretary of state, William Clark had been elected treasurer to succeed his term by appoint- ment, James E. Matthews was auditor. They held until Novem- ber, 1848. Attorney-general, John D. Freeman. The State re- ceipts and expenditures were running upwards of $300,000 annu- ally, and the State debt was quoted in the publications of that day as $2,615,049. Aside from any bank bonds, the debt of the State, in outstanding warrants of the auditor, was $615,000. A famous event of 1844 was the visit of Henry Clay to Vicksburg and Jackson, where he spoke to great throngs of the Whigs, sup- ported by the great Mississippi orator, Sergeant S. Prentiss. The presidential campaign of 1844 was between Clay and James K. Polk, of Tennessee, who had been responsible for the unseating of Prentiss from Congress in 1837. The main issue was the an- nexation of Texas. In his inaugural address of 1844 Governor Brown stated the question as it presented itself to the Southern statesmen. There was the danger that England would assume the function of protecting the independence of Texas and abolish slavery in that domain. On the other hand. annex Texas to the United States, and "you may erect independent States that will come into the Union alongside of Wisconsin and Iowa, and the yet unsettled territory of the Northwest, thus preserving that po- litical equilibrium in the senate of the United States, so absolutely essential to the safety of our domestic institutions, meaning the

315

MISSISSIPPI

slave system of labor. This plan and the plans formed to check- mate it, were the disturbing elements in national politics for several years, and contributed to the war of 1847.

Both candidates had to handle the matter adroitly to satisfy their friends, North and South. Polk was able to do this better than Clay, and was elected. Mississippi gave a majority to Polk electors, one of whom was Jefferson Davis, a planter, and before that a West Point lieutenant, who had come out in politics as a candidate for the legislature of 1843. At the election in 1845 Governor Brown was reelected by the greatest majority so far known, receiving 28,310 votes, to 12,852 for Thomas Coopwood, and 1,633 for Isaac N. Davis. At the same time Hemingway, Clark and Matthews, the State officers, were reelected. The vote for congressmen was about 28,000 Democrat, 18,000 Whig.

In his message to the Legislature of 1846 Governor Brown said: "The past two years have presented a period of very general prosperity. The health of the country has been very good. Industry and economy, united with a sound currency, propitious seasons and a fruitful soil have re- warded the toils of the husbandman with a fair income. With the destruction of the causes which produced them, vice and immorality have measurably disappeared, and the Christian heart is gladdened by the manifest improvement in religion and morality. It is pleasing to know that the State has pros- pered also. She has recovered rapidly from her embarrassments, and, if not checked by unwise legislation, must very soon throw off her shackles entirely." The bank bonds were no longer reck- oned as debt. The amount of State warrants issued during the two years was $436,500, and the receipts from taxation, etc., $779,- 711, so that the old outstanding warrants had been reduced from over $600,000 to $270,000.

In his inaugural address (1846) the Governor pleaded for a United States fort on the Mississippi coast, and the legislature responded by a resolution asking for a fortress to be called Fort Constitution. "The feeling is now for war with England; a war in which we are to be the greatest suffereres. . . Yet we are ready for the crisis. Let no one doubt our fealty to the gen- eral good-let no one say that Mississippi will be unfaithful to the nation's honor-let her but know that her cause is just, and she will march to victory or death."

An interesting feature of the development of the State was noted as a result of a gradation of prices of public lands. "In ten

316

MISSISSIPPI

years the lands ceded by the Chickasaw tribe have made more advances in population and in agriculture than those in the Choc- taw cession have in twice that number of years. We have seen the less productive lands in the Choctaw cession go uncultivated for almost a quarter of a century, and a thrifty population, such as would do credit to any State, driven west, where the more lib- eral government of Texas gave them lands on better terms." In 1845 Governor Brown made an investigation of educational con- ditions, as a basis of recommendations to the legislature. He recommended faith to be kept toward the Congressional funds, temporarily squandered, and that they be as much as possible ap- plied to the maintenance of the university and academies. As for the common or free schools, the sixteenth sections "have been most shamefully neglected. . In the fewest number of cases have there been free schools kept by the proceeds." He recommended a State organization, a school fund, and taxes to maintain free schools.

He> vigorously denied the arguments for repudiation of the Planters' bank bonds. "The fairest way," he said, "to answer the argument that posterity is not bound to pay our debts, is to pay them ourselves, and that is just what I recommend." He recommended an amendment of the constitution, "forever pro- hibiting the establishment of banks in this State." Another rec- ommendation was the building of an asylum for the insane.

A common school law was passed by the legislature of 1846, and it was on trial while the first buildings of the university at Oxford were going up. The test was not flattering. The gover- nor in 1848 recommended its immediate repeal and the passage of such a law as he had recommended. At the same time Judge J. S. B. Thatcher was agitating a State normal school, to be es- tablished at Natchez, where a system of free public schools, of the modern sort, had been founded in 1845. James Champlin, of Sharon, was trying in the same period to interest the legislature in the founding of an institution for the blind. The legislature of 1846 passed a new apportionment bill, distributing 92 representa- tives and 32 senators so as to give the north of the State an over- whelming majority. The Yazoo City Whig protested: "Is it just that that portion of the State which pays the smallest amount of money into the treasury should have the disposal of the whole of it? This bill was based exclusively upon white population, not upon white and black both, as both parties contended should be the rule in national apportionment. Two amendments to the con-

317

MISSISSIPPI

stitution of 1832 were voted on by the people in 1845-one in re- gard to slaves and the other intended to separate the judicial from other elections. The first received the number of votes required for adoption ; the second did not, though approved by a large ma- jority.

Another amendment, in relation to banks, was voted upon in - November, 1847, and this also failed to obtain half the total vote for legislators.

The most exciting event of the period covered by Brown's ad- ministration was the war with Mexico (q. v.), which drew be -.. yond the Rio Grande two regiments and a battalion of armed Mis- sissippians, to complete a conquest of Texas that had engaged the attention of other Mississippians many years. The result was a great expansion of the United States, beyond Texas. Regarding that additional territory politicians were agitated in 1847 and later; over the declaration adopted by the lower house of Con- gress, "that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist : in any territory hereafter to be acquired by or annexed to the United States." . In his message of 1848 Governor Brown said :

"Ours is not a consolidated government, ruled by the power of the majorities not strictly controlled by the federal constitution, but it is a confederation of States, in which the rights of each State are reserved to itself, except in so far as, for the general good, they may have been delegated to the confederation. The power to legislate in regard to slavery has not been delegated, and therefore does not belong to the federal government, but re- mains with the States respectively. The question in the Terri- tories, it seems to me, must be left, as-in the States, to be settled by the people who inhabit them. A State, by its municipal regu- lations, may exclude slavery, but it is not pretended that Congress can do so. Where does the federal power derive its authority to exclude it from the territory? A man's slave is his property, so recognized by the constitution, and so declared by the highest courts of the country ; and a citizen of Mississippi may settle with his slave property in the territory of the United States, with as little hindrance as a citizen from any other State may settle with any other species of property." The voice of a majority unsustained by the constitution, is utterly powerless. Majorities may pass enactments in violation of the constitution, but they can impose no corresponding obligations on the minority to obey them. They may attempt to exact obedience by force-the at- tempt, so far as it succeeds, will be tyranny and oppression, and

318

MISSISSIPPI

if persisted in, will result in revolution. For, whenever the will of a majority supersedes the restrictions of the constitution, and the rights of the States and individuals possess no other guarantee than such as are yielded to them by the strong party, our federal government will have ceased to be one of confederated States, and each member must assume its original, sovereign and independent position."

At the gubernatorial election in 1847 the Democratic candidate, Joseph W. Matthews, of Marshall county, received 26,985 votes, and the Whig candidate, Maj. Alexander B. Bradford (q. v.) 13,997. Governor Brown was elected to congress, where he took his seat after the expiration of his term as governor.

The year 1847 was one of enthusiasm over the victories of the war in Mexico. The First regiment returned in the spring, was given great ovations, and its officers, Davis, McClung, Bradford, Carnot Posey and others, whose fame had preceded them, were popular heroes. Gen. Zachary Taylor was given a reception at Natchez, December 22, 1847, by an immense throng of people. At the reception at the City hotel many ladies were present and the old general was "almost kissed into fits," as the newspapers reported. The State treasury, beginning in 1846, was able to meet the drafts upon it, and in January, 1848, held a surplus of $115,- 000, exclusive of the Two and Three per cent. funds. The taxes received in 1846 and 1847 were $679,685; expenditures, $613,959. There were warrants outstanding for $37,000, but they were more than covered by the surplus.

But there were other considerations remaining from the period of misgovernment. "The State is indebted to the Sinking Fund $95,000, and to the Seminary fund about $60,000." There were also the Planter's bank bonds, of which the governor said, "the State is bound by every obligation that the constitution and the laws can impose, to pay the debt," which, with interest, then amounted to over $3,000,000. "It has been proposed to apply the State lands to the payment of this debt. My solemn protest is hereby rendered against such a proceeding; first : because the land having been given for other purposes, we have no right to use it in this way. Secondly: because we ought not so to use it if we had the right. If we owe the debt at all, we owe it in money and ought to pay it in money. Thirdly: because it is just as well to levy taxes to pay the bonds as to levy them to pay for the land. Fourthly : because if we do not intend to pay for the land after using it in paying for the bonds, we mean to violate our faith with

319

MISSISSIPPI

the United States, who gave it for purposes of internal improve- ment." The Sinking fund was owed to the bondholders of the Planters bank, and the Seminary fund was owed to those for whom, in trust, it had been given by the United States to the State. A defaulting State treasurer had lost $35,000 of the Two per cent. fund. A legislature had squandered $100,000 of the Uni- versity fund, and the governor still believed it should be replaced, but he had lost hope that it would be. This made the total debt, according to Governor Brown, for which the State was in honor bound, $3,200,000.

Brown, Silas, who died at Jackson, June, 1839, aged about 45 years, was an eminent man in the early days of the State, repre- senting Hinds county as representative in 1828, and senator in 1835. He was State treasurer January, 1839, until his death. In the militia he had the rank of general.

Brownfield, a post-station of Tippah county near the Tennessee State line, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., about 20 miles north of Ripley, the county seat. It has two stores, a church, a good school, and a ginnery.

Browning, a postoffice of Leflore county.

Browns Wells, a hamlet in the south-central part of Copiah county, about 10 miles northwest of Wesson, and the same dis- tance southwest of Hazlehurst, the county seat. Here are well- known mineral wells, highly charged with lime, sulphur, magnesia, iron and potash. These waters are much resorted to for liver and kidney complaints, and diseases of the bowels. Population in 1900, 30. It has rural free delivery from Wesson.

Brozville, a post-hamlet in the south-central part of Holmes county, 6 miles south of Lexington, the county seat, and nearest railroad and banking station.

Bruce, Blanche K., second negro United States senator from Mississippi, was born in Prince Edward County, March 1, 1841, became a planter in Mississippi in 1869, and was a member of the levee board and sheriff of Bolivar County from 1872 to 1875. He was elected to the senate February 3, 1875, to succeed Henry R. Pease, served his full term of six years, and died at Washington, D. C., March 17, 1898. Bruce was generally regarded by the people of Mississippi as one of the best types of his race.

Bruin, Peter Bryan, was born in Ireland, the only son of an Irish gentleman, who was compelled to migrate to the American col- onies because of implication in the rebellion of 1756. The young man was reared as a merchant. In 1775 he was a lieutenant of

320

MISSISSIPPI

Virginia provincials. He shared in the assault on Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775, was badly wounded at the moment General Mont- gomery was killed, was made prisoner, and for six months suffered the horrors of the prison ships. Being exchanged on July 19, 1776; was promoted to major and aide-de-camp to General Sullivan, November 9, 1777, and later was major in the 7th Virginia to the close of the war. He came down the river with his own family and several others, in 1788, to set- : tle in Natchez district, having accepted the colonizing prop- ositions of Minister Gardoqui. He established the most northern settlement of the district at that time, building his house on an ancient mound near the mouth of Bayou Pierre, and was ever afterward a conspicuous and leading character. He was made an alcalde by the Spanish government, was a friend of Col. Ellicott. during his stay at Natchez, and upon the organization of the ter- ; ritory was appointed one of the three territorial judges, entrusted with the making of laws and the administration of justice. He continued in this office, respected greatly for his good judgment and honor, though not a lawyer, until his resignation in 1809. When Aaron Burr came down the river in January, 1807, he stopped at Judge Bruin's for a visit, and a detachment of militia was sent there to arrest Burr, but on their arrival that much feared individual had dropped down river three miles. From .. Bruinsburg, as it was then called, Burr wrote to Governor Mead - declaring his expedition was a peaceful agricultural enterprise. In later years Bruinsburg was made famous by another historical event, and was the place where General Grant landed his army for the great campaign against Vicksburg. Judge Bruin also had a plantation and home across the river in Concordia parish. He died at Bruinsburg January 27, 1827. His wife, Elizabeth, died September 17, 1807. The name is now extinct in Mississippi, but there are descendants in the families of Briscoe, Watson and Scott, and their alliances.

Brunswick, a money order post-town in the extreme northwest- ern part of Warren county, on the Mississippi river. It is about 18 miles from Vicksburg, located in the richest of a fine farming country. It has several good stores, churches, a splendid school, and cotton gins. Population in 1900, 100.

Brushy, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Jackson county, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., 36 miles north of Pascagoula, the county seat.

321

MISSISSIPPI

Bryantville, a postoffice of Carroll county, 10 miles southeast of Carrollton, the county seat.

Bucatunna, a post-town in the southeastern part of Wayne county, on the Mobile & Ohio R. R. where it crosses Bucatunna creek, 71 miles north by west of Mobile, Waynesboro, the county seat, 12 miles distant by rail, is the nearest banking town. Buca- tunna has a good trade from the surrounding country. It has two churches, several stores, a cotton gin and saw-mill, a good school and a turpentine distillery. Population in 1900, 125; popu- lation in 1906 (estimated) 300. The Banner, a weekly newspaper established in 1900 and edited and published by J. M. Wilkins, is published here.

Buck, a hamlet in the western part of Itawamba county, 7 miles west of Fulton, the county seat. Postoffice here was discontinued in 1895, and it now has rural free delivery from Dorsey.

Buckhorn, a postoffice in the south-central part of Pontotoc county, 12 miles southwest of Pontotoc, the county seat. Popula tion in 1900, 27.

Buckland, an extinct town in the southwestern part of Clax borne county. It had practically ceased to exist by 1836, on ac- count of certain topographical changes, which caused its business to shift to the later town of Rodney, on the south side of the Bayou.

Buckner, Robert H., chancellor of Mississippi, 1839-45, was a native of Kentucky, who came to Mississippi in 1824, and became the law partner of John T. McMurran at Natchez; this connection insured him no slight degree of prosperity. Says Lynch: "He possessed in an eminent degree that tender conscientiousness, power of patient investigation, and scrupulous exactness, which were so conspicuous in the character of Lord Chancellor Eldon, and which seemed to likewise fit Mr. Buckner especially for the chancery branch of the profession." His decisions were com- mended as high authority by the distinguished Chancellor Kent. When he retired from the bench in November, 1845, he was in feeble health, and he continued to decline until his death at his residence near Jackson, September 21, 1846, aged 45 years.

Buena Vista, an incorporated post-town in the southeastern part of Chickasaw county, 10 miles east of Houston the county seat, and the nearest railroad and banking town. A fertile prairie region lies contiguous to the town on the east. It has two churches, a number of good stores, and an academy. Population in 1900, 225.

21-I

322

MISSISSIPPI

Buena Vista, Battle of. Gen. Zachary Taylor, who was en- camped eighteen miles beyond Saltillo, with the Mississippi Rifles regiment, some artillery of the regular army, and a few regiments of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Arkansas troops which had not yet been in battle, in all about 5,000, was threatened by Gen. Santa Ana, with an army of 14,000 effectives, according to the Mexican histories. Santa Ana sought, by the destruction of Taylor's com- mand, to compel Gen. Scott to abandon his proposed advance on the City of Mexico from Vera Cruz. When Taylor became aware of the movement against him, he fell back toward Saltillo, and prepared to fight at the pass of La Angustura, a little south of the ranch of Buena Vista. The famous battle of February 22-23, 1847, was for possession of this pass, and the fighting was in a mountain valley (about two miles wide, cut up by ravines) and up the sides of the hills, on the east. The attack on Taylor's po- sition began on the 22d, and though the line was held, the Mexi- cans gained a flanking position on the hills, and their cavalry threatened Saltillo, in the rear. Taylor took the Mississippi Rifles and May's Dragoons back to the town in the night. Two of the Mississippi companies were left there as part of a garrison, and eight companies, under Col. Davis, marched back to Buena Vista on the morning of the 23d. Before they had returned to the field the Mexican army had overwhelmed and driven back the left wing of the American troops, beyond the pass. The day seemed lost when Taylor appeared. He sent Davis with his eight companies to meet the enemy coming down the hillside, and himself took the dragoons to the pass, which his artillery yet held. The official report of Col. Jefferson Davis was as follows:

"As we approached the scene of action, horsemen, recognized . as of our troops, were seen running dispersed and confusedly from the field ; and our first view of the line of battle presented the mor- tifying spectacle of a regiment of infantry flying disorganized from before the enemy. These sights, so well calculated to de- stroy confidence and dispirit troops just coming into action, it is my pride and pleasure to believe only nerved the resolution of the regiment I have the honor to command. Our order of march was in column of companies advancing by their centres. The point which had just been abandoned by the regiment alluded to was now taken as our direction. [ Wilcox says: "The whole Ameri- can left had been beaten back." This included part of the In- diana, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri troops. "Among the rifle- men the loss was very heavy, the Texas company being almost

323

MISSISSIPPI

destroyed."] I rode forward to examine the ground upon which we were going to operate, and in passing through the fugitives ap- pealed to them to return with us and renew the fight, pointing to our regiment as a mass of men behind which they might securely form. With a few honorable exceptions the appeal was as un- heeded as the offers which, I am informed, were made by our men to give their canteens of water to those who complained of thirst, on condition that they would go back. Gen. Wool was upon the ground, making great efforts to rally the men who had given way. I approached him and asked if he would send another regiment to sustain me in the attack upon the enemy before us. He was alone, and after promises of support went in person to send it. Upon further examination I found that the slope we were ascending was intersected by a deep ravine, which, uniting obliquely with a still larger one upon on our right, formed, between them, a point of land difficult of accession by us, but which, spreading into a plain toward the base of the mountain, had easy communication with the main body of the enemy. This position, important from its natural strength, derived a far greater value from the relation it bore to our order of battle and line of communication with the rear. The enemy, in numbers many times greater than ourselves, supported by strong reserves, flanked by cavalry, and elated by recent success, was advancing upon it. The moment seemed to me critical, and the occasion to require whatever sacrifice it might cost to check the enemy.

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 32

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