USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 36
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parks. The original manuscript map of Jackson made by P. A. Vandorn, now on file in the Department of Archives and History, follows that plan. . The legislature ratified the choice, and authorized Hinds, Lattimore and Peter A. Vandorn, commis- sioners, to locate two adjoining half sections, and lay off a town, to be named Jackson, in honor of Maj-Gen. Andrew Jackson. To this site the offices were ordered removed by the fourth Monday of November, when the legislature should meet at the new capital. In April following, (1822), Abraham Defrance, of Washington, superintendent of public buildings, repaired to the site, to begin operations, and he was soon followed by the three commissioners, accompanied by a number of prospective settlers. The town was laid off, with Capital green, Court Green, and College green parks, and various reservations, and only ten lots were offered for sale, the purchasers agreeing to build log or frame houses by Novem- ber. Among the settlers were Lieut .- Gov. Dickson, who was ap- pointed postmaster in October, Joseph Winn and Maj. Jones. B. M. Hines contracted to build a State house of brick, two stories high, 40 by 30, to be completed October 15, for $3,500. The clay for brick and limestone for lime were found close at hand. There was an advertisement of 100 lots to be sold January, 1823. G. B. Crutcher started the Pearl River Gazette, and Peter Isler the State Register, (See Leake's Adm.) which were the first news- papers published at the State capital.
In 1829 the senate passed a bill to remove the capital to Clinton, but it was defeated in the house by a tie vote. The proposition was renewed in 1830, and the house voted, 18 to 17, to move to Port Gibson, but immediately reconsidered the vote, on motion of M. Haile, and next day passed the bill for removal, with Vicks- burg as the lucky town, by a vote of 20 to 16. No change was made, however. In the same year H. Billingsley, H. Long, Samuel U. Puckett, Daniel Wafford, William Matthews and Hiram Coffee proposed to build on Capitol square at Jackson, a State house to be worth $50,000, for which they would take the entire two sec- tions of land donated by the United States, including the town of Jackson, and the additional land purchased by the State, in lieu of the lots already sold. This would be figured at $20,000 and the State would pay the balance in three annual installments of $10,- 000. The proposition was not accepted.
The constitutional convention of 1832 was held in the first State house at Jackson, and the constitution established the capital at
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Jackson until the year 1850, after which the legislature was em- powered to designate the permanent seat of government.
In commenting on the constitution of 1890, R. H. Thompson says: The seat of government is now fixed at Jackson and cannot be removed except by vote of the people. For many years there was no State capital de jure. The constitution of 1869 made no reference to the subject; it was fixed only by the constitution of 1832, and until the code of 1880 Jackson was only de facto the cap- ital of the State.
The old statehouse on the bluff, yet standing in 1906, was the second built by the State. The legislature of 1833 (Feb. 26) ap- propriated $95,000 for the building of a new State house, but there were no funds available, and the act authorized the governor to have $70,000 of notes taken in the sale of lots at Jackson discounted to form a building fund. In December, 1833, the legislature adopted the plan prepared by Lawrence. The governor appointed John Lawrence architect, and as the notes were not in bankable form, the governor gave his individual note for $10,000 with the sale notes as collateral, so that the work could begin.
Governor Runnells said in Jan. 1835: "The solicitude that is felt for the speedy erection of a State house is evinced in the enact- ments of two successive legislatures." On October 9, the governor removed Architect Lawrence, as incompetent, and work was stopped. The foundation and basement story only had been laid, and the plan was "manifestly defective." A legislative committee, 1836 said the interior as planned was devoid of every essential requisite, and there was nothing in the exterior to elicit commenda- tion ; on the contrary it would look more like an ordinary church than an imposing capitol. A plan submitted by William Nichols was examined and approved. There had been many abuses, involv- ing the State in a tangle of contracts and liabilities. The commit- tee disclaimed any intent to impeach the integrity of Lawrence, but recommended that the work be put under the supervision of a commission.
Commissioners of Public buildings were appointed, Henry K. Moss, Richard Davidson and Perry Cohea, to supervise the erec- tion of the State house, penitentiary and governor's mansion, and an additional appropriation of $60,000 was made. The commission organized March 3, 1836, with Moss as president and S. P. Bailey, clerk. Davidson was succeeded on the board by George Finni- cane. Much of the work that had been done was torn down and new construction begun on the Nichols plan. March 31, 1836,
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the contract for building the first story was let to John Robb and Alexander Baird, for $27,366. The contractors were subsequently discharged, but Robb was employed to finish the contract. A re- port that the architect and contractors were in business associa- tion was denied after investigation. Moss was succeeded by Fin- nicane as president in the latter part of 1837, and William H. Young became a member of the board. The legislature met in the building, in January, 1838, and there were some fears as to whether it would stand, but architects reported that with some repairs it would be "perfectly safe." Charles Lynch was then made sole commissioner to complete the building.
All the lots in Jackson had been sold in January, 1839, and re- cent .sales amounted to nearly $180,000, on one to three years' time. Said Governor McNutt, at this time "The capitol, although not finished, is so far advanced as to afford accommodation to the legislature and the various public officers. The building has pro- gressed very slowly the past year, and it is believed that the ex- penditures have been unusually extravagant." In 1840 Commis- sioner Lynch reported an expenditure in 1839 of $63,000 on the capitol, $42,000 on the penitentiary, and $31,384 on the governor's house. He said the present condition of the capitol gave "a per- fect idea of the structure."
The use of the lower story of the first State house was permit- ted to "the Baptists, Presbyterians and Reformers," in 1840.
During the war of 1861-65, (q. v.) the State house was aban- doned in May and again in November, 1863, and the capital was temporarily located at Columbus then, at Macon in 1864, and again at Columbus early in 1865. May 18, 1865, the legislature met again in the old capitol. In 1865 A. J. Herod, State architect, reported to Governor Humphreys "the decaying condition of the frame work of the roof and of all the walls." $12,000 was appropriated by the legislature for repairs, and it was estimated that $24,000 more was needed. Thereafter the State house of 1839 was in continu- ous use until abandoned upon the completion of the New Capitol (q. v.) (See "Capitol Buildings," Mississippi Register, 1904.)
Capitol, New. The second State house, occupied in 1838-39, was inadequate fifty years later. In the constitutional convention of 1900 Gen. S. D. Lee offered a resolution for a committee to con- sider the advisability of the State retaining the penitentiary prop- erty as location for a new Capitol, the old one being considered unsafe. In February, 1896, the legislature authorized the gover- nor and presiding officers of the two houses to employ an expert
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to report upon the condition of the old building. The expert, Mr. Weathers, of Memphis, reported it unsafe for occupancy. The leg- islature favored the building of a new capitol on the old site, but could not agree on details. A committee, composed of Governor McLaurin, the secretary of state and attorney-general, were au- thorized to solicit plans, $1,000 to be paid to the architect whose plan was accepted, the cost of the building to be between $550,000 and $1,000,000. A special session of the legislature was called in 1897, to which the committee reported in favor of the plan sub- mitted by Mr. Weathers, and an appropriation of $750,000. After three weeks' consideration, the legislature passed a bill adopting the plan of J. Riley Gordon, of Texas, creating a commission to be elected by the legislature, and providing for the sale of $750,- 000 bonds. The governor vetoed this bill, one of his reasons being that the plan adopted was a modification of a plan for a courthouse and insuficient. The bill failed to pass over the veto.
An act of legislature, approved February 21, 1900, provided for the creation of a "State House commission," and the building of a new State house, to be located "on the present penitentiary grounds of the State." It was provided that "the cost of said building complete in every respect, including all expenditures con- nected therewith, and including all furniture and fixtures for same, shall not exceed one million dollars." The commission was au- thorized to secure plans, make contracts, etc., and given full powers in every respect, within the limits prescribed. The commision was at the outset, composed of Gov. A. H. Longino, ex officio president of the board; Attorney-General Monroe McClurg, and Prof. J. C. Hardy, appointed by the governor ; P. A. Rush, appointed by the senate, and W. G. Stovall, appointed by the house of representa- tives. L. T. Fitzhugh was appointed secretary by the governor. After the death of Gov. Stone, Prof. Hardy was elected president of the A. & M. college, and the governor appointed R. H. Thomp- son to fill the vacancy on the commission. Mr. Rush resigned in September, 1900, and R. A. Dean was appointed to succeed him. J. F. Barnes was chosen advisory superintendent. To secure plans the commission instituted a competitive architectural con- test, at which 14 plans were submitted. After deliberation, they appealed to the judgment of Bernard H. Green, of Washington, D. C., who decided in favor of the plan of Theodore C. Link, of St. Louis, which was adopted. When bids were advertised for and received, it was found that a contract could not be made within the limit of cost as the plan stood, and Mr. Link made changes,
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substituting a less expensive execution of certain interior work that was originally plan .. ed for marble. Bids were again submit- ted, and A. E. and W. A. Wells, of Chicago, were awarded the contract at $833,179. The contractors began work January 1, 1901. The Illinois Central railroad laid a track to the grounds at its own expense, greatly facilitating the work and saving the commission possibly $100,000 hauling charges. When the exca- vations for the foundation were made to a depth of ten feet below the base of the walls, it was discovered that the soil was of such a character that greater excavation was necessary. The trenches were made 25 feet deep and 17 feet wide, and filled with concrete, causing an extra expense of $38,952, paid by the commission. The contract for steam fitting and ventilation was let for $26,577, the electric wiring for $13,200.
The stone work of the walls was begun in June, 1900.
The contract required completion within 33 months, and the building was so near completion that the officers moved into it September 26, 1903, within the prescribed time. Governor Longino commented: "The fulfillment of the contract within the speci- fied limits of time, within the contract price and within the ap- propriation originally designed and designated by the legislature, adds uniqueness to the enterprise, and marks a new epoch in the history of public buildings." The total appropriations, including $60,000 for grading the grounds, was $1,093,641. The grading of the ten acres was a very difficult work, because of the many foun- dations of old buildings found in it, but it was carried on to pro- duce a beautiful effect, regardless of the city streets around it, which it is expected that the city will at some future date grade and improve in a manner fitting to the situation. The surrounding streets have since been graded to conform to the capitol grounds. Out of the appropriation the architect was paid $45,000; $10,000 was expended for commissioners' fees and expenses ; about $120,000 for furniture and fixtures, including power, steam heating and electric wiring, and while a complete outfit of furniture could not be pro- vided, much was provided, and designs were procured for all that was lacking.
The general design is based upon the scheme of a central pavil- ion with dome and rotunda, the executive offices on the third floor, facing the front, and two wings, at the extremities of which, occu- pying the third and fourth floors, are the senate and house cham- bers. The supreme court occupies one extremity of the second floor, and the library the other. On the ground floor, the extremities
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of the wings are occupied by the Hall of Fame and Archives depos- itory of the Department of Archives and History. Other portions of the wings are devoted to the offices of the secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, and other officials and boards. The main en- trances, front and rear, are to the second floor. The portico is massive, dignified and perfect in proportion, and the semi-circular and domed ends of the wings add a graceful touch to the general effect. The walls are of gray Bedford (Ind.) stone, carefully se- lected. The gracefully proportioned main dome is surmounted by an eagle of copper, coated with gold leaf, standing eight feet high, the wing domes are surmounted by flag poles. The building is of fireproof construction, steel skeleton, with cement concrete arches between the beams. The main vestibule is built of blue Vermont marble on a base of black Belgian; the main rotunda is of Italian marble, with friezes and columns of scagliola, which is also used in the supreme court and legislative chambers. The corridor walls are of Italian marble. Numidian marble is used in the governor's reception room, which is a room of unusual beauty. Attractive features are the Historical Department and Hall of Fame on the ground floor, the pediment of the main portico, with figures representing the State of Mississippi, and auxiliary figures, fourteen in all, executed by Bringhurst after the plan of Dr. P. H. Saunders of the chair of Greek at the State University, of St. Louis, also the stained glass windows over the rear entrance. The leg- islative halls and court room are heated by hot air, the remainder of the building by steam radiators, and the lighting is by 4,750 incandescent lamps, 750 of which are in the dome and rotunda. The corner stone was laid, in the presence of a great concourse of people, June 3, 1903, by the Masonic fraternity, E. N. Thomas, grand master, to whom a silver trowel was presented by R. H. Thompson, on behalf of the commission, with appropriate re- marks. Addresses were made by James F. McCool, Governor Longino, Bishop Charles B. Galloway, and Chief Justice A. H. Whitfield. In the evening there was a presentation to the De- partment of Archives and History of a portrait of Judah P. Ben- jamin by the Jewish citizens (with an address by Rabbi M. Brill and response by Director Dunbar Rowland, the day closing with an illumination and reception. The capitol commission occupied quarters in the new building May 10, and the offices were occu- pied by the governor and most of the other officials September 25-26.
Capitol, Old. See Capital.
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Caradine, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Clay county, about 20 miles northwest of Westpoint, the county seat. Popula- tion in 1900, 25.
Cardsville, a post-hamlet in the south-central part of Itawamba county, on the west bank of the Tombigbee river, distant about 8 miles from Fulton, the county seat.
Carl, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Wayne county, on Thompsons creek, about 15 miles directly west of Waynesboro, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking point.
Carley, a postoffice of Marion county, situated on Holidays Creek, about 9 miles north of Columbia, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 32.
Carlisle, a post-village in the eastern part of Claiborne county, on the Natchez division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., about 15 miles east of Port Gibson, the county seat. Population in 1900, 75. It has one church, a cotton gin and a good school.
Carmack, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Attala coun- ty, on Zilpha Creek, an affluent of the Big Black river, and about 16 miles north of Kosciusko, the county seat.
Carmargo, an extinct town of Monroe county, which was located on Old Town Creek, 8 miles northeast of Okolona. In the early days it was one of the principal towns of the county.
Carmichael, a postoffice of Clarke county, about 12 miles south- east of Quitman, the county seat.
Carmichael, John F. In 1799, when the government proposed to establish a new revenue district on the Mississippi to cover all the region south of Tennessee, Governor Sargent was asked to make recommendations and he referred the matter to gentlemen whom he characterized as most intelligent and capable: Judge McGuire, Judge Bruin, Col. John Steel (secretary), Col. John Girault, Thomas Green, Thomas Wilkins, George Fitzgerald, Daniel Clark, William Dunbar, Thomas Burling, John Ellis, Ber- nard Lintot, James McIntosh, Peter Walker, Col. Anthony Hutch- ins, Col. Joseph Pannil, Maj. Benajah Osmun, William Vousdan, Isaac Galliard, and Ebenezer Rees. As a result, the governor rec- ommended that Natchez be selected as the port of entry and de- livery, with additional ports of delivery at Clarksville and Bayou Pierre, and John F. Carmichael for collector. "He is a citizen of Pennsylvania, surgeon in the army, proposes to resign and estab- lish himself in the territory," and was personally recommended by Governor Sargent.
He seems to have continued on duty as surgeon, however, being
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promoted to post surgeon in 1802. In 1804 he resigned, after fifteen years' service. He was an aide, with the rank of major, on the staff of Governor Williams, and in 1806, during the gover- nor's absence, was subjected to court martial upon charges of in- subordination preferred by Cowles Mead, acting governor. Though deprived of rank he seems to have retained the general esteem. He was a friend of General Wilkinson and figured in the court martial. He died October 21, 1837.
Carnegie, a post-hamlet in the central part of Montgomery county, four miles east of Winona, and a station on the Southern railway.
Carnes, a postoffice of Perry county, established in 1905.
Carolana. The region forming the State of Mississippi was first claimed by Spain as part of Florida; subsequently by France as part of Louisiana. There was also an English claim to dominion, founded on the coastwise voyage of exploration by Cabot to some doubtful southern point on the Atlantic coast. The patent of the English queen to Sir Walter Raleigh embraced this region, and it was a part of South Virginia from the English point of view.
The next English patent on the continent was made by King Charles I, in the fifth year of his reign (1630) to Sir Robert Heath, his attorney-general. This patent made pretensions to all the country from the Atlantic back to the South sea (supposed to be about as far as across Mexico) between the parallels of the rivers San Mateo (St. Johns) supposed to be in 31°, and the river Passa Magna, in 36°.
(See Georgia Cession, Yazoo Land Company, Treaty of Beau- fort.)
The country patented was all claimed by Spain by virtue of dis- covery and exploration, establishment of religious missions and massacre of French rivals. For seventy years, when the Heath charter was granted, a fort at St. Augustine had been a witness of Spanish dominion. But the pleasure of invading Spanish claims was one of the great incentives to English colonization. The Heath patent was the first to name the famous line of 31°, as a description of the latitude of the St. Johns, which was intended to be the boundary, not the latitude named by mistake. That the patent was formally annulled Aug. 12, 1663, is the statement of his- torians, and that the claim was afterward set up that Heath con- veyed his rights to the earl of Arundel, from whom they passed to one Dr. Coxe, as described in a memorial to William III. Daniel Coxe, son of the doctor, brought the subject into prominence.
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There are evidences of two attempts at settlement under the claims of Daniel Coxe. A company of French protestants were persuaded to come over to find homes in Carolana, as Coxe called it, and reached Virginia, but as transportation was not provided, they could proceed no further. A little while after Iberville, leader of the French expedition in 1699, had established the post of Biloxi and set sail for France, Bienville, left in command, was made aware of English ambition to this region. "On the 15th of Sep- tember, while Bienville was reconnoitering the river at a distance of about twenty-three leagues from its mouth, he was astonished by the sight of an armed British ship of twelve guns. This was one of the fleet dispatched by Coxe, the claimant of the grant from the British government of the province of Carolana." Another ship, of 24 guns, waited at the mouth of the river. "Bienville, found no difficulty in persuading the captain that he was antici- pated, that the country was already in the possession of the French, and that he had better abandon any attempt to make a landing. The English captain yielded; but not without a threat of inten- tion to return, and an assertion of prior English discovery. The bend in the river where this occurred was named English Turn." (Winsor.) It is probable that information of this visit persuaded the French government to plant a permanent colony in this region, in order to anticipate the English. This event is related in Mar- gry's Journal and in a book published in London, 1782, by Daniel Coxe, entitled "A Description of the English Province of Caro- lana, by the Spaniards called Florida and by the French La Louis- iane." It is an immigration handbook and an argument for the claimant's title. Among other evidences cited are a report dated Whitehall, December 21, 1699, signed by seven members of the privy council and law officers of the crown, in which it is conceded that Coxe is the legal proprietor. The book also contains a story" that, under the Heath grant, "Colonel Wood and a Mr. Needham explored the Mississippi valley between 1654 and 1664." There is a map with the book, showing, among other things not badly located, the towns of the Chattaes on the Yasous river and the Chicazas further north. Daniel Coxe was at one time a member of the New Jersey council and the leader of a political party that attempted to secure the removal of Governor Hunter about 1716. In 1722 he prepared a plan for the union of the colonies. He mar- ried Sarah, daughter of John Eckley, of the Pennsylvania supreme court. Their son, William, married the daughter of Tench Fran- cis, attorney-general of that State. Their son, Tench Coxe, born
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at Philadelphia, May 22, 1755, was called the father of cotton growing in the United States.
Carolina. In 1663, Charles II, in the second year of the restora- tion, granted the region following the limits of the Carolana patent of 1630, to some of his most devoted friends among the nobility. The limits were thus described : "All that territory or tract of ground sit- uate, lying, and being within his said Majesties dominions in Amer- ica extending from the north end of the island called Lucker Island which lyeth in the Southern Virginia seas and within six and thirty degrees of the northern latitude, and to the west as far as the South Seas and so southerly as far as the river Saint Mathias which bordereth upon the coast of Florida, and within one and thirty degrees of northern latitude, and so west in a direct line as far as the South Seas aforesaid." Two years later the limits were ex- tended, on paper, to 29° on the south and 36° and 30' on the north.
In 1670 an agreement had been made between the kings of Spain and Great Britain, called the American treaty, in which they prom- ised to expunge from remembrance and bury in oblivion all irritat- ing events in America, and it was agreed that the king of Great Brit- ain should hold all lands and places he or his subjects then held or possessed in any part of America. "To the Spaniards this meant the latitude of 33° as the line between the opposing colonizations." -(Hamilton.) But at the same time the proprietors of Carolina were preparing to make the settlement of Charleston, which was begun in 1671. Consequently a Spanish expedition was sent to destroy it in 1672, but this failed, as did a second attempt in 1786, though the Port Royal settlement was wiped out at the latter date. In 1702 a Carolinian army besieged St. Augustine and within the following two or three years. Carolinians and Creek Indians ravaged the Spanish missions in what is now called middle Florida, carrying the Spanish Indians into slavery. This was followed by another attack on Charleston in 1706, and the great Indian onslaught in- cited by the Spaniards in 1715, which seriously threatened the existence of the Carolina colony. But, at the close of this war, the English pickets were stationed on the St. John's river. This was a little before the founding of New Orleans, and was a part of the same war in which Bienville captured Pensacola. When peace was declared Carolina did not attempt to occupy any terri- tory south of the Savannah river. Fort St. George, built on the Altamaha in 1720, was abandoned after a conference of the Charles- ton and St. Augustine governors.
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