USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 43
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teers in the United States service, and in that rank continued at Baton Rouge, organizing a brigade of Mississippi and Louisiana volunteers, until ordered to Fort Stoddert, where he arrived July 30, 1813, to guard the frontier against the Creeks. He established and garrisoned military posts, and was active in providing for the defense of the settlements. He was afterward blamed, by critics, for the disaster at Fort Mims, an unreasonable accusation.
After his expedition to Holy Ground, December, 1813, Gen. Claiborne returned to Natchez, following the remnant of his Mis- sissippi volunteers, whose time had expired. In the following March he resumed his work as brigadier-general of militia of the Territory. He had made liberal expenditures for the transporta- tion and care of his men. "He returned to his family," writes his son, (Claiborne's Mississippi), "his constitution broken by ex- posure, and his fortune totally wrecked in the public service, and died suddenly about the close of 1815, in his forty-fourth year. The last act of his life, and about the last dollar of his fortune, were expended in illuminating his house and grounds, on the news of Jackson's victory at New Orleans."
Claiborne, John Francis Hamtramack, was born near Natchez, April 24, 1807, the eldest son of Gen. Ferdinand L. Claiborne by his marriage to a daughter of Col. Anthony Hutchins. He was named for the colonel of the First regiment, United States Infantry, of which his father had been adjutant. A few years after his father's death he was sent to Virginia to be educated, and he began the read- ing of law with his cousin, Benjamin Watkins Leigh, of Richmond, continuing the same with Griffith & Quitman, of Natchez, taking a vacation in Cuba, and completing his reading in the school of Gen. Alexander Smythe, at Wytheville, Va. He intended to settle in Virginia, but his health was so delicate that he returned to Natchez, where he was active as a supporter of Jackson for the presidency, and was temporarily in charge of the paper then published by the venerable Andrew Marschalk the pioneer editor and publisher of Mississippi. Before he was 21 he was the Democratic candidate for the legislature in Adams county, and was elected for three suc- cessive terms, declining the speakership in 1833 in favor of his kinsman, Col. Joseph Dunbar. He made a meritorious speech in 1830 in favor of providing means of higher education of Southern youth in the South. In December, 1828, he married Martha Dun- bar, and two daughters were born to them, and a son, Maj. Willis Herbert, who died of wounds received in the Army of Tennessee.
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Mr. Claiborne made his home in Madison county in 1835 and was in the same year nominated for Congress by the first Democratic State convention held in the State. He was elected by a large ma- jority, and when he entered Congress was the youngest member of that body, and the only member who was a native of the West. Through his exertions the house passed the bill creating the Chick- asaw school fund. The Evening Post, of New York, then edited by William Cullen Bryant, said of him in 1837: "The cause of humanity and equal rights has gained an able advocate in the Hon. Mr. Claiborne, of Mississippi. High-spirited, fearless and indepen- dent, he bids fair to be an ornament to the House and country." He defended the rights of settlers on the public domain and de- nounced the congressional doctrine of contempts. After the ex- piration of his first term in Congress, occurred the famous Congres- sional muddle of 1837 (See Prentiss). At the election in July, for a special session of Congress, Claiborne received 11,203 votes; Gholson, 9,921; Prentiss, 7,143; Acee, 6,691. At the November election Prentiss received 13,651; Word, 12,340; Claiborne, 6,258; Gholson, 6,032. The Democratic leaders contended that two- thirds of the Democrats refused to vote on the ground that the July election covered the following regular term of two years, though the figures do not so indicate. During the contest before Congress Claiborne was dangerously sick. He was also unable to take part in the canvass that followed, which resulted in the fol- lowing vote, Prentiss, 12,722; Word, 12,007; Claiborne, 11,779; I. N. Davis, 10,346. In July, 1841 Mr. Claiborne became one of the editors of the Mississippi Free Trader a work that pleased him more than politics. In this famous journal he published his "Trip through the Piney Woods," and his first contributions to the his- tory of the State. In 1842 he was appointed president of the Board of Choctaw Commissioners, to adjudicate the claims of Indians under the treaty of Dancing Rabbit, which were the basis of great and corrupt speculation. (See Choctaw Land Frauds.) He fear- lessly denounced the frauds, though the interests were influential and S. S. Prentiss was employed on a contingent fee of $100,000 to defend them. On account of his publication of these charges his competency as a judge on the board was challenged by Mr. Prentiss. He made a vigorous response, and the work of the board was postponed until advice could be received from Washington. Threats were made against his life, and he received challenges to duel from Messers. Forrester and Prentiss, which he declined to recognize, because of his duties to the government. His action
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crushed the speculation and ruined those concerned in it. "Mr. Prentiss and Col. Claiborne, both of whom were wrecked in for- tune, removed to New Orleans shortly after the acrimonious con- flict. They often met, but never spoke." But they were reconciled a few days before the death of Prentiss. At New Orleans Claiborne edited the Jeffersonian and the Statesman, and later the Courier, supporting Pierce for the presidency. He declined a diplomatic post, desiring to live on the Mississippi coast, and the office of custodian of public timber in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana was created for his benefit, an office to which he was reappointed by President Buchanan. He made his home near Bay St. Louis, and engaged in the growing of sea island cotton. Because of his precarious health, his life was always one of the greatest simplicity and retirement. When war began in 1861, he sent his wife and daughter to Natchez, and remained on his plantation. He opposed secession and had no official connections with the Confederacy. He was asked in 1869 to be a candidate for Congress, but declined. He was absorbed in historical investigations and the collection of material of which the beginning was the papers of his uncle, father and grandfather. He spent much time on a History of the South- west, but the manuscript when ready for the press was lost by the sinking of a steamer on the river. He reproduced, from memory, part of this in the "Life and Times of Sam Dale," published in 1860. In the same year he published the "Life and Correspondence of John A. Quitman," in two volumes. In 1870 he removed to Dun- barton, the ancestral home of his wife, near Natchez, and worked earnestly, being admonished that time was short, upon his "Misis- sippi as a Province, Territory and State." Harper Brothers had published his former works, and this, which was to be his great . achievement, he was anxious to have printed in Mississippi. He entrusted the first volume to Col. J. L. Power, and it was published by Power & Barksdale in 1881. Working on, he completed the second volume, which was destroyed by the burning of his home on the night of March 2, 1884. The shock and grief was so great that he died in Natchez, May 17, 1884. His historical collections of manuscript had been presented to the State in 1882, and are now in the Department of Archives and History. (See Life, by F. L. Riley, Miss. Hist. Soc. Publ. VII, 217, and only portrait). Clai- borne's life of Quitman is probably to the general student the best. illustration of his genius. The history of Mississippi is a rich store of information, but has its defects, unfortunately. The prejudices of the historian, which were very strong, are given wide play,
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and his peculiar habit of writing his own memories and opinions into the quotations he makes, (even the letters cited), creates a feeling of distrust in the student. Yet it is undoubtedly one of the greatest, if not the greatest of State histories. At the close of his centennial address at Bay St. Louis, July 4, 1876, he said : "On these shores, as you have seen, the soldiers of three nations have dis- played the standards of their kings. For ourselves we want but one, and will have no other. And here, in the presence of Almighty God, with the spirits of our departed friends as witnesses, let us swear eternal fidelity to our Union and its Flag."
Claiborne, William Charles Cole. William Charles Cole Clai- borne was born in Sussex County, Virginia, in 1775, and was the second son of Col. William Claiborne and Mary (Leigh) Claiborne. The Claiborne family in America was founded by William Clai- borne, who emigrated from England as surveyor of the plantations of Virginia by appointment of the London Company. He was a younger son of a distinguished family of Westmoreland County, England, and arrived at Jamestown in October, 1621. On March 4, 1625, he was commissioned by Charles I. as a member of the Council and Secretary of State for the Colony of Virginia.
During the American Revolution the Claibornes were found fighting for liberty on the side of the colonies. Descended from such ancestry, and born at the outbreak of the Revolution, it is not strange that William C. C. Claiborne was a patriot. Nathaniel H. Claiborne, his younger brother, who for twenty years was a member of Congress from Virginia, in his "Notes on the War of 1812," in which appears an interesting biography of Governor Claiborne, says that at the age of eight years he wrote in his Latin grammar the motto, "Clara patria, carior libertas-ubi est libertas, ibi est mea patria," "Dear my country, dearer liberty-where lib- erty is, there is my country." He was sent to Richmond Academy under the instruction of Eldridge Harris, and afterwards to Wil- liam and Mary, accompanied by his elder brother Ferdinand Leigh. He remained at the latter institution only a short time, leaving on account of a disagreement with one of the ushers. At the early age of fifteen he decided that it was necessary to support himself, on account of the misfortunes of his father, who had ruined his estate in the cause of his country.
At that time the seat of the National Government was at New York. Young Claiborne proceeded there, and sought a position in the office of John Beckley, Clerk to the Congress, who looked with favor on the son of his native State. He was given employ-
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ment as enrolling clerk and made himself useful in copying bills and resolutions for members of Congress. In 1790 he followed the Congress to Philadelphia, on its removal to that city. The young clerk soon attracted the notice of John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and John Sevier. Mr. Jefferson gave him access to his books, and Sevier advised him to study law and go to Tennessee. At a very early age Claiborne displayed decided oratorical ability, and at the age of fiften delivered an original valedictory address on leaving school for New York. He joined the Polemic Society in Philadel- phia, and found, at the age of seventeen, that he could sway an au- dience. At that early age he decided to follow Sevier's advice, and resigned his position to become a law student, going to Richmond for that purpose. With three months preparation he was admit- ted to the bar, and equipped with Blackstone and a copy of the re- vised statutes he went to Sullivan County, Tennessee, and offered his professional services to the people of that aspiring young Ter- ritory. Within two years he had gained the distinction of stand- ing without a rival as an advocate at the criminal bar. In the first constitutional convention of Tennessee, which met at Knoxville, January 11, 1796, Claiborne was one of the leading members. At this time Gov. Blount is reported to have said of him, "He is, taking into consideration his age, the most extraordinary man of my ac- quaintance."
On the formation of the State government, he was appointed by Gov. John Sevier a Judge of the Supreme Court of law and equity. After a brief service he resigned to become a candidate for Congress and was elected in August, 1797, to the Fifth Con- gress. He took his seat November 23, 1797. During his first ses- sion he was a member of the Ways and Means Committee with Gallatin, Harper, Baldwin and Bayard, and chairman of the Com- mittee on Indian Relations. He was re-elected to the Sixth Con- gress, and voted for Thomas Jefferson for President in the Jef- ferson-Burr contest.
President Jefferson appointed Mr. Claiborne Governor of Mis- sissippi Territory May 25, 1801, to succeed Winthrop Sargent, whose term had expired. A short time before receiving his ap- pointment he had been married to Eliza W. Lewis, of Nashville, Tenn. The young Governor at this time was only twenty-six years old. He had gained the confidence of Mr. Jefferson, who believed him endowed with that wisdom, tact, judgment and discretion which were so necessary in instilling in the minds of the people of the new territory a love for American institutions, at a time
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when great events were taking place in Louisiana between France and Spain.
On October 8, 1801, he left Nashville for his new post of duty, going by boat down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, and reaching Natchez November 23. The Legislature met a few days after his arrival, and one of his first official acts was a message to that body. A short time after he reported to Secretary Madi- son that all opposition to the General Assembly had practically ceased. The Governor made a good impression at once, and became very popular soon after his arrival. Among the Legislative acts of interest was the change of name of Pickering County to Jef- ferson, in honor of the new President. Two new counties were formed from Adams and Jefferson and named Wilkinson and Clai- borne, in honor of Gen. Wilkinson and Gov. Claiborne. On' the recommendation of the Governor the territorial capital was moved from Natchez to Washington by an Act passed by the Legisla- ture and approved February 1, 1802. The term of John Steele as Secretary of the Territory expired May 7, 1802, and Cato West was appointed to suceed him March 1, 1803.
The want of military equipment in the territory gave Claiborne much uneasiness, and when the cession of Louisiana by Spain to France was assured, he applied to the Secretary of War for one thousand rifles, and recommended the establishment of a well equipped military post, centrally located. His efforts resulted in the building of Fort Dearborn at Washington.
The election for Representatives in July, 1802, showed a re- versal of popular favor, and a great majority of the old members were defeated. The people did not approve of the ridiculous effort which had been made to impeach Chief Justice Seth Lewis of the Territorial Supreme Court, who had incurred the displeasure of influential members who were litigants before the Court.
One of the most important acts of the Claiborne administration was the collection, for the general government, of data relative to Mississippi land titles, which were in a chaotic condition in the Territory. The report which he made to Secretary Madison was the foundation upon which Congress based future measures for the settlement of local land titles.
In his message to the Legislature October 3, 1803, Gov. Clai- borne, on the subject of the Louisiana Purchase, says :
"It is understood that by the late treaty between the United States and the First Consul of the French Republic, and which re- mains only to be sanctioned by the constituted authorities of our
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country, the island of Orleans is ceded to the United States, and the American Empire bounded by the western limits of the rich and extensive province of Louisiana-an accession of territory not obtained by conquest, not held by the precarious tenure of force, but acquired by honest purchase, and secured to us by the national faith of its fromer owner-an accession of territory essential to the welfare of the western country, and which, by increasing the means of reciprocal benefits, will render still stronger the chain which connects the great American family in the inestimable union of interest and affection-a union, which I pray God, may exist coequal with time."
Some of the most notable events of the Claiborne administration were the establishment of Jefferson College ; arrangements for set- tling land titles; the survey of boundaries of the Natchez and Mobile districts and the establishment of a mail route on the Natchez Trace, or Robinson Road.
The Governor received an express from Washington November 9, 1803, notifying him of his appointment by President Jefferson as a Commissioner, associated with Gen. James Wilkinson, to re- ceive from France the Louisiana Purchase, and to succeed the Spanish Governor until a government for the new territory should be established. He left Natchez in December with about two hun- dred Mississippi militia as a military escort. The two Commis- sioners met at Fort Adams and arrived within two miles of New Orleans, where they encamped December 17, 1803. Three days after Louisiana was transferred by Laussat, the representative of the French Republic, to the American Commissioners, and Clai- borne at once assumed the government of the new possession. On September 26, 1804, he lost his wife and infant child. After the death of his first wife he married Clarissa Duralde, a French lady, and on her death married a Miss Bosque, a lady of Spanish de- scent. who survived him.
During the absence of Gov. Claiborne from the Mississippi Ter- ritory the duties of the executive office devolved upon Secretary Cato West.
Claiborne continued to exercise the duties of Provisional Gov- ernor until October 2, 1804, when he was appointed Governor of the Territory of Orleans. He continued to serve until the admis- sion of that Territory to the Union in 1812, when he was elected Governor of the new State. After serving two terms he was elec- ted to the United States Senate from Louisiana, January 13, 1817. He did not live to take his seat in the Senate. He died November
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3, 1817, and is buried in beautiful Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans. Governor Claiborne died when he was on the threshold of a great national career at the age of forty-two. For seventeen years he had been one of the most potent figures in what was then the great Southwest.
For authorities on the life of Gov. Claiborne consult Mississippi archives, Claiborne's "Mississippi," Martin's, Gayarre's and For- tier's "Louisiana," and Claiborne's "Notes on the War of 1812."
Claiborne's Administration. William Charles Cole Claiborne, of Tennessee, was appointed by President Jefferson, May 25, 1801, governor in and over the Mississippi Territory, "during the pleas- ure of the president of the United States, for the time being, and until the end of the next session of the senate of the United States and no longer," the appointment being made because "the office of governor is at present vacant." His commission for a term of three years was not issued until January 26, 1802, upon the con- firmation by the senate, and it was not forwarded to him until April, 1802.
All circumstances considered this was one of the most impor- tant appointments the new president had to make, and Claiborne, though only twenty-six years of age, had shown such ability, intel- lectual and social, that there was general confidence in the wisdom of the selection. The responsibilities of the trust were great, not only because of the importance of cultivating a steadfast love of American institutions and contentment among the people of Natch- ez district, but because the news of the cession of Louisiana to Napoleon threatened to make the Territory a seat of military activity. Claiborne accepted the appointment by letter August 2, and on October 8 set out from Nashville, going by boat down the Cumberland, Ohio and Mississippi rivers to Natchez. On ac- count of low water, he did not reach his destination until Novem- ber 23.
The governor believed from his early information that opposition to the general assembly government had practically ceased. The Choctaws continued to be a source of annoyance and loss to the planters, and the conduct of a portion of the whites was calculated to drive the Indians to hostilities. The legislature met a few days after his arrival, and his address was devoted mainly to urging careful legislation on the subjects of the judiciary and militia. "In the sup- port of order, the promotion of morals and the suppression of vice, let us all unite, and enrich society with the charms of harmony and concord. While we feel and manifest our attachment to the Union
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with the mother States, let us impress the advantages of that union upon the minds of our children by rearing them up in the paths of virtue and science, enable them the better to appreciate the excellencies of a free government, and to become useful to themselves and country." The general assembly, of which Henry Hunter was speaker of the house and John Ellis president of the council, made a response, in which it was said: "Since your ar- rival, Sir, it is impossible you could be informed of all the local inconveniences which require legislative interference; but these inconveniences are numerous, and many of them extremely oppres- sive, and these, which can only be known to you in theory, have been severely felt by the citizens in experience. One evidence of the laws being defective is that the political situation of the coun- try in every view is much worse than before their publication." This was the first effective session of the assembly, and the laws which it was proposed to remedy were those promulgated by Gov- ernor Sargent and the judges, under the former mode of govern- ment. The assembly, reflecting the hostility of a large faction toward the judges appointed by President Adams, seemed inclined to legislate "rather against men, than upon principles," (Clai- borne's letter, Dec. 20, 1801,) and the situation was unpleasant. While the governor sympathized with the desire to be free from the ancient principles of law as applied to Spanish land grants, he was compelled to support the judges on that point.
The assembly, in December, 1801, resolved, in view of the circu- lation of "a malicious and libelous pamphlet published in Boston in the State of Massachusetts, and purporting to be an account of the public and private life of Winthrop Sargent," that :
"1. A great majority of the citizens of this territory are much at- tached to the U. S. and equally so to a free government ; that they will never be reconciled to oppression or confide in the man who oppresses them ; hence arose their great desire for a legislative as- sembly of their own, and the removal of W. Sargent, their late gov- ernor.
"2. That Nasworthy Hunter, the delegate from this territory to Congress has uniformly displayed great patriotism and fidelity in public employments and much integrity in private life, and there- fore it is that he is justly esteemed by a great majority of his fellow citizens.
"3. That the superceding of Winthrop Sargent in the office of governor of this Territory was essential to the welfare thereof,
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and that the thanks of this assembly be returned for the same to the president of the United States."
To this President Jefferson responded, addressing the president . of the council, March 2, 1802.
"Sir: I receive with great respect the approbation which the legislature of the Mississippi territory, in their resolutions of the 21st of December last, have been pleased to express, on my declin- ing to renew the commission of their late governor. The task of judging those, whose conduct in office calls for it, is always painful : but the grounds of judgment in that case were such as to leave no room to doubt the line of duty which I had to pursue. The testimony of the legislature, founded in what themselves have seen and felt, confirms the justice of that judgment. I concur with them in entire confidence that our expectations from his-suc- cessor will not be disappointed; and I avail myself of this oppor- tunity of assuring them that on every occasion interesting to the prosperity, safety or happiness of the Mississippi territory, they may rely on a faithful and zealous discharge of my duties."
Notable among the legislative acts, of general interest, was the change of name of Pickering county to Jefferson, and the subdivi- sion of Adams and Jefferson to set off two other counties, on the extreme south and north, called Wilkinson and Claiborne. These all extended east to Pearl river. The territory at this time, and during the whole territorial period, so far as white population and land tenure were concerned, was composed of the district of Natchez and that part of the old English district of Mobile lying above the line of 31°. The United States, before 1816, extinguished the Indian title to none of the lands outside of the old English bounds, which had been affirmed during Spanish dominion. In the Natchez district, including the inhabited parts of the various western counties, as constituted during Claiborne's administration, there were about 1,600,000 acres. On the Mobile and Tombigbee there were about three million acres, about two-thirds of which were pine barrens, forming the inhabited part of Washington county.
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