Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 48

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 48

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Colonial Affairs, 1733-43. The veteran Bienville returned to the colony in the autumn of 1734 amid much public rejoicing. In August, 1734, it was ordered by the King that two soldiers from each company in the colony be granted an annual furlough, and a tract of land, a portion of which, to be designated by the governor, should be cleared within three years. The governor annually se- lected the men to become farmers, and it resulted in making good agriculturists out of many of the soldiers. More than twenty-six small grants annually were made in this way. The scarcity of cur- rent money led to the emission of a card currency in 1735 to the amount of about $40,000, which greatly stimulated commerce. The cards were signed by the local officials and were made a legal tender for all obligations. The colony, however, was still ham- pered by unwise measures. The price of tobacco was arbitrarily fixed for 1733 at 35 livres per hundred weight; for 1734-5, at 30 livres ; for 1736-7, at 27 livres ; and for 1738 at 25 livres. Strangely enough, the colonists on the lower Mississippi were still unable to support themselves on the most fertile soil in the world, while their brethren in the Illinois district raised an abundance of every- thing, and had a surplus for export. This bespoke bad manage- ment on the part of the authorities, or a bad type of colonists- perhaps both. In 1735 steps were taken to confirm the titles to the various concessions and grants in the colony. At this time,

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also, complaints were frequent that the colonists were obliged to pay 200 per cent. more for the same articles than the traders; there was also a demand for more negroes. In 1734 the colony is said to have cost the crown over $160,000. The production of to- bacco was increasing rapidly in the colony ; in 1735 100,000 pounds were made at Pointe Coupee alone. Cotton was also grown at this time in considerable quantities, but was not a very profitable crop on account of the difficulty of getting rid of the seed. In 1737 an ordinance was issued by the French government, exempting from duty for ten years all exports and imports between the colony and the French West Indies. In addition to cotton and tobacco, the chief products of the colony at this time were tar and pitch, six or seven thousand barrels of which were produced, and an annual product of about 35,000 pounds of indigo. In 1741 several severe storms greatly damaged the crops of the lower Mississippi, so that the settlers were reduced almost to the point of starvation. In July of that year, Loubois wrote, "There are many families reduced to such a state of destitution that fathers when they rise in the morn- ing do not know where they will get the food required by their children." Provisions were abnormally high, and transportation on the Mississippi was greatly hampered by the hostility of the Chickasaws and Natchez, who united in pillaging and murdering every Frenchman they could intercept on the river. The two dis- astrous campaigns organized by Bienville against the Chickasaws, in 1736, and 1739-40 have been elsewhere treated. (See Chicka- saw-French Campaign.) These two unsuccessful attempts by Bienville to crush the Chickasaws had seriously impaired his rep- utation ; moreover, the old troubles with the resident officials had arisen again, and there was much jealousy and complaint of Bien- ville and his relatives and friends. He therefore became quite dis- heartened and resigned. Bienville is called the "Father of the Col- ony", and his long years of labor in its behalf entitle him to the appellation. He had labored for nearly 44 years in the colony, when he returned to France on May 10, 1741, at the age of 62.

The expenses of Louisiana in 1741 amounted to $59,091, and in 1742 to $59,686.

Colonial Affairs, 1743-53. The Marquis de Vaudreuil, son of the governor-general of Canada from 1703-25, succeeded Bienville as governor of Louisiana, and arrived in the colony in 1743. He was a gentleman and courtier, and brought with him to the New World more fashion and ceremony than had yet been seen at the capital, New Orleans. He was, withal, an able administrator,

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vigilant and energetic. He encountered many difficulties at the outstart. He issued an ordinance in 1743 requiring all planters along the Mississippi to put their levees in safe condition within a given time, upon pain of forfeiting their plantations to the crown. Metallic money had quite disappeared in the colony, and the card currency issued to take the place of the depreciated money of the India Company, depreciated to such an extent within ten years that it required three paper dollars to equal one Spanish dollar. In April, 1744, these card promises to pay were retired on the basis of two and a half, to one of coin, being redeemed in drafts on the French treasury. Treasury notes were issued, and meas- ures were taken to strengthen the treasury at New Orleans. An enumeration of the population of the colony in 1744 showed quite a falling off in numbers. In 1732, the India Company had re- ported a population of 5,000 whites and 2,000 blacks; in 1744 there were 4,180 whites and 2,030 blacks; in 1746, it was estimated that there were 6,020 people, of whom 4,000 were white. As late as the year 1746 we find the colonists appealing to France for relief from threatened starvation. A great hurricane destroyed the crops on the lower Mississippi in that year, and convoys of provisions from the Illinois country afforded them much needed relief. Settlers from the upper country were forced to come down the Mississippi in convoys, in order to withstand the attacks of the alert and sav- age Chickasaws. Their boats came down annually in the latter part of December and returned in February.

Governor Vaudreuil had constant trouble during his adminis- tration with the Indians. Instigated by the Chickasaws and the English, a faction, hostile to the French, even arose in the friendly Choctaw tribe. This hostile faction, led by the rascally chief Red Shoes, of the Six-town Choctaws, who resided near the present town of Garlandsville, Jasper county, Miss., murdered many French traders and settlers, and marauding parties even penetrated to the German settlements above New Orleans in 1748. War raged in the Choctaw villages between the English and French factions. At last in a pitched battle in 1748, the English faction was badly defeated, losing 180 warriors killed. A parley resulted and it was decided that Red Shoes must die. He was killed soon after while engaged in convoying a train of English goods to his village. This hostile faction continued to make trouble, led by a brother of the dead Red Shoes. Says Claiborne, "Of the thirty-two villages in the Choctaw nation (1750), only two remained avowedly under English influence, but many outcasts and stragglers, the vilest

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marauders, were in their interest, and made it formidable. In a desperate battle about this time, refusing to fly, and not expecting or being offered quarter, they lost one hundred and thirty men, who fell where they fought. Shortly afterwards Grand Pré, at the head of a party of Choctaws and a few French, gave them the fin- ishing blow, and they sued for peace. It was granted on condition that any Choctaw who killed a Frenchman should be surrendered for punishment; that he who introduced an Englishman into the nation must die; that incessant war should be waged against the Chickasaws; that the villages of the English party, or rebels, should be destroyed and they should not be permitted to live in separate communities." Meanwhile the Chickasaws, urged on by the English, had taken secret part in all these troubles. Their hostility had been especially felt by the fleets of pirogues engaged in carrying the commerce of the upper country on the Mississippi. Peace having been restored among the Choctaws, the Chickasaws now feared that the French would concentrate their strength against them. They made overtures of peace to Vaudreuil, and as a peace offering sent him some women and children captured in Arkansas. De Vaudreuil temporized with their emissaries, having determined that the treacherous tribe should at last meet the vengeance of the French. In 1752, Governor Vaudreuil, with a force of 700 Frenchmen and a large number of Choctaws, ad- vanced up the Mobile and Tombigbee rivers to Cotton Gin Port, where he reconstructed the fort built by Bienville. The Chicka- saws abandoned their fields and retired into strongly entrenched stockades, where Vaudreuil decided it would be dangerous to at- tack them without artillery. He contented himself with destroy- ing their villages and fields, and left a strong garrison at Fort Tombigbee to hold them in check in the future, and returned and disbanded his army.

In 1747, the expenses of the colony amounted to $92,582. The ten year period of exemption from duties on exports and imports between the colony and the French West Indies expired this year, and the term was extended for a period, and again prolonged a few years later. In 1750, the Government agreed to take all the to- bacco raised in the colony at $5.50 per hundredweight. In 1751, the last shipment of poor girls was made to the colony. More than 60 were sent at this time, most of whom married soldiers who had received an honorable discharge and had taken up land under the rule before mentioned. On their marriage they were given as- sistance by the paternal government. The same year sugar cane

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was introduced into the colony from Cuba by the Jesuits, and the first crop was grown in the St. Mary suburb of New Orleans. Commerce on the Mississippi had grown to considerable volume by 1750. Father Vivier wrote: "In former years when eight or ten ships entered the Mississippi, that was considered a great number; this year over forty entered; mostly from Martinique and San Domingo."

At this period, the largest settlement above New Orleans, on the Mississippi, was at the German coast. A palisaded fort was at Pointe Coupee, and more than sixty residences extended along the river at this place. A fort and garrison were maintained at Nat- chez, but the district remained almost depopulated since the mas- sacre of 1729. A fort and garrison were also maintained near the mouth of the Arkansas, and served as a recruiting station for the convoys descending the river, and as a protection against the marauding Chickasaws across the river.

The period of the French and Indian War was approaching, which was to terminate French rule in North America. Both Eng- land and France claimed the great valley of the Ohio, and the is- sue must be decided. When the Ohio Company was granted a great tract of land south of the Ohio river, the whole colony of Louisiana was filled with forebodings of coming trouble. The hostile influence of the English among the Indian tribes was be- ing more and more felt among the French settlements.

The old jealousy between the governor-general and the commis- saire-ordinnateur continued in full force. Serious complaints were forwarded to France against the corruption existing in the colony under Vaudreuil, and the latter was openly accused of dishonorable conduct. In 1752 the expenses of the colony amounted to $172,191. In 1753 the Marquis de Vaudreuil was transferred to the govern- ment of Canada, and Kerlerec was appointed to succeed him.

Columbia, the capital of Marion county, is an incorporated post- town on the east bank of the Pearl river, 80 miles south by east of Jackson. It was the State capital, by act of February 7, 1821, until the latter part of 1822. Here met the legislatures of Decem- ber, 1821, and June, 1822. Governor Poindexter closed his term of office here, and Governor Leake began his administration. It is on the Columbia division of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., and does a large shipping trade in turpentine, rosin, staves, hardwood, logs, dressed and rough lumber, both by rail and by the river Pearl. It has a money order postoffice, telegraph and express office, eigh- teen business houses, two banks, three livery stables, four hotels,

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several churches and a public high school. One paper is published here, the Columbian, a Democratic weekly, established in 1883. The Columbia Bank was organized in 1900 with a capital of $18,- 000. The Pearl River Bank was established in 1904 with a capital of $25,000. The town is growing rapidly since the advent of the railroad, and being situated in the heart of the long leaf pine belt of the State, has a bright future. Population in 1900, 507; and in 1906 a conservative estimate places the population at 2,000. The town is supplied with excellent water from 8 artesian wells. It has recently completed a high school building at a cost of $30,000, while the new county court house which is nearing completion will cost about $65,000 and is one of the best in the State. Lodges of Masons, Knights of Pythias, Knights & Ladies of Honor and Woodmen of the World, are located here. Among the industries located here are a cotton seed oil mill, a cotton compress and a fertilizer plant.

Columbus. Bernard Romans in his celebrated journey through the Tombigbee district in 1771-72 had an eye for the romantic, and described at some length a remarkable crescent bluff (Bar- ton's), on the east side of the river, rising fifty feet above the wa- ter, and extending almost a mile and a half along the river. This was the site of the modern city of Columbus. The Tombigbee river was navigable throughout the year for large steamboats to this point, and the beautiful high plateau sloping eastward from the bluff, and possessed of perfect natural drainage, was a natural and healthful location for a large commercial city. Here has grown up one of the most attractive, wealthy and substantial towns in the State. The first house built on the present site of Columbus was erected by Dr. Gideon Lincecum in 1818 (see Lowndes Co.) "There was nothing like a settlement until about the middle of June, 1819, when Thomas Sampson (who was afterwards probate judge) William V. Roach and William Poor came to the place, and a short time afterwards the citizens of the neighborhood had a meeting, and at the suggestion of Silas McBee, Esq., the town was called Columbus. About this time came Thomas Townsend, Green Bailey, Dr. B. C. Barry, Silas Brown, Hancock Chisholm, William Conover, William Fernandes, John H. Leech and several others." (Memoirs of Mississippi, Goodspeed). In February, 1821, the town was incorporated. Subsequent early acts relating to its char- ter were passed in 1822, 1830, 1833, 1836, 1839 and 1843. When Mon- roe county was divided in 1830 to form the county of Lowndes, Col- umbus became the county seat of the latter county, and the first

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court was held there in that year, William L. Moore being the first mayor of the corporation. The town is located on the 16th section of the 18th township, range 18 west, in north latitude 33 and 1/2 degrees, and 150 miles northeast of Jackson. It is regularly laid out upon an elevated plain-the streets crossing each other at right angles. It extends about a mile and one-half along the river north and south, and about the same distance east and west. With its well paved streets, wide and well shaded, substantial business blocks, and beautiful residence districts, it presents a most inviting appearance. When the Choctaw and Chickasaw lands were thrown open to sale and settlement in the early 30's, the "Military" road, built by General Jackson on his return from New Orleans, and connecting with the "Natchez Trace" and "Gaines' Trace," was the great highway through Lowndes county from northeast to southwest, and at certain seasons was thronged with emigrants and travelers. The result was a rapid increase in the population of both the county and the town of Columbus. Little had as yet been done in the way of internal improvements, with the exception of a fine bridge thrown over the Luxa-pali-lah, or Floating Turtle creek, a short distance from Columbus, by Col. Blewett, at an expense of six or eight thousand dollars. However, late in this decade 1830-40, a company was chartered to construct a bridge over the Tombigbee at Columbus, and in 1840 a substan- tial bridge was built, free to all Lowndes county citizens. This resulted in bringing many thousands of bales of cotton to the ware- houses of Columbus, which had previously been stored at the rival town of West Port, one mile above, on the west bank of the river. Writing in 1838, Besancon tells us "The healthfulness of this situ- ation is now established. Excellent water abounds. There are many beautiful building sites on the pine ridge north and east of the town, of which its inhabitants are rapidly availing themselves. Situated upon a navigable stream; in a healthy, well watered and fertile country ; with a propitious clime; upon the great highway from the north and east, to the south and west ; possessing a moral, intelligent, wealthy and enterprising population, and enjoying re- ligious and literary privileges unsurpassed, if not unequalled by any town in the southwest, Columbus promises not to be least among the fair cities which are springing up, as if by magic, in the late western world." These words are indeed prophetic in the light of modern developments. By the year 1840 the town had a popu- lation of more than 3,000 inhabitants, three incorporated banks, and several not incorporated, twenty dry goods stores, three drug

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stores, three clothing stores, two jewellers' shops, two hotels, a public bath house, a cotton gin, two livery stables, two large ware- houses, a steam saw'and grist mill, four public wells, a market- house, a courthouse, Masonic hall, Methodist, Presbyterian, Bap- tist, Cumberland Presbyterian, and Episcopalian churches, a land office, two printing offices issuing weekly papers, a large book store and the banking house of the Planters' bank. The various trades and professions were numerously represented and there were two well equipped military companies.

As the town was built upon the sixteenth section, the income arising from the lease of the lots, steadily increased until it at- tained a maximum of $8,000 in 1837, and was appropriated to the support of Franklin Male Academy, and Franklin Female Acade- my, tuition being free to all the children and youth of the town- ship. The Franklin Academy was incorporated in 1821. Each of the above institutions had an average enrollment of more than 100 pupils, and two fine buildings were erected upon the Academy square to accommodate them. Writing of Franklin Academy, Edward Mayes has this to say in his History of Education in Mis- sissippi : "All things considered, this is one of the most note- worthy schools in the State. Founded as a chartered institution in 1821, it has enjoyed an unbroken existence of, now seventy years. It was founded almost in the wilderness, and was by twen- ty-four years the first free school of note and permanent establish- ment in the State. Its charter members were William Cocke, William Leech, David Kincaid, Gideon Lincecum, Robert D. Haden, Richard Barry, Thomas Townsend, Silas McBee, and John Deck. The town itself sprang into notice as an education- al center. It attracted a class of citizens more like those of the long settled communities of the original thirteen States than were the settlers of any other locality in the State except those of Natchez and its vicinity. This standard of citizenship and of edu- cational culture has been steadily maintained." Another of the early educational institutions of the town was the Mississippi Fe- male College, chartered in 1840. It occupied a spacious building on a "secluded and romantic eminence." In 1848, the Legislature chartered the celebrated Columbus Female Institute, and about the same time was established the Odd Fellows' High Male School- both devoted to the interests of higher education. The building of the latter school was destroyed by fire, and in 1884, the property of the Columbus Female Institute was donated by the city of Columbus to the State, for the use of the newly incorporated In-

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dustrial Institute and College. This latter institution is a pioneer in its particular field-that of giving women in Mississippi not only industrial training, but also collegiate instruction. The three fold purpose of the institution is thus expressed by its charter : 1, To confer a thorough general education; 2, To give the best normal training; 3, To train the pupils in the various industrial arts. It is now firmly established both as a college and an indus- trial institute, has been highly successful in its work and atten- dance, and occupies a noble group of buildings, which are being constantly added to. (See separate title for more extended sketch of this college).

Despite the high character of its early settlers, Columbus had its rough and seamy side, like all frontier settlements. There was much drinking, fighting and gambling here in the early days, and many adventurers were attracted to the prosperous, and rapidly growing town. In 1837, the influx of gamblers to the town became so great and resulted in such a scandal, that the authorities re- sorted to a threat of military force to bring about the expulsion of the disorderly element, and set a time limit within which they must leave the town. This had the desired effect and the town was thoroughly cleansed of its unwelcome members.

The modern Columbus is a city of 12,000 inhabitants, (estimated in 1906), and ranks as the largest and most important trade center in eastern Mississippi after the city of Meridian. In addition to the riv- er transportation, two important lines of railway run through Col- umbus-the Mobile and Ohio and the Southern, bringing the city as close to the coal fields of Alabama as is Birmingham, and pro- viding it with an outlet for its products in every direction. The twelfth census ranks Columbus as one of the eleven important manu- facturing cities of the State and groups it immediately after Meri- dian, Vicksburg, Natchez and Jackson in capital and output. Among the important manufacturing enterprises which enter into its in- dustrial make-up are the Standard Stove Works, Columbus Un- derwear Co., Independent Oil & Fertilizer Works, Columbus Ma- chinery Co., Columbus Comfort M'f'g. Co., Tombigbee Cotton Mills, Columbus Brick Co., Columbus Hydraulic Stone Co., Lucas E. Moore Co., Miss. Cotton Oil Co., Refuge Cotton Oil Co. (in- cluding a fertilizing plant), New South Plow Co., and two steam laundries. Three strong banking institutions-the Columbus In- surance & Banking Co., the First State Bank, and the Merchants & Farmers Bank-minister to the financial needs of the city. Col- umbus supports two influential, Democratic semi-weekly news-

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papers. The "Columbus Dispatch" was established in 1879, and is owned and edited by P. W. Maer; The "Columbus Commercial" was founded in 1895, succeeding the old weekly known as the "Index." J. T. Senter owns and edits the "Commercial."

The city is well lighted by gas and electricity, and is supplied with street railway service furnished by the Columbus Street R. R. Co., which has invested some $65,000 in their lines and park. The city is also supplied with a telephone system, water works and sewerage; it has several good public schools, for both races, an efficient force of firemen equipped with modern fire fighting ap- paratus, and has many miles of well paved and graded streets. The multitude of beautiful shade trees along its streets, and adorn- ing its residence districts, are a marked feature of the town, which is frequently termed the handsomest city in the State.

Comeby, a postoffice of Rankin county.

Commerce, a post-hamlet of Tunica county, on the Mississippi river, 21 miles west of Hernando, and 10 miles north of Tunica, the county seat. During the early history of the county, the seat of justice was located here, and Commerce was a thriving river town of importance. It now has three stores and a steamboat landing.

Committee of 1799. This was an outgrowth of the events re- lated in the article, 'Sargent's Administration, and indicated the strife between the Federal or administration, and Republican or opposition parties, for the control of the new Territory. The Re- publicans, or Jeffersonians, were the moving spirits in this pro- ceeding. They had the advantage of seeking increased partici- pation by the inhabitants in the government, and Governor Sar- gent was so unfortunate as to be provoked, by the misrepresenta- tion of his official acts, to oppose the enfranchisement and ques- tion the loyalty of many of the inhabitants.

According to the governor's report to the secretary of state, the grand juries of the two counties made presentments showing "the discontents among some of the people." "Originating with the men of those juries and their particular associates, has been a con- vention of the Territory by delegates elected, in some instances with formality, and after a very tedious sitting and such violence of proceeding as together with the operation of cooler reflection caused them to be deserted by almost every man of acknowledged respectability." Narsworthy Hunter said the movement took head in a meeting July 6, 1799, "of a number of the principal inhabitants, in order to confer upon the unhappy situation of the country, and if possible to devise a remedy." This meeting sent out a circular

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 48

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