USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 52
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109
The convention was called to order by S. J. Gholson at noon Monday, Jan. 7, 1861, and H. T. Ellett was called to the chair. The Rev. C. K. Marshall offered prayer. H. H. Tison was ap- pointed secretary pro tem. The roll of counties was called and delegates registered. The first ballot showed W. S. Barry in the lead for chairman, but the majority was divided, and the minority voted 17 for J. L. Alcorn. On the third ballot Barry received 58 votes and was elected. F. A. Pope was elected secretary, S. Pool doorkeeper, and W. I. Westbrook sergeant-at-arms.
On the motion of Mr. Lamar a committee of fifteen was ap- pointed by the president, "with instructions to prepare and report as speedily as possible an ordinance providing for the withdrawal of the State of Mississippi from the present Federal Union, with a view to the establishment of a new Confederacy, to be composed of the seceding States," on which Mr. Lamar moved the previous question, and the motion was carried without debate.
Next day six standing committees were appointed, and the Com- mittee of Fifteen was announced, as follows: L. Q. C. Lamar, W. P. Harris, S. J. Gholson, J. L. Alcorn, H. T. Ellett, Walker
512
MISSISSIPPI
Brooke, H. R. Miller, J. A. Blair, A. M. Clayton, Alfred Holt, J. Z. George, E. H. Saunders, Benj. King, G. R. Clayton, Orlando Davis. Of these, Alcorn, Brooke and Blair were prominent opponents of secession.
Next day, on motion of Mr. Lamar, the previous question being carried, the convention went into secret session to consider the ordinance. Meeting again in open session at 4:30, Mr. Lamar re- ported "An Ordinance to dissolve the Union between the State of Mississippi and the States united with her under the compact en- titled the Constitution of the United States." Mr. Yerger offered a substitute entitled "An Ordinance providing for the final adjust- ment of all difficulties between the free and slave States of the United States by securing further Constitutional guarantees within the present Union." This substitute was rejected by a vote of 78 to 21, the 21 being Messrs. Brooke, Blair, Bonds, Bullard, Cummings, Farrar, Flournoy, Herring, Hurst, Marshall, McGehee of Bolivar, Myers, Parker, Reynolds, Sanders, Sumner, Stevens, Thornton, Winchester, Yerger, Young.
Alcorn then proposed an amendment that the ordinance should not go into effect until Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana had resolved to secede; which was lost 74 to 25. Walker Brooke offered an amendment that the ordinance should not take effect until it had been voted on by the people at an election to be held second Monday of February, which was lost, 70 to 29.
The Lamar ordinance was then adopted by a vote of 84 to 15. The fifteen were Winchester and Farrar of Adams county, T. A. Marshall of Warren; Reynolds, Bonds, Young and Blair of Tish- omingo; Hurst of Amite, Bullard and Cummings of Itawamba, Parker of Franklin, Myers of Perry, Thornton of Rankin, Yerger of Washington, Sanders of Attala.
The president was requested to telegraph the action to the gov- ernors of all the slave holding States and the delegates in con- gress, and the convention adjourned at ten o'clock.
Before adjournment C. R. Dickson entered the hall bearing a blue silk banner, with a single white star in the center, which he handed the president as the gift of Mrs. H. H. Smyth of Jackson. It was unfurled amid great applause.
Outside, the passage of the ordinance was greeted with salutes of cannon and great enthusiasm, and it was the same throughout the State. The next night, there was an illumination of the Capi- tol and buildings generally, and, at the theatre, the "Bonnie Blue Flag" was sung for the first time by its author, an Irish actor,
513
MISSISSIPPI
Harry McCarty, who saw the flag presented. At Natchez, the edi- tor of the Courier daring to deny that there was any enthusiasm, a grand ratification meeting was held.
Next day the convention talked of military matters mainly-the fortification of Vicksburg, Natchez and Mississippi city, and a mili- tary board. S. J. Gholson read his resignation as judge of the Federal court; Maj. Earl VanDorn, of the United States army, was invited to a seat within the bar; Armistead Burt presented his credentials as commissioner from the Republic of South Carolina ; postmasters and mail clerks were requested to continue to perform their duties until further orders from the Convention.
Mississippi settled the question if South Carolina should have support. An ordinance of secession was adopted by the conven- tion of Florida, Jan. 10, and by Alabama, Jan. 11.
The two dramatic incidents of the Convention, wrote Judge Thomas H. Woods, were the explanations of their final votes by the two most prominent opponents of secession, James L. Alcorn and Walker Brooke. Alcorn said, "The die is cast-the Rubicon is crossed-and I enlist myself with the army that marches on Rome." Brooke said he had done his best to bring about coopera- tion of the Southern States in demanding guarantees of the North before proceeding to form a Southern Confederacy. "I have failed. Should I vote against the ordinance after what has passed, I should vote to do nothing. Shall this convention adjourn with- out action ? Should we do so, we would make ourselves obnoxious to the scorn and ridicule of the world. . . Perhaps already the waters of Charleston harbor are dyed with the blood of our friends and countrymen. I vote aye."
The Convention continued in session until January 26. The or- dinance of secession was signed January 15, by all the members present but Mr. Thornton. Thornton had been for a year captain of the Rankin Guards, and commander of his battalion, and was soon after this in the field. Resolutions were adopted recognizing the "sovereign and independent nations" of South Carolina, Ala- bama and Florida. The matter of proceeding to organize a South- ern Confederacy and merge the Republic of Mississippi therein, was the subject of prolonged debate. Mr. Fontaine's proposition that the proposed constitution of the Confederacy should be sub- mitted to the vote of the people was rejected 49 to 43.
The constitution of the State was revised and amended, and re- adopted January 26.
A number of ordinances were passed: To reorganize the mili-
33-I
514
MISSISSIPPI
tary system under four brigadier-generals and one major-general, to constitute, with the governor, a military board with broad powers; Levying a heavy tax for a military fund for defense of the State, and providing for the issue of treasury notes, not to exceed one million dollars, the proceeds to go to the same fund; Author- izing delegates to the proposed convention at Montgomery to form a Southern Confederacy; Taking possession of the public lands and all property of the United States within the State; Creating the office of postmaster-general and the continuance of postal service ; appointing the then United States senators and congress- men to any Congress that should be convened; creating a Coun- cil of Three to advise the governor until the State should enter a Confederacy; regulating citizenship; providing for the purchase of military supplies. The text of the ordinance is as follows :
The people of the State of Mississippi, in Convention assem- bled, do ordain and declare, and it is hereby ordained and de- clared as follows, to wit:
Section 1st. That all the laws and ordinances by which the said State of Mississippi became a member of the Federal Union of the United States of America be, and the same are hereby re- pealed, and that all obligations on the part of the said State or the people thereof to observe the same, be withdrawn, and that the said State doth hereby resume all the rights, functions and powers which, by any of said laws or ordinances, were conveyed to the government of the said United States, and is absolved from all the obligations, restraints and duties incurred to the said Fed- eral Union, and shall from henceforth be a free, sovereign and in- dependent State.
Section 2nd. That so much of the first section of the seventh article of the Constitution of this State as requires members of the Legislature, and all officers, executive and judicial, to take an oath or affirmation to support the Constitution of the United States be, and the same is hereby abrogated and annulled.
Section 3rd. That all rights acquired and vested under the Con- stitution of the United States, or under any act of Congress passed, or treaty made, in pursuance thereof, or under any law of this State, and not incompatible with this Ordinance, shall remain in force and have the same effect as if the Ordinance had not been passed.
Section 4th. That the people of the State of Mississippi hereby consent to form a Federal Union with such of the States as may have seceded or may secede from the Union of the United States
515
MISSISSIPPI
of America, upon the basis of the present Constitution of the said United States, except such parts thereof as embrace other por- tions than such seceding States.
Thus ordained and declared in Convention the 9th day of Jan- uary, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-one. In testimony of the passage of which and the deter- mination of the members of this Convention to uphold and main- tain the State in the position she has assumed by said Ordinance, it is signed by the President and Members of this Convention this the fifteenth day of January, A. D., 1861. W. S. BARRY, Presi- dent. (Here follow all the names of members given above, save J. W. Wood of Attala, and J. J. Thornton, of Rankin. See Jour- nal of the Convention, pp. 119-122.)
The convention also adopted "a declaration of the immediate causes which induce and justify the secession of Mississippi," beginning, "Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery -the greatest material interest of the world," that "a blow at slav- ery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has long been aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin." The aggres- sive steps of the hostility to slavery were then recounted briefly, including, "It has invaded a State, and invested with the honors of martyrdom the wretch whose purpose was to apply flames to our dwellings and the weapons of destruction to our lives." Fin- ally it was said: "Utter subjugation awaits us in the Union, if we should consent longer to remain in it. It is not a matter of choice, but of necessity. We must submit to degradation, and to the loss of property worth four billions of money, or we must secede from the Union framed by our fathers, to secure this as well as every other species of property. For a less cause than this, our fathers separated from the Crown of England. Our decision is made. We follow their footsteps. We embrace the alternative of separation ; and for the reasons here stated, we resolve to maintain our rights with the full consciousness of the justice of our course, and the undoubting belief of our ability to maintain it."
There was considerable sentiment for A. G. Brown as president of the Confederacy and Jefferson Davis commander of the army, but as early as February 1, it was the general impression that Davis would be chosen as president. The delegates selected for the Southern Congress to be held at Montgomery were Wiley P.
516
MISSISSIPPI
Harris, Walker Brooke, A. M. Clayton, W. Sydney Wilson, J. A. P. Campbell, William S. Barry, James T. Harrison.
March 25, 1861, the convention met again, on the call of its president, W. S. Barry, and received a certified copy of "the Con- stitution of the Confederate States," the product of the labors of the Montgomery convention. It was referred to a committee of five-Glenn, Yerger, George, Jones and O. Davis, as were Yer- ger's ordinance to submit it to the people, Clayton's ordinance to elect a new convention to consider it, Glenn's ordinance to adopt by this convention, and Brooke's motion to submit the constitu- tion directly to the people. The committee reported an ordinance adopting the constitution. The debate on the method of adoption occupied four days, about one-third of the members voting for some form of submission to popular vote. But every proposition failing, the ordinance of ratification was adopted, 78 to 7, March 29, 1861. The seven were Cummings, Marshall, Reynolds, San- ders, Stephens, Wood of Attala and Yerger.
The following is the text of this ordinance: "Be it ordained by the People of Mississippi in Convention assembled, and it is hereby ordained by authority of the same, That the Constitution adopted by the Convention at Montgomery, in the State of Ala- bama, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, for the permanent Federal Government of the Confeder- ate States of America, be, and the same is hereby, adopted and ratified by the State of Mississippi acting in its sovereign and in- dependent character, and the State of Mississippi hereby accedes to and becomes a member of the Confederacy provided for in said Constitution."
This session again amended the State constitution, and revised former ordinances, and adopted new ones, mainly to meet the new conditions of the State as a member of the Confederacy. It is of interest that the Convention did not transfer the public land to the Confederate States, but did transfer fortifications, light houses, etc. The Convention adjourned March 30. See Pettus Admin- istration, Montgomery Convention and Congressmen. Also see Mississippi Secession Convention, by T. H. Woods, Hist. Soc. Publs., VI, 91.
Constitutional Convention of 1865. This convention met at Jackson, Monday, August 14, 1865, in pursuance of the proclama- tion of Governor Sharkey, who had been appointed for that pur- pose by President Johnson, commander-in-chief of the United States army, then occupying the State after the surrender of the
517
MISSISSIPPI
Confederate States armies. Judge Yerger said, toward the close of the session: "It is not, as it is sometimes styled, a convention of the State of Mississippi, but it is a convention of the delegates of the people of Mississippi for a specified and definite purpose, and for that purpose alone have we been sent here." The convention was under the policy of "reconstruction" proposed by President Johnson in his North Carolina proclamation of May 29, 1865, immediately following the cessation of hostilities. (See Re- construction and Sharkey's Adm.) The delegates to the conven- tion were elected by the counties August 7, and appeared as fol- lows :
Adams-William T. Martin, Samuel H. Lambdin. Amite- David W. Hurst. Attala-Elijah H. Sanders, Jason Niles. Boli- var-Lafayette Jones. Calhoun-Charles A. Lewers, Eli J. By- ars. Carroll-William Hemingway, John A. Binford. Chickasaw -James M. Wallace, Allen White. Choctaw-James H. Dorris, Robert C. Johnson, Robert B. Wooley. Claiborne-James H. Maury. Clarke-James A. Heard. Coahoma-Walter C. Strick- lin. Copiah-Ephraim G. Peyton, William A. Stone. Covington- Alexander H. Hall. DeSoto-Reuben T. Sanders, Thomas S. Tate, Franklin J. Malone. Franklin-K. R. Webb. Greene-Not repre- sented. Hancock-Daniel C. Stanley. Harrison-L. L. Davis. Hinds-William Yerger, Amos R. Johnston, George L. Potter. Holmes-Robert H. Montgomery, J. F. Sessions. Issaquena- Lawrence T. Wade. Itawamba-John M. Simonton, Braxton Casey, Wiley W. Gaither, M. C. Cummings. Jackson-William Griffin. Jasper-Caleb Lindsey. Jefferson-George P. Farley. Jones-Thomas G. Crawford. Kemper-James S. Hamm, Henry J. Gully. Lafayette-Richard W. Phipps, Hugh A. Barr. Lauder- dale-Charles E. Rushing, Peyton King. Lawrence-Edmund J. Goode. Leake-Dempsey Sparkman. Lowndes-James T. Har- rison, Thomas C. Billups. Madison-William McBride. Marion -Hamilton Mayson. Marshall-William M. Compton, James F. Trotter, William Wall, Lawrence Johnson, J. W. C. Watson. Mon- roe-Lock E. Houston, Cornelius Dowd. Neshoba-Lucius C. Franklin. Newton-Joseph M. Loper. Noxubee-Hampton L. Jarnagin. Oktibbeha-David Pressley. Panola-Samuel Mat- thews, Lunsford P. Cooper. Perry-J. Prentiss Carter. Pike- James B. Quinn. Pontotoc-Charles T. Bond, Joseph L. Mor- phis, Nicholas Blackwell, James W. Wylie. Rankin-Richard Cooper, John B. Lewis. Scott-John G. Owen. Simpson-Thomas R. Gowan. Smith-Harvey F. Johnson. Sunflower-William
518
MISSISSIPPI
McD. Martin. Tallahatchie-James S. Bailey. Tippah-James H. Kennedy, William A. Crum, Lipford, Abraham Slover. Tisho- mingo-William L. Duncan, Robert A. Hill, Benjamin C. Rives, Arthur E. Reynolds. Tunica-Francis A. Owens. Washington- J. Shall Yerger. Wayne-James A. Horne. Wilkinson-William L. Brandon. Winston-Abraham Reed, George Y. Woodward. Warren-Charles Swett, Thomas A. Marshall. Yalobusha- James Wier, Robert M. Brown. Yazoo-James H. Wilson, Rob- ert S. Hudson.
There were 98 delegates, Greene county having failed to elect two to make an even hundred. Seventy were Whigs, most of whom had opposed secession in 1860-61, including the distin- guished Confederate officers, Martin, Simonton and Swett. Only 18 were listed as Democrats, and of these several had been Union Democrats. Seven had been members of the convention of 1861, and six of these had voted against secession-Cummings, Hurst, Marshall, Mayson, Reynolds, E. H. Sanders and J. S. Yerger. (J. L. Power's tabular view.)
The convention was called to order by Governor Sharkey; Mr. Johnston of Hinds was made president pro tem; J. Shall Yerger was elected permanent president, and J. L. Power secretary. As the convention proceeded to business Col. Simonton raised the point of order that the oath to support the constitution of the United States must be administered, which was accordingly done.
On motion of William Yerger a committee of fifteen was ap- pointed to report amendments "proper and expedient to restore the State of Mississippi to its constitutional relation to the Fed- eral Government and entitle its citizens to protection by the United States against invasion and domestic violence," and a similar com- mittee on the secession ordinances. These committees, the im- portant ones of the convention, were as follows: On State Con- stitution : Harrison, Hill, Simonton, Houston, Yerger, Hamm, ‘ Rushing, Niles, Lewis, Peyton, McBride, Martin, Maury, Heming- way, Owens. On Ordinances and Laws: Johnston, Reynolds, Johnson of Choctaw, Potter, Trotter, Balley, Lindsey, Sanders of Attala, Sessions, Jarnagin, Goode, Wier, Hurst, Cooper, Billups.
Governor Sharkey received (Garner's Reconstruction, p. 84; but it does not appear in the Proceedings) a despatch from President Johnson, as follows :
"I hope that without delay your convention will amend your State constitution abolishing slavery and denying to all future legislatures the power to legislate that there is property in man;
519
MISSISSIPPI
also that they will adopt the amendment to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery. If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the Con- stitution of the United States in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than $250 and pay taxes thereon, you would completely disarm the adversary and set an example the other States will follow. This you can do with perfect safety, and you thus place the South- ern States, in reference to free persons of color, upon the same basis with the free States. I hope and trust your convention will do this, and, as a consequence, the radicals, who are wild upon negro franchise, will be completely foiled in their attempt to keep the States from renewing their relations to the Union by not ac- cepting their senators and representatives." These things the convention did not do, except that, by a compromise, slavery was admitted to be "destroyed" and therefore prohibited in the future. It is worthy of note that the constitution of 1832, yet in force, provided that the legislature should have power to "admit to all the rights and privileges of free white citizens of the State, all such persons of the Choctaw and Chickasaw tribes of Indians as shall choose to remain in this State;" but the Indians to be thus favored were few, and the Africans just emancipated were greater in number than the whites. The question was one of practical administration with negro rule in the background.
The convention was acutely divided into two parties-those in favor of accepting the results of the war, and those who proposed to treat the abolition of slavery as forced upon them, over their protest that emancipation without compensation was an "enormous public wrong." The "Mississippian" said, "We think a decided majority of the convention will ignore quibbling and meet the is- sue of the hour like men of sense and candor." The "Clarion" urged that the Convention "at once change the constitution to harmonize with this new order of things; declare that slavery shall no longer exist in Mississippi, and let it be done in good faith, without protest or remonstrance."
The Mississippi convention was the first one in the South under the President's policy, and was anxiously watched by people of all sections as a test of that policy and of the attitude of the South- ern people.
One of the early acts of the convention was to unanimously in- vite Gen. B. G. Humphreys to a seat within the bar, and on motion
520
MISSISSIPPI
of Gen. W. T. Martin the same honor was extended to Maj .- Gen: P. J. Osterhaus, commanding the military department.
The committee on Constitution made a majority report on the fourth day, recommending, first, striking out three sections and an amendment relating to slaves; second, the following: "Article 8. That neither slavery nor involuntary servitude otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall hereafter exist in this State; and the legislature at its next session, and thereafter as the public welfare may require, shall provide by law for the protection of the person and property of the freedmen of the State, and guard them and the State against any evils that may arise from their sudden emancipation." The third amendment proposed was of the bill of rights, which there- tofore had protected citizens from criminal prosecution except un- der indictment of a grand jury. The amendment provided "that the legislature, in cases not capital, and of misdemeanors, may dis- pense, with an inquest by a grand jury, and may authorize pro- ceedings by information or otherwise, and the proceedings, in such cases, shall be regulated by law, and be had in such courts as the legislature may direct." (See Proceedings, p. 165, which conflicts with p. 30.) The fourth proposed amendment gave to the county boards of police, "the power to make necessary and proper regu- lations relating to apprentices, and their rights and duties, and also to suppress vagrancy and punish vagrants."
On the fifth day Mr. Hudson moved a committee of five to con- sider the propriety of memorializing President Johnson for the release from captivity of Jefferson Davis and Charles Clark. This was adopted by acclamation, when Judge Yerger called for a division, and the action was opposed as injudicious by Messrs. Watson, Yerger, Johnston and Martin. Mr. Hudson then with- drew his motion, saying that the convention was "almost entirely composed of gentlemen who hold opinions the very opposite of Mr. Davis," and he had hoped their sympathy for him as an in- dividual could not be construed as political sympathy with him. Later in the session a petition to this effect, with 4,600 signatures, was read before the convention, and by resolution referred to the president of the United States.
The discussion of abolition came up, upon a substitute offered by Mr. Barr, which began, "slavery having been abolished in this State by the action of the government of the United States." Other forms of statement were presented, and George L. Potter offered a series of resolutions declaring that the freedom of the
521
MISSISSIPPI
former slaves was enforced by military power, without any prom- ise of compensation ; that emancipation was of doubtful legality, and pledging the "good people of this State" to submit to the claim as enforced, and "treat said portion of said colored popula- tion as if free," etc. Mr. Potter made a long and elaborate speech in favor of his resolutions, which were rejected by a vote of 63 to 28. R. S. Hudson then proposed to make the abolition contingent upon the admission of Mississippi senators and representatives to congress. In his speech he approved the declaration of Mr. Pot- ter that "Mississippi has never been out of the Union ;" that such terms as "re-union" and "reconstruction" were as replete with humbuggery as that of "peaceable secession." He said: "We are in the Union today, if we ever were in it. The ordinance of seces- sion was a nullity and did not put us out of the union. · Mr. Lincoln at all times held us to be in the Union." This doc- trine, which relegated the Confederate States to dreamland, was quite popular elsewhere than in Mississippi. (See Reconstruc- tion.)
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.