USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I > Part 6
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Agricultural Organizations. The State Grange was organized at Rienzi, Miss., March 15, 1872, and Gen. A. J. Vaughn elected as the first master. W. L. Hemingway was his successor in 1874, and Capt. Putnam Darden held the office from 1876 until his death in 1888. His successor was Dr. J. B. Bailey, followed by S. L. Wilson. A newspaper correspondent wrote from Terry, in 1874: "So far as I can learn, the Grangers are doing a very good work in disseminating information, and in the purchase of all goods at reduced cost, paying cash instead of going on the old credit sys- tem. Flour is $8 instead of $12 at this point and all other goods in proportion. The planters complain that they must pay cash in hand, and cannot as yet realize that the cash system will act as an important factor in improving their condition."
The Grange did a good work also in the encouragement of agri- cultural colleges.
The Farmers' Alliance gained great strength in the South and West from 1888 to 1892. The Alliance was a secret order with grips and passwords, and its object was to improve the condition of the farmer. There was a period of great depression of agriculture in Mississippi during a few years preceding the panic of 1893, and the relief promised by the Alliance through its subtreasury project caused it to secure a strong following throughout the State. A subtreasury in each county was proposed, where the farmer could deposit his cotton, corn, wheat and other products and secure an advance of money on them from the government, which was to hold them until prices advanced. This became the all absorbing question of the day, and was the issue of the Mississippi congres-
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sional campaign of 1890. The contest in the seventh congressional district, which had been represented for a number of years by Col. Charles E. Hooker, is a memorable one. Maj. Ethelbert Barksdale, who was a member of the Alliance, entered the field against Col. Hooker. The farmers of the district, who had been depressed for years, took hold of the new idea (of borrowing money from the government on their products) in such vast numbers that it seemed for a while that Barksdale would be elected. But Col. Hooker, who not only had a splendid record, both in Congress and in the army, but was an orator of great power and popularity, met the is- sue and won the fight.
In 1890 the Farmers' Alliance, meeting at Starkville, adopted a memorial to the Constitutional convention, prepared by Gen. . Stephen D. Lee, chairman of committee, recommending elective judiciary and railroad commissioners, four years' term of office for governor, auditor and treasurer, without reelection, protection against trusts and combines, State support of four months school, taxation of corporations, etc., and their recommendations were of influence in determining the character of the present constitution.
At the opening of the campaign of 1892 the Alliance was very strong and it resolved to contest the seat of Senator J. Z. George, who refused to support the subtreasury scheme. Maj. Barksdale, who was his opponent, was a strong man, and the contest was one of the hottest in the history of the State. The candidates met in joint debates at several places and were greeted by immense crowds. George, in his rugged, fearless manner, attacked the subtreasury proposition, declaring that it involved an undertaking which was beyond the functions of the government. He demoralized his op- ponents and won the fight. Most of the Alliance men of Mississippi continued to hold their allegiance to the Democratic party. Their object was to get control of the party organization. When the Populist party, which grew out of the Alliance, was organized for the campaign of 1892, comparatively few of them joined it.
The Agricultural Wheel was a secret organization of farmers that preceded the Alliance. It became very formidable, but was merged into the Alliance.
The State Horticultural Society was organized at Jackson, Jan- uary 25, 1883. It has been a great factor in the development of the State.
The Mississippi Valley Cotton Planters' Association was organ- ized in 1879 for the promotion of diversity of crops, the breeding of livestock, the encouragement of immigration, etc. About 1885 the
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Southern Cotton Growers' Association met at Jackson, and a State organization was formed with W. W. Stone as president. Subse- quently Alfred George became State president, and Col. F. L. Max- well, of Mound Lea, president of the Southern association. When the Southern association met at Vicksburg, John A. Redhead, of Centerville, was made State president. More recently the South- ern Cotton Association has been prominent, working to restrict the output of cotton, encourage the diversification of crops, and stim- ulate the agricultural producer to take some action to protect the price of his product.
Of the State division of the Southern Cotton Association, Walter Clark is now (1905) president and Dr. Will H. Woods secretary. An advisory committee was called to meet at Jackson, December 19, 1905, to prepare plans for a more thorough organization, as follows :
Chas. Scott, Rosedale, chairman; P. M. Harding, Vicksburg; W. B. Potts, Kosciusko; J. J. White, McComb City; R. W. Mill- saps, Jackson; J. C. Hardy, Starkville; A. S. Boseman, Meridian ; Jeff Truly, Jackson : Stone Deavours, Laurel ; James Stone, Oxford ; Alex Henderson, Greenwood ; J. T. Jones, Gulfport; Will McGrath, Brookhaven; H. L. McKee, Meridian; James Eaton, Taylorsville ; Capt. C. B. Vance, Batesville; W. H. Herrin, Robinson; E. L. Anderson, Clarksdale; Walter Price, Macon; Alfred Stone, Green- ville ; D. W. Miller, Waterford.
Aiken, a postoffice of Claiborne county, on the Mississippi river, about eight miles northwest of Port Gibson, the county seat.
Airey, a post-hamlet in the central part of Harrison county, four miles east of Saucier, a station on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., and 20 miles north of Gulfport, the county seat. Population in 1900, 100.
Airmount, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Yalobusha county, 10 miles east of Coffeeville, the county seat and the near- est railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 56.
Alabamo Battle, 1541. De Soto and his Spaniards left Chicacilla (q. v.), in Pontotoc county, April 26th, 1541, and took up his march in search of the wealthy province of his dreams. On Thursday they came to a savanna and found their way barred by a force of Indians under the command of Alabamo, or Alimamu, or Limamu (1), who had constructed a very strong fort of palisades, which was located on the bank of a small river, near a ford. The Spaniards stormed and carried this fort at the cost of seven or eight lives, and twenty-five or six wounded, and the Indians were driven across the river. This fort and ford are believed to have been on the
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Tallahatchie river, possibly in the neighborhood of New Albany, in Union county.
According to Prof. T. H. Lewis, the word "Alibamo" was the name of a chief and a town (known otherwise as Taliepatica) located one day's journey north of Chicacilla. There is no connec- tion with the tribe of the same name, located on the upper waters of the Alabama river.
Alamutcha, an old town of Lauderdale county which was originally an Indian village It was located in the eastern part of the county not far from the present town of Kewanee. It has been extinct for more than half a century and is now but a dim memory.
Alberson. This is an early settlement on the southern boundary of Tippah county, in which is now Union county. (q. v.) The present town of New Albany is located a short distance to the south. In its early days, we are told that it carried on a thriving trade with the Indians, especially in whiskey. The settlement survived until about the middle '40s, when its business and popu- lation went to the new town of New Albany. There is now no trace left of the old settlement and none of its former residents survive.
Albin, a post-hamlet of Tallahatchie county, on the Southern railway, about 18 miles west of Charleston, the county seat.
Alcorn A. & M. College. In 1870, it was the disposition of the legislature to create a university for negroes, to be maintained at equal expense with the institution at Oxford. This was discour- aged by Governor Alcorn. When it became certain, he suggested that it need not be set apart formally. The popular feeling recog- nized in the creation of separate schools would be sufficient. "No legal barriers erected unnecessarily in either case, we may allow distinctions of race to run their course in their character of social sentiments; and thus permit an honorable rivalry in intellectual acquirements to grow up amongst the two sets of our population, with free play for its operation in moderating all those forces of repulsion which may be held to originate in prejudice rather than in fact." The institution was named, in the act of incorporation, May 13, 1871, "Alcorn University of Mississippi." Fifty thousand dollars was appropriated, annually, for ten years, for its mainte- nance, and at the same time $50,000 a year was likewise appro- priated to the University at Oxford. Governor Powers wrote in January, 1872, that the university "has a name, but is without a local habitation." The property of Oakland college, in Claiborne
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county, including ample brick buildings, and 240 acres of land, was purchased for $40,000.
Hiram R. Revels became the first president. The institution was opened for students, February 7, 1872. An agricultural department was added in 1872, to be supported by the State and Congressional fund. (See A. & M. College.)
By act of 1871 three-fifths of the endowment fund was appro- priated to Alcorn university.
Revels was removed by Governor Ames in 1874, and about sixty of the students left with him. On account of the condition of the school the legislature of 1875 vacated all the offices and professor- ships, and authorized the governor to reconstruct the institution. The new president failed to maintain order and when the legis- lature of 1876 met, the institution was almost a wreck, physically and as a school. Governor Stone appointed a board of trustees and called Revels back to the presidency, "feeling confident that he, above all others, could place the university upon a prosper- ous footing. The governor spoke hopefully in 1877 of its promise to become a first class university for the negroes of Mississippi. The normal school was its most useful department.
In 1878, it was reorganized and became the Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College. The legislature divided the fund, obtained from the sale of lands granted by Congress, between this college and the State A. & M. College at Starkville. Since 1900 the Morrill fund has been apportioned between the colleges according to the ratio of the two races in the State. This fund has been supplemented by generous appropriations of the legislature. The college commenced with 117 students. In the year 1902-3 there were 534 and a large number of applicants were turned away on ac- count of lack of accommodations. Girls were admitted to the col- lege in 1902 and 500 girls applied immediately.
Governor Lowry wrote in 1884: "There have been but three graduates since the college was founded. The college is practically a normal school for the education of colored teachers, though agri- culture is taught with some success, except that few students ever engage seriously in farming."
In 1882, Prof. J. H. Burrus was made president and while he held office the college was reorganized. He was succeeded after ten years of service by Prof. W. H. Reynolds, who died three months later. The next President was Prof. T. J. Calloway.
The president was shot by an assassin in Christmas week, 1897. The secretary and treasurer of the college was charged with the
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crime and put under arrest. E. H. Triplett was the next head, succeeded in 1899 by W. H. Lanier. The permanent endowment was increased in 1898 by a township of public land, the proceeds of which are a debt of the State. The institution shared in the lib- eral appropriations of 1900 and 1902 to the amount of $129,000, and several new buildings were erected.
The president in 1905 was L. J. Rowan ; trustees-S. P. Bloom, J. T. Savage, E. N. Scudder, James McClure, Garrard Harris, A. A. Kincannon, H. E. Blakeslee, J. G. Spencer, W. H. Hardy, and the State superintendent.
Industrial training is one of the main objects sought to be at- tained, at this institution. Laboratory, shop and field work are quite as important in the curriculum as lectures. Student labor is required to some extent and extra labor during spare hours is paid for by the hour. There are three main departments; the college course of four years, the preparatory course of two years, and the graded course of three years. The following are the departments of study : English, Latin, mathematics, the industrial departments, including agriculture, carpentry, blacksmithing, shoemaking, print- ing, painting, nurse training, sewing, domestic science and launder- ing.
The college has three hundred acres of land and 33 buildings. The main buildings are arranged in the form of a horseshoe on the campus. There are beautiful groves and a fine farm. The students have erected the frame buildings and materially assisted in the building of the brick structures.
Belles Letters hall and Adelphic hall are two story brick struc- tures, the chapel and girls dormitory are three story brick build- ings. There is another substantial brick dormitory, Academic hall, the laboratory and the President's house are large frame buildings, and the latest addition to the college is an industrial hall, well arranged for scientific work.
Alcorn County is situated in the northeastern part of the State on the border line of Tennessee. It has a land surface of 402 square miles. Erected quite late in the history of the State during the period of reconstruction, April 15, 1870, its early history is inseparably interwoven with that of Tishomingo county (q. v.) which contributed most of its territory. The county was named in honor of Governor James L. Alcorn, the first Governor chosen under the constitution of 1869. It is bounded by beginning on the boundary line between Mississippi and Tennessee, where the line between ranges 4 and 5 east, intersects the same; thence east
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with the state line to a point two miles east of the line between ranges 8 and 9 east; thence south on section lines to the S. E. corner of sec. 5, Twp. 4, range 9 east; thence west on section lines to the S W corner of sec. 2, twp. 4, range 5 east; thence north on section lines to the line between twps. 2 and 3; thence west on said township line to the S W corner of twp. 2, range 5 east ; thence north on the line between ranges 4 and 5 east, to the begin- ning. Corinth is the county seat and is a prosperous city of about 6,000 people, advantageously located at the junction of the South- ern and Mobile & Ohio railways. With the exception of Colum- bus, it is the only large manufacturing point in the northern portion of the state, a section chiefly supplied by Memphis. There are no other large towns in the county, the more important ones being Rienzi, the old rival of Corinth, Kossuth, Jacinto, the first county seat of old Tishomingo county, Danville, an important town in the early history of Tishomingo, and Wenasoga. Alcorn county presents a diversified soil, lying partly in the Northeastern Prairie and partly in the Limestone Formation belts. The former region, comprising the larger portion of the county, is character- ized by a heavy, calcareous, clay soil, very fertile and capable of producing a great variety of products; the latter region, due to the presence of iron, often presents a soil of a deep red color, while in other places it is quite sandy, and in still other sections it is deeply impregnated with lime. Some of the soil in this section is very fertile, while some is only moderately productive. The gen- eral surface of the county is gently rolling prairie, mostly timbered, interspersed with level prairie tracts and hilly oak uplands and a considerable area of rich river and creek bottoms. It is possessed of excellent soil, well watered by the Hatchie and Tuscumbia rivers, and more than a dozen small creeks. It is well timbered with pine, poplar, white, red, post and black oak, hickory, ash, gum and sassafras. Good churches and schools are to be found in every township, and excellent transportation facilities are afforded by the two lines of railway above mentioned. The county is sure of a bright future, and offers an inviting field for either the farmer or manufacturer. The Illinois Central R. R. is now building a branch line from Corinth to Birmingham, Ala.
The total number of manufacturing establishments in the county as given by the U. S. Census, 1900 was 66, the total capital invested was $545,635, the total wages paid was $187,167, the cost of ma- terials used was $718,172 and the total value of products was $878,- 296. The total number of farms was given at 1,944, total number
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of acres in farms 198,371, total acres improved 71,203, value of land exclusive of buildings $822,240, value of buildings $292,580, value of products not fed to live stock $672,448, value of live stock $396,- 964. The population of the county was as follows :- White 11,162, colored 3,825, a total of 14,987 and an increase over the census re- turns for 1890 of 1872. The total population in 1906 was estimated at 18,000. Land values have advanced three fold in the last five years. Manufactures have also increased at rapid rate.
The total assessed valuation of real and personal property in Alcorn county in 1905 was $2,133,843, and in 1906 it was $2,624,997, which shows an increase of $491,154 during the year.
Alcorn, James Lusk, was born in Illinois, November 4, 1816. He was the descendant of an Alcorn who came from the north of Ireland and settled at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1721. James Alcorn, father of the governor, married Louisa Lusk, a native of South Car- olina, removed to Kentucky, was a county sheriff there as he had been in Illinois, operating boats on the Mississippi before the advent of steam power, and was one of the pioneer steamboat captains. He was lieutenant of a boatman's company in the war of 1812, and commanded a company at the battle of New Orleans. About 1846 he made his home in Coahoma county, where he died in 1859. James Lusk Alcorn was reared in Kentucky and educated at Cum- berland college. After teaching school in Arkansas he was deputy sheriff of Livingston county five years, and served one term in the legislature, after which he came to Delta, Coahoma county, a town that gave way to the river years ago, and began the practice of law. He became one of the prominent young men of the State. Making Friar's Point his place of residence, he practiced in several adjoin- ing counties. He was a representative in the legislature in 1846 - and 1856, and senator in 1852 and 1854; was an elector for the State at large on the Scott ticket in 1852 ; was nominated for gover- nor by the Whigs in 1857, but declined and accepted nomination for Congress. His joint canvass against L. Q. C. Lamar that year was famous in the political history of the State, Alcorn demon- strating remarkable information and power of original thought, and force as an orator. The Democratic predominance, however, prevented his success. His great work was the founding of the State levee system, which owed its origin mainly to his enterprise and persistence. He was the author of the law and at the head of the superintending board for several years, and through his efforts the Delta was opened to agriculture and the wealth of the State vastly increased before the year 1860. His law business also grew to large importance, and he became one of the greatest cotton
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planters of the South. In 1851 and 1861 he strongly opposed seces- sion, but as a member of the convention of 1861 signed the ordi- nance. In the military organization of the State he served as a brigadier-general, rendered important service in the military prep- arations, and in the latter part of 1861 took a small brigade to Hop- kinsville, Ky., most of which with his encouragement enlisted in the service of the Confederate States. (See Army of Mississippi.) He was afterward with General Polk and General Clark, was taken- prisoner at Helena, Ark., and paroled there in 1864. At the expi- ration of his parole he was made colonel of a Mississippi command on special duty along the river. At the beginning of the war, also, he fitted out, from his own means, the company commanded by his son, Capt. Milton Alcorn, who was later promoted to major in Johnston's army. One of his sons died as a prisoner of war.
In 1864, Governor Clark called upon him to return to the military service and take command of the State troops. At the reorganization of the State government he was elected to the legislature and he and William L. Sharkey were elected to the United States senate; but Congress refused to admit them.
At the time of the quarrel between Congress and President John- son he cautioned the people of Mississippi to stand neutral. In a public letter on the subject of the Philadelphia convention, he said, "Make no alliances. Stand aloof from all entanglements of party." His advice was not heeded, of which he said afterward, in the vehemence of political debate, that "The Jackson clique flung the State, in the teeth of my admonition, into the arms of a foregone failure. In this I arraign the clique of a brainlessness which has been visited upon us in all the severity of the terms of Congression- al reconstruction." As defiance on the part of the State was fol- lowed by additional requirements, he wrote his Hernando letter of 1867, pleading that a hopeless contest should not continue. He said "The colored man comes, as well as the white man, within the scope of my proposed negotiation. . . . I propose to vote with him' to discuss political affairs with him, and from a platform acceptable alike to him, to me, and to you, to pluck our common liberty and our common prosperity out of the jaws of inevitable ruin." Con- sequently he took part in the organization of the Republican party and was nominated for governor in 1869 and elected.
This open bid for negro support made Alcorn very unpopular with Democrats and Whigs alike and caused them to oppose him as an enemy to good government. He really thought that he could control and direct the negroes and make them good citizens, but he soon learned that they were controlled by the leaders who bribed
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them with promises of public plunder. Alcorn soon saw the terrible menace of negro suffrage, and, in the Constitutional Con- vention of 1890 was an advocate of disfranchisement.
He wrote to a friend a few years before his death: "To me there is a regret that will go with me to the grave that I could not have served the people of Mississippi and of the South more profit- ably than I did. I had studied the question of reconstruction. I had studied the temper of the Northern people and I had determined to yield to the inevitable. I bore with great patience the complaints and abuse of the people who criticised my course. It was but natural. Their words were but the language of my own heart when I gave way to my passions. . If I had been elected to the office of governor in 1873 I would have vindicated myself in the judgment of all thinking men." (Letter to F. A. Montgomery, 1891). His later purpose doubtless included a realization that extraneous in- fluence had begun to relax in 1873. But, as he said to friends in the campaign of 1873, he could not make public the reasons why he should be given another opportunity as governor.
Henry S. Foote wrote of him as possessing a "natural vigor of intellect, remarkable industry and thorough knowledge of law. His active and successful career as a politician brought him prominently before the public, and his genial temper and fascinating manners surrounded him with numerous admiring friends. He was, of course, bitterly opposed in reconstruction times, but he was actuated by the highest motives, and as his policy was not given a fair trial, it cannot be said to have lacked promise, or to have failed. In later years J. F. H. Claiborne wrote of him: "He is now generally appreciated as a man of unquailing courage and indomitable enterprise; a patriot without stain, a statesman of extraordinary sagacity, called to the helm at the most trying period, to confront a disorganized and morbid public sentiment, to crush out old creeds, ideals and predilections ; to guide by persua- sion or force a proud, intelligent, yet distrustful people into new grooves of thought and action. The last remnant of bitterness against Governor Alcorn was buried during the constitutional con- vention of 1890, in which his course was so broad and liberal and patriotic as to open the eyes of the people to the true greatness of his character." His later years were passed, except for this service, in retirement, at Eagle's Nest, his plantation home in Coahoma, where he died December 20, 1894.
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