Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 78

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 78

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Freeman, Thomas, was born in Ireland, came to the United States in 1784, and entered the public service in 1793 (Claiborne's Miss.) On May 24, 1796, he was appointed by President Washing- ton surveyor of the boundary line of 31° under Commissioner Ellicott, whom he accompanied down the river from Pittsburg in 1796-97. When the survey was begun in the spring of 1798, the relations between the commissioner and surveyor were strained. It seems that Freeman indulgd in severe criticism of Ellicott and that the latter was not at a loss for complaints against the surveyor. He proposed to take severe measures, but was dissuaded by Gover- nor Sargent. Ellicott wrote to the secretary of state in November, 1798, that the advice of Gen. Wilkinson, Gov. Sargent and Judge Bruin had determined him to suspend Freeman from the work. The astronomer understood Wilkinson to say that Freeman's cor- respondence with Guion came under "the meaning of the late sedi- tion law." Thereupon Gen. Wilkinson availed himself of the ser- vices of Freeman in planning and constructing Fort Adams, in 1799. He was superintendent of this work. President Jefferson sent him at the head of an expedition to explore the Red river in 1806. Ac- cording to his report, on July 29, when they had ascended the river 600 miles, at the noon hour halt they were suddenly menaced by a squadron of Spanish cavalry, supported by infantry, commanded by Francisco Viana. The Spanish officer informed Freeman that he did not seek hostilities, but the party must go back and not en-

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croach on Spanish territory. Consequently Freeman returned to Natchitoches.

He was a friend of Wilkinson during the Burr trial and con- tributed statements intended to break the force of the testimony of Andrew Ellicott. In 1808 he was appointed register of the land office for Madison county, the Huntsville district, and was entrusted with the organization of the county government. He was appointed surveyor of the Mississippi territory in September, 1810, and held this office until his death, relinquishing in 1818 the Ala- bama territory to another official. By virtue of his office he was surveyor also of the Orleans district, and the West Florida annex- ation. The office was popularly known as surveyor-general.

He died at the old town of Washington, in 1821. Early in his residence he and John McKee had bought a thousand arpents on Cole's creek of Louis Fauré. By his will, says Claiborne, he left $2,000 for the education of his ward, John I. Guion, (second son of his old friend, Maj. Guion), who became distinguished in public life.

Freerun, a post-hamlet of Yazoo county, about 10 miles north- east of Yazoo City. Population is about 40.

Freetrade, a post-village of Leake county, on Standing Pine creek, about 7 miles southeast of Carthage, the county seat. A money order postoffice is maintained here. Population in 1900, 100.

French Camp .- About the year 1812, Louis LeFleur, father of Greenwood LeFlore, the celebrated half-breed chief of the Choc- taws, moved to Choctaw county and settled near the old "Natchez Trace." Here he kept a place of entertainment for travelers along that much frequented road. As Louis LeFleur was a Frenchman, the place became known to travelers as French Camp, and has re- tained the name ever since. When General Jackson marched his troops from Nashville to Natchez, in 1813, he camped at this place for a week in order to recruit his men. Old French Camp has grown from this primitive beginning into a thriving little town of about 300 inhabitants. It is in the extreme southwestern corner of the county on a beautiful site, and its mineral springs are said to possess medicinal properties of high value. The town is especially noted for its excellent school under the control of the Central Mis- sissippi Presbytery. The male department of the school, known as French Camp Academy, was established in 1887. At its head is the Rev. A. H. Mecklin, assisted by A. H. Caldwell. It offers courses in Latin, Greek, Mathematics, History, Science and the Bible. The female branch of the school is known as the Central Mississippi Institute, and was established in 1886. The Rev. A. H. Mecklin, Prof. J. A. Sanderson, Mrs. J. A. Sanderson, Miss J. A. Archibald, Miss H. B. Sanderson, Miss V. E. Board, Miss M. B. Sanderson and Mrs. Charles Carter constitute the instructional force. It offers in- struction in the Bible, Latin, Mathematics, Book Keeping, Science, Literature, Modern Languages, English, History, and Music, and has besides a well equipped Preparatory Department for younger pupils.

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French Relations, 1783-97. The policy of France, toward the close of the Revolutionary war, was that "the land south of the Ohio, between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi, should be free Indian country divided by the Cumberland river into two spheres of influence, the northern to fall under the protection of the United States, and the southern under that of Spain." The boundary sug- gested by the French was a "conciliatory line," marked by the Chattahoochee and Cumberland rivers. At the same time Vergen- nes, the French minister, privately attempted to induce Spain to restore Louisiana to France, a transfer which, according to Godoy, the Spanish statesman, failed only because France, at the close of the war, was unable to pay the price that Spain asked. The out- come would have been the restoration of the old French Louisiana," including Mobile, and the interior up to the sources of the Tennes- see river, as the result of the war in which France had participated.

The several States of the United States, in congress assembled, Georgia and the Carolinas leading in the proposition, on account of their desperate condition, (Madison letters), in 1781 instructed the peace commissioners to yield the ultimatum of a Mississippi river boundary, and be guided by the wishes of France; but, for- tunately, the situation of affairs later enabled the commissioners to obtain from England a recognition of the westward extension, defeating the desire of France, the ally of the United States, for territorial compensation.

France, however, did not lose hope of "La Louisiane." Her diplomats were instructed that it was desirable to encourage the Spanish policy of closing the Mississippi river, also that it was in the interest of France that the States should not form "a more perfect union." In the period of the French revolution, beginning in 1789, French travelers visited the country, among them the dis- tinguished Brissot, who saw reason to doubt that the Spanish could hold New Orleans against the western people. When war between England and Spain was threatened in 1790, and Pitt listened to the plan of Miranda for attacking the Spanish provinces, and Jefferson made friendly advances to France and Spain, hoping to acquire New Orleans to prevent its falling into the hands of England, France proposed to Spain a new national alliance based on the retrocession of Louisiana. This being refused, France began adjustment to a condition of war with Spain, and as she could get no help from monarchical England, she turned to the United States for alliance. In 1792 even Washington was favorably disposed towards it. This resulted in Genet's mission to the United States. Word was received by President Washington in Novem- ber, 1792, that France would revolutionize Spanish America, send- ing forty ships of the line for that purpose under Miranda. The attack would be begun at the mouth of the Mississippi, sweeping southwardly, and the United States was invited to seize the Flor- idas. Jefferson, in view of such possibilities, drafted new instruc- tions to the commissioners in Spain, recalling his proposition to guarantee Louisiana to Spain on condition of the cession of the

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Floridas. But France had first to master the Dutch marine, and failed disastrously in that attempt. A fundamental part of Genet's mission was to regain Louisiana, and he was authorized to use the western frontiersmen through independent intrigue if the gov- ernment was backward. He began his work among the Huguenots at Charleston, in the spring of 1793, and sought to make treaties with the Indians. A committee of the lower house in the South Carolina legislature reported Dec. 6, 1793, that William Tate, Jacob R. Brown, William Urby, Robert Tate, Richard Sparks and other citizens had accepted military commissions from Genet, to organize troops to invade Florida in cooperation with a French fleet, and Stephen Drayton and John Hamilton had solicited several citizens to engage in the enterprise. Genet explained that they were to do their work among the "independent Indian tribes." William Tate was to negotiate with the Cherokees and Choctaws to aid in a descent on New Orleans by way of the Tennessee and Missis- sippi. After reaching Philadelphia Genet endeavored to overcome Washington's proclamation of neutrality, by political intrigue. He also commissioned George Rogers Clark, of Kentucky, as "major- general of the Independent and Revolutionary Legion of the Mis- sissippi." Clark was to lead the Kentuckians against New Orleans, while a French naval force cooperated. He did considerable work in organizing for the movement. One of his principal assistants was Col. Samuel Fulton, a North Carolinian forced to leave the Indian country in 1793 for refusing to swear allegiance to the king of Spain, who went to Paris in 1796, and brought back a regular commission to Clark as brigadier in the French army, with salary, in recognition of his previous services.

Robert Ashley, a nephew of Gen. Elijah Clarke, of Georgia, was arrested in the Natchez district and examined before Peter Bryan Bruin, alcalde, in January, 1795. He told that his uncle had been commissioned "a major-general in the French army, being second only to William Tate, of South Carolina, who was to have received the appointment of commander-in-chief and governor-general of East and West Florida, as soon as their conquest was effected." Elijah Clarke, who was commissioned by Genet, collected volunteers on the Oconee and St. Marys rivers, in 1793. When the recall of Genet put an end to the campaign, he felt himself forced to turn the reckless force he had evoked toward the invasion of the Indian country, (1794), with the idea of founding a new site. This was given the name of "the Oconee rebellion."-(Chappell's Miscel- lanies.)

At the close of 1793 New Orleans feared an attack from a French fleet through the Balize, and 300 of the Natchez militia, according to the report of Gov. Carondelet, went down to New Orleans to offer their services as loyal subjects of Spain, a manifestation of attachment to the government that was of great value, for the French of Louisiana could not be expected to make any serious defense of their Spanish rulers. Because of the French danger, Carondelet, in the spring of 1794, proposed to abandon the fort at

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Natchez, and concentrated at Fort Nogales, which he considered the key of the province (anticipating the military importance of Vicksburg). The governor believed he could count on 1,500 sol- diers from Natchez and vicinity to repel invaders under the French flag. Gen. George Rogers Clark was then buying powder and boats, with French funds, and intending to sail from Ohio falls, April 15.

Both the governors of South Carolina and Georgia betrayed friendliness to the intrigue and there was bitter criticism of the at- titude of Washington, in rebuking the governor of Kentucky, and announcing that troops would be used to maintain neutrality. But Genet lost his influence and was recalled, and France was. for a while engrossed in her "reign of terror."

In 1795 the persistent pressure of the French for cession of Louisiana by Spain as the price of peace was one of the main causes for Godoy's agreement to free navigation of the Mississippi and limits of 31°, a play against France. After this France de- manded Louisiana as the consideration of alliance, next as the consideration of help against Portugal, next as the price of the papal legations, conquered by Napoleon ; and Godoy refused each proposition, though the last was a great temptation.

Just two weeks after the treaty of San Lorenzo was signed, a French privateer took possession of the post of the Balize, at the mouth of the Mississippi, and held it until Oct. 21, when the ap- proach of Spanish forces from New Orleans compelled them to withdraw. (Gayarre, III, 372.)

Besides the brigadier-general's commission given to Clark in 1796, a similar honor was also bestowed on Milfort, the former agent of Spain among the Creeks, and the war chief and brother-in-law of McGillivray. Gen. Victor Collot, lately governor of Guadeloupe, came down the Mississippi in 1796 as a military expert, and his report was to the effect that Louisiana must have its outposts in the passes of the Alleghanies. As for the region of the State of Mis- sissippi, that, it may be conceived, was always regarded by France as an integral part of the Louisiana she hoped to restore. On his way to Natchez Collot learned of the Blount intrigue on behalf of the English, and as soon as possible gave the Spanish minister elaborate details, since the effectual frightening of Spain was one of the means of procuring a cession. (See Louisiana Relations).

Talleyrand now became the master of French affairs, and he founded his policy on the conviction that the United States and England were natural allies on the American question as were France and Spain, and that France must acquire Louisiana, or the American republic would become unmanageable.

Talleyrand played upon the ancient policy of Spain that either France or Spain must possess the Mississippi, whichever could hold it against the English speaking people. In 1800 he succeeded at last in obtaining the cession, using Italian conquests as a show of consideration. The instructions to the captain-general who was to take possession were a presage of continued intrigue with In-

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dians and promotion of division of the United States, with the con- trol of the river as the master key. Hence Jefferson, who had been a great friend of the French, but was above all, as Adet sor- rowfully confessed, "an American," declared that the day France took possession of New Orleans would also be the day of marriage between England and the United States for the purpose of hold- ing the American continent. Happily, events made it possible for that day to be the day of ending forever, foreign intrigue in the Mississippi valley. (See F. J. Turner, "Policy of France," etc., Amer. Hist. Rev., January, 1905.)

French Rule, End Of. The administration of the Marquis de Vaudreuil was long remembered as a brilliant one. In 1753, he was succeeded by Governor Kerlerec, a veteran captain in the royal navy, who had seen twenty years of active service, and was dis- tinguished for his bravery. He was installed Governor of Louisi- ana February 9, 1753. He was a man of sound judgment and began his administration by being kind to the Indians, and especially to the powerful tribe of Choctaws. English traders went among the Choctaws in large numbers, claiming and exercising the right to come to the left bank of the Mississippi, as well as to both banks of the Wabash and Ohio. They studied the wants of the Indians and furnished them with merchandise at a less price than the French traders. Kerlerec met this state of affairs by calling for larger shipments of merchandise to supply to the Indians. He succeeded in propitiating the Choctaws, who gave him the title of "Father of the Choctaws."

Strict economy had been recommended by the French govern- ment, and Kerlerec reduced the army to about 1,300 men ; neverthe- less the colonial expenses for the year 1754 amounted to nearly a million livres. The colony was grossly neglected by France at this time. In 1754 Kerlerec wrote, "The English are moving every- where about us, and threaten to interrupt our communication with the Illinois." Additional troops were sent to Ship Island, and the fortifications on the lower Mississippi were repaired, and strength- ened. He appealed to France for 500 more soldiers, but the feeble Louis XV was too indifferent to pay any attention to his demands. In 1755 the English had attacked the French in Canada, and he ex- pected soon to be attacked himself. Two years later the English fleets had practically severed all communication between France and Louisiana. Kerlerec wrote in 1757 that he has not heard from France in two years. He was forced to send to Vera Cruz for am- munition and supplies. Kerlerec keenly felt his insecurity, as he had to guard the whole line of the Mississippi with a handful of men. Moreover, in 1758, the Indians began to be troublesome again, as they were not receiving their accustomed supplies from the French. Kerlerec wrote in 1758 concerning the Choctaws and Alibamons: "These two nations are the bulwarks of the colony, and they must be conciliated cost what it may." They were able to place in the field between them, 7,000 warriors. A ship-load of supplies arrived in 1758 just in time to quiet their demands.

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It was at this time that he formulated a plan to unite all the tribes of the Mississippi and attack the English on the Atlantic coast from the rear, in order to effect a diversion in favor of Canada. The plan was an able one, and might have saved France some of her territory, at least. But the French government was too feeble and exhausted at this time to undertake energetic measures to pre- serve her American colonies. The fate of the colony was approach- ing rapidly. In 1761 no assistance had been given it for four years. The Choctaws were once more threatening, because they had not received their supplies. There was bitter wrangling between the colonial officers, many of whom were guilty of peculation and gross extravagance. The expenses of the colony continued large, and Louis XV had grown very weary of the annual deficit in Lou- isiana. He wanted a revenue from the colony, and failing in that, wanted no further outlay. The currency of the colony was in a wretched state; there was about seven million of livres in paper money afloat, which was selling at the rate of about five livres in paper for one of specie. The French had shown no aptitude for colonization during the long years they had occupied the fer- tile soil on the Gulf coast and the lower Mississippi. Population showed an actual decrease for the last thirty years or more. When the Frenchman was transplanted, he displayed little adaptability to his new environment, but retained his old manners and ways of life; ways totally unsuited to the hard conditions of pioneer life in the uncleared wilderness of the New World. The French colonists, as a whole, on the lower Mississippi, had never learned to become self-sustaining ; and this, despite the fact that they were located in a mild climate, and on the richest soil in the world. Trade and commerce, rather than the cultivation of the soil, ap- pealed to them. It is therefore little wonder that France was will- ing to cede Louisiana to Spain in 1762, nominally, to recompense her for the aid given France the previous year, but really, because she was too weak to prevent its falling into English hands, and she preferred to cede it to a friendly power. Meanwhile, the long Seven Years War had ended, and by the treaty of Paris, 1763, England received all that portion of Louisiana lying on the east side of the Mississippi, from its head waters to the Manshac, and from thence through Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the sea-the so-called island of New Orleans, and all of Louisiana west of the river Mississippi having been ceded to Spain by secret treaty, November 3, 1762.

In June, 1763, d'Abbadie arrived to succeed Kelerec as governor. By agreement between France and Spain, the alienation of Louis- iana by the former to the latter was kept from the knowledge of all the world; and the more effectively to carry into operation this agreement, the government of the colony was retained by France for a year before the order was issued to transfer the offices to the representatives of Spain. This order was finally issued to d'Abbadie in a letter dated April 21, 1764. Thereupon all French colonists located east of the Mississippi on what was now English soil, and

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who did not care to become English subjects, were permitted to sell out and leave. Many crossed to the west of the Mississippi. Even 400 of the Taensas and Alibamons tribes of Indians crossed the river at this time and were assigned lands by the French in the vicinity of Bayou Fourche. It was many years before some of the Indian tribes on the lower Mississippi were reconciled to the trans- fer of ownership.

French, Samuel G., was born in Gloucester county, N. J., Nov. 22, 1818, of ancestry that ran back, in America, to the founding of the colony of New Jersey. He was graduated at West Point in 1843, served during the Mexican was as an artillery officer under General Taylor, and was promoted to captain and assistant quarter- master on the general staff. July 4, 1848, at Vicksburg, he mus- tered out the Second Mississippi regiment, Col. Charles Clark, and later in that year he was on duty with the army at its en- campment at East Pascagoula, until it was dispersed to various points, after which he was on duty in Texas. In 1849 he was pre- sented a sword by the legislature of New Jersey, because of his gallant record in Mexico. He was married in the spring of 1853 to the second daughter of Joseph L. Roberts, of Natchez, who had been president of the branch bank of the United States, of Pennsyl- vania, and was agent of the same at his death in April, 1853. While on duty at Fort Smith, after settling the estate of his wife's parents, he resigned in 1856, and made his home on his plantation on Deer Creek, near Greenville. After the death of his wife in 1857 he trav- elled in Europe. Returning from a visit north in the latter part of 1860, he was called by Gov. Pettus in February, 1861, to become chief of ordnance of the State army. In April he was commis- sioned major of artillery in the regular army of the Confederate States, but he continued on duty in Mississippi until appointed a brigadier-general in the Provisional army in October, 1861. He was in command on the Potomac river, fortified Wilmington, N. C., and Petersburg, Va., and was on continuous important service in and about Richmond and Wilmington until June, 1863. He was then ordered to report to Gen. J. E. Johnston in Mississippi, and took command of a division composed of the brigades of Maxey, McNair and N. G. Evans. Johnston remonstrated with President Davis that all the general officers of Northern birth were sent to his department, and that the soldiers were hostile to them, to which Davis replied that the register showed that the great major- ity of Northern generals in the Confederate service were in other departments that Johnston's, and that French had sufficiently proved his allegiance. After Polk took the troops from Meridian to Georgia, French commanded the division composed of Cockrell, Ector and Sears' Mississipians, through the Atlanta and Nashville campaigns. During the siege of Nashville he turned the command of his division over to General Sears, on account of disability, and went to Columbus, Ga., where he was paroled. Returning to his home near Greenville he was a planter there during the recon-

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struction period. His autobiography, "Two Wars," was published at Nashville in 1901. He now lives at Laurel Hill, Fla.

Friar's Point, an incorporated post-town on the Mississippi river, and one of the two seats of justice of Coahoma county, is 13 miles south of Helena, Ark., and 70 miles by land south of Memphis. It was named for an old wood-chopper, an early settler of the place. It lies in the fertile Mississippi Delta region, and is on the Riverside division of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R. It is a large cotton shipping point ; has an oil mill, a stave factory, an express office, a telegraph office, 5 churches and an academy. The Exchange Bank was established here in 1900 with a capital of $25,000. There is one newspaper, the Coahomian, a Democratic weekly, established in 1886. Thomas R. Davidson is the editor and publisher. Population in 1900, 750. For years prior to the build- ing of the railroad, Friar's Point was the southern terminus of a Memphis & Friar's Point packet line and was an excellent shipping point. The place was infested by the Carpet Bagger during his regime in the South, but in June 1877, the last resident of that horde of scavengers was invited by the good citizens to move on when he hurriedly boarded the packet, Coahoma, bound for Memphis and never returned.

Friley, a postoffice in the southern part of Washington county, 4 miles southeast of Hollandale, the nearest railroad and banking town.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 78

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