Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 89

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 89

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Hariel, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of Hancock county, about 40 miles north of Bay St. Louis, the county seat. Popula- tion in 1900, 52.

Harleston, a post-hamlet of Jackson county, 24 miles north of Pascagoula, the county seat. Population in 1900, 63.

Harmontown, a post-hamlet of Lafayette county, about 16 miles northwest of Oxford, the county seat. Population in 1900, 75.

Harpe, Bernard de la. M. de la Harpe was a French officer of distinction, who arrived in the Bay of Mobile in August, 1718, to settle a colony on Red river. He was accompanied by 60 persons, whom he brought over to settle on his concession. He took 50 men with him and arrived at his destination at the close of the same year. In January, 1719, he built a fort near the present town of Natchitoches, from whence he went to explore the province of Texas. He also built a fort at the village of the Natsoos, in N. lat. 33 degrees, 55 minutes, as a sign of the jurisdiction of France. After exploring the country to the Rio Grande, he returned to New Orleans in 1721, to report himself to Bienville. The same year he was appointed by Bienville to take command of an expe- dition to the Arkansas river to find out whether it was navigable as far as the Indian nations, which he had discovered in 1719. He was also ordered to establish a post there for the purpose of sup- plying the colony with cattle, as well as to protect the new settle- ments of that region. He set out in December with a detachment of 18 soldiers, and provisions for 45 days. He stopped at Fort Rosalie from January 20-25, 1722, on his way to the Arkansas. He says: "It was commanded by M. de Barnaval, and is built upon a high bluff which admits of no defence." He also visited the con- cession of M. le Blanc, commanded by M. de Grave, on the Yazoo. He spoke in terms of disparagement of this settlement. Only 30 arpents were under cultivation, "but the rest of the soil is so thin and sandy, that it can never be cultivated, besides the situation is unhealthy." He ascended the Arkansas a distance of about 150 miles, and on account of his feeble force, was unable to make a settlement, as he found the Indians very unfriendly. He returned to Biloxi on the 25th of May, 1722, having barely escaped a sur- prise by a Chickasaw war party. In 1723 he went to France, and there wrote a Journal of the first establishment of the French in

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Louisiana. A translation of this valuable manuscript is found in volume III of the Historical Collections of Louisaina, 1851. The historian Claiborne made extensive use of this Journal in covering the early period of the French settlements in Louisiana, and said of the work: "His statements are always reliable, and gen- erally sustained by the official dispatches of the period, but there are some inaccuracies and confusion of dates."

Harperville, a post-village in the northeastern part of Scott county, 912 miles north of Forest, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. It was named for G. C. Harper, an old resident. It has three churches, the Harperville Collegiate Institute, a flour-mill and a saw-mill. Population in 1900, 130.

Harris, Buckner C., was a native of Georgia, of good family, who came to Mississippi about 1830 and settled in Copiah county for the practice of law. In 1833 he was elected state senator from Jefferson and Copiah, and in 1837 he was elected judge of the cir- cuit court. At the expiration of his term in 1841 he resumed the practice of his profession, but left Mississippi after the annexa- tion of Texas, and became a citizen of that State.

Harris, Nathaniel H., was born at Natchez, received a collegi- ate education, and studied law at the University of Louisiana. After graduation at the university he began the practice at Vicks- burg, with an elder brother. But this was soon interrupted by the events of 1860. He organized a company, the Warren Rifles, of which he was elected captain. They were mustered into the State service in April, 1861, but after considerable delay, Harris offered his company to the government at Richmond, and he was ordered there, where his and other companies were organized as the 19th regiment, which was stationed near the Potomac river. He was highly praised by Col. Lamar for gallantry at the battle of Williamsburg, March 5, 1862, and was promoted to major, a vacancy having been created by the disability of Col. Mott. At Seven Pines he was on the staff of Gen. Cadmus Wilcox. After the Maryland campaign he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and April 2, 1863, was commissioned colonel. In command of his regiment he served at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg. Jan. 20, 1864, following the death of Gen. Posey, he was promoted to brig- adier-general. Under his command the brigade won immortal fame at the Bloody Angle and Forts Gregg and Whitworth. At Appomattox he was in command of Mahone's division. After the war he returned to Vicksburg and resumed the practice of law. He was president of the Mississippi Valley and Ship Island R. R., when reorganized. In 1890 he visited California, and later made San Francisco his home.

Harris, Wiley P., was born in Georgia and served as a private soldier in the Seminole war in Florida; he moved afterward to Mississipi, where he married Mary V. Ragsdale, and became a physician of prominence. He took an active interest in politics, and was a State senator 1825-1830. He succeeded Thomas Smith as adjutant-general of the State, in the latter year; was at one

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time receiver of the land office at Columbus, and in 1831, a candi- date for governor. Gen. Harris died at Gallatin, May 17, 1845, aged about fifty years. (See Wiley Pope Harris.)

Harris, Wiley Pope, was born in Pike county, Miss., Nov. 9, 1818; son of Early Harris and Mary Vivian (Harrison) Harris. His mother was the daughter of James Harrison of South Caro- lina, whose wife, Elizabeth, was a sister of the first Gen. Wade Hampton. Early Harris was the son of Gen. Buckner Harris, a Revolutionary soldier, who married Nancy Early of Virginia. Buckner was the son of Walton Harris and Rebecca Lanier; Wal- ton, born in Virginia in 1739, was a son of Nathan Harris and Catherine Walton; Nathan, born in 1716, was the son of Edward Harris, who was the son of Henry Harris, an immigrant to Vir- ginia from Glamorgan, Wales, in 1691. Rebecca Lanier was a lineal descendant of Lawrence Washington, grandfather of George Washington.

Early Harris, a man of wealth in Georgia, lost his property after coming to Mississippi Territory and died in 1821. The child, Wiley Pope, was adopted by his uncle, Gen. Wiley P. Harris, for whom he had been named. The uncle moved from Pike to Copiah county, and took up a claim of land in the forest at Georgetown on the Pearl, and the adopted son attended school and worked on the farm at intervals, his best advantages being at Columbus and at Brandon, where he lived for a time with his brother and had ac- cess to books, which he had read eagerly. His brother sent him to the University of Virginia, where he studied two years, with dis- tinction, and began the study of law, which he continued at Lex- ington, Ky., under Chief Justice Robinson, Justice Marshall and Judge A. K. Wooley. After graduation, upon the advice of his uncle, Judge Buckner Harris, he began the practice at Gallatin, about 1839, but soon moved to Monticello, where a district chan- cery court had been established. He was appointed circuit judge in 1847 to succeed T. A. Willis, deceased, and on the expiration of that term, was elected judge. Though but 29 years old when he went upon the bench, he gained a reputation as the ablest circuit judge in the State. In 1851, he was married to Frances, daughter of Judge Daniel Mayes. Three children survive them :- J. Bow- mar Harris, attorney-at-law in Jackson, Miss .; Mrs. Cynthia Har- ris Virden, wife of S. E. Virden of Jackson; Mrs. Fannie Harris Virden, wife of Walter Virden of Cynthia, Miss. A daughter, Mary Vernon, and a son, Wiley P., died in early youth.

He was a member from Lawrence county of the constitutional convention of 1851, (q. v.), known as the Union Convention, and a member of the committee of thirteen which reported resolutions. He was yet a resident of Monticello, in 1853, when he was elected to congress, where he served December, 1853 to March, 1855. The nomination to this office was given him by the convention, after 150 ballots, to break a deadlock, and he accepted as such, but declined a re-nomination. After this he moved to Jackson. In January, 1861, he was a member of the constitutional conven-

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tion which adopted the ordinance of secession. Recalling this his- toric body, Reuben Davis wrote: "I must mention one of these delegates, one of the most extraordinary men this State has ever produced, Wiley P. Harris. That name recalls at once to many in all parts of Mississippi the image of a tall, slender figure, crowned by a most intellectual head. Nature seems to have en- dowed him with all the qualities requisite in a great lawyer and a magnificent orator." He was a delegate to the congress at Mont- gomery which framed the Confederate States Constitution and form of government, being the first man chosen by the State con- vention, by unanimous vote. In 1875, he made a great speech, advocating cooperation with the Liberal Republican party and the overthrow of the Ames administration. His scathing character- izations of the reconstruction conditions are classic. "For one," he said, "I long to see a government at Washington, and a gov- ernment here, towards which I can feel a genuine sentiment of reverence and respect. It is a dreary life we lead here, with a national government ever suspicious and frowning, imperious and hostile, and a home government feeble, furtive, false and fraudu- lent. Under such influences, the feeling of patriotism must die out amongst us, and this will accomplish the ruin of a noble popu- lation. You might as well destroy the sentiment of religion as the sentiment of patriotism, for human character is a deformity if either be wanting." He also said, "We are in a new world, we are moving on a new plane. It is better that we hang a millstone about our necks than cling to these old issues. To cling to them is to perpetuate sectional exclusion. Of all things it will not do to fall into a hypochondriacal condition in politics. I pity the man who in a great crisis says to himself: 'I can't go there, because there is the old Whig line; nor there, because that is the Republi- can line ; nor there, because I will be compelled to cross the Dem- ocratic line.' It sometimes happens that a man gets himself into such a condition of mental delusion that old party lines or names are like running water to a witch." His last public service was as a member of the constitutional convention of 1890. He died at Jackson, Dec. 3, 1891.

Of him it is said in the biography of L. Q. C. Lamar (by E. Mayes) that he was "a man 'of purest ray serene', whose wide and varied culture, profound legal learning, exceeding mental power, phenomenal intellectual integrity, devoted and unselfish patriotism, matchless calmness and wisdom in counsel, pure morality and unfailing courtesy, gave him a unique place in the affections and honor of Mississippians." Added to which he had a spontaneous, sparkling and pungent wit which is proverbial to this day throughout the State. In person he was tall, thin, fair, blue-eyed.

Judge T. H. Woods, writing of the convention of 1890, says: "Judge Wiley P. Harris, then, and until his death, the recognized and unchallenged leader of the bar of Mississippi, was preemi- nently influential, and his voice was regarded as the voice of an oracle. There, as elsewhere, in the midst of the noblest and proud-

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est of his professional brethren, he was primus inter pares. One pauses to wonder at the glory of his career, and, the splendor of his achievements, when remembering that his fame was won without the adventitious claim of oratory or the meretricious aids of office and political power." Says J. A. Orr, "In the power of clear analysis, the power to deal with new questions, Wiley P. Harris stood alone among all Mississippi lawyers. He and George Yerger were great powers before the supreme court." A news- paper opinion of the day was: "He excited no feeling of rivalry. He was tacitly and by common assent accorded, if not the first place, a place which no other could fill." It has been said of him that he was the greatest native Mississippian." A contemporary affirmed, "He could express more in a few words, and express that in terms more original and striking than any man I ever met." "His influence was greater and wider than that of those to whom the people committed their highest public trusts," wrote Edward Cary Walthall. "As one of those, I feel that I honor myself when I say to you that more than once, during my brief public career, I have sought to shape my public utterances so that I might earn the sanction of his endorsement when the occasion seemed critical for our people, and rested securely only after he had given me the voluntary expression of his approval.'

Harris, William Littleton, was born in Elbert county, Ga., July 6, 1807, son of Gen. Jeptha V. Harris, of Virginian descent. He was graduated at the University of Georgia in 1825, read law, and began the practice in 1827 at Washington, Ga., moving thence to Columbus, Miss., in 1837. In 1853 he was elected judge of the cir- cuit court ; in 1856 was appointed on the commission with Sharkey and Ellett to codify the laws; was reelected to the circuit bench in 1857, and elected in 1858 to the High court of errors and ap- peals. In 1860 President Buchanan offered him the appointment of justice of the supreme court of the United States, to succeed Justice Daniel, deceased, but Judge Harris declined for sectional reasons. He was again elected to the High court in 1865, and re- signed in 1867; he then moved to Memphis and formed a law partnership with Henry T. Ellett and James Phelan. In the fol- lowing year he died of pneumonia, Nov. 27, 1868. He was an ardent supporter of secession in 1860. and was commissioner to Georgia in behalf of that cause.

Harrisburg. This was an old village in what was formerly Pontotoc (now Lee county), and was located about 11/2 miles west of the county seat of Lee, Tupelo. It was built on land belonging to Judge W. R. Harris, a wealthy planter, and named in his honor. When the Mobile & Ohio railroad was completed as far as Tupelo, just before the Civil War, the business of Harrisburg was trans -. ferred to that point. A bloody battle was fought here July 14, 1864, between the Federals under the command of Gen. A. J. Smith, and the Confederates under the command of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, and Gen. N. B. Forrest. The Confederates alone lost nearly one thousand men, and many evidences of the battle remain. Dr.

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F. L. Riley, in his article on Extinct Towns and Villages of Missis- sippi, tells us that "The first settlement in this place was made in 1847 by G. C. Thomason, who opened a store there in that year. Three years later another merchant, Robert Acre, began business there. In 1853, Simon Wolf, a Jew, opened a third store in the village. In 1851 a Methodist church and a Masonic lodge were erected. The first pastor of this church was A. B. Fly, who after- wards became chancellor of his district. The village blacksmith was B. I. Barham, who lived there in 1851. A saddler by the name of Williams also lived in the place. The hotel was kept by Gilbert Kennedy. The first teacher of the village school was the Rev. A. B. Feemster, a Presbyterian minister of wide reputation for piety and learning. He was succeeded by Isaac Anderson. The Rev. Absalom Stovall, a Baptist minister of ability, also preached here for several years, beginning in 1851. The physicians of the place were Dr. R. C. Cunningham, Dr. W. I. Stovall, and Dr. Bond. The postmaster was John H. Long, afterward a citizen of Verona, who went to Harrisburg in 1851. John Sullivan was Justice of the Peace."

Harrisburg, Battle of. See War of 1861-65. Gen. A. J. Smith entered Northern Mississippi from Memphis, with two infantry divisions, Grierson's cavalry and a brigade of negro troops, in all about 14,000 men. Gen. Forrest prepared to give battle near Ok- olona, and Chalmers checked the Federal column near Pontotoc. The Federals met with resistance on each of three roads attempted and turned off toward Tupelo. Gen. S. D. Lee, chief in command, attacked on the flank with Chalmers' and Buford's divisions, while Forrest, with Mabry's Mississippi brigade, his old regiment and his escort, assailed the rear. After a running fight of ten miles Smith took a strong position at Harrisburg, between Tupelo and Pontotoc, and intrenched. Lee and Forrest, with 8,000 effective men, attacked this position on the morning of July 14, 1864, but after desperate fighting, were compelled, a little after noon, to fall back. Chalmers' division lost 57 killed and 255 wounded. Both brigade commanders, McCulloch and Rucker, were severely wounded ; Col. Duff was wounded, Capt. Middleton was killed. Buford's division lost 1,000 or about one third its strength. All the regimental commanders and nearly all the company com- manders of Mabry's Mississippi brigade were killed or wounded. Here died Col. Isham Harrison and Lieut .- Col. T. M. Nelson of the 6th cavalry ; Lieut .- Col. John B. Cage, of the 14th Confederate, and Maj. R. C. Mckay of the 38th. Among the wounded were Crossland, Falkner, Russell, Wilson, Barteau, Newson, Stockdale and Wisdom. Forrest reported the entire loss at 210 killed and 1,116 wounded. The Federal loss was 78 killed and 558 wounded. Smith soon retreated for lack of subsistence, and was pursued by Forrest, who attacked at Old Town Creek but was repulsed with considerable loss. Here he and Col. McCulloch were both severely wounded.

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Harrison, an incorporated post-town in the northeastern part of Tallahatchie county, 26 miles north of Grenada, and a station on the Memphis division of the Illinois Central R. R. Has a tele- graph and express office; the nearest banking town is Courtland, on the I. C. R. R. It publishes a weekly newspaper, the Item, established in 1900. The town was named for James T. Harrison, a prominent lawyer. Its population in 1900 was 185.

Harrison Campaign. The year 1840 is memorable for the polit- ical campaign in support of Harrison and Tyler. There were pub- lic speeches everywhere, great barbecues attended by multitudes who traveled from long distances, and everybody was singing the campaign songs, set to plantation melodies or patriotic or senti- mental tunes. Near the close of the summer, the climax was reached in a meeting of delegations from the West and South at Knoxville, addressed by Henry Clay and Tom Corwin. From Aberdeen a handsomely decorated wagon carrying a logcabin, with cider barrel and coon skins, the emblems of the campaign, was drawn by six horses to Knoxville, escorted by a hundred mounted men, and a band of music, with a retinue of jubilant negroes, and a caravan of tents and provisions.

It was the great frolic by which the people emerged from the gloom of the panic of 1837.

Harrison County is one of the three southern coast counties of the State and was established February 5, 1841. It has a land surface of 982 square miles. Its limits were defined as follows by the original act: "Beginning at the point where the line dividing ranges 13 and 14 strikes the bay of St. Louis, then with said line due north to the northern boundary of township 3, south, thence due east to the center of range 9; thence south to the bay of Biloxi ; thence southeast to the point of Caddi; thence westwardly with the sea shore and the shore of the bay of St. Louis to the beginning." The tier of townships in Perry county, which ad- joined Harrison on the north, were added to the county January 24, 1844. It took its name in honor of General William Henry Harrison, then President of the United States. Its early history is embodied in that of Hancock and Jackson counties, from which it was principally formed. Mississippi City is one of the many thriving towns and villages which dot its coast line. It had, in 1900, a population of 534 people, is growing rapidly, and its pop- ulation in 1906 was estimated at 800. Biloxi is another coast town, situated about midway between New Orleans and Mobile, and is one of the most important cities between those centers. It is historically the oldest town in the State and was settled by the French in 1718, being the capital of the Province of Louisiana until 1722, when Bienville, then Governor, decided to move the capital to New Orleans. It is a noted winter resort, while com- mercially, the city has grown from a place of only 1,500 inhab- itants, twenty years ago, to a place of over 7,000 people to-day, with extensive manufacturing and shipping interests. It probably leads the world in the canning of oysters and shrimp and in the

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value of those products shipped in the raw state. Four miles west of Biloxi, on the beach, stands Beauvoir, the picturesque old home, which Mrs. Dorsey presented to President Jefferson Davis, and which became the home of his declining years. It is now utilized as a home for Mississippi's Confederate Veterans, and receives a State appropriation for that purpose. Other important coast towns are Pass Christian (pop. 1900, 2,028), which is famed throughout the country as a health resort and for its beautiful hotel and shell roads; Gulfport, the county seat, which is at the terminus of the new Gulf & Ship Island R. R. Here, through the enterprise of Captain J. T. Jones, has been constructed a fine twenty-four feet ship basin, connected by a channel of the same depth with the natural harbor off Ship Island, only seven miles away, and provid- ing Mississippi at last with her greatest need, a deep water port. It is growing more rapidly than any other town on the gulf coast, and is destined to become one of the leading ports of the South ; Handsboro, a manufacturing town of importance; Longbeach and Henderson's Point. All these coast settlements are on the line of the Louisville & Nashville R. R., which skirts the whole Missis- sippi coast line. Along the line of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., which traverses the county from north to south, are located a number of other thriving towns, the more important of which are McHenry, with a population of about 1,200, several large saw mills, two naval stores, brickyards, bank, hotel, canning factory, stores, etc .; Wiggins, with a population of nearly 2,000 people, its great Finkbine Lumber Company, its fine bank, its canning fac- tory (capacity 15,000 cans a day), its demonstration farm (super- vised by the United States Government), and its big naval store plant, and the growing little lumber towns of Perkinston, Wortham, Howison, Millview, Lyman, Inda, Bond, etc. The important water courses in the county are the Big and Little Biloxi rivers, the Wolf, Tchula, and Red rivers, together with their numerous tributaries, which are utilized in carrying on the enormous lum- bering industry, which has been developed within recent years in the county. The general surface of the land is gently undulating, and two-thirds of it is finely timbered with a heavy growth of large long leaf, or yellow pine. Many of the "cut over" lands of Harrison county are now selling for from $3.00 to $7.00 an acre. Generally speaking, the soil is sandy and lacks natural fertility, like most of the southern Mississippi pine country, but fertilizers, such as oyster shells, swamp muck and marls are cheap and abundant, and the soil can be made to produce excellent crops of vegetables and fruits. The crop season is long, and heavy frosts are rare, so that two crops a year and sometimes more are com- monly grown on the cultivated areas. Many fine truck gardens are found in the vicinity of Biloxi, and figs are universally grown. Oranges, peaches, pears, grapes, persimmons, olives, Japanese plums, strawberries and dewberries all. thrive in the genial climate. It is an especially good stock raising country, as the pine woods furnish a splendid range throughout the year. The "Lake wool"

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grown about Biloxi has a national reputation and commands the highest market price, and the sheep from which this high grade wool is clipped are practically self-supporting. A great variety of grasses are grown in this region-one variety, the "carpet grass," is to the Coast country what blue grass is to the north. The climate of Harrison county is especially healthful, as is well attested by the growing popularity of its towns for both summer and winter resorts.

The following statistics, taken from the twelfth United States census for 1900, relate to farms, manufacturers and population : It will be noted that Harrison county is an exception to most of the counties in the State, in that the value of manufactured products is enormously in excess of those of farm products. Number of farms in the county was 713, total acreage 88,898, acres improved 9,353, value of the land without the buildings $337,900, value of the buildings $209,270, value of the live stock $266,307, total value of products not fed to stock $269,311. The number of manufac- turing establishments was 99, capital invested $1,494,229, wages paid $427,123, value of materials used $1,334,412, and the total value of manufactured products was $2,310,624. The total assessed valu- ation of real and personal property in the county in 1905 was $6,910,260 and in 1906 it was $14,415,522, which shows an increase of $7,505,262 during the year, being the largest gain in that year of any county in the State. The population of the county in 1900 was, whites 14,632, colored 6,370, a total of 21,002, and an increase of 8,521 over the year 1890. The population in 1906 was estimated at 30,000. No county in the State is developing more rapidly than Harrison.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 89

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