Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 95

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 95

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Hookston, a post-hamlet of Lauderdale county, located on Okatib- bee creek, 7 miles northwest of Meridian. Population in 1900, 30.

Hope, a postoffice of Neshoba county, 8 miles west of Phila- delphia, the county seat.

Hopewell, a hamlet in the southern part of Calhoun county, about 14 miles south of Pittsboro, the county seat. It has rural free de- livery from Slate Spring. Population in 1900, 50.

Hopoca, a postoffice of Leake county, 6 miles north of Carthage, the county seat.

Horace, a hamlet of Jones county, situated on Tallahoma creek, 3 miles west of Laurel, the nearest railroad and banking town, and 4 miles north of Ellisville, the county seat. The postoffice is dis- continued, and it now has rural free delivery from Ellisville.

Horatio, a postoffice of Panola county, 8 miles west of Sardis, one of the county seats of justice.

Horn Lake .- This is a station on the line of the Illinois Central R. R., below the Tennessee line, twelve miles south of Memphis. It is in the extreme northern part of De Soto county, 3 miles distant from Horn Lake-a resort for lovers of sport from Memphis. It was in this neighborhood that the pioneer families of the Bynums, Lundys and Turners, from Virginia, settled in the early days of De Soto county. The census for 1900 gave the population of the village as 99.

Horne, a post-hamlet of Clarke county, 15 miles southeast of Quitman, the county seat. Population in 1900, 50.

Horseshoe, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Scott county, on Young Warrior creek, about 18 miles north of Forest, the county seat, and the nearest railroad town. It has a good water mill, and a gin and grist mill combined.

Hosey, a post-hamlet of Jasper county, on Nuakfuppa creek, 15 miles south of Paulding, the county seat. Population in 1900, 26.

Houlka, an incorporated post-town in the northern part of Chick- asaw county, on the line of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., 8 miles north of Houston, the county seat, and 15 miles south

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of Pontotoc. It has 3 churches, an academy, a plough factory, a saw and planing mill plant, a bank, the Bank of Houlka, organized in 1905, capital $20,000. The present population (1906), is about 500, and is rapidly increasing.

Houmas. See Indians.

Houston, one of the two seats of justice for Chickasaw county, is situated at the junction of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City R. R., with a spur of the Southern railway running to Okolona. It was named for the celebrated Indian fighter, Gen. Sam. Houston. During the War between the States, the county records at Houston were burned by a squad of Federal soldiers April 21, 1863, while the county officers were endeavoring to remove them to a place of safety in a wagon. The town is exceedingly prosperous, and is go- ing forward by leaps and bounds the last few years. Some of the manufacturing enterprises which enter into the industrial makeup of the town are, saw mills, planing mills, 2 handle factories, 2 wood- working plants, 2 stave mills, a heading factory, a spoke factory, a cotton compress, a cotton gin, and bottling works; a steam laundry is in course of construction (1906). It supports a weekly news- paper, the Houston Post, established in 1904, edited and published by H. Richard Smith. The town owns and operates its own electric lighting and water works systems. The following churches are well supported : Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and. Christian. Sepa- rate school districts are maintained for white and colored pupils, and there is an excellent system of graded schools. A fine $20,000 high school building is now in process of erection. Two strong banks minister to the financial needs of the town, the Bank of Houston, and the Houston branch of the Okolona Banking Co., both of which were organized in the fall of 1903. Houston has an excellent brick hotel ; also a good livery and transfer service. In the period 1903-1906, the total assessed valuation of property in the town increased from $93,000 to $400,000. The population increased from 677 in 1900, to 1,600 in 1906.

Houston, Lock E., was born in Blount county, Tenn., of a line of Scotch-Irish ancestry that migrated along the mountain valleys from Pennsylvania southward in the days of Indian conquest. He was graduated at Knoxville university, in 1840; began practice at Aberdeen, Miss., in 1843, and became a partner of Stephen Adams and later of Reuben Davis. He was elected to the legislature in 1842, and was appointed when F. M. Rogers resigned in 1853. In 1855 he was nominated for congress by the American party, and came within 200 votes of election. He was again elected to the legislature in 1863, and was speaker of the house. He was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of 1865, and was tendered, but declined, the nomination for congress. In 1887 he was appointed to the circuit bench.

Howard, an incorporated post-town in Holmes county, on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 7 miles west of Lexington, and 5 miles south of Tchula, the nearest banking town. It is sur- rounded by a cotton growing district. Population in 1900, 114.

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Howard, Volney E., was born in Norridgewock, Maine, about 1808, came to Mississippi in the early days of the State and en- gaged in law and politics. He was for a time editor of the Jack- son Mississippian, and through his aggressiveness as a writer wielded a considerable influence over the Democratic party. He was representative of Scott county in 1836, and for several years reporter of the supreme court (High court), publishing the first six volumes, of reports of decisions, 1834-43, following the first volume by Walker. He was associated with Anderson Hutchin- son in compiling the Mississippi digest of 1840 and the code of 1848. Afterward he went to Texas, and was representative in congress from that State in 1849-53. Upon the admission of Cali- fornia he was sent to that State by the president on an important mission. He died at Santa Monica, Cal., May 14, 1889.

Howe, a postoffice of Kemper county, on Bogue Chitto, 11 miles west of Dekalb, the county seat.

Howell, a post-hamlet in the northeastern part of Jackson county, on the Escatawpa river, 30 miles north of Pascagoula, the county seat.

Howell, William Burr, was the fourth son of Gov. Richard How- ell, of New Jersey. In youth he was an officer of the U. S. Ma- rine corps, and served under Commodore Decatur in the lake campaigns of the War of 1812. In 1815 he made the flatboat voy- age to Natchez, became intimate with Joseph E. Davis, purchased land and became a planter near Natchez. In 1823 he married Mar- garet Louisa, third daughter of Col. James Kempe. The Howell and Davis families were united by three intermarriages, one of which was that of Jefferson Davis to Varina Howell.

Howison, a post-village in the central part of Harrison county, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., 22 miles by rail north of Gulf- port. McHenry is its nearest banking town. It is a lumber ship- ping point ; has a large saw mill; also a money order postoffice and express office. Population in 1900, 203.

Hoy, a postoffice of Jones county, on the Mobile, Jackson & Kan- sas City R. R., 4 miles north of Laurel, and 10 miles north of Ellis- ville, the county seat.

Hub, a post-hamlet of Marion county, on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., 8 miles southeast of Columbia, the county seat, and the nearest banking town. Population in 1900, 25; the population in 1906 was estimated at 150. Two saw mills are located here.

Hubbardtown, a postoffice of Simpson county, on the Laurel branch of the Gulf & Ship Island R. R., about 15 miles southeast of Mendenhall. It has a saw milling plant and a population of 25.

Hudson, Robert S., was born in Edgefield district, S. C., August 17, 1820, died at his home near Yazoo City, May 29, 1889. His first migration from his native State was to Alabama. He at- tended school two years in East Tennessee. Coming to Oktib- beha county at the age of 21 years, with his widowed mother, he studied law at Louisville, Miss., under Henry Gray, a brilliant lawyer of that day, and was his partner until Gray removed to

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Louisiana. Afterward he had a large practice, in several counties, which continued after he made his home in Attala county in 1855. In 1858 he was elected district attorney. In 1860 he moved to Yazoo county. He was circuit judge 1861-65, a prominent mem- ber of the State convention of 1865 and of the famous legislature of 1876.

Hudsonville .- We are told that this old town in Marshall county "sprang up as if by magic" [Dr. F. L. Riley's Extinct Towns and Villages of Miss.] in January, 1837. It was incorporated the following year. Its location was 4 miles southwest of Lamar on the stage road running from Lagrange, Tenn., to Holly Springs, Miss. The trade incident to a prosperous country village flourished here until the advent of the Mississippi Central (now Illinois Central) R. R., which missed the settlement by about two miles. It was then absorbed by the town of the same name which sprang up on the railroad, two miles to the southeast. Peter Scales, Dabney Minor, the Daniels,. Albert Hunt, John Roberts, Harvey Means, McFadden, J. R. Mayhon, William Arthur, Major Catrell, William Wall, and Kemp Holland were pioneer settlers in this neighborhood. The old town is now quite extinct and exists only as a memory. The modern town on the railroad is about 7 miles north of Holly Springs, and has a steam gin and several stores. Its population in 1900, was 43.

Hughes, a post-hamlet of Attala county, on Apookta creek, an affluent of the Big Black river, 8 miles west of Kosciusko, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 26.

Hughes, Henry, who died at Port Gibson, Oct. 3, 1862, was a man of liberal education who devoted much of his earlier years to the philosophical study or rather defense of slavery. Later, he visited Paris and published a work entitled "Sociology," in which he classed the social organization of the South as "warranteeism." He viewed slavery simply as a possession of the productive energy of the negro in return for a warrantee of food, clothing, etc. He also published a pamphlet in favor of the "African Apprentice Scheme," so called, which was a movement for the importation of more negroes under the guise of contract labor; and yet an- other pamphlet embodying a report favorable to this scheme made by him to the Commercial convention. He enlisted in the Con- federate service with the Port Gibson Riflemen, and was elected captain of the Claiborne Guards and subsequently colonel of the 12th regiment, in Virginia. His health was broken by the cam- paign before Richmond, and he returned to the State with a com- mission to raise a regiment of partisan rangers, but died before the work was completed.

Hull, a postoffice of Kemper county, 3 miles west of Dekalb, the county seat.

Humber, a postoffice of Coahoma county, on the Mississippi river, 7 miles south of Friar's Point, the county seat and nearest banking town.

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Humphreys, a post-hamlet of Claiborne county, about 10 miles northeast of Port Gibson, the county seat. Population in 1900, 21.

Humphreys, Benjamin Grubb, was born Aug. 26, 1808, at the Hermitage, Bayou Pierre, the home of his father, George Wilson Humphreys (q. v.). After the death of his mother in 1817, he was sent to the home of his grandfather Smith, in Kentucky, where he attended school. In 1821 to 1824, his education was con- tinued in New Jersey, under the care of his guardian, Dr. Hunt, of New York. He returned to the State by way of Cincinnati, and was a clerk in a store at Port Gibson until appointed to West Point in 1825, entering in the same class with Robert E. Lee. Unfortunately, however, he participated in a Christmas frolic that resulted in a riot and he and about 40 others were dismissed from the academy. Returning to his home in May, 1827, he took up the duties of overseer of his father's plantation, also studied law and read extensively. March 15, 1832, he married Mary, daughter of Dugald Mclaughlin, and established a home on the Big Black. His wife died three years later. As a Whig he represented Clai- borne county in the lower house of the legislature in 1838 and 1839, and in the senate, 1840-44. Dec. 3, 1839, he married Mildred, daughter of J. H. Maury, of Port Gibson. In 1846 he began a new home in Sunflower county, where, in 1861, he organized a company known as the Sunflower Guards, which proceeded to Virginia, together with other companies, without waiting for the State organization. He was commissioned captain May 18, 1861, and his company became a part of the 6th, afterward known as the 21st regiment, of which he was commissioned colonel Sept. 11, 1861. Humphreys took command of his brigade after the death of Gen. Barksdale at Gettysburg, and was promoted to brigadier- general. He served at Chickamauga, Knoxville, and in the Wilder- ness and Richmond campaigns, and also in the Shenandoah val- ley, with Early, until disabled by a wound at Berryville, in Sep- tember, 1864. In February, 1865, he was given charge of a district in southern Mississippi, where he was on duty when the war closed. He was the first governor elected after the war, under the presidential reconstruction policy, but was ousted in 1868 un- der the congressional policy. He was afterward in business as an insurance agent at Jackson and Vicksburg, until he returned to his plantation in Leflore in 1877. He died at his plantation Dec. 22, 1882, being survived by three sons and a daughter.

Humphreys' Administration. Governor Humphreys was elected Oct. 2, 1865, by the Conservative party in the State, which opposed the admission of the freedmen to testify in the courts, though he favored such admission. About 43,000 votes were cast in the elec- tion, and he had a plurality of 3,300 over Judge E. S. Fisher, can- didate of the party that desired to cooperate more fully with President Johnson, but the real division of the people on the ques- tion at issue is obscured by the casting of nearly 10,000 votes for W. S. Patton, a third candidate. All the votes cast were by white men, qualified under the old laws of the State, who had also taken

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the "amnesty oath" of allegiance to the United States, including support of the emancipation proclamation.

The State officers elected at the same time were C. A. Brougher, secretary of state; Charles E. Hooker, attorney general ; John H. Echols, treasurer ; Thomas T. Swann, auditor.

The supremacy of the military power in the State was not aban- doned at any time during Gov. Humphreys' administration. Pro- visional Governor Sharkey was not relieved from duty altogether until two months after the inauguration of Humphreys.

The legislature met, as prescribed by the convention, Oct. 16, 1865. The governor elect appeared before the two houses on the first day of the session; after the vote was canvassed, and a brief address by Provisional Governor Sharkey, he delivered his inau- gural address and took the oath of office administered to him by Judge Sharkey, whereupon he was declared governor of the State of Mississippi.

In his address Gen. Humphreys first discussed constitutional questions. He had "always believed that no one or more States could constitutionally sever the ties that unite the people of the several States into one people," but was not unmindful that a dif- ferent doctrine had been taught by some of the most illustrious patriots. "It is to be regretted that this school of politicians could not have found a better mode for solving the question than the arbitrament of war. But the question was thus referred, and has been decided against us by a tribunal from which there is no ap- peal." He declared the people of the State, "acknowledging the decision, desire to return to the Union and renew their fealty to the constitution of the United States. It has been officially re- ported from some quarters that our people are insincere, and the spirit of revolt is rampant among us;" but he thought it was suf- ficiently demonstrated that "the people of the South, who so long and against such terrible odds maintained the mightiest conflict of modern ages, may be safely trusted when they proffer more than a willingness to return to their allegiance. The South, hav- ing ventured all on the arbitrament of the sword, has lost all, save her honor ; and now accepts the result in good faith." He thought the lesson of the war was that "freemen, once enlightened, will not submit to wrong or injustice-that sectional aggression will meet with sectional resistance, and that the price of political per- fidy is blood and carnage." On the question of vital interest, he said: "The State of Mississippi has already, under the pressure of the result of the war, by her own solemn act, abolished slavery. It would be hypocritical and unprofitable to attempt to persuade the world that she has done so willingly. It is due, however, to her honor, to show by her future course that she has done so in good faith, and that slavery shall never again exist within her borders, under whatsoever name or guise it may be attempted." Emancipation, he said, had imposed a great duty upon the State. "Several hundred thousand of the negro race, unfitted for politi- cal equality with the white race, have been turned loose upon so-

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ciety ; and in the guardianship she may assume over this race, she must deal justly with them, and protect them in all their rights of person and property. The highest degree of elevation in the scale of civilization to which they are capable, morally and intel- lectually, must be secured to them by their education and re- ligious training ; but they cannot be admitted to political or social equality with the white race. It is due to ourselves-to the white immigrant invited to our shores-and it should never be forgot- ten-to maintain the fact that ours is and shall ever be a govern- ment of white men. The purity and progress of both races require that caste must be maintained; and intermarriage between the races forbidden."

Saying that work is the law of God, he urged legislation to pro- tect the colored plantation laborer from "the avarice, cupidity and injustice of his employer," and requiring the laborer to choose "some employment that will ensure the maintenance of himself and family." The governor suggested that the laborer be "com- pelled to comply with his contract, remaining and performing his proper amount of labor, day after day, and week after week, through the whole year ; and if he attempts to escape he should be returned to his employer, and forced to work until the time for which he had contracted has expired." He spoke with eloquent appreciation of the Mississippi citizen soldiers. "The Federal government has magnanimously thrown over the rebel soldier the mantle of oblivion for the past-but no pension from its coffers awaits him or his family-no homestead from its vast territories invites them to comfort and repose." Hence he urged that the State make generous provision for those in need.

When the legislature was about to adjourn for the holidays, late in November, the governor sent in a message, urging legislation in compliance with the eighth section of the amended constitu- tion, requiring laws for "the protection and security of the person and property of the freedmen, as well as laws to "guard them and the State against any evils that may arise from their sudden eman- cipation." He said, "We must now meet the question as it is, and not as we would like to have it. The rule must be justice. The negro is free. Whether we like it or not, we must realize that fact now and forever. To be free, however, does not make him a citi- zen, or entitle him to political or social equality with the white man. But the constitution and justice do entitle him to protec- tion and security in his person and property, both real and per- sonal." The courts must be open to him; if he were not allowed to testify in court, if his attorneys were not free to call witnesses irrespective of color, there would be "a denial of the most com- mon privilege of freedom-an ensnaring delusion-the merest mockery." Experience had shown during the days of slavery that justice was often defeated by the refusal to accept negro testi- mony, and the protection of society, as well as the protection of the freedmen, demanded that "the negro should be allowed and

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required to testify for or against the white and black according to the truth."

But vastly more important, said the governor, was the need of laws to guard the freedmen and the State from the prevalent evils of vagrancy and pauperism, crime and misery. He said of the col- ored population : "Our rich and productive fields have been de- serted for the filthy garrets and sickly cellars of our towns and cities. From producers they are converted into consumers, and as winter approaches their only salvation from starvation and want is Federal rations-plunder and pillage." The care of the Freedmen's Bureau, he considered inadequate. "Many of the of- ficers connected with that Bureau are gentlemen of honor and in- tegrity, but they seem incapable of protecting the rights and property of the white men against the villainies of the vile and vicious with whom they are associated." The governor regretted that he was uninformed as to how long "this hideous curse-per- mitted of Heaven-is to be allowed to rule and ruin our unhappy people," the only assurance from President Johnson being that the troops would be withdrawn, when, in the opinion of the gov- ernment, they were no longer needed. In conclusion he recom- mended: admit negro testimony to the courts; encourage the freedmen to work for self-support by "laws assuring him of friend- ship and protection," tax him to support his own indigent and helpless, "with an iron will and the strong hand of power take hold of the idle and vagrant;" "pass a militia bill that will enable the militia to protect our people against insurrection or any possible combination of vicious white men and negroes."

Pursuant to the recommendations of the governor and of a com- mittee of the constitutional convention, the legislature enacted a series of laws concerning the freedmen which was known as the Black code of 1865 (q. v.). "It was such legislation as this, begun in Mississippi and adopted in other States, that led the radicals, when congress met in December, to set aside President Johnson's reconstruction measures. It gave them a pretext to subvert the partially reconstructed State governments and remand the South to despotic military rule." (Garner.) It was generally believed by the party dominant in congress that these laws indicated a dis- position to evade the emancipation of the negroes. This belief, however mistaken, rapidly united the Republican party on the proposition of universal suffrage, upon which it had been, there- tofore, seriously divided. Among the revenue measures of the legislature was a tax of $1 on each bale of cotton, and a tax of one- half cent per mile on persons traveling on railroads, which the railroad companies ignored, as the law was enrolled "one-half per cent per mile." Another act provided for an elaborate reorgan- ization of the militia, a "cadet gray" uniform being adopted.

Memorials were adopted asking "Open the prison doors of Jef- ferson Davis! Let him breathe once more the air of personal freedom! Return him to the State of Mississippi! Make her his bondsman!" Another memorial asked that Jacob Thompson be

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permitted to return from abroad and avail himself of the amnesty of the United States.

To relieve debtors from distress the legislature passed a stay law, which was declared unconstitutional by the courts. Appeals continued to come in to the governor from all parts of the State for relief of this nature. The governor said in his message of 1866 that many creditors were heartless, and on the other hand many "injured debtors" were clothed in purple and fine linen. "Brave soldiers who periled life and lost all, are pursued by some slimy skulker from honor and duty who has saved his notes and accounts by hiding them with himself in a deserter's cave." The governor thought that morality and equity demanded an average and distribution of what had been saved from the wreck, but knew not by what rule the division could be made. The only remedy he could prescribe was "patient industry, strict economy and long suffering." He vetoed a bill to extend the stay of executions to four years. These attempts to relieve the distress indicate its severity. The destruction wrought by war in many counties was terrible. Some counties had not been invaded, and were not in such a deplorable condition, but the suffering was universal. As Hampton L. Jarnagin said of Noxubee county, it was scarcely touched by the enemy, "but our own army had to be fed, and our mules, cattle and horses were taken to support our own army. · . we were reduced to absolute want, almost, and had not stock to cultivate the land." Besides, for three or four years after the war there was an almost continuous failure of the cotton crop; much mischief was done by the army worm, and in 1870 there was a destructive drought.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. I, Part 95

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