USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 30
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$30,000, and it enjoyed a fair degree of financial prosperity. An endowment fund had been subscribed amounting to $102,800, in the form of scholarship notes of $500 each, and $40,000 had been col- lected on the notes. The institution was only able to maintain the appearance of an organization during the war, and was so badly in debt at the close, that it would have been sold under execution, save for the efficient aid given by the noble Mrs. Adelia M. Hill- man. At her own expense she procured funds in the North suf- ficient to place the college once more on its feet. Dr. Walter Hill- man, President of Central Female Institute, was made president of the college in 1867 and divided his time for six years between the two schools. He proved an excellent business administrator, and when he was succeeded in 1873 by Dr. W. S. Webb, the college was out of debt. The administration of Dr. Webb covered a period of eighteen years, filled with "efficient and self-sacrificing effort" on his part. Since 1877 the faculty of the college "has worked on a contingent basis and not for guaranteed salaries." Before the disastrous panic of 1893 came on, a new endowment fund of $60,000 was subscribed; of this sum, $40,000 was collected and is well in- vested, yielding the college a much needed income. President Webb was succeeded by Dr. R. A. Venable in 1892. Dr. Venable was an alumnus of the college, and one of the ablest Baptist preachers in the South. His administration was marred by an attempt in 1893 to remove the institution to Meridian, and a reso- lution to that end was formally adopted by the Baptist State Con- vention. Legal difficulties fortunately intervened and the attempt was unsuccessful. On Dr. Venable's resignation in 1896, Dr. J. W. Provine, professor of natural science, was chosen his suc- cessor, and during his brief incumbency procured the erection of a fine chemical laboratory, made substantial improvements in the buildings and grounds, and rendered the college self-supporting. The epidemic of yellow fever in 1897 seriously reduced the at- tendance of the college and impaired its finances. The appeal for further financial aid was led by Dr. W. T. Lowrey, an alumnus of the college, and then president of the Blue Mountain Female College. He was prevailed upon to accept the presidency on the resignation of Dr. Provine in 1898. Under Dr. Lowrey's able management the college has made much material as well as educational progress. The number of students has increased from 115-the low water mark in 1897-98-to between three and four hundred at the present time. The standard has been raised and the curriculum broadened and strengthened; one of the important changes being the estab- lishment of a new school of philosophy, history and economics, in charge of the scholarly educator and writer, Charles Hillman Brough. Moreover, many permanent improvements have been made in the buildings, including a president's home, a preparatory hall and a minister's cottage. Capt. Ratliff, who was a student in 1852, has been at the head of the executive board since 1872. Scores of the most prominent names in Mississippi have been on the rolls of the college as students or graduates.
17-II
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Mississippi, French Claim to. The Memoir signed by Louis XIV, and his minister Colbert, and sent to Denonville, Governor- General of New France, is explanatory of the French claims in North America. Among other things it recites: "The next year, 1672, the river Mississippi and, at the same time, the Illinois, Chauanons, and other tribes unknown to Europeans, were discov- ered by Sieur Joliet, and the Jesuit Father Marquette, who went as far as the thirty-second degree, and set up the King's arms, taking possession in his name of all those recently discovered na- tions. And some years after, Sieur de La Salle extended the same discovery farther, even unto the sea, taking everywhere pos- session by the King's arms, which he erected there. All the fore- going demonstrates sufficiently the incontestable right the French have to the Iroquois lands and it demonstrates their possession of the great river Mississippi, which they have discov- ered as far as the South Sea, on which river also they have divers establishments, as well as on that of Ohio, Ouabache, etc., which flow into the said river Mississippi, and of the countries and lands in the vicinity of said rivers, where they actually carry on trade, which countries are easily recognized on the general map of North America."
Mississippi Press Association. The press of Mississippi has ever been a potent and uplifting influence in the affairs of the common- wealth. Its editors and publishers have been men of virility, enter- prise and ability, and in the long roll of those honored in the annals of the State appear many names closely identified with the history of the press. In the year 1802, Andrew Marschalk, pioneer soldier- editor and publisher, established the Natchez Gazette, the first newspaper published in Mississippi Territory. He was endowed with energy and enterprise, and had for his equipment a wooden hand printing press of domestic manufacture. From this humble beginning, the history of the press shows a steady development in power and influence, only interrupted by the years of strife and suf- fering marked by the war between the States. With the close of the conflict came a remarkable revival of journalistic enterprise ; a host of new and ably conducted newspapers sprang into existence, which strove mightily in the cause of white supremacy and the restoration of Mississippi to Mississippians. It was at this period of time that the Mississippi Press association had its origin-in May, 1865. The expressed object of the association was to promote the mutual benefit of the members of the newspaper fraternity of the State. The association held its first meeting in May, 1866. It has never been chartered. On the rolls of the founders of the organization are the well known names of Col. J. L. Power, P. K. Mayers, J. S. Hamilton, A. J. Frantz, J. J. Shannon, J. M. Partridge, B. W. Kinsley, F. T. Cooper and E. M. Yerger. The first meeting of the association was held at the statehouse in Jackson, and the following officers were chosen: J. M. Partridge, of the Vicksburg Herald, president; J. L. Power, of the Jackson Clarion and
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Standard, secretary; P. K. Mayers, of the Handsboro Democrat, treasurer. In addition to the officers, the following gentlemen were present at this first meeting: J. J. Shannon, Jones S. Hamilton and B. F. Jones of the Jackson Clarion and Standard; E. M. Yerger, of the Jackson Mississippian ; A. N. Kimball and H. M. Aikin, of the Christian Watchman; A. J. Frantz, of the Brandon Republican ; Jere Gibson, of the Meridian Tropic; J. M. Swords, of the Vicks- burg Herald; T. B. Manlove, of the Vicksburg Journal; J. D. Houston, of the Lexington Advertiser; Singleton Garrett, of the Canton Mail; S. W. Dale, of the Brookhaven Journal ; M. S. Ward, of the Panola Star; J. F. Mead, of the Natchez Democrat, and J. L. McCullum and F. T. Cooper, of the Mississippi Conservative. Since 1874 the meetings of the association have been held regularly, and its transactions have been published under the title; "Proceed- ings of the Mississippi Press Association." The officers of the association are : J. D. McKie, of the Review, Biloxi, president ; J. T. Senter, of the Vicksburg American, first vice-president ; R. B. May, of the Enterprise, McComb, second vice-president; P. K. Mayers, of the Democrat-Star, Scranton, treasurer; J. G. McGuire, of the Herald, Yazoo City, secretary, and J. L. Power, chaplain.
Mississippi Rifles. This was the popular name of the First reg- ment Mississippi infantry, in the service of the United States for the Mexican War (q. v.). Governor Brown called for volunteer companies for this regiment June 1, 1846.
There was great pressure from companies in all parts of the State for enrollment, and the governor endeavored to gratify those that were first completely organized and filled. The list as mus- tered in was as follows:
Company A, Yazoo Volunteers, Capt. J. M. Sharp; Company B, Wilkinson Volunteers, Capt. Douglas H. Cooper; Company C, Warren county, Capt. John Willis; Company D, Carroll county, Capt. Bainbridge D. Howard; Company E, Hinds county, Capt. John L. McManus; Company F, Lafayette county, Capt. William DeLay; Company G, Hinds county, Capt. Reuben N. Downing; Company H, Warren county, Capt. George P. Crump; Company I, Marshall Guards, Capt. A. B. Bradford, succeeded by James H. R. Taylor; Company K, the Tombigbee company, Capt. A. K. McClung, succeeded by William P. Rogers.
The Hinds county companies were the State Fencibles (of Jackson) and Raymond Fencibles ; the Vicksburg companies were the Southrons and Volunteers. A full roster of the regiment is given in Goodspeed's Memoirs of Miss., I, 140.
At the rendezvous, Camp Brown, near Vicksburg, officers were elected about the middle of June: Jefferson Davis, colonel ; Alex- ander K. McClung, lieutenant-colonel ; Alexander B. Bradford, major. McClung commanded the regiment while it remained at Vicksburg. The staff officers were: Richard Griffith, adjutant; Seymour Halsey, surgeon; John Thompson, assistant surgeon; Charles T. Harlan, sergeant-major; S. Warren White, quarter-
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master sergeant; Kemp S. Holland, commissary; Stephen Dodds, principal musician.
About this time young Cadmus M. Wilcox, then a cadet at West Point, visited Washington and, calling upon Davis, asked if he would become colonel of the Mississippi regiment. "He replied it was true he had been elected colonel and that he would accept if he could have the men armed with rifles. On being asked why his acceptance should be contingent upon the weapon with which the regiment might be armed, he remarked if armed with the ordinary infantry musket it would be but one of many regiments similarly armed; but if with the rifle, besides being more effective, there would probably be no other body of men so armed, and it would be known and referred to as the Mis- sissippi Rifles, and, consequently, would be more conspicuous. It was armed as he desired ; he accepted the colonelcy and it became well known and is referred to as the Mississippi Rifles prominently in the histories of the Mexican war." (Wilcox, History of the Mexican War.)
"Jefferson Davis was then a member of Congress, but had prom- ised to serve as colonel of a regiment whenever elected. It was known that he had graduated at West Point, and seen some serv- ice in the West. At the same election that made him colonel of the First Mississippi regiment, A. K. McClung was made lieuten- ant-colonel, and Alexander Bradford, a major-general of militia, major. No new troops were better officered, and the regiment went to the field as gayly as if they had been called to a dance." (Reuben Davis.) In the ranks were representatives of the best families of the State. One of the privates was James Z. George.
Davis returned to his home by way of Wheeling, and joined the regiment near New Orleans, July 21, 1846. At this encamp- ment they received the rifles, shipped from the east. "It may be interesting to state, said Mr. Davis in 1889, that Gen. Scott en- deavored to persuade me not to take more rifles than enough for four companies, and objected particularly to percussion arms as not having been sufficiently tested for the use of troops in the field. Knowing that the Mississippians would have no confidence in the old flint-lock muskets, I insisted on their being armed with the kind of rifle then recently made at New Haven, Conn., the Whitney rifle. From having been first used by the Mississipians, those rifles have always been known as the Mississippi rifles." (Memoir by his Wife.) These rifles had no bayonets, as there had not been time to have them made. Concerning the service of the regiment, see Mexican War, Monterey, and Buena Vista.
Mississippi River. The importance of the Mississippi river in connection with the history and development of the State of Mis- sissippi scarcely needs mention. For upward of 500 miles, follow- ing the sinuosities of the stream, it forms the western boundary of the State. and on its broad bosom, ascending and descending, floated the first explorers and settlers, who made possible the be- ginnings of the State. Along its banks and in the vicinity of its
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tributary streams occurred the first permanent white settlements. Before the days of overland travel and even down to the era of the railroads, it constituted the great liquid highway for the travel and commerce of the State. It forms the great boundary line be- tween the eastern and western States and gives commercial entrance to the very heart of the United States. Since 1803 it has been in the undisputed possession of this country.
Its great length, taken in connection with the number and char- acter of its tributaries, the total area drained, the immense system of internal navigation afforded, and the population contiguous to its banks, renders it one of the most striking topographical feat- ures of the earth. Together with its subordinate basins the Mis- sissippi Valley comprises an area of 2,455,000 square miles, extending through 30 degrees of longitude and 23 degrees of lati- tude. (The Mississippi River, J. W. Foster.) Humphreys and Abbot, "Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River" give the following table of data for the area, elevation, drainage, etc., of its several subordinate basins :
Distance from mouth, miles.
Height above sea, feet.
Width- at mouth, feet.
Down- fall of rain, inches.
Mean dis- charge per second, cu. feet.
Area of basin, square miles.
Upper Mississippi .. 1,330
1,680
5,000
35.2
105,000
169,000
Missouri
.2,908
6,800
3,000
20.9
120,000
518,000
Ohio
. 1,265
1,649
3,000
41.5
158,000
214,000
Arkansas
. 1,514
10,000
1,500
29.3
63,000
189,000
Red River
1,200
2,450
800
39.0
57,000
97,000
Yazoo
500
210
850
46.3
43,000
13,850
St. Francis
380
1,150
700
41.1
31,000
10,500
Lower Mississippi. . 1,286
416
2,470
30.4
675,000
1,244,000
The lengths of the different grand tributaries as given by Jen- kins are as follows :
Missouri
2,908 miles-distance from mouth to source.
Upper Mississippi
1,330 miles-distance from mouth to source.
Ohio 1,276 miles-distance from mouth to source.
Arkansas . 1,514 miles-distance from mouth to source.
Red
1,212 miles-distance from mouth to source.
Lower Mississippi
1,286 miles-distance from mouth to source.
The combined lengths are :
Lower Mississippi and Missouri. 4,194 miles.
Lower and upper Mississippi. 2,615 miles.
Gulf of Mexico to source of Ohio 2,373 miles.
Gulf of Mexico to source of Arkansas 2,209 miles.
Gulf of Mexico to source of Red. 1,520 miles.
The character of the lower Mississippi has thus been described by an eminent authority: "At the mouth of the Missouri, the Mis- sissippi first assumes its characteristic appearance of a turbid and boiling torrent, immense in volume and force. From that point, its waters pursue their devious way for more than 1,300 miles, de-
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stroying banks and islands at one locality, reconstructing them at another, absorbing tributary after tributary, without visible in- crease in size,-until, at length, it is in turn absorbed in the great volume of the Gulf." (Humphreys and Abbot.)
When in flood, the river, unprotected by levees, extended to a width of thirty miles, and the surplus waters found their way to the ocean through deep forests and almost interminable swamps. As the waters receded, there was left behind, on the bottom lands, a sediment as fine and as fertilizing as the Nile mud. As a result of these long recurring annual overflows, there is a wide belt of Recent Alluvium bordering the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio to the Gulf. The greatest width of this belt is at Napoleon, where it is nearly 75 miles wide; its greatest contraction is at Natchez and Helena, where the width is only 25 miles. The area of the tract above the delta is 19,450 square miles. Of this area, 6,650 square miles are embraced in the Yazoo basin of Mississippi, and 278 square miles in the basin of the Homochitto. The allu- vial deposit at Cairo is about 25 feet thick, and about 35 feet in the Yazoo belt, and this thickness is maintained as far down as Baton Rouge. Borings at New Orleans indicate a thickness there of 40 feet.
A feature of the river, which has been often remarked upon, is, that its width is not increased by the absorption of any tributary, however large: thus, at Rock Island, nearly 1,800 miles from its mouth, it is 5,000 feet wide, while at New Orleans, and where it enters the Gulf, swollen by the volumes of the Missouri, Ohio, Ar- kansas, Yazoo and Red rivers, it is dwarfed to 2,470 feet. (Hum- phreys and Abbot.) Jenkins is authority for the following data on the dimensions of the great river: Its breadth from Cairo to Helena, Ark., is over a mile, or from 5,875 feet to 5,282 feet. From Helena, Ark., to the mouth of the Red river, it is less than a mile wide, or from 4,758 feet to 4,030 feet in width. From Red river to Baton Rouge it is 3,260 feet in width, and from Baton Rouge to the head of the Passes, it is a little less than half a mile wide, or from 2,628 feet to 2,605 feet, thus gradually decreasing in width as it flows to the sea.
While the width of the river decreases as we descend the stream, the converse is true in relation to the depth, which decreases as we ascend the stream. The greatest depth is about 117 feet between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and 114 and 1/2 feet between Red River and Baton Rouge.
Red river to Natchez, 101 feet ;
Natchez to Vicksburg, 92 feet;
Vicksburg to Helena, 84 feet ;
Helena to Memphis, 63 feet; Memphis to Cairo, 72 feet. (ave- rage).
Computations show that while there is considerable variation in the breadth and depth of the river, that is, decreasing in width and increasing in depth as it flows to the sea, the cross section varies but slightly, the average cross section, from Cairo to New
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Orleans, being a little over 200,000 square feet. (A tabulated state- ment of the dimensions of the river, and the volume of its discharge in cubic feet per second, during high and low water, will be found in Jenkins monograph on the Mississippi River, vol. 6, of the Miss. Historical Society Publications.) On the Mississippi front of this State, the river has an average width of 4,712 feet, an average depth of 51.5 feet and an average cross-section of 198,957 square feet, a powerful stream which is difficult to control in times of flood. Moreover, the same authority advances the claim that the great- est force of the flood waters is met with at Helena in the shape of Crowley's ridge, and that they have a tendency to seek an outlet on the opposite shore at Montezuma bend or the Yazoo Pass, which he calls "our weakest point." Here the river is only 27 miles wide, "practically a gorge, and on account of the deflection which the flood-waters receive when striking Crowley's ridge, the strength of the current is thrown against the opposite shore at about the mouth of the Yazoo Pass, and if allowed to have its own way the natural course of the river would be down the Yazoo river where it undoubtedly flowed at one time, between the narrow ridge and the high lands." Moreover, "the discharge is greatest (at Helena), being 1,848,000 cubic feet per second and the oscillation, or differ- ence between high and low water, over 50 feet." As a consequence, the best levee protection is demanded at this point. (See Levees).
The fall of the lower Mississippi is about 32/100 of a foot per mile. From the Gulf to Red river, a distance of 311 miles, the elevation of the low water surface above sea level is only 3 feet, from Red river to Lake Providence, distance 211 miles, the rise is 66.8 feet and from Lake Providence to Memphis, distance 312 miles, rise 111.9 feet.
The course of the river is in a series of curves, from ten to twelve miles in diameter, sweeping around with great uniformity, until it returns to a point very near the one from which it was deflected. The current continually encroaches on the alluvial banks, until finally, during high flood, a crevasse occurs, when nearly the whole volume of water rushes through the newly formed channel, known as a "cut off." The result of this action is seen in numerous cres- cent-shaped or "ox-bow" lakes which owe their origin to this cause. Sandbars accumulate at the mouth of the ancient channels, on which rushes first take root, and subsequently cotton-wood, thus forming lakes, isolated from the river, except in time of flood. This universal tendency of all swift rivers to assume the "serpen- tine" or "S" shape, has been everywhere noted, and is well illus- trated in the lower reaches of the Mississippi, from Cairo to New Orleans. It is nowhere rock-bound in its lower course, and its soft, sandy banks yield readily to the excavating power of the swift current. The main channel, and hence the fastest current, shows the well known displacement toward the outward bank of the curve; its closeness to the bank depending upon the strength of curvature of the particular turn. One of the most perfect mean- ders is at Rowdy Bend, above Greenville, Miss., where the channel
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within a few hundred feet of the bank, or about one-eighth of the width of the stream at that point. As a result of this constant erosion of the banks, when unprotected by revetments, marked changes have taken place in the course of the mighty river. Many now living, have been witnesses to some of these changes .. A strik- ing example is seen at Raleigh Landing, about fifteen miles above Vicksburg, Miss., which in twelve years was forced back over a mile. Among less marked examples may be mentioned Rivers, Avalanche, Lee's and Ship Bayou Landings, near Natchez, Miss., all of which have been moved back half a mile or more. Fort Adams, Grand Gulf, St. Joseph, La., are victims of the same pro -. cesses. The erosion of one bank is accompanied by filling along the other, so that the width of the river remains fairly constant. As we have seen, the stronger the curve, the greater the displace- ment of the swift current, and the more sluggish the water along the inner bank, and the greater the amount of deposition, resulting finally in a cut-off, when the river cuts through the neck of a lobe or spur, and takes a shorter path. The river ends of the old mean- der become silted up and "ox-bow" lakes are formed. One of the largest cut-off meanders is at Davis's cut-off, Palmyra Lake, just south of Vicksburg. Other examples may be seen at many points along the course of the river. "It has been reported recently that the down valley migration of the curve above Sargent's point, be- low Vicksburg, has allowed the river to cut through the neck and return to its former course, long known as Lake Palmyra. By this change several cotton plantations were practically ruined, Davis Island was restored to the Mississippi mainland, and further growth of the meander below Davis's cut-off was probably stopped." (Bul- letin 36, p. 598, American Geog. Soc.)
It is probable that the Mississippi river has always been within a few miles of its present general location. According to Jenkins, "it may, however, after passing the hills at Memphis, have made its channel down and through Horn Lakes and Horn Lake creek into the Yazoo river. Thence skirting the foot-hills to Walnut Hills, it was deflected by the line of bluffs in a southwesterly direc- tion to the 31st parallel, where it swept around to the southeast, if it did not find a shorter route to the sea by the way of the Atchafal- aya, or even empty its muddy waters into the Gulf of Mexico at that point; for the Mississippi river from its present mouth to the mouth of the Red river, is an estuary, or arm, of the sea."
The area of the delta, assuming that it begins where the river sends off its first branch to the sea-viz., at the head of Bayou Atchafalaya-is estimated at 12,300 square miles. This would be at the mouth of Red river, latitude 31 degrees, while the mouth of the Great River is now in latitude 29 degrees; thus extending through two degrees of space. (The Mississippi Valley, Foster.) The same authority computes the age of the delta at 4,400 years, on the assumption that the river advances into the Gulf at the rate of 262 feet per annum-the distance from its present mouth to its supposed original mouth being given as 220 miles. The same emi-
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nent geologist estimates that the Mississippi must have been a delta- forming river at an earlier period, as is evidenced by the Loess for- mation which occurs along its banks, and which, at Natchez, attains a thickness of sixty feet.
The amount of sediment held in suspension by the river is enor- mous, and as determined by numerous experiments, is, by weight nearly as 1 to 1.500; and by bulk, nearly as 1 to 2.900. The mean annual discharge of water is assumed at 19,500,000,000,000 cubic feet ; hence it follows that 812,500,000,000 pounds of sedimentary matter-equal to one square mile of deposit, 241 feet in depth- are yearly transported, in a state of suspension, into the Gulf. (Humphreys and Abbot, "Physics of the Mississippi.")
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