Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 37

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1032

USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 37

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There is a suggestion of this in the correspondence of William Dunbar, who lived near Baton Rouge, in June, 1783: "I am sorry to say that our plantation falls considerable without the American line, in consequence of which it may not be worth a pinch of snuff as a salable commodity. As Natchez is considerably above latitude thirty-one degrees, we believe here it must soon be- come a settlement of great consequence, although we have not learned the intentions of Congress respecting it. Mrs. Pollock gives out that her husband (Oliver Pollock) is coming out as gov- ernor." Dunbar, before long, did move near Natchez, believing the treaty would eventually be carried into effect. Many others, says Wailes, influenced by similar considerations, removed to the district.

August 18, 1783, Stephen Miro, temporary governor under the Count of Galvez, published a proclamation which was counter- signed at Natchez by Commandant Phelipe Trevino. It recited that "the too great number of strange Famillies, who begin to in- troduce themselves into this Province (Louisiana) and that of West Florida, under the names of Irish, American and German Catholicks, requires the most particular attention of Government," therefore his Excellency had "resolved that hereafter there shall be only admitted such Famillies as shall profess the Catholick, Apostolick and Roman Religion, according to what is wisely pro- vided by our Laws in the Recapitulation of the Indias; on the express condition ; That those Famillies which are admitted shall employ themselves in the cultivation of lands, and in the mechan- ical arts, and nowise in the exercise of rowing or hunting, or directly or indirectly to trade with any of the Indian nations of the province." The reason given was that long and fatal experience had proved that all the rogueries committed on the river and in the upper posts of the country were occasioned by "vagabonds without religion or subordination, principle or the least notion of the natural rights of the people."

The inclination to assert citizenship in the United States was also shown in 1785 by the Bourbon county episode (q. v.), which Governor Miro treated as a sedition or rebellion. This was the result of immigration from Georgia soon after the suppression of the revolt-bringing the Virginians headed by Thomas Green. Throughout the period of waiting, the district was subject to the tangled intrigues that distracted the people of the western settle- ments, but the people were complimented by Governor Carondelet, in 1790, for such staunch loyalty that encouraged the French of New Orleans to remain quietly under Spanish rule despite the appeals of their countrymen. Meanwhile, as Wailes says, "some of the English royalists of the Natchez district," the original set- tlers, adhered to that party which "looked with a distant and vague hope to the re-establishment of the British rule."

In 1785 a census was taken of Louisiana, which includes the following, the population being given by districts: Manchac, 77; Baton Rouge, 270; Natchez, 1,550; Mobile, 746.

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By the same census the population of New Orleans was 4,980; St. Louis, 897; Galveston, 242. The most populous district was Tchoupitoulas, 7,046.

In his proclamation concerning the "sedition" of 1785, Governor Miro advised the inhabitants that they must take the oath of al- legiance, which some had refused to do. He told them that those who attempted to alienate themselves were the more guilty because the government they were under was "the most easy, without paying any duties, having the liberty to sell at the city all their pro- duces, even cattles, to a great advantage, with the faculty of being paid in ready cash, for the richest, which is tobacco, that his majesty paid to them double the price of all other nations."

In the same year Governor Miro granted "some indulgence and extension of time, in relation to their selling their property, col- lecting their debts and removing away their persons and effects." This was confirmed by the royal order communicated by the Mar- quis de Sonora, April 5, 1786, to Count de Galvez, captain-general of the two Floridas. This edict recited that in consequence of a letter from Galvez, October 27th last, and an enclosure from Don Stephen Miro, governor of Louisiana, "concerning the inconven- iences that attend the removal of the English and American fami- lies settled in Baton Rouge, Mobile, Pensacola and Natchez, out of the said provinces, agreeably to the late treaty of peace," it had pleased the king to approve the directions given Miro by Galvez "for not changing the situation of the aforesaid families. It being his royal will and pleasure to continue to them the permission of inhabiting their respective settlements upon this indispensable condition, that they make solemn oath of fidelity and obedience to his majesty, that they do not go out of the limits in which they are now settled, and shall not any time hereafter remove to any other part, without an express license from government. That those who do not come under these just conditions shall go by sea to the colonies of North America at their own cost, or if they be not able, it shall be done at the king's expense and reimbursed out of their property as soon as possible. That the Natchez and other parts of the Floridas where convenient shall be divided into parishes to be served by Irish clergymen, in order to bring over the said colonists, their children and their families to our religion, with that mildness which the religion itself dictates." Galvez and his subordinate governors were instructed to report the number of parishes, and in the meantime directions were given "to the Bishop of Salamanca to provide four of known leal, virtue and literature from the university or any other." (Spanish Rec- ords of Natchez District, Mississippi Department of Archives and History.)

The statement of William Dunbar is that after the eighteen months granted in the treaty for British subjects who would take the oath of allegiance or were absent, to dispose of their property, the Spanish government by proclamation twice prolonged the period two years or more, and it was not until after the second

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term that the lands were considered as reverted to the crown, and were granted out to petitioners. The lands of the leaders of the rebellion were declared forfeited, and sold.

In 1785, also, Governor Miro interposed to relieve the planters from distress at the hands of the collecting agents of the Jamaica merchants, permitting the seizure of property only in such cases as showed fraud or bad faith.

While Governor Miro, in league with General Wilkinson, was intriguing to promote the acquisition of Kentucky and Tennessee by Spain, Gardoqui, the Spanish minister to the United States, worked effectively to encourage immigration to the Natchez. In 1788, says Gayarré, "Col. Peter Brian Browin (Bruin), among others, with a number of families, provided with passports from Gardouqui, had arrived to settle in the district of Natchez." In 1790 the Forman colony came to Natchez, including Capt. Benajah Osmun, all distinguished Revolutionary characters. It is not to be concluded that such immigrants had any sympathy with the Spanish hope to create a settlement hostile to the United States. It is even possible to believe that Wilkinson's intrigue was a great scheme to work the Spaniards, in his private interest, as Miro frequently suspected.

The conditions of settlement may be inferred from the instruc- tions given to Grand Pré regarding the D'Arges project. The settlers must pledge themselves by oath on the Holy Evangelists to be what the officers briefly designated as "good Spaniards" even against their American brethren, should the latter invade the Natchez district. They could believe in privacy what they pleased about religion, but Irish priests were sent from the university of Salamanca to perform the public rites of worship. (See Religious Toleration.)

There seems to have been some local military appointments, but according to Governor Sargent, "there was no militia in the Natchez district. Governor Gayoso once contemplated such es- tablishment, but the Baron Carondelet forbade it."

The census taken in 1788 showed that Natchez district had in- creased in population to 2,679, a more rapid growth than was shown by New Orleans or St. Louis.

Following this there was considerable settlement from the western country, in response to the efforts of the Spanish agents, chiefly, says Wailes, in the Natchez district and Feliciana. "Many however, under the pretense of settling permanently in the coun- try, took advantage of the permission to make several trips and to introduce their goods and produce free, and in this manner a market was gradually opened for the produce of the Ohio."

After 1789, according to Pickett's history of Alabama, the popu- lation was increased by a number of adventurers who came out expecting to obtain lands under the Georgia deals with the Caro- lina land companies, but found no land for them unless they could acquire it from the Indians, which was forbidden by the laws of

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the United States, including Georgia. Their efforts, also, were considered as inimical to the sovereignty of Spain.

The planters were in a serious financial condition in 1789-90 and for several years later. They had embarked in the culture of to- bacco, under the royal agreement to take 200,000 pounds annually, and contracted large debts for negroes and implements. In 1789 untoward circumstances prevented their meeting their obligations, and in 1790 the royal government dropped its offer for tobacco to 40,000 pounds. At the same time the concessions made to Wilkinson brought Kentucky tobacco into the market in such abundance as to seriously lower the price. For this reason the culture of indigo was renewed and cotton introduced. Governor Carondelet presented these facts to the king's minister in 1794, and said that if the law was permitted to have its course, these peo- ple rather than allow themselves to be utterly ruined, would take refuge with their negroes on the territory of the Indians and the Americans. It is to be supposed that the petition was granted, and the planters were granted a delay of payment until the gather- ing-in of the crop of 1800, provided annual payments were made in the meantime. According to later representations, the district, at the close of Spanish dominion, was in a condition of financial prostration, but on the verge of recovery through the culture of cotton.

In 1790, by the treaty of Natchez, the boundaries of the district were reaffirmed, on the old lines, with a new cession of a site for Fort Nogales, on Walnut hills.

The official communications indicated no expectation of giving up the country to the United States. The continual effort, on the other hand, was to enlarge the dominion of the king, up to the Ohio river, if possible. Finally, when the treaty of relinquishment was made in 1795, it was understood as a temporary expedient of international policy in Europe, resorted to in the confusion of the Napoleonic era, when royalty of the Bourbon stamp was strug- gling for existence. It does not appear that the governor of Louis- iana or his subordinates expected the treaty to be carried into ef- fect. They had some hope that the inhabitants would remain loyal to the king. The subject is further presented in "Advent of the Flag" and other articles.

The first treaties of the United States with the Indians of the Southwest after the settlement of the question of American suprem- acy over the Indians, which was an essential part of the treaty with Spain, were those at Chickasaw Bluffs and Loftus Heights, by General Wilkinson, to secure the right to improve the Natchez Trace, the famous route for river traders returning northward from New Orleans. Next came the treaties at Fort Confederation which provided for the resurvey of the old line of Natchez district, which had been neglected during the Spanish regime.

Concerning this negotiation with the Choctaws President Jef- ferson wrote in his message to congress December 15, 1802: "The country to which their title had been extinguished before the Rev-

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olution is sufficient to receive a very respectable population, which Congress will probably see the expediency of encouraging, so soon as the limits shall be declared. We are to view this position as an outpost of the United States, surrounded by strong neighbors, and distant from its support." (Authority, Spanish Records of the Natchez District on file in the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Used for the first time in this work.)

Natchez Fencibles, a famous volunteer military company organ- ized under the leadership of John A. Quitman, April 21, 1824, with the motto, "Try Us." The stated days of parade were Janu- ary 8, February 22, April 21 and July 4. In 1827 the officers were : John A. Quitman, captain; John I. Guion, first lieutenant; Duncan S. Walker, second lieutenant; A. Bingham, third lieutenant; G. Powell, W. H. Chaille, Daniel C. Miller, Henry Millard, sergeants ; Henry T. Miller, Benjamin Wade, James Ferguson, Eli Mont- gomery, corporals; William C. Grissam, treasurer; David John- ston, inspector. Under this name Company G, 12th regiment, was mustered in April 5, 1861.

Natchez Hospital. The Natchez hospital was incorporated January 18, 1805. Governor Holmes addressed the governors of Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, in May, 1818, stating that the hospital had hitherto received its principal support from the legislature and the donations of charitable individuals, but as it was intended chiefly for stran- gers, the boatmen of the river, other States were asked to contribute to its maintenance. "It may however be proper to say that the best medical assistance is rendered gratuitously, and that the building, which is situated on a healthy eminence, is well calcu- lated to answer the purpose for which it was intended." In 1840 the State hospital at Natchez treated 166 patients, $5,000 was an- nually drawn from the. State treasury, $500 from special taxes and $5,697 from relief committees. The hospital is now mainly main- tained by the State, the appropriations of 1904-05 aggregating over $35,000.

Natchez Indians. The Natchez Indians have long since been extinct as a nation, and they live only in story and tradition, and in the name of the beautiful old city of Natchez, built in the heart of the region they once inhabited. Dim traditions hint that they were once a powerful people, boasting some sixty villages and eight hundred suns or princes. Father Charlevoix wrote of them in 1721: "About six years ago they reckoned among them four thousand warriors. It appears that they were more numerous in the time of M. La Salle, and even when M. d'Iberville discovered the mouth of the Mississippi. At present the Natchez cannot raise two thousand fighting men. They attribute this decrease to some contagious diseases, which in these last years have made a great ravage among them." Father le Petit declared that the Natchez were reduced to six little villages and eleven suns, at the time of the massacre of the French in 1729. The Taensas Indians, who oc- cupied the present parish of Tensas in Louisiana, were an offshoot

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of the Natchez, with the same religion, manners and customs. The fertility of the Natchez district at once appealed to the French, and d'Iberville took pains to conclude a formal treaty of peace with the tribe in 1700; and in 1716 Bienville built Fort Rosalie and established the first French post among them. From this time on many French settled among them. The first settlers bought their lands of the Indians, but afterwards little regard was shown for Indian proprietorship. This steady encroachment of the French on their domain, combined with ill-treatment and cupidity, precipitated the fatal massacre of 1729. (q. v.)

Writers have been fond of portraying the Natchez as the most civilized of all the southern tribes of Indians, but there is little or nothing to warrant the picture. They occupied a region highly favored by soil and climate, which may have given them a more permanent habitat than other tribes. But there was nothing in their religion, architecture, or mode of life to set them above or apart from many other Indian tribes. They were sun worship- pers and believed that their hereditary chiefs were descended from the sun, a belief prevailing among many other tribes-notably the Choctaws and Hurons. If they relied more on agriculture, and less on hunting and fishing, for the means of subsistence, the fertile area occupied by them, will readily account for it. Their religion was in the highest degree primitive and brutal. Says Charlevoix: "When this Great Chief, or the Woman Chief dies, all their Allouez or guards, are obliged to follow them into the other world; but they are not the only persons who have this honor; for so it is reckoned among them, and is greatly sought after. The death of a chief sometimes costs the lives of more than a hundred persons; and I have been assured that very few princi- pal persons of the Natchez die, without being escorted to the country of souls by some of their relations, their friends, or their servants." The horrible ceremonies attendant on human sacri- fices have been frequently detailed by early writers. Their idea of a future life was sufficiently crude. The good enjoyed a per- petual feast of green corn, venison and melons, and the bad were condemned to a diet of alligators and spoiled fish. The chiefs of the Natchez bore the name of Suns and the head chief was called the Great Sun. He was always succeeded by the son of the woman most nearly related to him. This woman had the title of Woman Chief, and though she did not meddle with the government, she was paid great honors. Like the great chief, she also had the power of life and death. "The government was an absolute despotism. The supreme chief was master of their labor, their property and their lives. He never labored and when he needed provisions he issued invitations for a feast, and all the principal inhabitants were required to attend, and to bring supplies sufficient for the entertainment and for the support of the royal family, until he chose to proclaim another festival." (Claiborne, p. 24.)

The Natchez were divided into two classes, that of the nobility, and that of the common people, called "Stinkards." While they

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understood one another, their dialects were different. £ When Charlevoix saw the great village of the Natchez, it consisted of only a few cabins, and he explained its small size by the statement that the savages, from whom the great chief had the right to take all they had, got as far from him as they could.

He has left us a vivid picture of the village and its royal dwel- ling and temple. There is certainly no evidence of a higher civi- lization portrayed. The temple is built of the same crude mate- rials as the other cabins, only larger. Inside, he "Never saw any- thing more slovenly and dirty, nor more in disorder. We see nothing in their outward appearance that distinguishes them from the other savages of Canada and Louisiana. They seldom make war, not placing their glory in destroying men. What dis- tinguishes them more particularly, is the form of their govern- ment, entirely despotic; a great dependence, which extends even to a kind of slavery, in the subjects ; more pride and grandeur in the chiefs, and their pacific spirit, which, however, they have not entirely preserved for some years past."

The miserable remnant of the once powerful tribe was finally defeated and utterly crushed by the French at Natchitoches, in 1732 and their identity became merged in that of the Chickasaws and other tribes, among whom the few survivors took refuge.

Natchez Massacre, 1729. This unlooked for massacre began on Monday, the 28th day of November, 1729, about nine o'clock in the morning. Relations with the warlike and subtle tribe of the Natchez had been strained ever since the French post had been established at Natchez in 1716. Preliminary murders by the In- dians, followed by swift retribution on the part of the French, prevented any lasting peace. In 1723 had occurred the first gen- eral outbreak of the Indians, which Bienville quelled with charac- teristic severity. The misconduct, cupidity and injustice of some of the French commanders, particularly Chopart, inflamed the savages with hatred and a desire for revenge, with the result that in one day the Natchez massacred most of the settlers among them. In very early times the Natchez were reputed to have been a very numerous people, counting some sixty villages and eight hundred suns or princes. At the beginning of the 18th century they were reduced to six little villages and eleven suns. On the other hand, the French, at Natchez, were a small and compara- tively helpless band in comparison with the Indians; their garri- son at Fort Rosalie was small and the planters were living on isolated farms. In Claiborne's History, p. 236, foot-note, it is stated: "The French, under concessions granted by the king, had, at the time of the massacre, several extensive and well improved plantations around Natchez, particularly on St. Catherine's extend- ing from the present Washington road, down said creek, on both sides, to the Woodville road. There was a plantation, near the mouth of Cole's creek; one or two on Bayou Pierre, and at Wal- nut Hills, and quite a settlement around Fort St. Peter, on the Yazoo. Nearly all the occupants perished at the time of the mas-

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sacre. The few that escaped, made their way to New Orleans. And it is remarkable that their claims, which were unquestionably valid, and would, doubtless, have been recognized by either the Spanish or British government, were never presented."

The Natchez gained entrance to the fort by a stratagem and the historic massacre began. It is probable that there was an agreement between the Natchez and the Chickasaws, Yasous, and other confederate tribes, to make a joint attack on the French, on a certain day-all to share in the distribution of the booty. The design was doubtless hastened by the requirement of Chopart, commandant of Fort Rosalie, that White Apple Village, on Sec- ond creek about 12 miles from Natchez, should be abandoned, so that it, with its surrounding fields, might be converted into a French plantation; and the Natchez were tempted also to antici- pate the day agreed upon by the arrival of a number of richly laden boats for the garrison and the colonists. Father le Petit, whose account of the massacre, is perhaps as reliable as any, in his ac- count of the last Natchez war says "First they divided themselves, and sent into the fort, into the village, and into the two grants, as many Indians as there were French in each of these places; then they feigned that they were going out for a grand hunt and undertook to trade with the French for guns, powder and ball, offering to pay them as much, and even more than was customary, and in truth, as there was no reason to suspect their fidelity, they made at that time an exchange of their poultry and corn, for some arms and ammunition which they used advantageously against us. They had been on their guard against the Tchactas (Choctaws), but as for the Natchez, they never distrusted them. Having thus posted themselves in different houses, provided with the arms obtained from us, they attacked at the same time each his man, and in less than two hours they massacred more than two hundred of the French. The best known are Father du Poisson, M. de Chopart, commander of the post, M. du Codere, commander among the Yasous, M. des Ursins, Messieurs de Kolly and son, Messieurs de Longrays, des Noyers, Bailly, etc. . These barbarians spared but two of the French, a tailor and a carpenter, who were able to serve their wants. They did not treat badly either the negro slaves, or the Indians who were willing to give themselves up; but they ripped up the belly of every pregnant woman, and killed almost all those who were nursing their children, because they were disturbed by their cries and tears. They did not kill the other women, but made them their slaves. During the massacre, the Sun, or the great chief of the Natchez, was seated quietly under the tobacco shed of the company. His warriors brought to his feet the head of the commander, about which they ranged those of the principal French of the post, leaving their bodies a prey to the dogs, the buzzards, and other carnivorous birds. The Tchactas, and the other Indians being engaged in the plot with them, they felt at their ease, and did not at all fear they would draw on themselves the vengeance which was merited by

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 37

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Rowland, Dunbar, 1864-1937, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Atlanta, Southern Historical Publishing Association
Number of Pages: 1032