USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 49
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To provide money for the war, the Convention in January au- thorized the issue of treasury paper to the amount of $1,000,000. Bonds were issued to the amount of about $55,000 and Treasury notes for the balance. These notes were in about equal numbers of $10, $20, $50, and $100. From the start it was impossible to exchange any considerable amount of the notes for gold or silver, and consequently they were paid out as money in the disburse- ments for military purposes. There were no banks in the State authorized to issue money. The banks outside had generally sus- pended, and their notes were depreciated before hostilities began. The railroads were empowered to issue script as money, to the amount of $1,250,000. In view of the great financial embarrass- ment, the governor asked the postponement of all legal sales on judgments, as early in the war period as the first famous battle. His advice was followed, and all actions for debt or the enforce- ment of contracts, and all sales of property under judgment, were suspended until' twelve months after the close of the war. The effect of this was to suspend all the courts of the State.
The governor also said: "Private donations to the volunteer companies in uniforming, arming and subsisting them, have in the last few months amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars ; but these contributions, from the more liberal and patriotic citi- zens, cannot, and in justice ought not to be relied on to carry on the war." He urged an increased taxation of slaves and land of one fourth of one per cent.
There was serious opposition for a time, to the reelection of Governor Pettus, largely on account of the August encampment.
August 26, by proclamation, the governor asked that provisions
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for the sick and wounded at the battle of Manassas be collected by the probate clerks to be forwarded to Virginia.
At the regular election in October, Gov. Pettus was reelected with very little opposition. He received 30,169 votes, Jacob Thompson 3,556, Madison McAfee 234, scattering 662. C. A. Brougher was reelected secretary of state ; T. J. Wharton, attorney- general; M. D. Haynes, treasurer; E. R. Burt, auditor. Col. Burt fell in battle in Virginia a few days later; A. B. Dilworth was ap- pointed in his place, and A. J. Gillespie was elected at a special election February 10, 1862.
The governor's message, at the opening of the regular session of the legislature in November, was mainly devoted to the war. On the first day of the session the legislature adjourned to attend the funeral of Col. Erasmus R. Burt. The adjutant-general's re- port indicated that 35,000 men of Mississippi were then enlisted for military duty, "which is probably a larger proportion of the adult male population than any State or nation has sent forth to war in modern times; and when it is remembered that not one of all these thousands has been required by law to enter the service, or constrained by any force save the patriotic desire to stand be- tween the State and her enemies, Mississippi may well feel proud of her volunteer defenders." In concluding his message he said, "I cannot close without paying a heartfelt tribute to the patriotic, self-sacrificing devotion exhibited by the women of Mississippi. If our brave defenders are supplied with clothing sufficient to keep the field in the winter campaign, the country will be indebted for it to the patient toil of the daughters of the South." The State was without any manufactories, it was without money and with- out credit ; the blockade had closed its market, the military enroll- ment ordinarily to be expected of its population was already ex- hausted. Yet, somehow, the war was maintained for more than three years longer, even after the river and coast, and northern border were in the possession of the Union troops. Extraordinary efforts were required to obtain so common a necessity as salt. (q. v.)
The financial situation received the attention of the Mississippi legislature. Some way to get cash for the cotton was of course the main point. The select committee of five of the House, be- lieved the condition was not yet hopeless; that the North also suffered, and that a balance sheet would show a larger amount of real money in the Confederacy than in the Union. They believed the only effective procedure was to unite all resources, banks, credit and cotton, "in getting up a sufficient number of gunboats and war vessels to break up the blockade." They expressed a misconception common in those days, that a cutting off of the cot- ton supply from the cotton mills of the North would produce gen- eral ruin in that region. The people were urged to listen to no overtures of peace and restoration of the Union. If the shipment of cotton to the North could be prevented, the North must admit Southern independence.
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Gov. Pettus himself urged that there be legislation to restrict the next crop of cotton, and turn agriculture into the production of grain and provisions.
The legislature authorized an issue of treasury notes to the amount of $5,000,000 to be advanced on cotton, and chartered the Bank of Jackson and other banks, permitting them to issue cur- rency notes, on condition that they received the treasury notes at par. The bank notes were to be receivable for taxes. Near the close of the session the legislature passed an act incorporating other banks of issue, without any requirement to protect the Treasury notes, which was vetoed by Governor Pettus.
An issue of treasury notes to the amount of $2,500,000 was also authorized, for a military fund. Under this act, treasury notes were issued to the amount of $1,610,375, including 65,000 each of $5's and $10's. This included $500,000 appropriated to the relief of destitute families.
The Cotton notes were issued to the full $5,000,000. Any owner of cotton could obtain them to the amount of the value of his cot- ton at 5 cents a pound, on promising to deliver his cotton when the governor called for it. These Cotton notes became the prin- cipal currency of the State.
Early in 1862 Mississippi began to be the theatre of war. Ship Island was occupied and the coast was harassed. The great bat- tle of Shiloh, almost on the margin of the State, was followed by the evacuation of Corinth and a fierce battle there. New Orleans and Memphis fell, and the river was occupied by the United States navy. Vicksburg was the key to the situation, and the world was watching the great campaign begun for its possession. When the legislature met in special session December 17, 1862, Gen. Grant was marching south on the line of the Memphis railroad and Sherman was seeking to gain a foothold at the mouth of the Yazoo.
In his message, December 20, Gov. Pettus recommended that "the entire white male population of the State, from sixteen to sixty years of age, be enrolled in the militia, and that such as are deemed able to go into active service be called at once to the defense of the State," the remainder to be organized for local defense and patrol service. Sheriffs, magistrates and constables should be required to aid the military "to enroll, and if necessary arrest conscripts and send them to the proper camps, and to arrest and send to their commands all who owe service to the country and either neglect or refuse to perform it."
Particularly he urged provision for the dependent families of soldiers, the action already taken having proved to be altogether inadequate. "Owing to the drought of the past season, which ex- tended over a large portion of the State, and the necessity of call- ing more men into the field, the number of destitute families will be greatly increased, and thereby add largely to the wants of our people, who are even now in some districts suffering for bread."
"The exorbitant prices asked for every article of food by those
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who are engaged in buying and selling for profit, and many who produce them, is putting the means of living beyond the reach of many of our poor citizens. If permitted to go unchecked it will transfer the property of the country to the hands of the worst and least patriotic of our population." (Governor's Message, 1862.)
Treasury notes to the full amount authorized by the legislature had been advanced on cotton, furnishing a circulating medium that was so far satisfactory.
Forty-six regiments were then in the Confederate service, be- sides cavalry and artillery, and various battalions and companies of which there was no State record. There were also minute men on duty in the State. The State armory, moved from Panola to Brandon, was doing its best to supply and repair arms.
President Davis and Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived at Jack- son two days after the legislature met, and a few days later visited Vicksburg and its defenses. Returning to Jackson on the 26th, they addressed the legislature and a large audience of citizens. As if their presence brought good fortune, the defeat of Sherman and retreat of Grant immediately followed. In the same month of December great victories in Tennessee and Virginia created a revival of confidence in the South.
The cotton of many planters had been burned or destroyed by order of the military authorities of the Confederate States to pre- vent its falling into the hands of the enemy. Senator Yerger in- troduced a resolution that it should be paid for by the State by a tax on cotton that had not been destroyed, but the same was ruled out of order.
The Senate did, however, adopt a resolution in favor of paying owners of slaves the damages resulting to slaves from their im- pressment in the service of the State or Confederate States, and for losses of slaves by killing, wounding or capture by the enemy while in such service.
The legislature responded to the governor's appeals by various acts, among them one regarding the military fund, under which the governor issued $1,115,000 Treasury notes, and a militia law, declaring that all white males between the ages of 18 and 50 were liable to militia service to the State, and that all such persons between the ages of 18 and 40, or such others as might be con- scripted by the Confederate government, be placed in camps of in- struction. It was made the duty of all military officers to arrest deserters and deliver them to the nearest provost marshal. The Confederate conscript or draft law was already onerous. The militia law was not very popular, and was denounced by part of the newspapers of the State. Afterward the governor said: "Had the efforts which have been made to organize the State troops re- ceived that support which, in view of the great danger threatening us, I had a right to expect, there is much reason to believe that the condition of Mississippi would now be much better than it is. A few thousand additional troops at Jackson in May might have held that place until reinforcements to General Johnston, then
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arriving, could have overwhelmed the invading army and main- tained our position at Vicksburg."
The condition of the people was indicated by prices, reckoned in this State or Confederate States money. In December, 1862. flour was selling at $50 to $75 a barrel in North Mississippi. It was $200 about Jackson next year. Men's boots sold at $30 to $50 a pair, calico $2 a yard. Watermelons brought $10 to $25 apiece. Envelopes were 5 cents each, matches of the poorest quality 25 a box.
April 30 Grant landed 20,000 men at Bruinsburg, a place famous in the old days of Aaron Burr. May 3 the governor issued a proc- lamation to the people of Mississippi, calling for a supreme united effort. "The chivalry of her people, the glory of her daring deeds upon foreign fields should not be tarnished and her streaming battle-flag dragged to the dust by barbarian hordes on her own soil. Awake then-arouse, Mississippi!" On the same day he called for 500 negroes to work on fortifications about Jackson. May 5 the State officers were instructed to prepare for removal on a half hour's notice the records and material necessary to carry on business.
May 12 there was a bloody battle at Raymond. The Federal columns pushed on to Jackson, and the capital was evacuated by Gen. Johnston and the State government May 14. Sherman took possession, with orders to destroy railroad and manufacturing property, after which he marched to rejoin Grant on the movement to Vicksburg. The State government was removed temporarily to Enterprise. From Meridian, June 27, the governor issued the proclamation calling the October elections. From Jackson, July 7, he called for 7,000 volunteers to serve six months from August 1, under authority of the war department. Two days later, Sher- man was before the fortifications of Jackson, with an army that compelled Johnston to retreat to Meridian on the 17th. August 11, Gov. Pettus proclaimed the removal of the seat of government from Meridian to Macon, Noxubee county. From there, October 4, he called the legislature to meet at Columbus. James Coates was appointed, October 9, librarian and keeper of the capitol and public grounds. On the first approach of Grant's army twenty- five convicts in the penitentiary, said to be unfriendly to the Con- federacy, were transferred to the prison at Wetumpka, Ala .; oth- ers were pardoned and mustered into the Confederate army, and the remainder were turned loose. The penitentiary, really a great manufactory, mainly military, making the State a profit of $60,- 000 a year, was entirely destroyed on Sherman's first visit. The Lunatic asylum did not suffer except in the damage to fencing and outbuildings during the siege in July. The Deaf and Dumb, and the Blind institution buildings were taken by the Confederate authorities as hospitals, and the furniture appropriated. The buildings of the first suffered considerably during the siege. The Blind institute was removed to Monticello and kept in operation, but only three of the deaf and dumb were held together.
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The State armory, which had been brought from Panola to Brandon earlier in the war, was moved to Meridian, where tem- porary buildings were erected for the reception of the machinery, unfinished guns and guns out of repair, and ordnance stores on hand. But the effectiveness of the armory was practically de- stroyed. The supreme court was authorized to meet wherever convenient, but it was in fact, practically suspended from 1861 to 1865.
The funds of the State treasury were taken first to Enterprise, thence to the Bank of Mobile, and from there, after the fall of Vicksburg, to the Central bank at Montgomery.
At the election in October votes were cast for Gen. Charles Clark, Gen. A. M. West, and Gen. Reuben Davis, for governor. No returns reached the legislature from Adams, Claiborne, Harri- son, Issaquena, Tunica, Warren and Washington. Some of the returns were unsealed. Of the sealed votes counted, Clark re- ceived 11,876, West 3,302, Davis 1,469. The unsealed votes were in about the same proportion.
There was in the treasury at the close of the Pettus administra- tion $408,000 subject to the payment of general warrants. By the issue of treasury notes a debt of about $8,000,000 had been in- curred, but $600,000 of the Cotton notes had been paid back into the treasury.
In his message of November, 1863, Gov. Pettus wrote: "There have been a flood of rumors as to the disloyalty of particular dis- tricts and localities of the State, but I have received no reliable information of any considerable disaffection in any quarter. It is perhaps true that some individuals, taking counsel of their fears, have taken the oath of allegiance to, and sought the protection of the government of the United States. But the great heart of the people of Mississippi remains as true to the cause, and their deter- mination to succeed in the great struggle in which we are en- gaged, and is as hopeful and bouyant as when the contest first be- gan."
Peyton, a postoffice of Claiborne county, about 12 miles south- east of Port Gibson, the county seat and nearest banking town.
Peyton, Ephraim Geoffrey, was born near Elizabethtown, Ky., Oct. 29, 1802. When 17 he emigrated, with an older brother, to Mississippi, and worked in a printing office in Natchez for a short time. Later he taught school and read law in Wilkinson county, near Woodville, until the winter of 1824-25, when he was ex- amined at Natchez and admitted to the bar. He began his practice at Gallatin, then the county-seat of Copiah county, and soon estab- lished a mercantile business at Grand Gulf on the Mississippi in addition to his law practice. About 1830 he married Artemisia Patton, of Claiborne county. In 1839 he was elected district at- torney of what was then the 4th judicial district, and was reelected several times, finally resigning to return to his general practice. As he was a pronounced Whig, his election in this strongly Demo- cratic district was a well merited compliment to his ability and his
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reputation for integrity. He bitterly opposed secession, and after the war became a Republican. In 1867 he was appointed to the Supreme Court (then the High Court of Errors and Appeals) by the military authorities; and, on the reorganization of the judiciary by the Constitution of 1869, he was commissioned, May 10, 1870, as chief justice, and reappointed in 1873 for nine years, but re- signed, May 1, 1876, and died at Jackson, Sept. 5, 1876. (See Supreme Court.) "His opinions as a judge are of the finest type," says Edward Mayes. He was such a close student that A. G. Brown said that for fifty years he studied law each day as if he ex- pected to be examined for the bar the next day. In his message of January, 1877, Governor Stone mentioned his death, "in justice to the worth and memory of one who was for many years an hon- ored and conscientious public servant," and added, "An eminent jurist and a man of incorruptible integrity, he discharged the duties of the exalted and responsible position with honor to him- self and the State."
E. G. Peyton, son of the foregoing, was born in Copiah county March 16, 1846; was a soldier in the Twelfth Mississippi regiment until captured at Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865; was admitted to the bar in 1867, and district attorney 1869-70; chancellor 1870-88; died June 19, 1889. He was an able chancellor and a great lawyer.
Pharsalia, an abandoned town in the northeastern part of Talla- hatchie county (q. v.), located on the south bank of the Yacona river. The town started about the time the county was organ- ized, and after weathering a severe small-pox epidemic and the great financial panic of 1837, it died out in 1842. Its prominent settlers were Dr. Broome, Dr. Shegog. J. Hunter, Augustus B. Saunders (Auditor of Public Accounts of Mississippi, 1837-1842), Goode and Keeland, Methodist ministers, James McClain and Eu- gene Stevens, school teachers, Col. Thos. B. Hill and Charles Bowen. Politics were rife here in the early days, and we are told that it "was the scene of many memorable political debates." Dr. F. L. Riley, in his sketch of the old town relates the following incident concerning one of these debates between John A. Quit- man and Henry S. Foote: "Quitman, being the first speaker, fin- ished his address and left. Foote then arose and alluded to Quitman's action in the following words: 'This reminds me of the days of old, when Caesar stood on the plains of Pharsalia and viewed the retreating Pompey. I, like Caesar, am left victorious at Pharsalia.' This created great enthusiasm for Foote."
Pheba, an incorporated post-village in Clay county, on the South- ern Ry., 18 miles west of West Point, the nearest banking town. The village was named for Mrs. Pheba Robinson. It is located in a fine agricultural and stock raising country. Population in 1900, 300.
Phelan, James, was born at Huntsville, Ala., November 20, 1820, and was a descendant of an ancient family in Ireland. At the age of 14 he became an apprentice in the office of the Huntsville Dem- ocrat, but he had mental qualities of a high order and soon at-
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tracted attention as an editorial writer; was called by the Demo- cratic managers to take charge of their organ, the Flag of the Union, at Tuscaloosa; wielded a powerful influence, and in 1843 was elected State printer. He studied law and was admitted to the bar of Alabama in 1846; began practice in Huntsville, where he married Eliza Moore, and in 1849 removed to Aberdeen, Mis- sissippi, and rose to eminence as a lawyer. He espoused the cause of secession; was elected to the State Senate in 1860, and was a senator in the first Confederate Congress; earnestly supported the administration of Jefferson Davis, and after his term in the senate expired he held the position of military judge until the close of the war. He found himself impoverished at the close of the war, but President Johnson permitted him to resume the practice of law, and he removed to Memphis in 1867, where he practiced with marked distinction until his death, May 17, 1873. Ł
Phelps, Alonzo, the "Rob Roy" of Mississippi, was a native of New England, who, according to his own story, fled to the Mis- sissippi valley after killing a rival in love. Roaming along the great river, he became a wild man, seldom entering a house as a friend, living on wild game, and committing crimes without appar- ent compunction. He committed numerous murders and robberies, and though often caught, a dozen times broke jail; his crimes were. often committed under circumstances more ludicrous than tragic. He was nearly six feet in height, with keen gray eyes and blood- red hair that stood up stiffly on his cranium. When finally cap- tured in 1832 and tried, he was defended by Henry S. Foote and prosecuted by Seargent S. Prentiss, Foote being at the time on crutches from his last duel with Prentiss. Judge Montgomery presided; John Gilbert, of Woodville, and Pelton, of Natchez, as- sisted Foote, and Gen. Felix Huston and others were associated with Prentiss. It was one of the most famous trials in Missis- sippi history, and the occasion of one of Prentiss' masterpieces of oratory. The outlaw was found guilty, but while in his cell, after sending for a minister, and having finished the writing of his autobiography, and despite his manacles, he made a slingshot of his leaden inkstand and a stocking, struck down the jailer when the minister was ushered in. He escaped from the jail but was shot and killed as he fled.
Phelps, Matthew, of Harwington, Conn., between the years 1773 and 1780, made two voyages to the Mississippi river; first, in search of health, and with a possible view of purchasing land and settling in that distant region. He invested in a tract of land on the Big Black river and returned east to get his family. After some delays incident to the breaking out of the struggle between the Colonies and Great Britain, he returned to Mississippi in 1776. His impressions of the region are set out in a book entitled Memoirs and Adventures of Captain Matthew Phelps, compiled by Anthony Haswell, from the original journal and minutes kept by Mr. Phelps, and published in 1802. His comments on the expedition of Capt. Willing to the Natchez District in the spring of 1778 are inter-
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esting. He says: "On the seventh of March, 1778, the distresses of the Revolutionary war began to afflict our remote settlements, and on a sudden put a stop to the efforts of honest industry, and agricultural enterprise among us. The first introduction of this distressing calamity, was communicated to us by the arrival of one James Willing, formerly of Philadelphia, with a small body of American soldiers in our quarter. His friends had, through the influence of Mr. Robert Morris, as it was believed, furnished him with a commission in the army, at once to rid themselves of an incumbrance which they deemed too heavy for them longer to sustain, and to oblige the country to contribute to the support of a spendthrift, of whose too profligate manners they had become heartily tired. Willing having thus obtained a commission, and being entrusted with the command of a few men, was ordered into our remote regions, to concilitate the affections of the settlers, and check the progress of the British trade, which was then flour- ishing in that quarter. As soon as Willing came into our vicinity he began to sound the disposition of the inhabitants, and to en- deavor to engage the men for the American service. He had blank commissions with him for subordinate officers, which he filled up as occasion required, and our settlers being well disposed to the American cause, almost universally, he met with so great success in recruiting, that in the settlements of our vicinity he enlisted about eighty hunters. . In the addresses of Willing to the settlers, he plead the cause of America with such persuasive elo- quence, and represented the justness of their warfare, the bravery of their soldiers, and the moral certainty of their ultimate success, in so engaging a point of view; that backing his persuasive rhet- oric with the most solemn assurances that five thousand American troops were on their way to this quarter, to establish a territorial boundary and protect the settlers against the Indians, Britons and Spaniards, or any of them, should they dare to make any intru- sions, he prevailed on the settlers very generally, to take an oath of strict neutrality, they being as before observed, with very few exceptions, friendly to the cause of liberty. Willing having en- listed about an hundred men in our vicinity, and commissioned officers to command them, proceeded to Manchac. At this place, by a stratagem, he made himself master of an English armed ship, which he took down to New Orleans, and there sold to the Span- iards; and (as it was reported and believed among us) soon wasted the whole avails, or at least all that he could retain to himself, in a series of extravagance and debauchery. At length running short of the means to support himself in his wild career, he began to display the real vileness of his character, by the execution of a most detestable business. This was no other than going to Man- chac, with two subalterns, and about 35 or 40 men, of his original party, where they plundered the honest settlers without distinc- tion ; thus by proving themselves no better than a banditti of rob- bers, they did incalculable injury to the American cause." He then details what he claims was an attack on the settlers at the
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