USA > Mississippi > Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II > Part 54
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Poplar Springs, an incorporated post-town in the southeastern part of Union county, 16 miles northwest of Tupelo, the nearest banking town. Bluesprings, on the K. C., M. & B. R. R., is the nearest railroad station. It has two churches, two stores and a steam grist mill. Population in 1900, 89.
Poplarville, the county seat of Pearl River county, located on the New Orleans and North Eastern R. R. 71 miles northeast of New Orleans, was named for Poplar creek which heads at or near the center of the town. It has a telegraph office, an express office, a newspaper office and 2 banks. The Free Press, a Democratic weekly was estiablished in 1890, and is edited and published by J. R. Oliphant. The Bank of Poplarville was established in 1899 with a capital of $11,600; The Citizens Bank was established in 1905 with a paid up capital of $35,200. The town lies in a poultry, truck and fruit-farming, grazing and lumbering district. Among its industries are a cotton gin, grist mill, 2 saw-mills, a sugar mill, a canning factory, a coal plant, 2 turpentine stills and a lumber yard. It has two public markets, several stores and 2 livery stables. It has increased very rapidly in population within recent years. Its population in 1900 was 990, in 1890, 232, and in 1906 the popu- lation was estimated at 1,500. There are 5 churches located here, 3 white churches and 2 colored. Its high school is one of the best in the State. Poplarville is the seat of Poplarville College. There are located here lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of
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Pythias, Woodmen of the World, and the Knights and Ladies of Honor. The town is supplied with an electric lighting system.
Porterville, a station on the Mobile & Ohio R. R. in the east- central part of Kemper county, about 12 miles from Dekalb, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice, and an express office. It has several stores, a church and a school. In 1906 it had a pop- ulation of 200.
Port Gibson, the county seat of Claiborne county, is a city on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 29 miles south of Vicksburg and 40 miles northeast of Natchez. It is 20 miles from the mouth of Bayou Pierre, at a point where the old Natchez Trace crossed that stream. Robert and George Cochran kept a store here in the early days, and when Claiborne county was created in 1802, the residence of Mr. Gibson stood about three- quarters of a mile from the river, in what is now the upper part of the town. Grand Gulf, distant ten or twelve miles to the north- west on the Mississippi river, was for many years the shipping point for Port Gibson, and to facilitate communication between the two towns, the Grand Gulf & Port Gibson Railroad was built at an early date. A substantial courthouse of brick and stone was erected in 1839 at a cost of about $26,000, by William H. Faulkner and George Stockdill. In 1905 the court house was remodeled and a new jail built at a cost of $55,000. Each building is now equipped with all the modern improvements. A fertile cotton growing district surrounds the town, and among its manufacturing enterprises is a cotton seed oil mill, a large compress, a brick fac- tory and an ice plant. It has three banking institutions, the Port Gibson Bank, the Mississippi National Bank, and the Mississippi Savings Bank & Loan Company, the capital invested in banking being-capital stock, $125,000; surplus, $40,000. It has two hotels, two public schools, one endowed boys' academy, and one girls' college. There are five white churches; Presbyterian, Methodist, P. E. Baptist, Campbellite (or Christian) and Roman Catholic. The city has a complete system of water works and electricity, and an efficient fire company. It has the reputation of being one of the healthiest cities in the State. It is regularly laid out with wide, well shaded streets, lined with substantial residences and business blocks. Three of its noteworthy structures are the courthouse, jail, and the fine Masonic hall. Two publications are issued here; the "Reveille," a Democratic weekly, established in 1876, owned and published by H. H. Crisler ; the "Vidette," a local monthly, edited and published by Thomas Richardson. There is a city debt of $20,000; the assessed valuation of property is $1,000,000; the tax rate for the city is 11 mills; for the State and county, 14 mills; population in 1900, 2,113 ; estimated population in 1906 was 2,500.
Port Gibson, battle, see Vicksburg, campaign of 1863.
Port Hudson, siege of. This fortified post on the Mississippi was besieged May 24 by the United States army, and was sur- rendered by Gen. Franklin Gardner July 8, after the fall of Vicks- burg. The Mississippi troops at Baton Rouge were the 39th in-
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fantry, Col. W. B. Shelby ; Battery B, Capt. A. J. Herod; Battery F, Capt. J. L. Bradford; Battery K, Capt. George F. Abbey, of Withers' First Artillery regiment; and the batteries of Capts. Calvit Roberts and R. T. English.
Port Royal. This old landing place on the Mississippi river was one of the early county seats of Coahoma county, prior to 1848. In that year, what is known as the horseshoe "cut off" took place, the river forsook its old channel and left Port Royal stranded on the old river bank. The seat of justice was at once transferred to Friar's Point, five miles up the river, which had long coveted it. It was then customary to locate county seats for the Missis- sippi river counties on the bank of that stream, and Friar's Point had not been affected by the cut off. Port Royal was unable to weather these misfortunes and rapidly decayed. The present site of the old town is owned by Wm. H. Stovall & Son. It is related that the extensive plantations of Col. W. L. Oldham and David Gilehoist, located a few miles below Port Royal, were ruined by the same "cut off," and are now covered by a cottonwood growth resembling a virgin forest.
Posey, Carnot. In 1846 he aided in the organization of a com- pany for the Mexican war, which became Company B of the First regiment, Mississippi Rifles. He had the rank of first lieutenant, and was wounded and distinguished for gallantry at Buena Vista.
In 1860 he raised a company known as the Wilkinson Rifles, which formed part of the 16th regiment, at the organization of which he was elected colonel, and commissioned June 4, 1861. He was in battle with Stonewall Jackson, in the Shenandoah valley, early in 1862, and was wounded at Cross Keys. In Featherston's brigade he took part in Lee's campaign before Richmond, and the battles of Kelly's Ford, Second Manassas, and at Sharpsburg won special mention by Longstreet for his efficiency as commander of the brigade. After the transfer of Featherston to the West, he was promoted to brigadier-general. He won new honors at Chan- cellorsville and Gettysburg. After the return to Virginia, he led his brigade in the battle of Bristoe Station, October 14, 1863, at which he was severely wounded in the left thigh by a fragment of shell. He was carried to Charlottesville, Va., where he died No- vember 13.
Possumneck, a hamlet of Attala county, located on Shakeys creek, 10 miles northwest of Kosciusko, the county seat. The post- office here has been discontinued, and it now has rural free delivery from the station of West, on the Illinois Central R. R. Population in 1900, 48. It has one of the largest saw mills and ginneries in the county. A. R. Weeks is the leading citizen of the community.
Post, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Lauderdale coun- ty, about 18 miles from Meridian. Battlefield is the nearest rail- road station. Population in 1900, 30.
Post Routes, First. The first mail route in Mississippi Terri- tory was established during the administration of Governor Sar- gent. February 20, 1800, the Governor requested the agents of
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the United States in the Chickasaw nation to protect and assist the post riders of Mr. Abijah Hunt (who has contracted to carry the mail from Natchez to Knoxville). The United States mail service in 1806 included a weekly mail between Nashville and Walnut Hills, the trip one way occupying a week; from Walnut Hills by Grindstone Ford, Port Gibson, Greenville, Washington, Natchez, Fort Adams, Pinckneyville, Thompson's Creek, Buller's Plains, Baton Rouge, etc., to New Orleans, once a week, leaving Walnut Hills Friday and reaching New Orleans, Thursday, and returning in similar time; from Natchez via Fort St. Stephens to Fort Stoddert, leaving on the first Monday of each month, arriv- ing at Stoddert the next Sunday, and starting back the next day ; from Natchez by Caddy's Ferry, to Natchitoches, once a month. Assembly of 1809 requested a post road from Fort Stephens to town of Liberty in Amite county.
Potter, a postoffice of Sunflower county, situated in the north- western part, on the Sunflower river, about 30 miles north of In- dianola, the county seat.
Potts Camp, in the southeastern part of Marshall county, is an incorporated post-town, on the line of the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham R. R., about 13 miles southeast of Holly Springs, the nearest banking town. It was named in honor of Col. E. F. Potts. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 306.
Powell, a postoffice of Covington county, 7 miles northwest of Williamsburg, the county seat.
Power, John Logan, was born in Tipperary county, Ireland, March 1, 1834. Left an orphan when a small child, he passed through many trying ordeals of poverty. He came to America in 1850 ; began work in the office of the Lockport (N. Y.) Journal ; went to New Orleans in 1854; located in Jackson, April, 1855; married Jane Wilkinson, December, 1857. In Jackson he was a printer in the office of the Flag of Our Union, published by Thomas Palmer, was also with the True Witness, a Presbyterian paper, later manager of the Baptist, and after that manager of the Mississippian, edited by Ethelbert Barksdale. In January, 1860, he began the publication of the Jackson Daily News. He was official reporter of the Secession convention of 1861, and published its proceedings, with a roll of members and sketches of Davis and Stephens. His military service was as sergeant of a battery and later adjutant of Withers' First regiment light artillery. He was with his command at the battles of Chickasaw Bayou, Champion's Hill, Big Black, and through the siege of Vicksburg. In 1864 he was appointed superintendent of army records for Mississippi, with the rank of colonel, a work that took him to Virginia during the closing years of the Confederacy. On his return he was sec- retary of the constitutional convention of 1865, and with the sal- ary received he started the Mississippi Standard, which was merged into the Clarion in 1866, which he published in association with Ethelbert Barksdale. He was elected State printer in 1875, in association with Barksdale, and five times reelected. For
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many years he was superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday school at Jackson. He was for years the main reliance of the Orphan asylum at Natchez, which would have been compelled to close sev- eral times but for his assistance. "He was secretary of conventions innumerable." During the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 he was en- trusted with $100,000 of the relief fund to distribute at his own dis- cretion. "All through that awful fall, when death held high carnival, he sat up day and night, acknowledging every cent con- tributed, besides carrying much of it to the stricken communities and selecting those who should disburse it." His work in 1878 deserves lasting commemoration. In his political career he was clerk of the house of representatives in 1864 and 1867, and secre- tary of nearly all the Democratic conventions after the war; was chairman of the first board of Vicksburg Park commissioners of Mississippi, which selected the places at which monuments should be erected to commemorate the services of Mississippi commands ; was elected secretary of state in 1895 and reelected in 1899.
While secretary of State he collected and published many facts regarding the history of the State. He gathered together official publications, scattered about the old capitol, and called the atten- tion of the legislature to the fact that there were stored away in the capitol and the penitentiary many valuable books and docu- ments, that should be sifted out. While yet in the office of secretary he died, September 24, 1901. At that time he was grand secretary of the grand lodge of Masons and of the grand chapter, and grand recorder of the grand council and grand commandery, offices he had filled continuously since 1869 and 1871. He was also treasurer of the grand lodge of Odd Fellows, and prominent in other fraternal orders. Upon his death, the grand lodge of the State was convened, and the grand commandery escorted his body to the capitol, where it lay in state and was visited by thousands of school children, and loving friends from every part of Missis- sippi.
Power, Thomas. See Carondelet Intrigue.
Powers, Ridgley Ceylon, was born in Ohio, the grandson of a Pennsylvanian who married a Virginian and reared a family in the Mahoning valley of Ohio. He was a student at the University of Michigan when the war began. Enlisting in the Union army, he was a captain in 1865, after which he became a planter in Noxu- bee county, and under the military government was appointed sheriff by Gen. Ames. In 1869 he was elected lieutenant-governor with Gov. Alcorn, and November 30, 1871, he became governor upon the resignation of Alcorn. "Few of the 'carpet baggers,'" says Garner, "won the respect and confidence of the native whites to such an extent as did Governor Powers." After the return of the Democratic party to control of the State, Gov. Powers re- moved from the State and went to the West. His cousin, H. C. Powers, settling in Oktibbeha county in 1865, was prominent in politics, and became a banker at Starkville.
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Powers' Administration. Ridgley C. Powers began his admin- istration as governor upon the resignation of Gov. Alcorn, No- vember 30, 1871, though he yielded the chair in the senate to the president pro tem. in the previous January, when Alcorn accepted an election to the U. S. senate. The legislature met as usual in January, 1872, and remained in session three months. The legis- lation regarding railroads (q. v.) was particularly abundant and reckless. The year was the culmination of the general extrava- gance and wild speculation throughout the United States that brought on the collapse of 1873. The electoral vote of the State was cast for the reelection of President Grant. One Democratic congressman-Lucius Q. C. Lamar-was elected.
Gov. Powers stated in his message of 1872 that quiet reigned throughout the State, that "a new era of good feeling has sprung up," and that Mississippi was entitled to recognition as "an ex- ample of reconstruction based upon reconciliation." He made similar congratulatory comments in his message of January, 1874. There had been evils of special legislation, and he hoped the en- tire system of special legislation could be swept away, as had lately been measurably accomplished in Illinois and Pennsylvania. He illustrated the dangers of the system by the attempt at the last regular session of the legislature in 1873 to exempt all rail- roads from taxation for ten years by smuggling a clause to that effect into a special railroad charter.
In addition to the local government by the negro majority in many counties, led by recent white and black immigrants, many of whom were accused of corruption, the public generally com- plained of extravagance and corruption in the State administra- tion, though Gov. Powers was excepted from censure. Senator Alcorn openly denounced two prominent leaders, Gibbs and Staf- ford, in his campaign. According to Gov. Powers over one-fourth the annual expenditure from the State treasury was to bring its transactions to a currency basis. The system of paying court ex- penses out of the State treasury, including jurors and witness fees and many attorneys' fees in State cases, furniture and sta- tionery for clerks, etc., a system that extended even to justice courts in criminal cases, was greatly abused.
Treasurer Vasser said the high expenditures were due to pro- tracted sessions of the legislature, changes in the judicial system, costly allowances to outfit chancery and circuit clerks, investments in crude maps of the State for school purposes, employing counsel to shield evil doers from punishment, and the forcing of State paper as a makeshift for a circulating medium, at a ruinous dis- count to the State, . benefiting alone the countless horde of sub-treasurers (tax collectors and others who belong to the ring of shavers) to the multiple of from thirty to forty per cent." (Report of 1873.)
During the four years of the Alcorn-Powers administration, the total amount of warrants issued by the auditor was $5,837,755; cancelled by treasurer, $4,965,808; leaving $871,947 outstanding.
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The State treasury had borrowed the Chickasaw school fund re- ceipts, to the amount of $814,743, the common school funds to the amount of $615,963, and these together with $218,000 in State bonds for the benefit of the agricultural departments of the two universities, were held as trust funds, on which the State paid in- terest. Warrants had been taken up with State bonds to the amount of $634,650, and with currency certificates of indebtedness to the amount of $294,150.
The State indebtedness at the beginning was $1,178,175 (See Alcorn Adm.). January 1, 1874, it was $3,443,189. Of this indebt- edness, $1,648,856 was owing to the school funds and agricultural schools, and the State was expected to keep up the interest only. The remainder of the debt was in State bonds, $416,500; currency certificates of indebtedness, $294,150; insurance company deposits of warrants, $280,000; warrants outstanding, $803,682; total debt demanding payment, $1,704,332. The governor thought this scarcely amounted to the dignity of a State debt, but urged that its annual increase should be stopped. The government expendi- tures had been reduced $132,000 in 1872, and $146,000 in 1873. He adhered to his former recommendations of an issue of cur- rency to redeem the auditor's warrants. The expiration within the year of the exemption of railroads from taxation, promised some relief of individuals from the burdens.
In parting, the governor said: "Slumbering resources surround us on every side. With good natural facilities for both, we are without either manufactories or commerce, and with a wealth of soil unequalled by that of any State, we pay a self-imposed tribute to the granaries of the Northwest. Home production, home in- dustry and home enterprise need encouragement-such encourage- ment as good government, economically administered, alone can give."
But the State had to look outside for capital, and the blow of 1873, falling upon Mississippi's modest share of the general ex- uberance of development that followed 1865, had a crushing effect for many years.
James Lynch, secretary of state, died in 1872, and was suc- ceeded by H. R. Revels, who resigned in September, 1873, and was succeeded by H. C. Carter. For eight years this office was filled by negroes.
In 1873 the people of the State were in distress because of con- tinued short crops of cotton, combined with low prices on account of the great financial panic. There was yellow fever also, almost annually.
In such circumstances the gubernatorial election came on.
The two United States senators, Ames and Alcorn, contested the Republican nomination for governor. Alcorn had declared in the senate in the previous year that Ames was not a citizen of Mississippi, did not even have a technical residence. At the Re- publican State convention Ames had the negro support, and a majority of about five to one. He was nominated for governor,
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and negroes named for three of the State offices, including super- intendent of education, upon the demand of the negroes, who brought the color line into prominence by declaring that the scheme of whites holding office, while the colored men voted, was "played out." Alcorn's adherents bolted the convention, and nominated him for governor, with one negro man on the ticket. This was the beginning of the end. The Democrats refrained from nomination, and though Ames was elected in November, the vote was divided 69,870 to 50,490. It is likely that he received, mainly, the Whig vote. It was said at the time that if the white people had stood by Alcorn more generally, he could easily have been elected.
There was a dispute whether an election in 1873 was legal un- der the constitution. (See Alcorn's Adm.) Attorney-General Morris gave an opinion that the general election, biennially, was not due until 1874, and that the governor and other state officers would hold over. In a correspondence between Gov. Alcorn and Messrs. Yerger, Harris and Johnston, November 13, 1871, the lat- ter had contended that the election law of 1871 was in part uncon- stitutional, and that all regular terms must begin on the first of January, 1871.
September 30, Gov. Powers called a special session of the legis- lature, to provide for a general election in 1874. In his message, October 20, he said the question of date of election put in abeyance even the financial crisis, the prevailing epidemic, and the rivalry of parties. He argued that the constitution fixed the political year of the State, reorganized, as beginning January 1st. If the first election had ratified the constitution, the first political year might have begun January 1, 1869. But as it was not ratified until November, 1869, Congress did not admit the State until Feb- ruary 23, 1870, and the officers elected for four years would begin their regular terms January 1, 1871. It was evident, however, that the State had, as nearly as possible, begun its political year with 1870, by the convening of the legislature in January, at which Powers was sworn in. The legislature did not take the action requested by the governor, but made a few enactments, including a fee and salary bill, extended the time for payment of taxes, on account of the hard times, and adjourned in November. This con- stitutional dispute was carried so far in some places as to threaten bloodshed. "It was settled, however, early in 1874, by the supreme court of the State in a case from Hinds county, involving the legal right to the county treasurer's office, in favor of Ames and other State and county officers, elected in November, 1873, to be installed in January, 1874." (Bowman, Recon. in Yazoo County.)
Powers, Tyrone. His "Impressions of America" contain some interesting pictures of Mississippi in the '30's. He was the guest of Col. James Wilkins and also visited "Natchy-under-the-Hill," saw the races, called upon Mrs. Minor at Concord, and gave some Cavendish to her aged negro, 120 years of age, who had been the servant of Stephen Minor, when he was major of the Spanish fort-
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ress, possibly the Caesar who was Indian interpreter. He de- scribes the gathering of an audience at the theatre, which was outside the town, the long line of pedestrians, many in carriages, and a host on horseback. Of the latter he said: "A finer set of men I have rarely looked upon; the general effect of their cos- tume, too, was picturesque and border-like. They were mostly clad in a sort of tunic or frock, made of white or of grass-green blanketing, the broad dark blue selvage serving as a binding, the coat being furnished with collar, shoulder-pieces and cuffs of the same color, and having a broad belt, either of leather or of the like selvage; broad-leafed white Spanish hats of beaver were evi- dently the mode, together with high leather leggings or cavalry boots and heavy spurs. The appointments of the horses were in perfect keeping with those of these cavaliers; they bore demi- pique saddles, with small massive brass or plated stirrups, gener- ally shabracs of bear or deerskin, and in many instances had saddle clothes of scarlet or light blue, bound with broad gold or silver lace. . .
. These were the planters of the neighboring coun- try, many of whom came nightly to enjoy the theatre, forming such an audience as cannot be seen elsewhere; indeed, to look on so many fine horses with their antique caparisons, piquetted about the theatre, recalled the palmy days of the Globe and the Beargarden."
Prairie, a village of western Monroe county, on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, 8 miles west of Aberdeen, the county seat, and nearest banking town. It has a money order postoffice. Popula- tion in 1900, 122.
Prairie Mount. An extinct town of Chickasaw county, which was located in the northeastern part, about five miles north of Okalona, on the public road from that place to Pontotoc. It was founded in 1836 by Littleberry Gilliam, a farmer from Franklin county, Alabama, and was incorporated in 1852. Gilliam's resi- dence was a wayside inn, where he found profit in catering to the wants of the early land investors, who poured into the Tombigbee section of the Chicasaw cession, below Pontotoc. There grew up about his place quite a prosperous little village, containing two small dry goods stores, a saloon, a blacksmith shop, and a wagon repair shop. It was afterward absorbed by the new town of Oko- lona, which sprang up on the Mobile & Ohio railroad, and estab- lished a more convenient trade center. Its former site is now em- braced within a farm.
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