Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 56

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 56

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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Mr. Prentiss himself.'" He responded to the toast, "Mississippi and her distinguished representative in Congress." During the first part of his speech he had difficulty in finding moments of silence in which to proceed, until the audience realized that it must be quiet to hear, after which the nervous strain was so intense as to be painful. At one part of this speech he said :

"Though politicians actuated solely by a selfish and parricidal ambition, seek to rend asunder what God has himself joined in everlasting bonds, there is a hand that will arrest the impious de- sign; a hand they despise, but which they will find too strong for them. I mean the hand of the mechanical laborer. (Great cheer- ing.) Yes, sir, that mighty hand-and long may it be mighty in this free and equal land-that mighty hand will link these States together with hooks of steel. The laboring population of this country mean to live together as one people, and who shall dis- annul their purpose? See how they are conquering both time and space! See the thousand steamboats that traverse our lakes and rivers; aye, and that, leviathan-like, begin to make the ocean itself to boil like a pot! Look at their railroad cars, glancing like fiery meteors from one end of the land to the other, blazing centaurs with untiring nerves, with unwasting strength, and who seem to go, too, on the grand temperance principle, laboring all day on water alone. (Laughter and loud cheers.) Think you the Amer- ican people will suffer their cars to stop, their railroads to be broken in twain, and their majestic rivers severed or changed in their courses, because politicians choose to draw a dividing line between a Northern and a Southern empire? Never, sir, never! Proceeding on those great national principles of Union, which have been so luminously expounded and so nobly vindicated by your illustrious Guest (cheers) they will teach these politicians who is master. Let us but hang together for fifty years longer, and we may defy the world even to separate us. (Shouts and repeated cheers.) We are one people, for weal or for woe. When I cannot come from Mississippi, and call the men of Boston my fellow-citizens, my kindred, my brethren, I desire no longer to be a citizen of the Republic. (Cheers, long and loud.) Yes, we are embarked on one bottom; and whether we sink or swim, we will swim or we will sink together. (Here the hall rang with tumultu- ous uproar, handkerchiefs waved, and the band of music joined in the applause.)" It must be recalled that the speaker was a young man of twenty-nine years. He was dissatisfied with his effort, saying, "I was so awed and overwhelmed by the Spirit of the Place, that I could not speak." He was compelled to decline a public dinner at New York, but addressed a tremendous rally in Masonic Hall, at that city, whence he took boat for New Orleans, seeking to avoid further adulation. At New Orleans he was re- ceived with the national salute of twenty-one guns, and compelled to make another speech, after which he was escorted to his Vicks- burg boat by an escort of horsemen and an immense procession of citizens.

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He perceived, when he was again in close touch with his Mis- sissippi environment, that his enemies had successfully used against him the political cry of "abolitionist." At the public din- ner tendered him, he said: "I have been most bitterly abused for responding to these courtesies; for daring to break bread and eat salt with our Northern brethren; and especially for so far violating Southern policy as to have wickedly visited the cradle of liberty,

and most sacrilegiously entered Old Faneuil Hall. ·

I could pity these foolish men, whose patriotism consists in hating everything beyond the limited horizon of their own narrow minds; but contempt and scorn will not allow of the more amiable senti-

ment. I do not accuse those who differ with me of a de-

sire to dissolve the Union but I do most seriously be- lieve that the Union cannot long survive such kind of argument and feeling, as that to which I have alluded. . As a private citizen, I trust ever to retain your confidence and regard, though as a public man, I shall never again seek them. For the short remainder of the present congress I shall continue to per- form my duty as your representative, but decline being consid- ered a candidate for reelection."

His determination was warmly opposed by the Whigs, but he persisted in it. In the next session of congress he made a scath- ing attack upon the conditions of the public service, the defalca- tions of Swartwout and others, and accused the president and his secretary of the treasury of knowledge and tolerance of corruption.

Returning from Washington, by way of Kentucky, he took part in the defence of his friend, Judge Wilkinson, on the charge of murder. In his great speech, on this occasion, he had to defend Mississippi gentlemen in general, from the imputation of contempt for craftsmen and laborers. He won the case. After this he expected to confine his work to his profession, but in the summer of that year, 1839, there was a Whig movement for his candidacy for the United States senate, that could not be resisted. He accepted, and made a canvass of the State, but his party failed to secure the leg- islature. Mr. Prentiss went counter to the predominant sentiment regarding the banks. He urged a national banking system and pleaded that banks were necessary, and must not be denounced as an evil because some of them were bad. In the midst of the canvass he wrote to his sister Abby that he had a good chance to be beaten, and though he would do his best, he would be grati- fied by defeat. He was "disgusted with politics and annoyed by notoriety."

Then came the year 1840, first of the great presidential campaigns such as have been familiar to Americans since that time. It was a year of unprecedented enthusiasm, a campaign of education. Prentiss was emplored to speak in every State of the Union. He responded with earnest efforts in all the chief cities of the United States, from St. Louis and Chicago east, impressing the most competent observers with the depth and wisdom of his views, as well as entrancing the multitude. Throughout he was confident

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of the success that followed. He was chosen by Mississippi as one of the Harrison electors.

Early in 1841 he fell in love. He wrote his sister: "I laugh at those who look upon the uncertain, slight and changeable regards of the multitude, as worthy even of comparisons with the true af- fection of one warm heart; and I would sacrifice more, do more and dare more, to win the love of a woman whom I loved than I would to wield the sceptre of Napoleon." But he was in the darkest depths of despair. Yellow fever broke out in Vicksburg, and he spent two months caring for his friends, hoping he might take the fever and die. His sister Anna came to his help. After she departed for the east, he wrote to thank her for the "priceless jewel of sweet Mary's love." He was married March 2, 1842, to Mary, daughter of James C. Williams, of Natchez. From their wedding trip to the east they returned hastily, for ruin had laid its hand upon Mississippi. He had been rich; it was now impossible to say how poor he was. There was no money for the payment of debts, no money to collect. Property had no salable value, all were poor alike. But he im- proved and refitted a home at Vicksburg, known as "Belmont." Here he entertained Henry Clay in 1843. Here "little Jeanie" was born, and as he traveled through the State he turned from the law to write love letters to his wife and child.

In 1840-43 he made a gallant fight against repudiation of the State bonds, hand in hand with Adam L. Bingaman, George Poin- dexter, and William L. Sharkey.

During the excitement about the Choctaw land frauds he was accused in a newspaper publication of complicity, on the authority of a member of the government commission. Accompanied by Peyton and Forrester he went to Hillsboro, in the Indian country, where the commission sat, and exposed the author of the calumny, making a terrific indictment of the man. His colleagues on the commission voted to expel the member and refused to longer sit with him. (See Claiborne J. F. H.)

On Washington's birthday, 1844, he addressed a great Whig meeting at New Orleans. He had suffered much from the great strain of his life, financial misfortune, and the exhaustive efforts he had made in politics ; but yet he had something of the resilience of a Damascus blade, and appeared the picture of buoyant health. He took a conspicuous part in the campaign for Clay that year, throughout the East and in the South, fighting always the poison of "repudiation," which was manifested by Dorr's rebellion in Rhode Island as well as in other quarters. He particularly urged that no people possessed such sovereignty as to disregard justice and the obligations of constitutions and contracts; that freedom was limited by self-restraint, and liberty did not tend to equality but the greatest possible inequality : in brief, his theme was unity and independence of all classes and communities in the nation. He declined many invitations from various States in order to make one, great effort at the Nashville convention in 1844, to which he was invited by a committee of five hundred ladies as well as by the

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politicians. There were similar invitations from the women of several cities, among them from Natchez and Holly Springs. Of his speech at Nashville, it was written by Gov. Jones, "He en- tranced the immense crowd, that was estimated by acres, for about two and a half hours. The applause was terrific." In the midst of it he was taken with stricture of the chest, to which he had become subject, and the cry came up like a storm, "Sit down and rest, don't quit, we will wait !" His speech at Natchez in the same campaign is described as marvellous. "At times the whole vast assembly were convulsed with emotion. Some wept, some laughed hysterically, some were pallid with fear." His farewell address was at the grand two days mass meeting at Jackson in October, which is characterized as hardly describable. All this will pass the reader without understanding if he does not realize that even then there rested upon the people the approaching shadow of the ter- rible War, and Prentiss, thrilled with the prescience of a spirit, was pleading for Union, Tolerance and Peace. The defeat of Clay left half the nation in tears.

In January, 1845, the supreme court of the United States decided against him regarding the title to the Vicksburg commons. It was a speculation that reflects more severely on his character than drinking or gambling, but all three of these things were part of his times. On the contested property he had built a block of stores, a hotel and other improvements, at a cost of $150,000. He was "entirely used up; did not expect his property to liquidate his debts."

For a year he had determined to leave Vicksburg for New Or- leans, and this change of residence was made in 1845. His suc- cess at this time in passing from a practice under the common law to one based upon the code of Napoleon, without losing prestige, is one of the most wonderful things in his career. Before him, many brilliant lawyers had gone to New Orleans, and into eclipse because of the difficulties of the transition. Said the editor of the Delta: "He soon achieved a position at the bar of New Orleans as prominent as that he occupied in Mississippi." During the four remaining years of his life he actively opposed the war with Mexico, but eloquently welcomed the returning troops. He made a famous appeal for relief of the Irish sufferers from famine.

A sensational event of his life at New Orleans was the suit against James Irwin, involving the honor of that gentleman, who was a son-in-law of Henry Clay. Prentiss had for his opponent John R. Grimes. "The trial attracted a vast assemblage, and the public curiosity was intensely aroused. Two such combatants had never before met upon that arena." In his semi-delirium Prentiss made such a furious tirade against Irwin, that Henry Clay Irwin challenged him, which challenge he reluctantly accepted, but de- manded delay. General Huston was sent for and mutual apologies were arranged, much to the delight of Henry Clay.

In this period Prentiss opposed the Wilmot proviso, and wanted

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his old friends in Mississippi to have the right of taking their ne- groes with them into new territories.

When the cholera invaded New Orleans in 1848 he was sick near to death, and this, joined to the exhaustion of his political cam- paign for General Taylor, weakened him beyond his power of re- covery. He made one more visit to Maine, and his mother saw his hair thickset with gray, and his face lined with sorrow and disease. There was a last visit to Webster and Clay, and then returning, he spent much of the spring of 1850 in a cottage at Pass Christian, with his wife and the four children. John C. Calhoun died at this time, and he pronounced a warm eulogy on his character. With revived spirit, he hoped he could soon pay all his debts. Sending his family back to "Longwood," he plunged into work with an almost insane energy, and no sign of decay of intellectual power. About the middle of June he appeared before Judge McCaleb in behalf of Lopez, the revolutionist, and on concluding fell in a faint. The end had come, and his friend Hammet, of Vicksburg, could do no more than obey the dying man's request, "Take me home." Back at Natchez, he begged for roses, and they heaped a great pile of them at his side, and he lay and told them about them. His last word was "Mary." He died Monday evening, July 1, 1850. His body is buried in the old family ground of the Sargents.

Foote considered his masterpieces at the bar, his speeches in prosecution of Alonzo Phelps, the outlaw, and of Mercer Byrd, ac- cused of complicity in the murder of Cameron ; his greatest polit- ical efforts the speeches at Nashville in 1840 and before congress in defense of his claim to a seat.

Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, peculiarly capable of appreciating him, wrote: "His eye was deep in his head-large, clear, full of animation and of hidden fires. It had a look deeper than its set ; when looked into, it returned a glance, which, like that of Lara, 'dared you to forget.' But there was a buoyancy in his presence which seemed as if it would leap from battle to play, from play to battle ; and a goodness, which said to me at least, 'Let's you and I be friends.' Spirit responded to spirit at the first sight without a word. His head, I saw, was two stories high, with a large attic on top, above which was his bump of comparison and veneration. Of the latter he had a vast deal. He actually admired, and reverenced often, gifts and genius far inferior to his own. He was at that time (1840) excessively convivial. The moment he arrived [in Congress] a set of roisterers challenged him at once to a continued round of revelry, and I said to myself and others: 'This Mississippi. wonder will cease, if he does not take heed.'

"Every trait of his noble nature was in excess; his very virtues leaned to faults, and his faults themselves to virtues. The like of him I shall never see again, so compounded was he of all sorts of contradictions, without a single element in him to disgust-with- out one characteristic which did not attract and charm. . He was a natural spendthrift, and yet despised debt and depen-

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dence. He was heedless of all consequences, yet of the soundest judgment in council and discretion in movement. He was almost the only man I ever saw whom I never heard utter a scandal, and he had the least charity of any man I ever saw for all kinds of base- ness or meanness. He was continually without ceasing quoting classic lore, and not the least of a pedant. He was brave to fool- hardiness, and wouldn't hurt Uncle Toby's fly." (Bibliography : Memoir, two volumes, edited by his brother; Life and Times, by Joseph D. Shields ; Fulkerson's Recollections, Reuben Davis' Rec- ollections, Foote's Bench and Bar, Rowland's study of Prentiss as an orator in Pub. of M. H. S. Vol. IV.)

Presbyterian Church. Many of the emigrants to the Natchez district were Scotch-Irish from the Carolinas, who were very tenac- ious of their Presbyterian traditions and usages. The first at- tempt at organization was made in 1801 by three pioneer preachers : Rev. William Montgomery, Rev. James Hall and Rev. James Bow- man, who had been sent to their new field by the synod of Carolina. They came through the wilderness on horseback, and spent part of the year in Mississippi, preaching and gathering the Presbyte- rians into congregations. They were followed in 1803 by Rev. Joseph Rullen, who had been sent by the New York Missionary society to establish a. mission among the Indians in the northern part of Mississippi. Mr. Bullen spent four years in this work and then removed with his family and settled near Natchez, where he engaged in farming, teaching school and preaching to the people of the settlements. In 1804 he established Bethel church, at Union- town which was the first Presbyterian church in Mississippi con- stituted in regular form. Mr. Bullen continued his work of orga- nization, assisted by the missionaries who came into the country, and in 1812, the number of churches reached eight. Four ministers supplied these churches: Joseph Bullen, James Smylie, Jacob Rickhow and William Montgomery. In 1815 these churches were constituted by the synod of Kentucky an independent presbytery, to be known as the Mississippi Presbytery. The first meeting of this presbytery was at Salem church, on Pine Ridge, Adams county, March 6, 1816. The territory assigned to the Mississippi presbytery was of vast extent, embracing part of Alabama, Louisiana, Ar- kansas and Texas, besides the whole of Mississippi. The territory rapidly increased in population, and Presbyterian churches and communities were multiplied in proportion. The Mississippi pres- bytery, as a result of this, soon found itself one among a number of presbyteries that had been carved out of its original territory. This period was one of great activity in the Presbyterian church. Besides the building of churches there was much work carried on among the Indians and slaves. Special attention was also given to educational work. In 1829 the Mississippi presbytery decided to establish an institution of learning of the highest order then exis- ting in the country, and in 1830 inaugurated Oakland college (q. v.) the successor of which is Chamberlain-Hunt Academy at Port Gibson, an institution of high order. In 1835 the present synod

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of Mississippi was formed by act of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in the United States of America. From 1835 to 1861 the church continued to expand and was distinguished for zeal and activity in every department of work. At the beginning of the war the Presbyterians of the seceded states separated from those of the North and founded "the Presbyterian church in the Confederate States of America." This was done by a general as- sembly which met at Augusta, Ga., December 4, 1861. This was the first general assembly of the Southern Church, and its mem- bership was made up of representatives from ten synods, embrac- ing forty-seven presbyteries, most of those in Mississippi being represented.

The new church at once adopted a vigorous home and foreign missionary policy. It took charge of the missionary work in the Indian Territory among those tribes which had thrown in their lot with the Confederate States, largely through the efforts of Gen. Albert Pike. The church dispensed with "boards," and placed its work in charge of executive committees, who had less discretionary power and were more directly responsible to the synodical bodies. In 1863 it received the Independent Presbyterian Church, a body of 13 churches and four ministers, all in South Carolina. In 1864 a union was formed with the United Synod (N. S.) The close of the war made necessary a change in the style of the Southern Church, which substituted "United States" for "Confederate States," and left out the words "of America." It is now known as . the "Presbyterian Church in the United States" (South).

Despite its great losses in men and means from the devastations of war, and during the years of depression that followed, it took up the work of rebuilding with spirit and energy, and it is today strong and prosperous throughout the State. Moreover, the gen- eral body was soon reinforced by accessions of presbyteries from the border States like Kentucky, while several Associate Reformed presbyteries in the Southern states entered its communion.

Presidential Elections. The first in which Mississippi partici- pated was in 1820, when three electors were chosen, one of whom died before the day of election, so that only two votes were cast by Mississippi for James Monroe.

The law of 1824 provided that the election of three electors should be made by the qualified voters of the State, on the first Monday of November, the electors to meet at Jackson on the first Wednesday in December, and be empowered to fill any vacancy from death or disability. Thereafter the electoral vote was cast without mishap, according to the popular vote, which has been as follows :

Votes of Mississippi.

1824.

Andrew Jackson, Tennessee, Democrat. 3,234

John Quincy Adams, Massachusetts. 1,694

Wm. H. Crawford, Georgia. 119

Henry Clay, Kentucky 21

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1828.

Andrew Jackson, Tennessee, Democrat .. 6,714 John Quincy Adams, Massachusetts, N. R. 1,674

1832.

Andrew Jackson with Martin Van Buren of New York,

Democrat .

6,110

Henry Clay, Kentucky, N. R. 791

1836.

Martin Van Buren, New York, Democrat, 9,979

Hugh L. White, Tennessee, Whig. 9,688

1840.

Wm. Henry Harrison, Ohio, Whig. . 19,518

Martin Van Buren, New York, Dem. 16,975

1844.

James K. Polk, Tennessee, Dem 25,126

Henry Clay, Kentucky, Whig .19,206

1848.

Zachary Taylor, Louisiana, Whig . 25,922

Lewis Cass, Michigan, Dem. 26,537

1852.

Franklin Pierce, N. H., Dem 26,876

Winfield Scott, N. J., Whig. 17,548

1856.

James Buchanan, Pa., Dem. 35,446

Millard Fillmore, N. Y., Whig & Amer 24,195

1860.

Stephen A. Douglass, Ill., Dem. 3,283

John C. Breckinridge, Ken., Dem .40,797

John Bell, Tenn., Cons. Un 25,040

1864.

Civil War period. 1868.

Reconstruction period. 1872.

Ulysses S. Grant, Ill., Rep .. 82,175 Horace Greeley, N. Y., Dem. & Lib. Rep 47,288 Charles O'Connor, N. Y., Dem. 207

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1876.

Rutherford B. Hayes, Ohio,, Rep. 52,605

Samuel J. Tilden, N. Y., Dem .. 112,173

1880.

James A. Garfield, Ohio, Rep. . 34,854

Winfield S. Hancock, Penn., Dem .75,750

James B. Weaver, Iowa, Green .. 5,797

1884.

Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem. 76,510

James G. Blaine, Me., Rep. 43,509

1888.

Benjamin Harrison, Ind., Rep . 30,096

Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem . 85,471

Clinton B. Fisk, N. J., Pro. . 218

Andrew J. Streeter, Ill., Un. La. 222

1892.

Grover Cleveland, N. Y., Dem. 40,237

Benjamin Harrison, Ind., Rep 1,406

James B. Weaver, Iowa, Peo 10,256

John Bidwell, Pro 910

1896.

William McKinley, Ohio, Rep 5,123

Bryan and Sewell, S. Dem. 46,283

Bryan and Watson, Pop ... 7,517

John M. Palmer, Ill., Nat. P. 1,017

Joshua Levering, Md., Pro. 485

1900.

William McKinley, Ohio, Rep. 5,753

William J. Bryan, Neb., Dem. 51,706

Wharton Parker, Pa., Peo. 1,644

1904.

Theodore Roosevelt, N. Y., Rep. 3,189

Alton B. Parker, N. Y., Dem 53,379

Socialist 393

Populist 1,425

Press, a post-hamlet of Marion county.

Preston. This is one of the extinct towns of Yalobusha county. It was located about fourteen miles north of Grenada near the pres- ent town of Scobey, in the western part of the county. Its career covers the period from 1835 to 1867. See Yalobusha county.

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Preston, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Kemper county, 14 miles northwest of Dekalb, the county seat. Population in 1900, 35.

Preston, James Rhea, was born in Washington county, Va., January 22, 1853, the son of Col. James T. Preston and Fannie Rhea. Col. Preston was a member of an old Virginia family, and served in the army of Virginia, C. S. A. J. R. Preston was edu- cated at Georgetown university and Emory and Henry college, and after teaching one year each in Tennessee and in Indiana, re- moved to Mississippi in 1875, and taught at Okolona for three years, during which time he was admitted to the bar. After teaching at Center Point three years, and at Water Valley four and a half years, he was elected State superintendent of education in 1885, reelected in 1889, and served till 1896. His administration of the office was distinguished by many reforms in methods and a general increase in interest in educational work. Upon returning to private life he studied at Edinburgh, Scotland, and then organized Stanton college at Natchez for young ladies. This has been a prosperous college, and in 1904, on the death of President Fitzhugh, Professor Preston bought Belhaven college at Jackson. He is now president of both Stanton and Belhaven colleges and makes his home in Jackson.

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 56

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