Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 61

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 61

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Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City. One of the projects to aid the proposed port on the coast, in the first railroad building period after the war, was the Ship Island, Ripley & Kentucky, W. C. Falkner, president, which built a narrow gauge road from the Memphis & Charleston at Middleton, Tenn., to Ripley in 1872-77. Thirty-eight miles leased from the Gulf & Ship Island, was con- solidated with this in 1889 under the name of the Gulf & Chi- cago. The line was finally diverted to Mobile by consolidation with part of a proposed Jackson-Mobile line. In 1888, Mississippi chartered the Mobile, Hattiesburg & Jackson company and Feb. 22, 1890, chartered the consolidated Mobile, Hattiesburg & Jack- son companies of Alabama and Mississippi, under the name of the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City. F. B. Merrill, Mobile, was presi- dent. There were 21 miles of road in Mississippi in 1902 and 68 in 1903, completing the line to Hattiesburg. July 8, 1903, the Gulf & Chicago companies in Mississippi and Tennessee were consolidated

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with the M. J. & K. C. B. M. Robinson, New York, is president ; Geo. W. Crary, secretary and treasurer, Mobile. The company operates 3683/4 miles in Mississippi, Mobile to Middleton and a branch to Hattiesburg.

Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham. This was begun as the Memphis, Holly Springs & Selma which was partly constructed in 1877 and nearly all graded in 1882. The Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham company was incorporated under an act of Feb- ruary 18, 1886, in Mississippi. The main line, 253 miles, was com- pleted in 1887 and the Aberdeen branch. 12 miles, was built in 1888. The president is A. G. Davidson, St. Louis. This road has been leased to the St. Louis & San Francisco from Dec. 17, 1903, to Dec. 31, 2002. The latter road is the operating carrier and agrees to pay all taxes, organization expenses, interest on bonds and outstanding obligations. There are 1311/2 miles of main track in Mississippi and 12 miles, branch to Aberdeen, a total of 143 miles.

Mississippi Central. This company, bearing the name of one of the old companies, was organized Dec. 21, 1897, the name being changed from Pearl & Leaf River to Mississippi Central Railroad Co. This line was first operated in January, 1903, between Brook- haven and Silver Creek. Its charter has been amended changing its western terminus to Natchez and its eastern terminus to Scran- ton, to which points it is projected. The mileage in 1905 was 55. Operating office, Hattiesburg; president, F. S. Teck of Scran- ton, Pa.

The Sardis & Delta was organized Dec. 20, 1900; president, R. M. Carrier. It operates 13 miles of road from Sardis to Carrier, Pandla county.

The Natches, Columbia & Mobile is a logging road running from Norfield, Lincoln county, into Lawrence county, 201/2 miles. The company was organized June 24, 1892; president, J. S. But- terfield.

The Natchez & Southern Railway Co. was organized Dec. 19, 1902. It was formerly the New Orleans & Northwestern, a con- solidated corporation organized under the laws of Mississippi and Louisiana. President, E. G. Merriam, St. Louis; general office, Natchez; operating office, St. Louis; operates 2.29 miles of road from Natchez (depot) to Mississippi river.

The Fernwood & Gulf railroad is a line of 20 miles eastward from the I. C. main line in Pike county.

The Mississippi Eastern is a line of 11 miles eastward from Quitman, on the M. & O.

The Liberty-White railroad connects the town of Liberty with the Illinois Central.

The Alabama & Mississippi is an outlet of Greene county to the M. & O.

In 1900 there were four electric car lines in the State. Since then the development has been rapid and an interurban line is in

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construction along the gulf coast, with others projected in the interior.

Raleigh, the capital of Smith county, is a post-village, about 48 miles southeast of Jackson. The station of Abel on the Gulf & Ship Island R. R. is the nearest railroad town, and Taylorsville is the nearest banking town. It was named for Sir Walter Raleigh. It has two churches, a school and a courthouse. The surrounding country is well timbered, chiefly with the long leaf, yellow pine. Population in 1900, 200. The Smith county Reformer, a Demo- cratic weekly newspaper is published here, established in 1892, and owned and edited by J. T. Watkins.

Ralston, a post-hamlet of Perry county, on the Gulf & Ship Is- land R. R., 6 miles south of Hattiesburg. Population in 1900, 20.

Ramsay, a post-hamlet in the east-central part of Harrison county, on Cabawfa creek, about 22 miles northeast of Gulfport, the county seat. It has 2 stores and a turpentine still. Its popula- tion in 1900 was 36; estimated at 100 in 1906.

Randall's Bluff, a hamlet of Winston county, about 10 miles southeast of Louisville, the county seat. The postoffice was dis- continued in 1905, and it now has rural free delivery from Fearns Springs.

Randolph, an incorporated post-town of Pontotoc county, sitt- ated about 10 miles southwest of Pontotoc, the county seat, and the nearest railroad, banking, telegraph and express town. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 162. It has two church organizations and a fine school.

Rands, a postoffice in the southeastern part of Lee county. Net- tleton, on the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham R. R., is the nearest railroad station.

Rankin, an old town of Holmes county, now extinct, which was located on the Tchula and Yazoo City road, about five miles from Tchula. (See Holmes county.)

Rankin, a postoffice of Rankin county, and a station on the Ala- bama & Vicksburg R. R., 5 miles by rail east of Brandon, the county seat and nearest banking town.

Rankin, Christopher, was a native of Washington county, Penn., and was educated at Cannonsburg, the home of Col. George Mor- gan. Going to Georgia to teach school, he read law, and to practice his profession removed to the border town of Liberty in Amite county, in 1809, about the time the first Choctaw purchase was opened up. He was elected to the legislature from Amite in 1813. In 1816 he changed his residence to Natchez, and became the part- ner, and, later, the successor of Charles B. Green, an eminnent lawyer of that day. He was the last attorney-general west of Pearl river, a member of the constitutional convention of 1817, and of the committee that made the first draft of the constitution. At the meeting of the first legislature in October of that year he was a candidate for United States senator, but was unsuccessful. In 1819 he was elected to congress, and was reelected in 1821 over Poindexter, because of popular prejudice against Poindexter's code.

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Rankin proved to be an able congressman and was again twice elected, serving from December 6, 1819 until his death at Wash- ington, D. C., March 14, 1826. J. F. H. Claiborne wrote of him that he was "very careful in the preparation of his cases, strictly moral and temperate, mild and persuasive in his manners. a prudent, practical, sensible and industrious man, of unexceptional character."

Rankin County was erected February 4th, 1828, from all that portion of Hinds county lying east of the Pearl river, and was named in honor of Christopher Rankin, Congressman from Missis- sippi. The county has a land surface of 777 square miles. It forms a large, triangular area of land near the center of the State and is bounded on the north by Madison county, on the east by Scott and Smith counties, on the south by Simpson county and on the west by Hinds and Madison counties. The Pearl river forms its entire western and northern boundary and divides it from the counties of Madison and Hinds. It formed a part of the New Pur- chase of 1820, and the Choctaw Boundary line, defining that pur- chase, makes part of the present eastern boundary line. It has an area of about twenty townships.

As early as 1837 it had a population of 3,255 free whites and 1,- 956 slaves. One of the oldest settlements in the county was lo- cated at Richmond, on the east side of Pearl river, about five miles from Jackson. It had in the time of its greatest prosperity a popu- lation of about three hundred. Its prominent citizens were John Long, Henry White, James Howard, William Howard, and Simp- son Cooper. The old town has disappeared and the site is now under cultivation. (See Riley's extinct Towns of Miss. Pub. Miss. His. Soc. Vol. 5, p. 367.) Much of the region is rich and productive and it ranks as one of the best counties in the middle section of the State. The county seat is at Brandon, (named for Gov. Gerard C. Brandon), a town of 775 people in 1900, and esti- mated at 1,000 in 1906. It is located twelve miles east of Jackson on the line of the Alabama & Vicksburg R. R. Situated on high ground and for several years the terminus of the Vicksburg & Meri- dian R. R., and surrounded by a rich country, Brandon was at one time the most important trading point in this section of the State. The old Brandon Male and Female Academy, reorganized in 1849, as Brandon College by the well known educator Dr. Thornton, and the later Brandon Female College, have been potent influences in raising the general standard of culture throughout this vicinity. Miss Frank Johnson was the principal of this famous school from the time of its founding until 1897 when her noble life and career was ended in death. There are no very large towns of villages in. the county. Among others may be mentioned Cleary, Florence, Thomasville, Star, Pearson, Rankin, Pelahatchee, Clarksburg, Cato, Greenfield and Fannin.

Two lines. of railway traverse the county, the Alabama & Vicks- burg from east to west, and the Gulf & Ship Island from northwest to southeast and give to Rankin excellent transportation facilities.

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The Pearl river on its northwestern boundary and its numerous tributaries provide it with good water power. It lies in the Central Prairie region of the State and the general surface of the land is level and undulating for the most part, with some broken sections. The total farm acreage according to the census of 1900 was 330,- 501, 310,356 acres of which were improved lands. The timber con- sists of long-leaf or yellow pine, white and red oak, hickory, beech, poplar, ash, gum, walnut and cypress. Beds of rich marl and large lime-stone quarries have been found in various parts of the county, and a fine quality of the best building stone is to be found in the southern part. The soil is for the most part fertile, particularly on the bottoms and uplands. It produces good crops of cotton, corn, peas, potatoes, rice, millet and sugar cane, and fruits and vegetables in abundance. Its rolling prairies and fertile bottoms give excel- lent pasturage for stock and the live stock industry has assumed large proportions. Manufactures have not assumed any great im- portance in this county as yet. Churches and schools abound throughout the county and the climate is mild and healthful.

The following statistics are taken from the twelfth U. S. census for 1900 and relate to farms, manufactures and population :- Num- ber of farms 3,398, acreage in farms 330,501, acres improved 310,- 356, value of land exclusive of buildings $1,252,800. value of build- ings, $466,750, value of live stock $669,996, total value of products not fed to stock $1,106,997. Number of manufacturing establish- ments 44, capital invested $85,686, wages paid $13,782, cost of materials $44,418, total value of products $103,652. The popula- tion for 1900 was whites 8,679, colored 12,276, total 20,955, increase over 1890, 3,033. The population in 1906 was estimated at 22,000. The slight increase being due to the negroes leaving the county. In almost every part of the county are mineral wells which, in some instances, have waters regarded as highly beneficial to health. The total number of white schoois in the county is 64, and there are 55 colored schools. The average term of school is 6 months. The total assessed ,valuation of real and personal property in Rankin county in 1905 was $2,692,456 and in 1906 it was $4,858,465, which shows an increase of $2,166,009 during the year.

Rapalji, George. The name is also spelled, more phonetically in English, Rapalye; but is given here as his signature, bold and handsome one, appears on the Natchez records. The names of Gar- rett, Isaac and James Rapalji also appear among the land claims in 1805. George was granted, in association with Lewis Charbena, 1,100 acres on the Mississippi in 1786, by the Spanish government. He was granted 231 acres near Natchez in 1788, and his wife, Jane, 1,000 on the Homochitto in 1789. George Rapalji was in Natchez district long before, however, as he was one of the original West Florida colonists, was. a loyalist, one of the leaders of the revolt of 1781 and was captured and imprisoned at New Orleans, by the Spanish. His property at that time doubtless was confiscated, and the first grants above show a restoration or grant of new lands upon his being restored to favor by the government. In the time

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of Ellicott, the commissioner suspected him of sympathy with the British movement known as Blount's conspiracy, and mentioned him as a man of influence.

He was indicted for the murder of John Cotty in 1800, but on trial, in the supreme court, was acquitted of that and found guilty of manslaughter. When on bail awaiting sentence, he left the ter- ritory. A strong petition for his pardon was presented to Gov- ernor Claiborne in February, 1802, and refused at first, but granted in June, on condition that Rapalji be bound over to keep the peace.

Rara Avis, a post-hamlet in the eastern part of Itawamba county, 13 miles east of Fulton, the county seat, and about 30 miles east of Tupelo, the nearest railroad town. It has a money order post- office. Population in. 1900, 100. Fulton is the nearest banking town.

Ras, a postoffice in the central part of Jasper county, situated on Altahomak creek, 6 miles west of Paulding. the county seat.

Ratliff, a post-hamlet in the northwestern part of Itawamba county, about 12 miles from Fulton, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 61.

Ravine, a postoffice in the northeastern part of Noxubee county, about 14 miles distant from Macon, the county seat and nearest railroad and banking town.

Raworth, a postoffice of Scott county, on the Alabama & Vicks- burg R. R., 6 miles by rail west of Forest, the county seat.

Rayborn, a post-hamlet of Pike county, situated in the north- central part, on Carters creek, 12 miles east of Summit, the near- est railroad and banking town, and 16 miles from Magnolia, the county seat. Population in 1900, 61.

Raymond, one of the seats of justice of Hinds county, is an in- corporated post-town near the center of the county, on the line of the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., 15 miles southwest of Jack- son. It was made the county seat January 17, 1829. It is an im- portant cotton shipping point, and two cotton gins and a saw mill are located here. A good water works system will soon be in operation. Raymond has a good academy, seven churches, a bank and a newspaper. The Merchants & Planters Bank was established here in 1906; the Gazette is a Democratic weekly, established in 1844, now owned and published by Whitney & Bell. The cele- brated Cooper's Well is located about four miles southeast of Ray- mond, and is widely known for the curative properties of its water. Thousands of people come here annually to drink of the water. A large and commodious hotel is maintained at the well for the ac- commodation of guests. The population of Raymond in 1900 was 483 and is rapidly increasing.

Raymond, battle of, see Vicksburg, campaign of 1863.

Recluse, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Harrison county.

Reconstruction. President Lincoln's policy was: "Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between those States and the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge his own opinion whether in doing the

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acts he brought the States from without into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it." The constitutional question which agitated congress as well as the Mississippi convention of 1865, he called, as a matter of dis- pute at that time, "good for nothing at all-a mere pernicious ab- straction," in which opinion he was sustained by such men as Sharkey and Yerger in Mississippi. (See Const. Conv. of 1865.) It has been said that Mr. Lincoln had no fixed theory, "whether the seceding States, so-called, are in the Union or out of it." He said he had "purposely forborne any public expression" upon the question.

As a beginning, with the war not yet entirely ended, Mr. Lin- coln was willing to readmit Louisiana to representation in con- gress, "some 12,000 voters in that State having sworn allegiance to the United States, held elections, organized a State government, adopted a free State constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, and empowering the legislature to confer the elective franchise upon the colored man." The legis- lature had ratified the Thirteenth amendment, and Mr. Lincoln was in favor of reorganizing the State government though it had not yet extended franchise to the freedmen. But many of his friends contended for more stringent guarantees.

This was Mr. Lincoln's attitude April 11, 1865. On April 14 he was assassinated. After that, several policies of "reconstruc- tion" agitated the Republic.

First announced in the articles of capitulation agreed upon by Sherman and Johnston in North Carolina, and immediately re- jected by the United States government, was what might be called the Davis plan, as the president of the Confederacy suggested the stipulations made by Johnston. Under this plan the Union would be restored as it was, simply by oaths of allegiance by State offi- cials and the election of senators and representatives in congress, and the State and its congressional delegation would be free to act at will regarding the legislative settlement of the questions that had been fought about for four years.

President Johnson's plan which was the Lincoln plan, may be inferred from his advice quoted in the article, Const. Conv. of 1865. It was involved, from the first, with a desire to make a political alliance with the Southern leaders in opposition to the radical wing of his own party.

The Charles Sumner theory was that the seceding States had de- stroyed themselves, and congress had power to govern them in- definitely by military, subject to the bill of rights of the consti- tution and the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and form new States, if desirable.

The theory of Thaddeus Stevens, from the beginning of the war, was that secession was effective, broke the constitutional bonds, and liberated congress from dealing with the people otherwise than as people of conquered provinces, as in a war with a foreign power. In accord with this was the language of the Mississippi

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legislature, in an enactment of 1864-"The war between the Con- federate States and United States of America."

The theory of the Mississippi legislature (1866) was "that the moment the military and forcible combination against the laws and authority of [the United States] was overcome, and the Federal supremacy was reinstated, and law and civil tribunals were re- placed, then the work of preserving the Union was accomplished, and the States at once resumed their proper places and relations in it." (Simrall report.) "It must be conceded on all hands," said Wiley P. Harris in his report of the judiciary committee to the Convention of 1890, "that the State had either severed her con- nection with the Union, and had placed herself outside of it, or that her acts, in concert with other States, in like circumstances, had so far interrupted and displaced Federal authority that she had lost her Federal relations as a State in the Union. Congress accepted the latter view. The Reconstruction acts, and indeed, the series of measures, cognate therewith, culminating in the re- admission act of 1870, are predicated on the idea that the State had lost a republican form of government, in the sense of the guarantee of the Constitution on that subject, and that it was the duty of con- gress in the exercise of its political powers to assure to her such government."

After the surrender of the army of Lieut-Gen. Richard Taylor,

- at Meridian, May 4, 1865, Mississippi was under the administra- tion of President Johnson as commander-in-chief of the United States army.

May 10 he proclaimed that "armed resistance to the authority of the government in the insurrectionary States may be regarded as at an end." Declining to call congress in special session and ar- rive at some agreed plan of reestablishing self-government in the South, within the Union, Mr. Johnson went ahead alone, upon the policy of William H. Seward, which was, that "the wisest plan of reconstruction was the one which would be speediest; that for the sake of impressing the world with the strength and the mar- velous power of self-government, with its Law, its Order, its Peace, we should at the earliest possible moment have every State restored to its normal relations with the Union." Meanwhile, Governor Clark had called a special session of the legislature which had adjourned in March, to meet May 18, for the purpose, as ap- pears from its proceedings, to arrange with President Johnson for restoration "to harmonious relations with the Federal government." But the legislature was required to disperse, the governor was de- posed and put under arrest. These measures put an end to the attempt of the State to resume the old status in the same manner as it had seceded, without change of organization. (See Clark Adm.) On May 29, a few days after the dispersal of the Missis- sippi legislature, the president issued his proclamation of amnesty and pardon, a modification of the proclamation of President Lin- coln, December 8, 1863, requiring an oath to support the Consti- tution and Union and "abide by and faithfully support" the proc-

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lamations and laws regarding emancipation ; excepting several classes of those engaged in the Confederate civil or military service for special pardon when applied for. On the same day he pre- scribed by proclamation a plan for the reorganization of North Car- olina, appointing W. W. Holden provisional governor. It was this plan that Sharkey and Yerger accepted on behalf of Mississippi, following which Judge Sharkey was appointed provisional gover- nor of Mississippi, by proclamation June 13. The reorganization of the other gulf coast States followed, all on the North Carolina plan, by July 13.

The events in Mississippi under the reconstruction policy of President Johnson are noted in the articles Sharkey's Adm., Hum- phreys' Adm., and Const. Conv. of 1865. These events were potent in influencing the subsequent policy. According to Gover- nor Sharkey there was a general disposition to do justice to the freedmen, and to accept other results of the war, such as repudia- tion of obligations incurred by the State government during the war. Chief-Justice Campbell thought the feeling "of an over- whelming majority of our people was one of readiness to be faith- ful to the government."

In 1865 Gen. U. S. Grant made a tour of inspection of the lately insurrectionary region, including Mississippi, and Carl Schurz made an investigation by direct commission of President Johnson.

General Grant said as a result of his visit, that four years of war had left the Southern people "possibly in a condition not to yield that ready obedience to civil authority the American people have generally been in the habit of yielding. This would render the presence of small garrisons throughout those States necessary until such time as labor returns to its proper channel and civil authority is fully restored." He said he had met no one who thought it practical to withdraw the military ; white and black alike demanded the protection ; but white troops alone should be used in the interior ; the black troops "demoralized labor," and they might be attacked by the ignorant white element. "My observations lead me to the conclusion that the citizens of the Southern States are anxious to return to self-government, within the Union, as soon as possible ; that whilst reconstructing they want and require protec- tion from the government; that they are in earnest in wishing to do what they think is required by the government, not humil- iating to them as citizens, and that if such a course were pointed out they would pursue it in good faith."

The expressions of Sharkey, Yerger, and the like, were the opin- ions of the party in the State that had opposed secession in its in- ception. But there were, of course, many events and expressions of opinion, there having been from the year 1797 two great parties in Mississippi on national questions, that were used by politicians to support the theory that Mississippi did not accept the results of the war in good faith. The election of Governor Humphreys over Judge Fisher and the record of the legislature, were used

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Mississippi : comprising sketches of towns, events, institutions, and persons, arranged in cyclopedic form Vol. II, Part 61

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