People Helper Vol.5 No. 12 Sept. 1993
Civil War- C. C. Ward
Confederate Veteran
As told by Calvan Stewart with the Southern Army.
While waiting for the enemy to attack, he saw a union officer leading his men up the valley. Stewart put up his gun and aimed, and as he did so, his Captain said, "Don't fire that gun, you will need it later in the day." Despite his Captains orders, he aimed and fired. his aim was true and he hit this officer in the thigh. The enemy retreated and they did no battle that day.
Some years after the war the man Stewart had shot Advertised in the Picayune Newspaper, that if the person who had shot him was still alive, he would like to communicate with him. Mr. Stewart did so and he and the Yankee officer became good friends. Source Pearl River County History
Early in the War, a Union squad closed on a single ragged Confederate. He didn't own any slaves and obviously didn't have much interest in the Constitution or anything else. What are you fighting for they ask? He replied, "I am fighting because you are down here."
Pearl River Historical Group
We are a separate branch of the Hancock County Historical Society gathering information for this area. Contact Email Sweet Vickey Lang
Pearl River Historical Group
Vicky Lang, Our Tombstone Person gathering information on Graveyards in Pearl River County could use some help on private burial grounds. Send pertinent information to:
Vicky Lang, 134 Newman Rd., Poplarville Ms 39470 phone 601 795 4568 nights 601 772 9162
Genealogy
On the Wheats, Pittmans, Breazeale, Vaughns & Stevens
Marty Kelly Who's first book was "Wheat Sheaves Vol. 1" on William Griffen Wheat & Martha Patsy Wilkerson is working on a second book "Joseph Wheat and Elizabeth Bagley" Anyone with info. on above: contact Marty Kelly, 6511 Tamar Dr., Pasadena, TX 77503
Vicky Lang 7 years researching Pittmans, Breazeale and Vaughns. anyone
with info., contact: Vicky Lang, 134 Newman Rd., Poplarville Ms 39470 phone
601 795 4568 nights 601 772 9162
Email Sweet Vickey Lang
Query;
Looking for (William Mathew ?) Stephens\Stevens in GA Delilah Stephens daughter born abt 1801 married Giles Thomas Loftin.
Contact: Isom Stephens, 979 N. Amethyst St. Layton, UT 84041
Pearl River Historical Group
Pearl River Historical Group
Vicky Lang, Our Tombstone Person gathering information on Graveyards in Pearl River County could use some help on private burial grounds. Send pertinent information to:
Vicky Lang, 134 Newman Rd., Poplarville Ms 39470 phone 601 795 4568 nights 601 772 9162
Genealogy
On the Wheats, Pittmans, Breazeale, Vaughns & Stevens
Marty Kelly Who's first book was "Wheat Sheaves Vol. 1" on William Griffen Wheat & Martha Patsy Wilkerson is working on a second book "Joseph Wheat and Elizabeth Bagley" Anyone with info. on above: contact Marty Kelly, 6511 Tamar Dr., Pasadena, TX 77503
Vicky Lang 7 years researching Pittmans, Breazeale and Vaughns. anyone with info., contact: Vicky Lang, 134 Newman Rd., Poplarville Ms 39470 phone 601 795 4568 nights 601 772 9162
Query;
Looking for (William Mathew ?) Stephens\Stevens in GA Delilah Stephens daughter born abt 1801 married Giles Thomas Loftin.
Contact: Isom Stephens, 979 N. Amethyst St. Layton, UT 84041
PEARL RIVER COUNTY page 111
Civil War
"Courtship Between a Rebel Soldier and a Girl" (first verse forgotten)
To work, 1'm too lazy, to marry will do.
I'm going to California to seek a new home.
Go way from me stranger and let me along.
I am a poor Rebel Soldier and a long way from home.
Come along my dear Missy, sit down by my side,
And give me your attention while I tell you my mind.
Go'way from me stranger and let me alone,
I'm a poor Rebel Soldier and a long way from home.
Col. J. M. Shivers, who for 38 years was a leader in all of the affairs of the county died at his home Sunday afternoon at 4:00 O'cloœk. He had been in failing health for some time and had been confined to his home for ten months, but was fatally stricken only a few days before he passed away.
James McLauren Shivers, was born in Marengo County, Alabama, on February 10, 1834, son of Dr. 0. L. Shivers and Mrs. Catherine Woodfin Shivers. He was educated in the public schools of the home neighborhood and in Howard College, Alabama. Before his 18th birthday and just after he graduated from College, the war notes sounded, calling the sons of the South to arms and he entered the Confederate Army in April, 1861, as a private in the 4th Alabama Infantry. A Regiment which for its bravery and fighting qualities, earned the sobriquet of the "Glorious Fourth". The young patriot was severly wounded, and before he recovered, he was strocken with typhoid fever. Crippled and ill he was given an honorable discharge and returned to his home in Alabama.
He taught school for a few months, and also served with the State troops at Fort Gaines, On Mobile Bay. In 1862, an other company was organized and this young patriot re-entered the service for a period of 90 days, but before the time elapsed, he re-enlisted in the regular army, joining the First Alabama Light Infantry, attached to the Army of Tennessee, with which command he fought during the remaining years of the war and for his gallantry was promoted to a Lieutenant. He was with his command in the engagement at Shiloh, Farmington, Munfordville, Perryville, Murfreesboro, Chicamauga, Missionary Ridge, Riggold, New Hope Church, Atlanta, and at Spanish Fort. After making a glorious record when the cause went down at Appomatox, he was paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, May 14, 1865. Col. Shivers came from a fighting family. His Great Grandfather served in the Revolutionary War. His Grand father was an Indian fighter in Florida and his Father at the age of 21 raised a company for the aid of the Texas revolution in 1831. All of them noted for bravery and intrepidity in battle.
page 112
After the cessation of holtilities Col. Shivers went back to Ala bama and lived in Perry for some time. In May, 1865, he was married to Miss Gornelia F. Cocke of Marion, Alabama, and filled the position as depot egent at Greensborough, Ala. He and his family came to Poplarville, Miss. in 1884 and he engaged in the lumber business. When the division of Marion County was made and Pearl River County organized, Col. Shivers was appointed the first Sheriff of the new county and served one full term. He studied law and was admitted to t e Bar and continued in active practice until a few weeks before his death. He held the office of Town Attorney for the town of Poplarville for a number of years. Col. Shivers was a member of the Baptist Church, a Mason and could be found on the right side of every issue. For a short while he was also Editor of the Free Press back in the early days of the paper's life. Source: FREE PRESS Nov.16,1922
Charles Calhoun, ninety years old now living in Pearl River County. He was First Corporal in Company II, First Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi Regiment - Bakers Brigade of Tennessee left Geneva, Alabama, he joined there but has lived in Pearl River County for the last thirty years.
Sept. 21, 1861, went to Memphis, Tenn. Our first battle was at Madred, Mc. There our Captain, Henry Laird, left us. I have not seen him since. Jeff Laird, his nephew, was made Captain and served until the war was ended. The whole regiment was taken prisoners at Island No. 10 and we were taken to Wisconsin - there several died and were buried in a cemetery called "Confederates' Rest". We stayed in Wisconsin about two months, then transferred to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill, and from there we were exchanged at Vicksburg, Miss. I was a prisoner six months this time. I was honorably discharged after the siege of Vicksburg, because I was so young.
I left and went to Dalton, Ga, where I joined Company A, 18th Ala. Regiment. I was in thirteen hard fought battles and was taken prisoner the second time in the second days fifht, December 16, at Nashville, Tenn. I was carried to Camp Chase, Ohio. The war ended and I took the oath of allegiance June 12, 1865. I was given a free transportation back to Dixie. The railroads were so badly destroyed until we had to walk most of the way.
On the 27th day of June, 1865, I got back home a 19 year old Confederate soldier.
I was in the following battles: (was never wounded) New Madred, No. March 13, 1862, Island No. 10 Tennessee, April 8, 1862; Rocky Fare, Ga., Feb. 23 to Feb 27, 1864; Atlanta Ga., July 22, 1864; Atlanta Ga. July 28, 1864; Jonesbora, Ga. August 31- Sept 1, 1864; New Hope Church, Ga. May 25 to June 4, 1864; Peach Tree Creek, Ga. May 13 to 16, 1864; Lovejoy, Nashville, Tenn. Dec 15 and 16, 1864; Lost Mountain, Franklin, Tenn essee - hand to hand fight. Source: Charles Calhoun, Pearl River County - just as he gave it.
Calvin Stewart, enlisted when the war first started and served four years. Fighting in the battle of Chicamauga, while in this battle, he was struck with a missle ball knocking him down. The ball went through a little testament (which was in his pocket) when it reached the back of the book it stopped and lodged there. While in the war just before a battle, Calvin Stewart took a shot at a Yankee Officer.. After the war and years later, a stranger stopped at his home and talking over their war experiences, he discovered this man was the one he shot at, wounding him in the thigh. Source: Harvey T. Stewart, Poplarville, a nephew
Louis P. Varnado, my father, voluntered at the first call in the Civil War of the Mississippi boys. He was married and had four children (all boys) he enlisted as a private, was in a number of battles, was raised to the rank of First Lieutenant in Steed's Battalion. When the siege of Vicksburg came on, the Southern part of the. state was being ravaged and robbed by a gang called Jay Hawkers. He was chosed and given 100 men to rid the country of these men who were deserters - his orders were to capture and kill them - with his 100 men he lert Vicksburg in the spring before the surrender, he led his company through the town of Poplarville, along a trail near where main street now is. He contacted them for the first time near where Henleyfield church now is, there several of the gang was killed, but none of his men were wounded. Later he found them on Hickory Creek where others were killed and captured and those who made their escape fled to New Orleans by way of Gainesvile and joined the Yankees. When the war was over he received an honorable discharge, coming home to find two of his children and wife dead. Later he married Samantha Jones and there were four children by this marriage. He was a pioneer Baptist preacher. His wife is still living in Pearl River County.
Source:G. Varnado, Poplarville, a son. This was in the early 1930's Ed...
Joseph A. Smith served in the Civil War about two years, was about 27 years old when he enlisted - was in the siege of Vicksburg (was not shot). He threw torpedoes over in the Yankee Trenches while at Vicksburg. There were there 48 days and nights - fighting night and day. The Southern soldiers were starved out and the Northern men won the battle. He never attended but one Confederate Reunion. He lived in Poplarville after the war.
Andrew Smith, one of the pioneer settlers of Pear]. River County entered the Civil War when quite young and served to the end of the war. He also served one term as treasurer to this county. He died in his 69th year.
Mr. Smith was born in 1841, his education such as was afforded by common schools of those days. In 1861, at the age of 20, threatening clouds of the great Civil War was hovered over our Southland and when our beloved state, believing her rights threatened and her honor in jeopardy, called upon her sons to rally to her defense. Then it was that "Andy" Smith laid aside his school books and with that love for his state which ever characterized his life came to her defense, joining the first company that was organized in Marion County and attached tn the 7th Miss. Reg. He was more fortunate, however than 75% of his comrades, who never returned, being discharged by reason of disabilities from which he never recovered. He possessed many noble traits of character, one of which was liberal and generous spirit.
He gave to our county the beautiful square where the Court house site now is, and also that which was the old Baptist Church site together with the cemetery - all without money and without price.
In 1892, Mr. Smith was elected County Treasurer and served four years with credit to County and honor to himself. He died April 29, 1911 - A light gone out - a spark divine Whose gleam in life no more shall shine Now gone to sleep, life's journey o'er Now gone to rest forever more.
Source: Pearl River County history
Joseph Burks (from Free Press, February) Confederate Veteran Answers Last Call
Final rites for Joseph Burks, aged Confederate Veteran, were conducted in Henleyfield Baptist Church Tuesday with Rev. Jim Stewart from Louisiana officiating. He was assisted by Rev. W. I. Williams, Picayune. Rev. J C. Richardson, Poplarville, Miss. and Rev. 0. P. Ester of Bogalusa, La.
Reb. Burkes who would have been 95 years of age March 28, died at 1:30 A.M. February 19, at home of his daughter, Mrs. E. J. Woodward, in Henleyfield Community. Mr. Burks had been an invalid since Sept. 6, 1932 when he fell from the porch of his home near Poplarville and was the last surviving child of Daniel Burks and Jane Smith, pioneer settlers of this section of the State.
Mr. Daniel Burks having come from Kentucky to this section with Andrew Jackson's Army during war of 1812, remained in this section and became a Citizen of Henleyfield vicinity.
"Uncle" Joe Burks, as he was affectionately called by all who knew him, was a Confederate Veteran, having received all during the Civil War in Company C-G, 38th Mississippi Regiment. He was married on Jan 7, 1859 to Elizabeth Jane Wheat and had been married seventy-one years when she died, Sept. 26, 1929. He was an esteemed farm and stock man in the community in which he lived, and at the time that section was known as Pearl County. He served as a member of Board of Supervisors before it was thrown back into Marion County. Later becoming a part of the present Pearl River County. The deceased was a great influence and was a Charter member of Henleyfield Church. The surviving are: Mrs. J. A. Burks, W. H. Burks and Mrs. J A. Magehee, Mrs. E. J. Woodward, Mrs. W. P. Stockstill.
Augustus M. Beal, born in Winston County Miss., Feb. 14, 1845. When a child he moved with his family to the vicinity in which he died, now Pearl River County, where he lived his entire life with the exception of four years of eventful life spent in the army of the Confederacy as a brave and gallant soldier, a member of the 3rd (afterwards 23rd) Miss. Reg., participating in many battles - the Vicksburg Seige. Dalton to Atlanta, under Gen. J. s. Johnson and Tennessee Campaign under Gen. Hood. Having been wounded just before the bitter end, he was not paroled, returning home at the surrender. He married Miss Harriet A. Brill.
His record as a soldier was that of a brave and gallant Mississippian. He was Charter Comrade of Pearl River Camp U C. U. No. 540.
Source: Free Press, Friday, Sept. 12, 1919.
The "Jay Hawkers" stamped the toe nails off of Grandmother Monti's toes during the Civil War to make her tell where some gold was hid. She knew them all and when the war was over and the soldiers came home, every one of them were finally killed that took part in the assault. Mrs. Monti's son is now Sheriff of Hancock County.
Source: T. J. McArthur, R. L. Meador -PRCH
VIII. Home Conditions During War
Daniel Burks, soon after the war of 1812 married Jane Smith. The old settlers though living miles apart would get together and go to Biloxi to get their supplies. They did this for better protection against the Indians. They would kill deer, gather up the things they had to trade, and try and time their trip when they would meet a ship coming in with supplies. On one such trip the ship was delayed and the old settlers had to make camp and wait several weeks for it. Aunt Jane Smith, was left alone and became ill. She was too sick to keep her coals of fire banked, so one morning when she recovered enough to get up, she had to walk nine miles to her nearest neighbor to get fire to cook her meals.
Andy Smith (sometimes called Andrew) married in North Carolina, and he and his bride, with only a cart and pony and such supplies as they would need on the trip started west. They crossed Pearl River just below Jackson Mississippi, on a large raft made of cane that the Indians helped him to make. He then came on south and stopped near what is now Poplarville. He had five sons and one daughter - one son Jeptha, went to Texas, "Poplar" Jim the other son and daughter stayed in Pearl River County and have many descendants. One of these sons, Billy Smith, had twenty-six children by two wives. With the exception of one son who died in infancy the thers have all lived to ripe old ages - several living to be 80 or 90 years of age. They have always been law abiding citizens and attribute their unusual good health and long lives to the fact that they were taught to keep Cod's Commandments "Honor thy father and mother that thy days may be long in the Land which Jehovah thy Cod giveth thee. " Source: As told to Dora Mitchell by numerous old settlers. 2.
Billy Smith, brother of "Poplar" Jim Smith and son of Andy Smith and father of Hiram Smith married Janie Rouse. She is a direct descendant of Zschary Taylor. Source: Zeno Smith, descendant of Billy Smith. PRCH
People Helper Vol. 5 No.12
The Third Mississippi consisted mostly of men from the Gulf Coast. Many felt it their primary duty to defend that vulnerable approach. Others however, were ready to fight the Yankees anywhere and anytime.
The third Mississippi was a mixture of contrasting men from the coastal region; they were Scotch-Irish and French, piney woods farmers and cotton planters, Fishermen and merchants. Their ages ran from 16-year old John Murphy to W.H. Tench, a 72 year old veteran of the War of 1812. They drew on the gray of the Confederacy and spent the first two years of the war drilling and traveling.
They were dispatched to Kentucky as reinforcements, then to Vicksburg in 1862, to Baker's Creek in 1863, usually standing picket duty and building fortifications. They guarded against surprise attack that never come, or even taking their place in the line of battle on the left only to have the battle break out on the right. Often they were detailed for duty such as at Jackson or Meridian, in the wake of Yankee destruction. Sometimes they literally saw action - but were too far away to be a part of it. Their letters home showed their frustration at their secondary role.
However, all changed drastically when the Third Mississippi crossed the Georgia line in mid 1864. Until then the had lost more men through sickness, desertion and execution than in battle.
But at the battle of Peachtree Creek, their pent-up frustrations were released. They were not content to just drive in the Yankee skirmishers, but charged the enemy lines. Losses were about a fourth of their men.
Source Mississippi Military Archives
People Helper II
People Helper 528 NATCHEZ IN THE OLDEN TIMES.
EIGHTY-THREE years have I spent in Natchez and its vicinity. Of the companions of my boyhood all have passed away and the hopes of my youth have turned to memories of the past. The evening shades of my life are lengthening towards the east and soon the sunset will come. I was born at Kaskaskie, Illinois, on Christmas day, 1787, and on Christmas day, 1786, my father landed with his family in Natchez. At that time there were but two or three houses on the hill, the whole town being under the hill, which was then quite an extensive tract. Below, where is now the ferry landing, there was quite an extensive and heavy battery, known as "the King's Works," and just above, there was a quarter race track extending from the bluff towards the river. There was a Spanish garrison in the fort, a little below the present residence of Stephen Rumble, and the house of the Governor was about where that of Dr. Harer now stands. When the town begun to be built on the hill, the Spaniards settled in this part, and other persons generally built east of the present Commerce street. These being mostly Irish, this part of the town was called Irish town, whilst the other part was known as Spanish town. The Governor was Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, an intelligent and liberal man, educated in England, at Westminster, and speaking English as fluently as a native. The mild, paternal rule of the good Governor makes an old man revert with pleasure to the scenes of his youth and even at times to regret the change of government.
The Catholic religion was the only one publicly tolerated in the country. The priests exercised much influence, and were very generally loved. They had great power, but used it very mildly. Irish priests were usually selected for Natchez, because there were so many English-speaking people. I well remember Father Brady, the best shot, the best rider and the best judge of horses in the district. And Father Malone, with a wink and a joke, and a blessing and an almo for every one - welcome at every wedding, every frolic and every dinner - most exemplary in the discharge of every duty, but with a slight weakness for his national beverage on St. Patrick's day, when his patriotism would prove stronger than his head. However, in those days, and for years after, the clergy of all denominations took their morning and their midday toddy, and were always considered the best judges of Madeira
Attempts were made by several Protestant ministers to preach, but were not encouraged. The only sermon I remember to have heard during the Spanish rule was preached by an Episcopalian named Cloud. Governor Gayoso was present and walked home with my father after the service. He expressed himself in their conversation as being individually in favor of religious toleration, "but," he added, "you know I have a master." The next day Cloud was notified that he must not preach again, but he, persisting in doing so, was shortly arrested and sent out of the country.
Notes: Recollections of Mr. George Willey, a venerable and much respected citizen, who died in 1874. 'His father was Maj. James Willey, of the Revolutionary army an early settler in Kentucky, who immigrated to Natchez, then under Spanish rule, in 1788. George Willey, when the Indian war of 1813 broke out, though exempt from military service, owing to a fractine of his shoulder, volunteered and served two campaigns, one on the Alabama, and the other at New Orleans. He narrowly escaped the massacre at Fort Mims, and was in the detachment under Maj. Kennedy, that buried the remains. A better man, and a truer patriot we have never had here. These recollections were his "table talk," taken down nearly in his own words. It was ratifying to find that this intelligent and truthful witness cherished a grateful remembrance of the kind and paternal rule of the Spanish provincial authorities.
NATCHEZ IN THE OLDEN TIMES My father's house was on the lot now occupied the store of Wm. Earhart, and all north of that was in woods. In these woods the Indians, who came in every year to receive their presents from the Spanish government, used to encamp. The Spaniards seemed to be afraid of them, and in their drunken orgies, which always followed the distribution of government presents, they were controlled entirely by their interpreter, an old Frenchman named Baptiste, who with his whip used to lash them into a abjection in their most disorderly and boisterous outbreaks. It is curious that the Indian, who seems to have no fear of a gun or knife or other deadly weapon, had a great dread of a whip. I remember once, many years later, an Indian riot, in Natchez which defied the strength of the civil authorities, and even rendered it necessary to call out the troops, which was instantly quelled by a burly overseer, who rode in amongst them with his whip and scattered them like chaff before the wind.
I once witnessed Indian execution. which took place about where the gas house now stands. The man was condemned, according to their retaliatory laws, to suffer death, and the day was fixed for his execution. He was not confined in the meantime, but suffered to go where he pleased, and he used the time in going from house to house and begging for whiskey, and inviting every one to come and see him die. On the appointed day he was promptly at the place; assisted in digging his own grave, which was done with knives and hatchets, and from time to time he would lay himself down in it, to see if it would fit him, and when it was completed to his satisfaction, he took a parting drink with all around, and then stood with the most stoical indifference at one end of the grave, and gave the word to the executioner, and in an instant fell back into the grave with the fatal bullet through his head, and was at once covered up.
120 Years Old It will seem almost incredible to some that the lives of two men should embrace a period, beginning with the great English revolution and commencement of the reign of the House of Orange, thus comprehending all the great events of modern history; yet such I can shew in my own Iife, and that of another. I have often seen a man named McCoy, who at that time was said to be a hundred and twenty years old. I do not know where he lived, but it was somewhere not far from town, for he used to come in to mass on occasional Sundays, walking and leading the horse, on which was mounted his son, who was from the infirmities of age unable to walk. After mass they would come to my father's house, and often have I listened to his wonderous recitals of his varied and active life. The campaigns of Marlborough, the defeat of Gen. Braddock, and the massacre of the French in Fort Rosalie by the Natchez Indians, were all told by him with the vivid accuracy of a participant. Now put this man's age and mine together, and it will carry you back to the days of the "Merry King Charles".
The houses built by the first settlers on the hill were mere shanties. There were no saw mills to furnish lumber, and the timber was split from the tree with the axe and fro. Probably the oldest house now existing in Natchez is the one occupied by Mrs. Postlethwaite, on Jefferson street, between Union and Rankin. It was at one time kept as a tavern by a man named King, and was the stopping place of western men on their return from New Orleans, after selling out their flatboats of produce.
To each settler, who would put up a house in the town, a lot was given by the authorities at a nominal price; but their title was not always a secure one. If the Governor wanted the lot for some favorite he generally managed to make the occupant give it up; most commonly, however, in exchange for a lot, or land, in some other place. Indeed, any opposition to the will of the Governor was generally very promptly got rid of, but the execution of justice was just as prompt.
For many crimes the privilege of sanctuary was allowed, and I have often passed the church early in the morning, and found a Spaniard with his finger in the key hole of the church. The commission of crime was not greater than in frontier settlements of our own countrymen, and indeed all of bad reputation which Natchez never acquired, was after it came into the hands of Americans.
A horrible tragedy made an indelible impression on my memory. On St., Catherine Creek there lived a man named Condy, who was of that wild and roving disposition so common among frontier people. This wife was a beautiful but frail woman, but they were bound together by a family of three lovely children. The suspected intimacy between his wife and a Spanish officer, had driven Condy to madness; and in his rage, he took a razor and cut his wife's throat. He then took his little ones, and one by one laid them by their mother's side and killed them all. Then laying himself down beside them, he blew out his own brains. I saw the five laying side by side in death.
The well known disposition of the Spaniard to use the knife in all their quarrels, induced the governor to issue an order, forbidding any one to carry a knife, or other weapon of iron or steel, but the Spaniards evaded it by making a kind of stiletto of hardened wood, with which they managed, on more than one occasion, to kill one another. The founders of many of our wealthy families were poor but adventurous, and energetic men, whose fortunes were built up not only by their own energies, but by fortunate circumstances. As an exemplification of the instability of fortune I have seen the first generation begin life in poverty, and build up wealth. The next generation, as a rule, have kept and improved the fortunes their fathers acquired, but in a large majority of instances the third have died as poor as their grandfathers commenced.
When the time at length arrived when the Spaniards were to be pushed out, although the great mass of American or rather English speaking inhabitants, were rejoiced, still that feeling was by no means unanimous. Quite a number of the citizens loved the Spanish rule, and not a few followed them in their exodus.
The first United States troops a that arrived was a detachment of two companies commanded by Lieutenant Pope, one of the companies under Lieutenant McCleary. A temporizing and evasive policy was as usual, pursued the Spanish authorities, and on the part of many military officers in the United States army there was an evident desire for hostile conflict between the countries, thus opening to their ambition the prospect of conquest of the Spanish provinces of Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. Fortunately the arrival of Cap. Guion, a man as prudent as he was patriotic and honest, and on whom devoted
cont p30
Notes: In confirmation of this, I extract the following from the MS. journal, kept by the venerable Gov. Sevier of Tennessee, in 1815, when he was running the line between the Creeks and Cherokees, written only a few days before his death.
Source: Mississippi, as a Province, Territory and State
"July 17th. About eight years ago the Creek Indians seized and took away a large lot of whiskey belonging to Parson Blackburn, which was laying at the Spring Frog's, a little below Turkeytown, which they said was within their territory. When the Cherokees were called on in behalf of Blackburn for compensation, they excused themselves on the ground that the Creeks owned the land, and could do as they pleased in their own country. The Parson referred to was one of the most eminent Presbyterian clergymen in the West, and was largely engaged in the whiskey business, and came near involving the country in war with the Indians on account of this seizure.
The best whiskey brought to Natchez thirty years ago was brought, twice a year, in a flatboat, by tlie Rev. Moses Trader, of Ohio, an eminent Methodist, who did a large business in this line for a series of years, and preached at Natchez and Washington with great fervor and unction. He was a most excellent man, thouh he enjoyed his bitters, his midday toddy and his nightcap , always saying that he was not afraid of his own whiskey, but "a little skeery about any other."
Rev. Adam Cloud, who subsequently lived and died in Jefferson county.
alone, with a wink and a joke, and a blessing and an almo for every one - welcome at every wedding, every frolic and every dinner - most exemplary in the discharge of every duty, but with a slight weakness for his national beverage on St. Patrick's day, when his patriotism would prove stronger than his head. However, in those days, and for years after, the
Notes: Recollections of Mr. George Willey, a venerable and much respected citizen, who died in 1874. 'His father was Maj. James Willey, of the Revolutionary army an early settler in Kentucky, who immigrated to Natchez, then under Spanish rule, in 1788. George Willey, when the Indian war of 1813 broke out, though exempt from military service, owing to a fractine of his shoulder, volunteered and served two campaigns, one on the Alabama, and the other at New Orleans. He narrowly escaped the massacre at Fort Mims, and was in the detachment under Maj. Kennedy, that buried the remains. A better man, and a truer patriot we have never had here. These recollections were his "table talk," taken down nearly in his own words. It was ratifying to find that this intelligent and truthful witness cherished a grateful remembrance of the kind and paternal rule of the Spanish provincial authorities.
People Helper Vol ? No ?
No Law.. Sexes Pair Off.. OLD ALABAMA and MISSISSIPPI in 1800
Upon the Tombigby and Lake Tensaw, the people still lived without laws, and without the rite of matrimony. For years, the sexes had been in the habit of pairing off, and living together, with the mutual promise of regular marriage, when ministers or magistrates should make their appearance in the country. An amusing incident will here be related, in which a young couple were united by a functionary not hitherto known as participating in such sacred rites. the house of Samuel Mims, a wealthy Indian
countryman, was the most spacious in the country, and hither the young and the gay flocked to parties, and danced to the music furnished by the Creoles of Mobile and others, for the country abounded in fiddlers, of high and low degree. Daniel Johnson and Miss. Elizabeth Linder had, for some time, loved each other. She was rich and he was poor, and, of course, the parents of the former objected to a pairing.
On Christmas night, a large party was assembled at "Old Sam Mims," and the very forests resounded with music and merry peals of laughter. In the midst of the enjoyment, the lovers, in company with several young people, of both sexes, secretly left the house, entered some canoes, paddled down Lake Tensaw, into the Alabama, aiid arrived at Fort Stoddart, an hour before daylight. Captain Shaumberg, who had risen early to make his egg-nog, was implored to join the lovers in the bonds of matrimony. the proposition astounded the good natured old German, who protested his ignorance of all such matters, and assured them that he was only a military commandant, having no authority whatever to make people man and wife.
They entreated, telling him with truth, that the Federal Government had placed him there as a general protector and regulator of affairs, and that the case before him demanded his sanction and adjustment. After the egg-nog had circulated pretty freely, the commandant placed the lovers before him, and, in a stentorian voice, pronounced the following marital speech: ''I. Captain Shaumberg, of the 2d regiment of the United States army, and commandant of Fort Stoddart, do hereby Pronounce you man and wife. Go home! behave yourselves, multiply and replenish the Tensaw country !'' The happy pair entered their canoes, rowed back to the Boat Yard, and were pronounced, by the whole settlement, "the best married people they had known in a long time."
Source: History of Alabama -Albert J. Pickel - first published 1801
The Federal Government displayed much wisdom in the established- 6 of a factory, or trading-house, at St. Stephens. It was well stored with such merchandise as suited the Choctaws, for whom it was particularly designed. It 1802 served to create a good feeling with those Indians, and to entice them from the control of Panton and the Spaniards, be- low the line. Joseph Chambers, a man of a well-cultivated mind, and of business capacity, a native of Salisbury, North Carolina, was made superintendent of this factory, with an assistant, Thomas Ii. Williams, also from North Carolina, who afterwards was Secretary of the Territory, Collector of the port of New Orleans, and United States Senator from Mississippi.
The Yazoo act liad been repealed, the treaty of Madrid had been made, Fllicott 's line had been run, and the Spaniards had been removed; still great difficulties had arisen between Georgia and the Federal Government in relation to lands granted under the Yazoo act, which the companies and various purchasers under the u resolutely claimed and defended. Many plans were proposed for satisfactory adjustment, which produced debate and contention of an angry diaracter. Finally, Albert Gallatin, James Madison and Levi Lincoln, on the part of the government, and James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin and John Milledge, rep- resenting Georgia, made a final disposition of the matter. For the sum of one million two hundred and fifty 1802 thousand dollars Georgia ceded to tlie United States all Apr. 24 the territory within the following boundaries: Beginning upon the Mississippi, at the line of 310, thence continuiiig
People Helper Vol.? N?
Alamo, The
The Alamo, site of a heroic battle of the TEXAS REVOLUTION, was founded in 1718 as a Spanish mission during the original settlement of San Antonio, Tex. Secularized in 1792, it fell into decay and was used variously as a hospital and troop garrison.
When the Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de SANTA ANNA invaded Texas during the Texas Revolution, the Texans withdrew into the crumbling walls of the mission's inner courtyard. There about 185-190 defenders were besieged by an army of 5,000-6,000, sustaining almost continual cannonades for 12 days. On the 13th day--Mar. 6, 1836--the Mexicans broke through and massacred all the Texan men. A Mrs. Dickenson, her child, and possibly two servants were the only non-Mexican survivors. Although a convention had declared the independence of Texas 4 days earlier, this was unknown to the Alamo martyrs. Thus they died fighting under the Mexican flag and defending the Mexican constitution of 1824, which Santa Anna had abrogated.
Seymour V. Connor
Texas Tales by Tom Stevens
182 Dead at San Antonio March 6, 1836
Twelve Tennesseeans marched west with Davy Crockett, three dozen more came with Jim Bowie and Buck Travis, all warriors and frontier bred. None had planned to die, but their pride, their land, their loyalty held them fast to Travis, Bowie, Crockett and their glory.
The Alamo, site of a heroic battle of the Texas revolution, was founded in 1718 as a Spanish mission during the original settlement of San Antonio. Secularized in 1792, it fell into decay and was used variously as a hospital and troop garrison.
When the Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's army marched into Texas, the Americans withdrew into the crumbling walls of the mission's inner courtyard.
Crockett was allotted the most exposed part of the wall and accepted it as an honor.
James Butler Bonham, a lawyer was the courier and made many trips outside for help. No help came, except thirty-two Texans who rode from Gonzales, fought their way into the Alamo when they knew no other help would come. In the end, Bonham, a Carolinian and friend of Travis rode back to the Alamo. He was told it was useless to throw his life away. He answered, Buck Travis deserves to know the answer to his appeals.
On March 3, 1836, after days of siege, Travis wrote his last letter from the Alamo. He no longer expected help, but stir his countrymen to action and save the country, he wrote:
. . . I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms. I will . . . do the best I can . . . the victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than defeat. I hope your honorable body will hasten reinforcements. . . Our supply of ammunition is limited. . .God and Texas. Victory or Death.
There 182 defenders were besieged by an army of 5,000-6,000, sustaining almost continual cannonades for 12 days. After ten days of siege, the Mexican Army had worked its guns in close at a heavy cost as many gunners had been picked off by Kentucky rifles, but on March 5, a breach was blasted in east wall.
Santa Ana committed five battalions, 4,000 trained soldiers against the defenders at the Alamo. Those Mexican soldiers not well trained were held to the rear and confined to barracks. The brigades formed in the pre-dawn morning of March 6th on the open fields near the Alamo. The Mexican soldiers were armed with musket and bayonet and led by professional officers, some were Europeans from Nepoleonic wars. The assault would be made by infantry bearing bayonets and scaling ladders.
Neither Santa Anna nor his generals had ever assaulted American rifleman concealed behind high walls. The British army instructions at the time could have told them that American riflemen attacked from a frontal position would result in unimaginable casualties. British officers had seen battalions shot to pieces before the massed cotton bales at New Orleans in 1815. Andrew Jackson's men had began firing at a range of three hundred yards, where a British or Mexican musket was inaccurate at one hundred yards.
Buck Travis gave only one order to his awakened men , "The Mexicans are upon us, give' em Hell!"
Marksmanship was a western tradition and these frontier bred Americans seldom missed a shot. It was an American tradition to shoot at the officers. Fire, ram, put powder, patch, shot, ram, splash the flash pan, aim and fire, weapons handling the Mexican officers had never seen. The ladders wavered, fell and scattered corpses marked the Mexican retreat.
After several hours the Mexicans, reinforced and regrouped came again. Now, the assault came from all sides and the ladders stayed up. Mexican soldiers poured in.
Here for the first time, the legend of the "Diablos Tejanos", the Devil Texans, was spawned a frightful legend that would go into Mexican folklore. . .
On the 13th day--March 6, 1836--the Mexicans massacred all defenders. Some Mexicans claimed as many as 1500 had defended the Alamo, but Alcalde Ruiz, the Mexican who was in charge of burning the bodies of the Alamo defenders positively stated there was only 182 bodies.
The five Mexican Battalions had each lost 25 percent, or 1,600 Mexican dead and Santa Anna left 500 wounded when he was able to march again.
The mystic claim to the soil of Texas paid by Travis' stand proved Santa Anna had paid too high a price for his victory. . . Mrs. Dickenson, her child, and possibly two servants were the only non-Mexican survivors. Although a convention had declared the independence of Texas 4 days earlier, this was unknown to the Alamo martyrs. The chard remains of the Alamo dead were dumped in a common grave, location unrecorded and never found.
Texas Tales - cont. next publication
Source: Baugh, Virgil E., Rendezvous at the Alamo (1985); Chariton, W.O., Exploring the Alamo Legends (1989); Lord, Walter, A Time to Stand (1978); Schoelwer, S. P., and Glaser, T. W., Alamo Images (1985); Tinkle, Lon, Thirteen Days to Glory (1958); Warren, Robert Penn, Remember the Alamo! (1958),Lone Star -Fehrenbach,T. R.
The Red Rovers of Courtland, Alabama
by Mrs. Virginia Gray Simpson
In 1835 sixty men left Courtland, Alabama, to help the Texans fight for their independence. Of these sixty men, fifty-two were killed at the hands of the Mexicans. The deaths of these and other men who died with them did more than any other incident, including the Alamo, to arouse the sympathy of the United States for the Texas cause. It resulted in a rush of volunteers to Texas. To the little town of Courtland, it was a major tragedy.
It began in Courtland when a town meeting was called, to inform the citizens of the news from Texas and how the Texans were struggling to be free from Mexico. Dr. Jack Shackleford, a prominent physician, invited his fellow townsmen to go with him to Texas to fight the Mexicans. Dr. Shackleford made a rousing speech and when he finished, enough men to form a whole company volunteered to go with him to help free Texas. The men selected Dr. Shackleford as their captain and while he drilled them in the town park, the ladies of the community spun and sewed their uniforms. The material for their lindsey.woolsey hunting shirts was hand woven and then dyed red. Because of these shirts, the men called themselves the "Red Rovers". Their red shirts, trimmed with fringe across the shoulders and down the sleeves, along with jeans and coonskin caps, formed their service uniforms. The ladies also made for each man a dress uniform with a red cap and jacket of velvet, white trousers and a blue sash.
Another town meeting was called and money was raised to outfit and supply the group. After making a few inspiring remarks, John Hunter Harris, a local planter, laid a one hundred dollar bill on the table. It was immediately covered by eleven others. Then followed donations of lesser amounts until the expenses of the company were realized.
When trained and ready to fight, the Red Rovers marched in their service uniforms through the town and back to the depot where, amid the cheers of their family and friends gathered in the park, they boarded the train to begin their journey to Texas.
The train was a fairly new transportation media for the area, having been completed in 1834. It was the first railroad west of the Allegheny mountains and ran from Tuscumbia, Alabama, to Decatur, Alabama. The tracks consisted of wooden stringers five inches square, laid down on ties of red cedar and thin bar iron three inches wide laid on and spiked to the stringer. In the middle of the track was the graveled horse path. The first train over the Tuscumbia-Decatur railroad was pulled by a little engine with a copper fire box, but this engine was not satisfactory, so the engine was stored and horses constituted the motive power until a new steam engine arrived from England.
The Red Rovers boarded the train to Tuscumbia. From there they went by steamboat down the Tennessee to the Ohio River, then to the Mississippi, and to New Orleans. From New Orleans they sailed by schooner to Copano, Texas. From Copano they marched to Goliad, Texas. They had left home on December 12 and arrived at Goliad in the middle of February.
On March 10, 1836, the Red Rovers were incorporated into a regiment commanded by Col. J. W Fannin of Georgia. The day before this Dr. Shackleford wrote from Goliad to his wife: end...
People Helper Vol ? No.?
Indians at Muscle Sholes by C. Wilder Watts - Historical Journal v.1-4
In the summer of 1807, a large congregation of Cherokee Indians gathered at the Hiwassee Garrison in what is now East Tennessee. The purpose of this gathering was to receive an annuity owed them by treaty with the United States government. A number of chiefs were present; and among them was. Doublehead, a grim fellow who had fought fiercely and tenaciously against the white people during the recent Indian wars, but who had since become very much their friend --perhaps too much so for his own good, as we shall see. On this occasion Doublehead was in a particularly jovial mood. Spying his. old friend Sam Dale he called out to him, "Sam, you are a mighty liar!" And when Dale asked why he had thus insulted him in public the chief replied smiling, "You have never kept your promise to come to see me. You know you have lied." After this friendly exchange, Doublehead produced a bottle of whiskey and invited Dale to drink with him. When they had finished the bottle, Dale offered to get another, but the chief objected saying, "When in white man's country, drink white man's whiskey; but here, you must drink with me." He produced another bottle, and the two of them set off for the ball play usually held on such occasions. While they were watching the game, they were approached by an Indian named Bone Polisher who began to reproach and denounce Doublehead for his part in a recent sale to a group of speculators of a large and valuable tract on the Tennessee River at the Muscle Shoals. When the chief showed no anger under attack, Bone Polisher became threatening. Finally, the chief said, "Go away. You have said enough. leave me or I will kill you." At this, Bone Polisher rushed at him with his tomahawk, but the chief was too quick for him and, taking out his pistol, shot him through the heart.
Later on that day, after dark, the chief entered Mc Intoch's Tavern, where he encountered an Indian named Ridge, later to become Major Ridge; a half-breed named Alex Saunders; and a white trader named John Rogers, an ancestor of Will Rogers. Rogers, like Polisher, began to revile the chief; and the chief, looking him calmly in the eye, and, "You live by sufferance among us. I have never seen you in council, nor on the war path. You have no pl ace among the chiefs. Be silent and interfere no more with me." When Rogers persisted in his attack, the chief tried to shoot him, but this time his gun was not charged. At this time, Ridge put out the light, and a gun was fired; and when the light was lit again, the chief lay on the floor with his lower jaw shattered and a bullet lodged in the nape of his neck. Ridge, Rogers, and Saunders had disappeared.
The chief's friends, fearing more trouble, attempted to remove him to a place of safety, but, suspecting they were being followed, deposited him in the attic of the local schoolmaster Gidwon Blackburn where, later on, he was found by two of Bone Polisher's friends designated to avenge his death. Ridge and Saunders also appeared on the scene again. The chief was lying on the floor, his jaw and arm terribly lacerated. When Ridge and Saunders attempted to shoot him and their guns missed fire, the chief sprang up and landed on Ridge. Saunders reloaded and fired, this time hitting the chief in the hip; but when he raised his tomahawk to finish the job, the chief wenched it from his hand and again attacked Ridge. Saunders regained his weapon and succeeded in bringing it down on the chief's head, piercing his skull. As the chief fell to the floor, another Indian crushed his head with a spade, and the chief died.
Thus died an Indian chief of whom it was said by a contemporary that he was "equal to the bravest of the Indian race, one of the last to agree to bury the hatchet, but when once buried, he became the true friend of the whites, so much so that his own people murdered him." hie was murdered in the manner in which we have stated on August 9, 1807, near Walker's Ferry. In a sense, he forfeited his life when he killed Bone Polisher because under the Indian maxim of blood for blood he was bound to die. But there is strong evidence that this was only the precipitating factor. Many believe he was marked for death when he sold Indian lands at the Muscle Shoals to speculators, and that he was really the victim of a conspiracy. Doublehead was a prominent chief of the Cherokee Indians but his interest for us lies in the fact that, with the possible exception of the Colberts, he was the most important Indian to have lived at' the' Muscle Shoals and, without exception, the most important Indian to have lived in Lauderdale County.
In 1807, the year he was murdered, a reservation bad been made for Doublehead and some of his friends in what is now Lauderdale County. This tract lay northward from the Tennessee River ten miles to a line between the Elk River and Cypress Creek. The most reliable evidence indicates Doublehead lived on Bluewater Creek in East Lauderdale and may be buried near the mouth of that creek. There is a grave in the vicinity which old-timers say is his. A cave and a spring in the neighborhood still bear his name and were so called as early as 1817. Furthermore, a number of settlements along the Tennessee River bore his name. One of these was on the south bank of the river at Mhoontown ranch a few miles above Colbert's Ferry. There is a legend that he lived at the Forks of Cypress for a while. According to Owen's history of Alabama, experts agree that the cabin at the rear of the mansion house site is of Indian construction and thus may have been built by Doublehead. If so, it cost him about two hundred and fifty dollars, a goodly sum in those days. Since the line of his reservation was run up the left fork of Cypress, the site would have been included. Mrs. Dora Holland of Florence has told the writer she once had a deed to The Forks of Cypress from Doublehead to James Jackson. There is another legend that a two-story frame dwelling, now gone, on the north side of the Highway 72 Just beyond Bluewater Creek was his home. One thing appears certain: in the latter part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth, Double head was closely identified with the Muscle Shoals area.
We have said Doublehead was a Cherokee, but the Cherokees were not the first Indians to live at the Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River. This honor belongs to the Moundbuilders who were followed by the Euchees, a tribe having a unique language and no migration legend. They may have lived at the Shoals in prehistoric times. The Euchees were probably living at the Shoals when DeSoto came through Alabama and were definitely there in l7O0 when discovered by some traveling Canadians. The Euchees had interesting customs and practices. For exam- Pie, their women made no use of body paint except to show their single status and their willingness to get married. Their method of Cooking fish should allure those interested in the arts. As Soon as a fish was caught, it was cleaned by drawing the entrails out through the tail by means of a hook. end...
People Helper Vol. ? No.?
John Quincy Adams, who can write
And Andrew Jackson, who can fight
Some Accounts of some of the
Bloody Deeds of General Jackson.
Political Mud Slinging 1828
Franklin Tenn. September 10, 1818.
A difference had been brewing between Gen. Jackson and myself, produced on Saturday, the 4th inst. in the town of Nashville, the most outrageous affray ever witnessed in a civilized country. In communicating the affair to my Friends and fellow citizens, I limit myself to the statement of a few leading facts, the truth of which I am ready to establish in by judicial proof.
1. That myself and my brother, Jessie Benton arriving in Nashville on the morning of the affray, and knowing of Gen. Jackson's threats went and took lodging in a different house from the one in which he staid, on purpose to avoid him.
2. That the General and some of his friends came to the house where we had put up, and commenced to attack by leveling a pistol at me, when I had no weapons drawn and advancing on me at a quick pace, without giving me time to draw one.
3. That seeing this, my brother fired on General Jackson, when he got within eight or ten feet of me.
4. That four pistols were fired in quick succession; one by General Jackson at me; two by me at the General; and one by Col. Coffee at me. In the course of this firing, General Jackson was brought to ground; but received no hurt. 5. That daggers were drawn. Col. Coffee and Mr. Alexander Donaldson made at me, and gave me five slight wounds. Captain Hammond and Mr. Steakley Hays engaged my brother, who being still weak from the effect of from a severe wound he had lately received in a duel, was not able to resist the two men. They got him down, and while Capt. Hammond beat him on the head to make him lie still, Mr. Hays attempted to stab him, and wounded him in both arms, as he lay on his back parrying the thrusts with his naked hands. From this situation a generous hearted citizen of Nashville, Mr. Summer, relieved him. Before he came to the ground , my brother clapped a pistol to the breast of Mr. Hays, to blow him through, but it missed fire.
6. My own and my brothers pistols carried two balls each, for it was our intention, if driven to arms, to have no child's play. The pistol fired at me was so near that the blaze of the muzzle of one of them burnt the sleeve of my coat, and the others aimed at my head at a little more than an arms length from it.
7. Capt. Carroll was to have taken part in the affray, but was absent by the permission of General Jackson, as he was proved by the General's certificate, a certificate which reflects I know not whether less honor upon the General or upon the Captain.
8. That this attack was made on me in the house where the Judge of the District, Mr. Searcy, had his lodgings! Now has civil authority yet taken cognizance of this horrible outrage.
The facts are sufficient to fix the public opinion. For my part, I think it scandalous that such things should take place at any time; but particularly so at the present moment, when the public service required the aid of all its citizens. - As for the name of courage, God forbid that I should ever attempt to gain it by becoming a bully. - Those who know me, know full well that I would give a thousand times more for the reputation of Crogban defending his post, than I would for the reputation of all duelists and gladiators that ever appeared upon the face of this earth.
Thomas Hart Benton Lieut.. Col. 39th Infantry and now a member of the Senate of the United States.
Yet the Jacksonian Democracy was triumphant in 1828. In an election marked by mudslinging and character assassination on both sides, Jackson defeated Adams's bid for a second term.
Source: Notorious Coffin Handbills use in the 1828 presidential Campaign against; Jackson James, Marquis, Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President, 2 vols. (1937); Meyers, Marvin, The Jacksonian Persuasion (1957); Remini, Robert V., Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767-1821 (1977)
Texas Tales Most deadly band of irregular partisans on the side of law and order the west had ever seen.
Ranging companies dated from Austin's colony; they had been formed in 1823 and 1826. Ranger was an old America term and accredited to Indian fighters. From 1836 onward, Texas Ranger was the only reliable law enforcement in Texas, while the history of all west Texas was only a little more than History of the Ranger force.
The Rangers were unique, and companies guarding the frontier had more or less semi - permanent duty, because the danger never ceased. Yet, always low on funds to pay or equip them, at any period of the long frontier. They were never an established regular force, staying from year to year.
The government of Texas authorized Rangers as a paramilitary force and supported them as they could, recruitment left to the frontier communities. The ranging companies, without uniforms, badges. or even government supplied horses or arms, evolved slowly but in strikingly adaptive ways and Texas, accidentally but fortunately, let a brand of frontier leadership arise.
Source: Bibliography: Coolidge, Dane, Fighting Men of the West (1932; repr. 1968); Durham, George, Taming the Nueces Strip: The Story of McNelly's Rangers (1962); Gillett, James B., Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881 (1976); Webb, Walter P., Texas Rangers, rev. ed. (1965),Lone Star -Fehrenbach,T. R.
People Helper III
People Helper 528 NATCHEZ IN THE OLDEN TIMES.
EIGHTY-THREE years have I spent in Natchez and its vicinity. Of the companions of my boyhood all have passed away and the hopes of my youth have turned to memories of the past. The evening shades of my life are lengthening towards the east and soon the sunset will come. I was born at Kaskaskie, Illinois, on Christmas day, 1787, and on Christmas day, 1786, my father landed with his family in Natchez. At that time there were but two or three houses on the hill, the whole town being under the hill, which was then quite an extensive tract. Below, where is now the ferry landing, there was quite an extensive and heavy battery, known as "the King's Works," and just above, there was a quarter race track extending from the bluff towards the river. There was a Spanish garrison in the fort, a little below the present residence of Stephen Rumble, and the house of the Governor was about where that of Dr. Harer now stands. When the town begun to be built on the hill, the Spaniards settled in this part, and other persons generally built east of the present Commerce street. These being mostly Irish, this part of the town was called Irish town, whilst the other part was known as Spanish town. The Governor was Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, an intelligent and liberal man, educated in England, at Westminster, and speaking English as fluently as a native. The mild, paternal rule of the good Governor makes an old man revert with pleasure to the scenes of his youth and even at times to regret the change of government.
The Catholic religion was the only one publicly tolerated in the country. The priests exercised much influence, and were very generally loved. They had great power, but used it very mildly. Irish priests were usually selected for Natchez, because there were so many English-speaking people. I well remember Father Brady, the best shot, the best rider and the best judge of horses in the district. And Father Malone, with a wink and a joke, and a blessing and an almo for every one - welcome at every wedding, every frolic and every dinner - most exemplary in the discharge of every duty, but with a slight weakness for his national beverage on St. Patrick's day, when his patriotism would prove stronger than his head. However, in those days, and for years after, the clergy of all denominations took their morning and their midday toddy, and were always considered the best judges of Madeira
Attempts were made by several Protestant ministers to preach, but were not encouraged. The only sermon I remember to have heard during the Spanish rule was preached by an Episcopalian named Cloud. Governor Gayoso was present and walked home with my father after the service. He expressed himself in their conversation as being individually in favor of religious toleration, "but," he added, "you know I have a master." The next day Cloud was notified that he must not preach again, but he, persisting in doing so, was shortly arrested and sent out of the country.
Notes: Recollections of Mr. George Willey, a venerable and much respected citizen, who died in 1874. 'His father was Maj. James Willey, of the Revolutionary army an early settler in Kentucky, who immigrated to Natchez, then under Spanish rule, in 1788. George Willey, when the Indian war of 1813 broke out, though exempt from military service, owing to a fractine of his shoulder, volunteered and served two campaigns, one on the Alabama, and the other at New Orleans. He narrowly escaped the massacre at Fort Mims, and was in the detachment under Maj. Kennedy, that buried the remains. A better man, and a truer patriot we have never had here. These recollections were his "table talk," taken down nearly in his own words. It was ratifying to find that this intelligent and truthful witness cherished a grateful remembrance of the kind and paternal rule of the Spanish provincial authorities.
NATCHEZ IN THE OLDEN TIMES My father's house was on the lot now occupied the store of Wm. Earhart, and all north of that was in woods. In these woods the Indians, who came in every year to receive their presents from the Spanish government, used to encamp. The Spaniards seemed to be afraid of them, and in their drunken orgies, which always followed the distribution of government presents, they were controlled entirely by their interpreter, an old Frenchman named Baptiste, who with his whip used to lash them into a abjection in their most disorderly and boisterous outbreaks. It is curious that the Indian, who seems to have no fear of a gun or knife or other deadly weapon, had a great dread of a whip. I remember once, many years later, an Indian riot, in Natchez which defied the strength of the civil authorities, and even rendered it necessary to call out the troops, which was instantly quelled by a burly overseer, who rode in amongst them with his whip and scattered them like chaff before the wind.
I once witnessed Indian execution. which took place about where the gas house now stands. The man was condemned, according to their retaliatory laws, to suffer death, and the day was fixed for his execution. He was not confined in the meantime, but suffered to go where he pleased, and he used the time in going from house to house and begging for whiskey, and inviting every one to come and see him die. On the appointed day he was promptly at the place; assisted in digging his own grave, which was done with knives and hatchets, and from time to time he would lay himself down in it, to see if it would fit him, and when it was completed to his satisfaction, he took a parting drink with all around, and then stood with the most stoical indifference at one end of the grave, and gave the word to the executioner, and in an instant fell back into the grave with the fatal bullet through his head, and was at once covered up.
120 Years Old It will seem almost incredible to some that the lives of two men should embrace a period, beginning with the great English revolution and commencement of the reign of the House of Orange, thus comprehending all the great events of modern history; yet such I can shew in my own Iife, and that of another. I have often seen a man named McCoy, who at that time was said to be a hundred and twenty years old. I do not know where he lived, but it was somewhere not far from town, for he used to come in to mass on occasional Sundays, walking and leading the horse, on which was mounted his son, who was from the infirmities of age unable to walk. After mass they would come to my father's house, and often have I listened to his wonderous recitals of his varied and active life. The campaigns of Marlborough, the defeat of Gen. Braddock, and the massacre of the French in Fort Rosalie by the Natchez Indians, were all told by him with the vivid accuracy of a participant. Now put this man's age and mine together, and it will carry you back to the days of the "Merry King Charles".
The houses built by the first settlers on the hill were mere shanties. There were no saw mills to furnish lumber, and the timber was split from the tree with the axe and fro. Probably the oldest house now existing in Natchez is the one occupied by Mrs. Postlethwaite, on Jefferson street, between Union and Rankin. It was at one time kept as a tavern by a man named King, and was the stopping place of western men on their return from New Orleans, after selling out their flatboats of produce.
To each settler, who would put up a house in the town, a lot was given by the authorities at a nominal price; but their title was not always a secure one. If the Governor wanted the lot for some favorite he generally managed to make the occupant give it up; most commonly, however, in exchange for a lot, or land, in some other place. Indeed, any opposition to the will of the Governor was generally very promptly got rid of, but the execution of justice was just as prompt.
For many crimes the privilege of sanctuary was allowed, and I have often passed the church early in the morning, and found a Spaniard with his finger in the key hole of the church. The commission of crime was not greater than in frontier settlements of our own countrymen, and indeed all of bad reputation which Natchez never acquired, was after it came into the hands of Americans.
A horrible tragedy made an indelible impression on my memory. On St., Catherine Creek there lived a man named Condy, who was of that wild and roving disposition so common among frontier people. This wife was a beautiful but frail woman, but they were bound together by a family of three lovely children. The suspected intimacy between his wife and a Spanish officer, had driven Condy to madness; and in his rage, he took a razor and cut his wife's throat. He then took his little ones, and one by one laid them by their mother's side and killed them all. Then laying himself down beside them, he blew out his own brains. I saw the five laying side by side in death.
The well known disposition of the Spaniard to use the knife in all their quarrels, induced the governor to issue an order, forbidding any one to carry a knife, or other weapon of iron or steel, but the Spaniards evaded it by making a kind of stiletto of hardened wood, with which they managed, on more than one occasion, to kill one another. The founders of many of our wealthy families were poor but adventurous, and energetic men, whose fortunes were built up not only by their own energies, but by fortunate circumstances. As an exemplification of the instability of fortune I have seen the first generation begin life in poverty, and build up wealth. The next generation, as a rule, have kept and improved the fortunes their fathers acquired, but in a large majority of instances the third have died as poor as their grandfathers commenced.
When the time at length arrived when the Spaniards were to be pushed out, although the great mass of American or rather English speaking inhabitants, were rejoiced, still that feeling was by no means unanimous. Quite a number of the citizens loved the Spanish rule, and not a few followed them in their exodus.
The first United States troops a that arrived was a detachment of two companies commanded by Lieutenant Pope, one of the companies under Lieutenant McCleary. A temporizing and evasive policy was as usual, pursued the Spanish authorities, and on the part of many military officers in the United States army there was an evident desire for hostile conflict between the countries, thus opening to their ambition the prospect of conquest of the Spanish provinces of Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico. Fortunately the arrival of Cap. Guion, a man as prudent as he was patriotic and honest, and on whom devoted
cont p30
Notes: In confirmation of this, I extract the following from the MS. journal, kept by the venerable Gov. Sevier of Tennessee, in 1815, when he was running the line between the Creeks and Cherokees, written only a few days before his death.
Source: Mississippi, as a Province, Territory and State
"July 17th. About eight years ago the Creek Indians seized and took away a large lot of whiskey belonging to Parson Blackburn, which was laying at the Spring Frog's, a little below Turkeytown, which they said was within their territory. When the Cherokees were called on in behalf of Blackburn for compensation, they excused themselves on the ground that the Creeks owned the land, and could do as they pleased in their own country. The Parson referred to was one of the most eminent Presbyterian clergymen in the West, and was largely engaged in the whiskey business, and came near involving the country in war with the Indians on account of this seizure.
The best whiskey brought to Natchez thirty years ago was brought, twice a year, in a flatboat, by tlie Rev. Moses Trader, of Ohio, an eminent Methodist, who did a large business in this line for a series of years, and preached at Natchez and Washington with great fervor and unction. He was a most excellent man, thouh he enjoyed his bitters, his midday toddy and his nightcap , always saying that he was not afraid of his own whiskey, but "a little skeery about any other."
Rev. Adam Cloud, who subsequently lived and died in Jefferson county.
alone, with a wink and a joke, and a blessing and an almo for every one - welcome at every wedding, every frolic and every dinner - most exemplary in the discharge of every duty, but with a slight weakness for his national beverage on St. Patrick's day, when his patriotism would prove stronger than his head. However, in those days, and for years after, the
Notes: Recollections of Mr. George Willey, a venerable and much respected citizen, who died in 1874. 'His father was Maj. James Willey, of the Revolutionary army an early settler in Kentucky, who immigrated to Natchez, then under Spanish rule, in 1788. George Willey, when the Indian war of 1813 broke out, though exempt from military service, owing to a fractine of his shoulder, volunteered and served two campaigns, one on the Alabama, and the other at New Orleans. He narrowly escaped the massacre at Fort Mims, and was in the detachment under Maj. Kennedy, that buried the remains. A better man, and a truer patriot we have never had here. These recollections were his "table talk," taken down nearly in his own words. It was ratifying to find that this intelligent and truthful witness cherished a grateful remembrance of the kind and paternal rule of the Spanish provincial authorities.
People Helper Vol ? No ?
No Law.. Sexes Pair Off.. OLD ALABAMA and MISSISSIPPI in 1800
Upon the Tombigby and Lake Tensaw, the people still lived without laws, and without the rite of matrimony. For years, the sexes had been in the habit of pairing off, and living together, with the mutual promise of regular marriage, when ministers or magistrates should make their appearance in the country. An amusing incident will here be related, in which a young couple were united by a functionary not hitherto known as participating in such sacred rites. the house of Samuel Mims, a wealthy Indian
countryman, was the most spacious in the country, and hither the young and the gay flocked to parties, and danced to the music furnished by the Creoles of Mobile and others, for the country abounded in fiddlers, of high and low degree. Daniel Johnson and Miss. Elizabeth Linder had, for some time, loved each other. She was rich and he was poor, and, of course, the parents of the former objected to a pairing.
On Christmas night, a large party was assembled at "Old Sam Mims," and the very forests resounded with music and merry peals of laughter. In the midst of the enjoyment, the lovers, in company with several young people, of both sexes, secretly left the house, entered some canoes, paddled down Lake Tensaw, into the Alabama, aiid arrived at Fort Stoddart, an hour before daylight. Captain Shaumberg, who had risen early to make his egg-nog, was implored to join the lovers in the bonds of matrimony. the proposition astounded the good natured old German, who protested his ignorance of all such matters, and assured them that he was only a military commandant, having no authority whatever to make people man and wife.
They entreated, telling him with truth, that the Federal Government had placed him there as a general protector and regulator of affairs, and that the case before him demanded his sanction and adjustment. After the egg-nog had circulated pretty freely, the commandant placed the lovers before him, and, in a stentorian voice, pronounced the following marital speech: ''I. Captain Shaumberg, of the 2d regiment of the United States army, and commandant of Fort Stoddart, do hereby Pronounce you man and wife. Go home! behave yourselves, multiply and replenish the Tensaw country !'' The happy pair entered their canoes, rowed back to the Boat Yard, and were pronounced, by the whole settlement, "the best married people they had known in a long time."
Source: History of Alabama -Albert J. Pickel - first published 1801
The Federal Government displayed much wisdom in the established- 6 of a factory, or trading-house, at St. Stephens. It was well stored with such merchandise as suited the Choctaws, for whom it was particularly designed. It 1802 served to create a good feeling with those Indians, and to entice them from the control of Panton and the Spaniards, be- low the line. Joseph Chambers, a man of a well-cultivated mind, and of business capacity, a native of Salisbury, North Carolina, was made superintendent of this factory, with an assistant, Thomas Ii. Williams, also from North Carolina, who afterwards was Secretary of the Territory, Collector of the port of New Orleans, and United States Senator from Mississippi.
The Yazoo act liad been repealed, the treaty of Madrid had been made, Fllicott 's line had been run, and the Spaniards had been removed; still great difficulties had arisen between Georgia and the Federal Government in relation to lands granted under the Yazoo act, which the companies and various purchasers under the u resolutely claimed and defended. Many plans were proposed for satisfactory adjustment, which produced debate and contention of an angry diaracter. Finally, Albert Gallatin, James Madison and Levi Lincoln, on the part of the government, and James Jackson, Abraham Baldwin and John Milledge, rep- resenting Georgia, made a final disposition of the matter. For the sum of one million two hundred and fifty 1802 thousand dollars Georgia ceded to tlie United States all Apr. 24 the territory within the following boundaries: Beginning upon the Mississippi, at the line of 310, thence continuiiig
People Helper Vol.? N?
Alamo, The
The Alamo, site of a heroic battle of the TEXAS REVOLUTION, was founded in 1718 as a Spanish mission during the original settlement of San Antonio, Tex. Secularized in 1792, it fell into decay and was used variously as a hospital and troop garrison.
When the Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de SANTA ANNA invaded Texas during the Texas Revolution, the Texans withdrew into the crumbling walls of the mission's inner courtyard. There about 185-190 defenders were besieged by an army of 5,000-6,000, sustaining almost continual cannonades for 12 days. On the 13th day--Mar. 6, 1836--the Mexicans broke through and massacred all the Texan men. A Mrs. Dickenson, her child, and possibly two servants were the only non-Mexican survivors. Although a convention had declared the independence of Texas 4 days earlier, this was unknown to the Alamo martyrs. Thus they died fighting under the Mexican flag and defending the Mexican constitution of 1824, which Santa Anna had abrogated.
Seymour V. Connor
Texas Tales by Tom Stevens
182 Dead at San Antonio March 6, 1836
Twelve Tennesseeans marched west with Davy Crockett, three dozen more came with Jim Bowie and Buck Travis, all warriors and frontier bred. None had planned to die, but their pride, their land, their loyalty held them fast to Travis, Bowie, Crockett and their glory.
The Alamo, site of a heroic battle of the Texas revolution, was founded in 1718 as a Spanish mission during the original settlement of San Antonio. Secularized in 1792, it fell into decay and was used variously as a hospital and troop garrison.
When the Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's army marched into Texas, the Americans withdrew into the crumbling walls of the mission's inner courtyard.
Crockett was allotted the most exposed part of the wall and accepted it as an honor.
James Butler Bonham, a lawyer was the courier and made many trips outside for help. No help came, except thirty-two Texans who rode from Gonzales, fought their way into the Alamo when they knew no other help would come. In the end, Bonham, a Carolinian and friend of Travis rode back to the Alamo. He was told it was useless to throw his life away. He answered, Buck Travis deserves to know the answer to his appeals.
On March 3, 1836, after days of siege, Travis wrote his last letter from the Alamo. He no longer expected help, but stir his countrymen to action and save the country, he wrote:
. . . I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms. I will . . . do the best I can . . . the victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than defeat. I hope your honorable body will hasten reinforcements. . . Our supply of ammunition is limited. . .God and Texas. Victory or Death.
There 182 defenders were besieged by an army of 5,000-6,000, sustaining almost continual cannonades for 12 days. After ten days of siege, the Mexican Army had worked its guns in close at a heavy cost as many gunners had been picked off by Kentucky rifles, but on March 5, a breach was blasted in east wall.
Santa Ana committed five battalions, 4,000 trained soldiers against the defenders at the Alamo. Those Mexican soldiers not well trained were held to the rear and confined to barracks. The brigades formed in the pre-dawn morning of March 6th on the open fields near the Alamo. The Mexican soldiers were armed with musket and bayonet and led by professional officers, some were Europeans from Nepoleonic wars. The assault would be made by infantry bearing bayonets and scaling ladders.
Neither Santa Anna nor his generals had ever assaulted American rifleman concealed behind high walls. The British army instructions at the time could have told them that American riflemen attacked from a frontal position would result in unimaginable casualties. British officers had seen battalions shot to pieces before the massed cotton bales at New Orleans in 1815. Andrew Jackson's men had began firing at a range of three hundred yards, where a British or Mexican musket was inaccurate at one hundred yards.
Buck Travis gave only one order to his awakened men , "The Mexicans are upon us, give' em Hell!"
Marksmanship was a western tradition and these frontier bred Americans seldom missed a shot. It was an American tradition to shoot at the officers. Fire, ram, put powder, patch, shot, ram, splash the flash pan, aim and fire, weapons handling the Mexican officers had never seen. The ladders wavered, fell and scattered corpses marked the Mexican retreat.
After several hours the Mexicans, reinforced and regrouped came again. Now, the assault came from all sides and the ladders stayed up. Mexican soldiers poured in.
Here for the first time, the legend of the "Diablos Tejanos", the Devil Texans, was spawned a frightful legend that would go into Mexican folklore. . .
On the 13th day--March 6, 1836--the Mexicans massacred all defenders. Some Mexicans claimed as many as 1500 had defended the Alamo, but Alcalde Ruiz, the Mexican who was in charge of burning the bodies of the Alamo defenders positively stated there was only 182 bodies.
The five Mexican Battalions had each lost 25 percent, or 1,600 Mexican dead and Santa Anna left 500 wounded when he was able to march again.
The mystic claim to the soil of Texas paid by Travis' stand proved Santa Anna had paid too high a price for his victory. . . Mrs. Dickenson, her child, and possibly two servants were the only non-Mexican survivors. Although a convention had declared the independence of Texas 4 days earlier, this was unknown to the Alamo martyrs. The chard remains of the Alamo dead were dumped in a common grave, location unrecorded and never found.
Texas Tales - cont. next publication
Source: Baugh, Virgil E., Rendezvous at the Alamo (1985); Chariton, W.O., Exploring the Alamo Legends (1989); Lord, Walter, A Time to Stand (1978); Schoelwer, S. P., and Glaser, T. W., Alamo Images (1985); Tinkle, Lon, Thirteen Days to Glory (1958); Warren, Robert Penn, Remember the Alamo! (1958),Lone Star -Fehrenbach,T. R.
The Red Rovers of Courtland, Alabama
by Mrs. Virginia Gray Simpson
In 1835 sixty men left Courtland, Alabama, to help the Texans fight for their independence. Of these sixty men, fifty-two were killed at the hands of the Mexicans. The deaths of these and other men who died with them did more than any other incident, including the Alamo, to arouse the sympathy of the United States for the Texas cause. It resulted in a rush of volunteers to Texas. To the little town of Courtland, it was a major tragedy.
It began in Courtland when a town meeting was called, to inform the citizens of the news from Texas and how the Texans were struggling to be free from Mexico. Dr. Jack Shackleford, a prominent physician, invited his fellow townsmen to go with him to Texas to fight the Mexicans. Dr. Shackleford made a rousing speech and when he finished, enough men to form a whole company volunteered to go with him to help free Texas. The men selected Dr. Shackleford as their captain and while he drilled them in the town park, the ladies of the community spun and sewed their uniforms. The material for their lindsey.woolsey hunting shirts was hand woven and then dyed red. Because of these shirts, the men called themselves the "Red Rovers". Their red shirts, trimmed with fringe across the shoulders and down the sleeves, along with jeans and coonskin caps, formed their service uniforms. The ladies also made for each man a dress uniform with a red cap and jacket of velvet, white trousers and a blue sash.
Another town meeting was called and money was raised to outfit and supply the group. After making a few inspiring remarks, John Hunter Harris, a local planter, laid a one hundred dollar bill on the table. It was immediately covered by eleven others. Then followed donations of lesser amounts until the expenses of the company were realized.
When trained and ready to fight, the Red Rovers marched in their service uniforms through the town and back to the depot where, amid the cheers of their family and friends gathered in the park, they boarded the train to begin their journey to Texas.
The train was a fairly new transportation media for the area, having been completed in 1834. It was the first railroad west of the Allegheny mountains and ran from Tuscumbia, Alabama, to Decatur, Alabama. The tracks consisted of wooden stringers five inches square, laid down on ties of red cedar and thin bar iron three inches wide laid on and spiked to the stringer. In the middle of the track was the graveled horse path. The first train over the Tuscumbia-Decatur railroad was pulled by a little engine with a copper fire box, but this engine was not satisfactory, so the engine was stored and horses constituted the motive power until a new steam engine arrived from England.
The Red Rovers boarded the train to Tuscumbia. From there they went by steamboat down the Tennessee to the Ohio River, then to the Mississippi, and to New Orleans. From New Orleans they sailed by schooner to Copano, Texas. From Copano they marched to Goliad, Texas. They had left home on December 12 and arrived at Goliad in the middle of February.
On March 10, 1836, the Red Rovers were incorporated into a regiment commanded by Col. J. W Fannin of Georgia. The day before this Dr. Shackleford wrote from Goliad to his wife: end...
People Helper Vol ? No.?
Indians at Muscle Sholes by C. Wilder Watts - Historical Journal v.1-4
In the summer of 1807, a large congregation of Cherokee Indians gathered at the Hiwassee Garrison in what is now East Tennessee. The purpose of this gathering was to receive an annuity owed them by treaty with the United States government. A number of chiefs were present; and among them was. Doublehead, a grim fellow who had fought fiercely and tenaciously against the white people during the recent Indian wars, but who had since become very much their friend --perhaps too much so for his own good, as we shall see. On this occasion Doublehead was in a particularly jovial mood. Spying his. old friend Sam Dale he called out to him, "Sam, you are a mighty liar!" And when Dale asked why he had thus insulted him in public the chief replied smiling, "You have never kept your promise to come to see me. You know you have lied." After this friendly exchange, Doublehead produced a bottle of whiskey and invited Dale to drink with him. When they had finished the bottle, Dale offered to get another, but the chief objected saying, "When in white man's country, drink white man's whiskey; but here, you must drink with me." He produced another bottle, and the two of them set off for the ball play usually held on such occasions. While they were watching the game, they were approached by an Indian named Bone Polisher who began to reproach and denounce Doublehead for his part in a recent sale to a group of speculators of a large and valuable tract on the Tennessee River at the Muscle Shoals. When the chief showed no anger under attack, Bone Polisher became threatening. Finally, the chief said, "Go away. You have said enough. leave me or I will kill you." At this, Bone Polisher rushed at him with his tomahawk, but the chief was too quick for him and, taking out his pistol, shot him through the heart.
Later on that day, after dark, the chief entered Mc Intoch's Tavern, where he encountered an Indian named Ridge, later to become Major Ridge; a half-breed named Alex Saunders; and a white trader named John Rogers, an ancestor of Will Rogers. Rogers, like Polisher, began to revile the chief; and the chief, looking him calmly in the eye, and, "You live by sufferance among us. I have never seen you in council, nor on the war path. You have no pl ace among the chiefs. Be silent and interfere no more with me." When Rogers persisted in his attack, the chief tried to shoot him, but this time his gun was not charged. At this time, Ridge put out the light, and a gun was fired; and when the light was lit again, the chief lay on the floor with his lower jaw shattered and a bullet lodged in the nape of his neck. Ridge, Rogers, and Saunders had disappeared.
The chief's friends, fearing more trouble, attempted to remove him to a place of safety, but, suspecting they were being followed, deposited him in the attic of the local schoolmaster Gidwon Blackburn where, later on, he was found by two of Bone Polisher's friends designated to avenge his death. Ridge and Saunders also appeared on the scene again. The chief was lying on the floor, his jaw and arm terribly lacerated. When Ridge and Saunders attempted to shoot him and their guns missed fire, the chief sprang up and landed on Ridge. Saunders reloaded and fired, this time hitting the chief in the hip; but when he raised his tomahawk to finish the job, the chief wenched it from his hand and again attacked Ridge. Saunders regained his weapon and succeeded in bringing it down on the chief's head, piercing his skull. As the chief fell to the floor, another Indian crushed his head with a spade, and the chief died.
Thus died an Indian chief of whom it was said by a contemporary that he was "equal to the bravest of the Indian race, one of the last to agree to bury the hatchet, but when once buried, he became the true friend of the whites, so much so that his own people murdered him." hie was murdered in the manner in which we have stated on August 9, 1807, near Walker's Ferry. In a sense, he forfeited his life when he killed Bone Polisher because under the Indian maxim of blood for blood he was bound to die. But there is strong evidence that this was only the precipitating factor. Many believe he was marked for death when he sold Indian lands at the Muscle Shoals to speculators, and that he was really the victim of a conspiracy. Doublehead was a prominent chief of the Cherokee Indians but his interest for us lies in the fact that, with the possible exception of the Colberts, he was the most important Indian to have lived at' the' Muscle Shoals and, without exception, the most important Indian to have lived in Lauderdale County.
In 1807, the year he was murdered, a reservation bad been made for Doublehead and some of his friends in what is now Lauderdale County. This tract lay northward from the Tennessee River ten miles to a line between the Elk River and Cypress Creek. The most reliable evidence indicates Doublehead lived on Bluewater Creek in East Lauderdale and may be buried near the mouth of that creek. There is a grave in the vicinity which old-timers say is his. A cave and a spring in the neighborhood still bear his name and were so called as early as 1817. Furthermore, a number of settlements along the Tennessee River bore his name. One of these was on the south bank of the river at Mhoontown ranch a few miles above Colbert's Ferry. There is a legend that he lived at the Forks of Cypress for a while. According to Owen's history of Alabama, experts agree that the cabin at the rear of the mansion house site is of Indian construction and thus may have been built by Doublehead. If so, it cost him about two hundred and fifty dollars, a goodly sum in those days. Since the line of his reservation was run up the left fork of Cypress, the site would have been included. Mrs. Dora Holland of Florence has told the writer she once had a deed to The Forks of Cypress from Doublehead to James Jackson. There is another legend that a two-story frame dwelling, now gone, on the north side of the Highway 72 Just beyond Bluewater Creek was his home. One thing appears certain: in the latter part of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth, Double head was closely identified with the Muscle Shoals area.
We have said Doublehead was a Cherokee, but the Cherokees were not the first Indians to live at the Muscle Shoals on the Tennessee River. This honor belongs to the Moundbuilders who were followed by the Euchees, a tribe having a unique language and no migration legend. They may have lived at the Shoals in prehistoric times. The Euchees were probably living at the Shoals when DeSoto came through Alabama and were definitely there in l7O0 when discovered by some traveling Canadians. The Euchees had interesting customs and practices. For exam- Pie, their women made no use of body paint except to show their single status and their willingness to get married. Their method of Cooking fish should allure those interested in the arts. As Soon as a fish was caught, it was cleaned by drawing the entrails out through the tail by means of a hook. end...
People Helper Vol. ? No.?
John Quincy Adams, who can write
And Andrew Jackson, who can fight
Some Accounts of some of the
Bloody Deeds of General Jackson.
Political Mud Slinging 1828
Franklin Tenn. September 10, 1818.
A difference had been brewing between Gen. Jackson and myself, produced on Saturday, the 4th inst. in the town of Nashville, the most outrageous affray ever witnessed in a civilized country. In communicating the affair to my Friends and fellow citizens, I limit myself to the statement of a few leading facts, the truth of which I am ready to establish in by judicial proof.
1. That myself and my brother, Jessie Benton arriving in Nashville on the morning of the affray, and knowing of Gen. Jackson's threats went and took lodging in a different house from the one in which he staid, on purpose to avoid him.
2. That the General and some of his friends came to the house where we had put up, and commenced to attack by leveling a pistol at me, when I had no weapons drawn and advancing on me at a quick pace, without giving me time to draw one.
3. That seeing this, my brother fired on General Jackson, when he got within eight or ten feet of me.
4. That four pistols were fired in quick succession; one by General Jackson at me; two by me at the General; and one by Col. Coffee at me. In the course of this firing, General Jackson was brought to ground; but received no hurt. 5. That daggers were drawn. Col. Coffee and Mr. Alexander Donaldson made at me, and gave me five slight wounds. Captain Hammond and Mr. Steakley Hays engaged my brother, who being still weak from the effect of from a severe wound he had lately received in a duel, was not able to resist the two men. They got him down, and while Capt. Hammond beat him on the head to make him lie still, Mr. Hays attempted to stab him, and wounded him in both arms, as he lay on his back parrying the thrusts with his naked hands. From this situation a generous hearted citizen of Nashville, Mr. Summer, relieved him. Before he came to the ground , my brother clapped a pistol to the breast of Mr. Hays, to blow him through, but it missed fire.
6. My own and my brothers pistols carried two balls each, for it was our intention, if driven to arms, to have no child's play. The pistol fired at me was so near that the blaze of the muzzle of one of them burnt the sleeve of my coat, and the others aimed at my head at a little more than an arms length from it.
7. Capt. Carroll was to have taken part in the affray, but was absent by the permission of General Jackson, as he was proved by the General's certificate, a certificate which reflects I know not whether less honor upon the General or upon the Captain.
8. That this attack was made on me in the house where the Judge of the District, Mr. Searcy, had his lodgings! Now has civil authority yet taken cognizance of this horrible outrage.
The facts are sufficient to fix the public opinion. For my part, I think it scandalous that such things should take place at any time; but particularly so at the present moment, when the public service required the aid of all its citizens. - As for the name of courage, God forbid that I should ever attempt to gain it by becoming a bully. - Those who know me, know full well that I would give a thousand times more for the reputation of Crogban defending his post, than I would for the reputation of all duelists and gladiators that ever appeared upon the face of this earth.
Thomas Hart Benton Lieut.. Col. 39th Infantry and now a member of the Senate of the United States.
Yet the Jacksonian Democracy was triumphant in 1828. In an election marked by mudslinging and character assassination on both sides, Jackson defeated Adams's bid for a second term.
Source: Notorious Coffin Handbills use in the 1828 presidential Campaign against; Jackson James, Marquis, Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President, 2 vols. (1937); Meyers, Marvin, The Jacksonian Persuasion (1957); Remini, Robert V., Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Empire, 1767-1821 (1977)
Texas Tales Most deadly band of irregular partisans on the side of law and order the west had ever seen.
Ranging companies dated from Austin's colony; they had been formed in 1823 and 1826. Ranger was an old America term and accredited to Indian fighters. From 1836 onward, Texas Ranger was the only reliable law enforcement in Texas, while the history of all west Texas was only a little more than History of the Ranger force.
The Rangers were unique, and companies guarding the frontier had more or less semi - permanent duty, because the danger never ceased. Yet, always low on funds to pay or equip them, at any period of the long frontier. They were never an established regular force, staying from year to year.
The government of Texas authorized Rangers as a paramilitary force and supported them as they could, recruitment left to the frontier communities. The ranging companies, without uniforms, badges. or even government supplied horses or arms, evolved slowly but in strikingly adaptive ways and Texas, accidentally but fortunately, let a brand of frontier leadership arise.
Source: Bibliography: Coolidge, Dane, Fighting Men of the West (1932; repr. 1968); Durham, George, Taming the Nueces Strip: The Story of McNelly's Rangers (1962); Gillett, James B., Six Years with the Texas Rangers, 1875 to 1881 (1976); Webb, Walter P., Texas Rangers, rev. ed. (1965),Lone Star -Fehrenbach,T. R.
People Helper III
People Helper Vol6 No 7
Interview with Jeff Raford 1930's
Source: PRCH. Theresa Jarrell, Canvasser.
Following is an account of his life in Pearl River County as he related it. "Life in Pearl River County Before 1890"
I was born right over here on Ball Hill by the road to Col. Byrd's old home. The old house has rotted down. The spot where the old red dirt chimney has fallen down is the only mark left. A pine tree grew up in the middle of the old fallen chimney, and was later cut down and carried to Columbia to Governor Hugh White's saw mill.
My mother was bought in Mobile as a slave and was owned here by a Mrs. Howard. My mother reared five children and it just so happened that Mrs. Howard had five childten. So each one of Mrs. Howard's children was given a negro child as a slave. It fell my lot to live with Mrs. Kennedy, where I remained until the slaves were freed.
(Here I interrupted him and asked him where his father came from He immediately replied that he didn't know who his father was or anything about him. Said the colored people lived like stock in those days - they never married.)
My master was good to me. When the war (Civil War) came on, it was bad times. I remember how the men would hide out to keep from going to war. I cooked and carried many a pan of food to these men in Pearl River swamp. This I did for one man regularly. All I had to do was to carry the food down after dark, and I was so scared I was trembling, and while walking along the path in the swamp, pretty soon he would step out from behind a tree and say, "Here Jeff" and then I would hand it to him and run back to the house.
One day soldiers passed with wagons for four days going through to Mobile. At that time the river road was the best road around.
We had no matches for fire, we used flint and steel. The first cotton gin I ever saw was operated by a horse. Some people separated the cotton from the seed by hand. The cloth was spun and woven. Some was bought in Gainesville, where they went over by cart and bought "nit" and "lice" cloth (salt and pepper I should think) for men's pants. Later gingham could be bought. This was considered very fine cloth then.
Sometimes we had biscuits on Sunday, but one reason I am living and am healthy is the food that I was raised on. We ate corn bread, meat, greens and peas. People eat too much flour now and they use self-rising flour, which is most unhealthful. The best way to make biscuit is with plain flour, soda and clabber, or put a little vinegar in your soda and it will foam up and cook quick.
I know a case where a negro slave sold for $100. Simon and Hezekiah Wheat sold him. Some of the men living around us at that time were: Joe Wheat, Billy Wheat, another Joe Wheat, Redden Byrd, and Peter Harvey's grandad.
I remember when a Mr. Cooper would take his cart and go out and gather herbs for medicine. Medicine now days is too weak. It has too much water or alcohol in it and not enough medicine. Costs lots too. We used Sampson's snake root, black snake root, fever grasses, tree barks and other medicines made from native trees and herbs.
We used parched meal for coffee. Our corn meal was ground by a water mill.,You see we even made what was used. Gall berries dyed black.
Two colors of thread were used to make pants and I mean this kind made good warm ones. Wool was sold at Gainesville.
I never went to school-colored folks had no schools long ago. I knew Poplar Jim Smith for whom Poplarville was named. I used to play with his boys. We played all day and when we went in to eat we knew to carry a load of wood. People used to cook on the fire places. That was the best cooking in the world. Food tasted better. They sometimes made dirt ovens and used them to cook bread and sweet potatoes in.
When the war was over the slaves couldn't do without their masters because they had nothing on which to live and the masters needed the slaves, so when they were freed, most of them stayed on and farmed for their masters on shares. This gave the negroes a chance to have something for themselves. end
People Helper ( insert Picture )
William "Jucker" Smith family that was present at the reunion on July 4, 1899.
top row left to right:
Mary Elizabeth Smith Stewart, Nanch Smith Wheat, Louisa Smith Stewart, Martha Smith Strahan, Azianda Smith Robert (Robard), Margaret Smith Davis, Edwina Smith Martin, Katherine Victoria "Katie" Smith Mitchell. 2nd row: Joel Smith, Russell Smith, Boyd Smith, Calvin Smith, Charles Smith, Albert Smith Hiram Obiff Smith Sr., William "Bill" Smith, 3rd row at center William "Jucker's" Smith and Casaline Angeline Henley Smith, 4th row: seated the ground, Carson Smith, Magnolia Smith Neal, Eugene Smith Sr., Martin Luther Smith. Those not present were: Fanklin Pierce Smith, Janie Smith Pigott, and Annie Smith Williams.
Some Local History Joseph A. Smith served in the Civil War about two years, was about 27 years old when he enlisted - was in the siege of Vicksburg (was not shot). He threw torpedoes over in the Yankee Trenches while at Vicksburg. There were there 48 days and nights - fighting night and day. The Southern soldiers were starved out and the Northern men won the battle. He never attended but one Confederate Reunion. He lived in Poplarville after the war.
Andrew Smith, one of the pioneer settlers of Pearl River County entered the Civil War when quite young and served to the end of the war. He also served one term as treasurer to this county. He died in his 69th year.
Mr. Smith was born in 1841, his education such as was afforded by common schools of those days. In 1861, at the age of 20, threatening clouds of the great Civil War was hovered over our Southland and when our beloved state, believing her rights threatened and her honor in jeopardy, called upon her sons to rally to her defense. Then it was that "Andy" Smith laid aside his school books and with that love for his state which ever characterized his life came to her defense, joining the first company that was organized in Marion County and attached tn the 7th Miss. Reg. He was more fortunate, however than 75% of his comrades, who never returned, being discharged by reason of disabilities from which he never recovered. He possessed many noble traits of character, one of which was liberal and generous spirit.
He gave to our county the beautiful square where the Court house site now is, and also that which was the old Baptist Church site together with the cemetery - all without money and without price.
In 1892, Mr. Smith was elected County Treasurer and served four years with credit to County and honor to himself. He died April 29, 1911 - A light gone out - a spark divine Whose gleam in life no more shall shine Now gone to sleep, life's journey o'er Now gone to rest forever more.
Source: Pearl River County History
Joseph Burks Source: Free Press, February Confederate Veteran Answers Last Call Final rites for Joseph Burks, aged Confederate Veteran, were conducted in Henleyfield Baptist Church Tuesday with Rev. Jim Stewart from Louisiana officiating. He was assisted by Rev. W. I. Williams, Picayune. Rev. J C. Richardson, Poplarville, Miss. and Rev. 0. P. Ester of Bogalusa, La.
Reb. Burkes who would have been 95 years of age March 28, died at 1:30 A.M. February 19, at home of his daughter, Mrs. E. J. Woodward, in Henleyfield Community. Mr. Burks had been an invalid since Sept. 6, 1932 when he fell from the porch of his home near Poplarville and was the last surviving child of Daniel Burks and Jane Smith, pioneer settlers of this section of the State.
Mr. Daniel Burks having come from Kentucky to this section with Andrew Jackson's Army during war of 1812, remained in this section and became a Citizen of Henleyfield vicinity.
"Uncle" Joe Burks, as he was affectionately called by all who knew him, was a Confederate Veteran, having received all during the Civil War in Company C-G, 38th Mississippi Regiment. He was married on Jan 7, 1859 to Elizabeth Jane Wheat and had been married seventy-one years when she died, Sept. 26, 1929. He was an esteemed farm and stock man in the community in which he lived, and at the time that section was known as Pearl County. He served as a member of Board of Supervisors before it was thrown back into Marion County. Later becoming a part of the present Pearl River County. The deceased was a great influence and was a Charter member of Henleyfield Church. The surviving are: Mrs. J. A. Burks, W. H. Burks and Mrs. J A. Magehee, Mrs. E. J. Woodward, Mrs. W. P. Stockstill.
Augustus M. Beal, born in Winston County Miss., Feb. 14, 1845. When a child he moved with his family to the vicinity in which he died, now Pearl River County, where he lived his entire life with the exception of four years of eventful life spent in the army of the Confederacy as a brave and gallant soldier, a member of the 3rd (afterwards 23rd) Miss. Reg., participating in many battles - the Vicksburg Seige. Dalton to Atlanta, under Gen. J. s. Johnson and Tennessee Campaign under Gen. Hood. Having been wounded just before the bitter end, he was not paroled, returning home at the surrender. He married Miss Harriet A. Brill.
His record as a soldier was that of a brave and gallant Mississippian. He was Charter Comrade of Pearl River Camp U C. U. No. 540.
Source: Free Press, Friday, Sept. 12, 1919.
The "Jay Hawkers" stamped the toe nails off of Grandmother Monti's toes during the Civil War to make her tell where some gold was hid. She knew them all and when the war was over and the soldiers came home, every one of them were finally killed that took part in the assault. Mrs. Monti's son is now Sheriff of Hancock County.
Source: T. J. McArthur, R. L. Meador -PRCH
Hunting Wild Hogs
Pearl River Swamps
The hog hunting of Ray Beall and my father J.F Stevens, was done strictly with dogs. They had trail dogs that would run the hog down and then they would turn the bulldog loose to catch and hold the hog so his feet could be tied. They didn't use guns. Sound easy? The hard part was getting to the hog, getting your bulldog loose, hold the hog and get his legs tied all at the same time in a bad spot in a swamp or briar patch.
People Helper Vol. ? No.?
An Interview with Ray Beall (Bell) Sunday June 13, 1993
Any one who knows anything about wild hogs knows they pick a very bad spot and make a stand. People think of little old shoats and pigs, that wasn't the way it was. There are hogs out there 400 to 500 pounds, they had big old tusks. We had a time getting some of them out. Your dad wasn't with me, but I caught one that weighed 600 pounds. Sometimes we have to go and get help because they would be more than Mr. Stevens and me could handle or carry out. We caught a lot of hogs and had a lot of fun.
Your dad loved hog hunting and I warned him about going
alone. I worried about him because he was getting on up in age, up in his mid 70s. Your dad would go by himself and there was hogs out there that was really bad, big hogs. He didn't take much to warnings. When he ran across that hog,
there was a pretty good scuffle for a while and Mr. Stevens was glad to get away when he did. (ha ha ha..).
When it was open range, no stock law, any one who had hogs let them run wild. When the law passed, it gave the people a year to get their hogs out of the swamps, but who's to say who's hogs were in those swamps. After a year they belonged to any one who could get them. of course there was no limit and no season.
We had all kinds of big shots come out and go hunting with us, Governor Cliff Fench, some of his staff and 5 or 6 game wardens. We caught some hogs and we cooked them up right there on the river. Also some of the officers from Air Force Base would sometime come hunting with us.
The reason Mr. Stevens and I stopped hunting was they got to selling land in small parcels. Now these dogs we used were good blooded dogs, well trained and knew their business when it came to hog hunting, but they were illiterate and couldn't read posted signs. They would ignore these signs. They would run into these posted areas and it became to worrisome thing with people wanting to slap a trespass charge against you.
When ask about some pictures Mr. Beall said, "Those things weren't important to us, I was the fun of the sport." Mrs. Beall said , " It was something that happened and won't happen any more." Yes, but now it is history.
Surrounded by Wild Hogs
There was a time my father told me of, when his trail dog brought up a whole herd of hogs. He saw them coming and backed into a big burnt out tree. He said a big hog came around one side of the tree looked in and my father hit him in the snout with his stick. Another big hog came around the other side of the tree and my father turned loose his bulldog. I said then how did you get away. He said, "Well, them hogs all ran away, they have a lot of respect for a bulldog."
By Tom Stevens end...
People Helper Vol ? No?
"Bo" Luke
In the spring of 1940, Bo's Dad wouldn't sign for Bo to enlist in Marine Corps.
Bo and Buddy Epsen were both raised in Orlando Florida. Buddy was in Hollywood Making B pictures with Tom Mix, Tim Mannard, Hopalong Cassidy and Lash Larue.
Bo was running off to Hollywood headed West near Lake Charles on Hwy 90, when a big old Chrysler, one of the early models came by and gave him a ride.. They got to talking and Bo found out the mans name was Claire L. Chennault. He had been home on a visit to Louisiana and was on his way back to China.
Bo told him he was going to Hollywood, but it wasn't pressing and he would go to China with him. Bo 15 years old at the time weighed 220 pounds and looked older.
They journeyed to San Diego, then by plane to Shanghai and then on to the Base camp on the Burma Road.
The U.S. Government was sponsoring an American volunteer program which resulted in Chennault's Flying Tigers. They were fighting the Japanese before Pearl Harbor.
Bo's Job was given to drive a 1931 Ford Model A ton and a half with a750 gallon tank, to haul high test aircraft gasoline. They also gave him some pegs and wooden mallet. When his five truck convoy returned to base, they were attacked by three Jap Zeros. Bo jumped out and hid in a culvert. This was before the incendiary bullets and after the Japs left, Bo got out his mallet and pegs and plugged 40 bullet holes and drove on in to base. This turned out to be pretty routine, going South was just fine, but coming home the Japs tried their best to stop them....
In 1941 when the Japs bombed Pearl Harbor Bo decided to go home. General Chennault said, "Bo what do you want to go home for." Bo said he wanted to go home and join the Marines. Chennault said, "you know Bo you can fight the Japs here just as well here as you can in the Marine Corps." Anyway Chennault put Bo on a plane headed for San Diego. He went on a Catalina Flying Boat with some awfully floppy wing (a big concern to Bo).
When he arrived in San Diego with $2300 in pay vouchers, no one would honor them and he had to hitch hike on home. It took him seven days to get back to Orlando. When he came in, Mama looked up and said, "Where have you been." Bo said , "I have been in China." Then Bo ask Daddy, "are you going to sign for me to go into the Marines." Daddy said, "Well Bo, I didn't sign for you to go to China did I?" Bo Said, "No Sir you didn't."
Bo never made it to the Marine Corps but went through the Maritime Academy. He caught a ship out of New York in the Merchant Marine and ended up in Astralia the only time the Japs bombed territorial Australia.
Lots more cont... another issue. By Elton "Bo" Luke
Excerpts from Biloxi Daily Herald
Bills to Raise Service Pay
February 14, 1943
by Roger D Green
Associated Press War Editor
Japanese Airplanes for the first time attacked the Australian mainland, bombing the Allied naval base at Darwin: and in the battle of Burma, Tokyo dispatches asserted that Japanese troops have advanced within 75 miles of Rangoon. British say foe hurled back.
Enemy ups Pressure in Bataan
Troop Movements Indicate Japs Resuming Offensive on General Douglas MacArthur's defense line on Bataan peninsula.
Meanwhile Japanese batteries on the south shores of Manila Bay poured shells on the Corregidor string of fortifications.
Bills to Raise Service Pay
Washing ton Feb.19--(A\P)-
Bills to raise soldier's and sailor's pay and provide living allowance for their families were pushed forward today by legislative sponsors to increase the base pay of enlisted men from $21 month to $42 a month.
As Bo was watching Jap bombers in Austrailia, Mac -Arthur was soon to be ordered to Australia.
I never realized the U.S. Government was financing Chennault in China before WWII. by Tom Stevens ed...
People Helper Vol ? No.?
Bufford or Bluford Burks since the War of 1812. Buford was too young, six years old, for the army. His father, John Randolph Burks of Kentucky left him with some people and they moved before he could return. John Burks rode off on a black horse and spent 6 months looking for Buford after the Battle of New Orleans as told by Daniel Burks of Picayune. Anyone with information on Buford Burks, Please contact me. Tom Stevens 601 795 6773
Daniel Burks was one of eight sons born to John Randolph Burks and Margaret McNeill and they formerly lived in Virginia. The other sons were John, Joseph, Berryman, Roland, Randolph, Samuel and Buford all born in South Carolina. In Bowling Green Kentucky in late 1811, they constructed a flatboat, loaded their possessions and floated doun the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. While coming down the Mississippi, the big earthquake of December 16, 1811 occurred and they lost most of their belongings. The big depression north of Memphis in Tennessee filled with water and caused the Mississippi River to run backwards four days and filled what is now Reelfoot Lake. The family floated on down the Mississippi to Natchez. In 1812, John, Roland, and Daniel enlisted on September 16th. in the United States Army at Washington Mississippi, just north of Natchez. Daniel was eight years old and a drummer boy in the 2nd. Infantry. The other brothers Samuel, Randolph and Joseph also served in the army. Military Archives show some of the Burks marched with Jackson from Mobile to the Battle of New Orleans. Two of the brothers were captured by the British, put aboard a ship, and died of Yellow Fever in Mobile Bay.
Daniel was also captured and put aboard a schooner in Mobile Bay to be shipped as a prisoner of war to England. There was an old woman who was aboard ship visiting. When the visitors were ask to take their under aged children off the ship, she said, "Come on son," took Daniel's hand and walked him down ships gangplank.. He couldn't have been over ten years old. Later, Bill Burks observed, "We came a gnats behind of becoming Limey (a british seaman)."
The three Burks boys John, Roland and Daniel came to the Henleyfield - Bogalusa area and applied for land bounties in 1817 for their brothers who died in the War of 1812.
In 1824, Daniel married Virginia Jane Smith and raised ten children.
Source Daniel Burks of Picayune / "Juckers" Smith Family History compiled by Velma Smith
25 June 1994 --- Dear Mr. Stevens, Would you please enter the following queries in your publication
Seeking parents of Elmina Jones, b. 1816 MS or NC, d. 1868 Perry Co., first wife of Gabriel Burkett. Possible parents--Brice and Margaret Jones, possible brother Moses Jones
Seeking heirs of Stephen Lee, Sr. b. c. 1775 Robeson Co. NC, d. 1834 Hinds Co. MS. Also, seeking heirs of Stephen Lee, Jr., d. Sept. 1834 Hinds Co. MS, wife Delaney Bond Lee.
Seeking parents of Catherine Byrd, b. 1830/32 MS, d. 1872 Smith Co. MS, m. Mark Sullivan. probable daughter of Henry Allen Byrd & first wife, Rebecca Godbold.
Seeking parents of Marion Uvie Padgett, b. 1848 MS, d.1902 Covington Co. MS, m. John Wiley Sullivan 1867, lived in Smith Co. MS. Possible parents: Hester 0. & Josiah Padgett?
Seeking parents of Benjamin (Franklin) Bennett, b. 1772/7 SC or NC, d. Feb 1864 Lawrence Co. MS, m. Delila. Was in Ga lottery of 1805 Franklin Co. GA. children: Cynthia, Elizabeth, Cassandra, Isaac, Mikager, Drury, Richmond & Langston. Contact: Mary Burkett Caruso, 5154 Loch Lomond Drive, Houston, TX 77096
As you see, I am "stumped" on several of my lines; can't get them out of MS. I was born and raised in Hattiesburg, and have many roots there. MBC
People Helper Vol.5 No.11
Early Cattle
The early settlers chief occupation was stock raising in this part of Pearl River County. Some of the cattle men owned as many as 1500 head. There were no registered cattle, the cattle at the
time being native scrub stock. They were never fed in the winter. They were trained to graze on the hills in the spring and summer and put in the swamps in the winter where there was an abundance of cane. Once a year the cattlemen had a meeting place where they would drive their cattle to brand and mark them. They only milked enough milk for home use. The cattle were shipped and sold on the market. There was not any good blooded beef cattle as they could not survive on the open range. The males were marked the first year and and were raised on the open range till they were about two years old., then they were trained to work as teams, haul logs, pull wagon and plow. Some were trained to plow single and some double. The ox teams were the principle means of conveying logs to the mill and general hauling in those days. Just recently, a Mr. Loveless was trying to buy a team of oxen; he says he still finds them best for logging. A yoke of steers now sells for about $80 dollars.
Source PRC History about 1935- Rube Spiers, Josh smith, Milton Wheat, Jim Loveless, Otis Stewart, H.R. McIntosh and Wiley Stockstill
Mules
Mules are invaluable on the local farms. The old dependable mule does the plowing, hauling, logging, ctc. He is a tough hard working animal and will work any place he is trained to work. I have known of a pair of young mules selling for as much as $600. Tractors have mostly taken over road grading, but some contractors still use mules where tractors can't get.
Horses
There are very few horses in Pearl River County. The automobile and modern machinery have taken their place. The horse is very dependable and every year is being used a little more. It may well be he will yet have a "come back."
Source PRC History Jacob McGehee and Mrs. Rube Spiers
Man
Man is two sexes, male and female. Since the primitive days, it has been the custom or duty of the man or adult male of the human spices to make the living. The red man hunted and fished, brought in the game, led the way and carried a gun ready to go to war to protect his family and land. Woman
It was the Indian womens job in primitive days to rear the children, work in the fields, do the cooking, grind corn meal, make baskets, mats, follow the men and carry the loads. They carried the papoose in a basket on their back.
When the white settlers came, subtract papoose in basket and add house cleaning, spinning, weaving, knitting, teaching and keeping the home fires burning during the Civil War. ed...
You often hear great men as well as others say, "All that I am I owe to my mother."
Source PRC History
People Helper Vol. ? No.?
Early Life of a True Pioneer
by Sandy Ladner (PRHG)
Daniel Davis, born 1772 died 1858
To truly understand the early history of the Mississippi Territory, we need to have a great appreciation of our ancestors. There are several records that prove a dramatic change from their way of life to the way we all live our lives today. The year is 1994, we now have means of transportation, better education and so many things that make our lives so much easier, things that our forefathers could have possibly dreamed about in the early 1800's.
In 1798, Congress created the Mississippi Territory, within its bounds was the present state of Alabama. The U.S. Census of 1800 shows a population of 8,850. This country that our ancestor, Daniel Davis, first came to (1804-1807) was without roads and had been under the rule of Indian Chieftains before the Choctaw Treaty of 1805. Treaties with the Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw Nations permitted road openings through their lands.
Over the course of a few years this region had been claimed by England, Spain, Georgia and the United States, causing mixed feelings among our earliest settlers. In 1735, Georgia (one of the 13 original states) opposed this Territory falling into the hands of Spain, unsuccessfully. The first Mississippi Territory claimed by the United States in 1783 did not cover the north half of the State until 1804 nor the coast county section until 1812. This little bit of history shows us how unsettled the country was and the unsettled conditions our ancestors had to face in choosing locations to live. In 1763 the Territory of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans west of the Mississippi River belonged to Spain. In 1800 Napoleon forced Spain to give this region to France; then in 1803 he surprised the world by selling this vast area to the United States for $15,000,000. This purchase relieved the Mississippi River trade and transportation of cotton, tobacco, etc. and encouraged a greater number of settlers to the Louisiana and Mississippi Territories. In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson made the Louisiana Purchase and in 1809, Congress extended the right of suffrage to this Mississippi Territory. This act encouraged more settlers to move into this area.
Our ancestor, Daniel Davis, was born in old Barnwell District in the state of North Carolina, in the year of 1772. He moved to the Mississippi Territory from the state of Georgia when he was about 33 or 35 years of age, and he first settled in the Pearl River Valley between 1804-1807.
Soon afterwards, Indian trouble flared up when the war with England began in 1812, the Indians were influenced to fight the settlers of the Mississippi Territory. Many small settlements in the eastern part were attacked by the Creek Indians. One hundred and five soldiers and several hundred people were gathered at Fort Mims for safety when the Creeks attacked and killed all men, women and children except for about 25 or 30 very lucky ones. The massacre angered the people in the western part of the territory along the Pearl and the Mississippi Rivers who quickly organized troops and with the aid of the Choctaws., destroyed their chief town, Escanachaha, the Holy City of the Creeks, which they believed could never be taken. The Mississipp