Chapter VII: Section 99: The legislature shall not elect any other than its (2)

In reading the biography of men or the biography of nations, teachers and students should note carefully the most interesting and memorial points. If you own the book which you are reading, use for note-taking the fly leaves at the end. Otherwise, use reference cards, like those employed in a library for a card catalogue, or else sheets of note paper. When you have found a fact or illustration which you think will prove useful at some future time, in connection with your work as a teacher or a student, note it briefly on paper with the proper reference to the book and page. Remember Captain Cuttle's advice: "When found, make a note of!" Recall the saying of Lord Bacon: "Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. And, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory."

In the multitude of modern books and amid all the variety of our modern reading, it is impossible to remember exact quotations and historical details. We must have a good system of note-taking and index-making. Every student and teacher can invent his own system. Mine is the use of fly leaves in books and cards topically and alphabetically arranged for miscellaneous data. I always carry a few of these reference cards in my pocket and make all my notes under appropriate catch words, for example, "Chautauqua" or "Johns Hopkins University," with the name of the writer on this subject and the exact reference or quotation.

Begin to collect a library for yourselves. Students and teachers do not always appreciate the opportunities they enjoy of acquiring good books of History. I would strongly urge students to save their money instead of spending it on poor theaters and variety shows. Buy standard books of literature, art, and history; devote your leisure hours to good reading, always with pen and pencil in hand, and with a dictionary and an atlas beside you. _Seize the moment of excited curiosity_ and look up every point on which you need exact information. One of my former students, Dr. Albert Shaw, now editor of The Review of Reviews, said he was more grateful to me for that advice than for any other one feature of my instruction: _Seize the moment of excited curiosity_, or it will be lost forever.

An English writer, Langford, in his _Praise of Books_, well says: "In books the past is ours as well as the present. With them we live yesterday over again. All the bygone ages are with us, and we look on the face of the infancy of the world. We see the first dawning of thought in man. We are present at the beginnings of cities, states, and nations; and can trace the growth and development of governments, policies, and laws. The marvelous story of humanity is enacted again for our edification, instruction, and delight. We behold civilizations begin, struggle, triumph, and decay, giving place to higher and nobler as they pass away. Poet, lawgiver, and soldier sing their songs, make their codes, and fight their battles again, while we follow the never-dying effects of song, of law, and of battle. We sit down with 'princes, potentates, and powers,' watching them, as they think, governing the world.... Shut up in a little room we can witness the whole drama of man's history played on the vast stage of the world. All that he has thought and done from the earliest dawn of recorded time to our own day is enacted before us; and our hopes are strengthened, our faith deepened, in the great destiny yet awaiting mankind; in the higher, holier work yet to be done by those who have accomplished such mighty things, achieved such noble victories. Books which record the history of the past are the infallible and unerring prophets of the future."

"History is the grandest study in the world." My College President, Dr. Julius H. Seelye, was right. There is no art or science comparable to it, for it embraces the whole experience of man in organized society. History takes hold of all the past and points the way to all the future. The French historian, Guizot, in his "History of My Time" (III. 162) says: "Religion opens the future and places us in the presence of eternity. History brings back the past and adds to our own existence the lives of our fathers." Pliny said of History: "Quanta potestas, quanta dignitas, quanta majestes, quantum denique numen sit historiae." Perhaps the highest conception of History comes from the Greek. The etymology of the ward is an inspiration for both student and teacher. History, from the Greek word historia, is a knowing or learning by inquiry. To study History is to understand by means of research, for History is a science; its very essence consists in knowledge. Historical science is perhaps the most comprehensive and the noblest of all sciences, for it is the self-knowledge of Humanity. The subject of History is Humanity itself; it is the self-conscious development of the human race. History, therefore, does not consist in dead facts, but is itself a living fact; it is the self-knowledge of the present with regard to its evolution from the past. Clio is a living muse, not a dead, cold form. She stands upon that very threshold of the future and glances backwards over the long vista Humanity has traversed. In the plastic art of the Greeks you will notice that the muse of History is represented in the attitude of reflection; the pen is uplifted, but the word unwritten.

We sometimes speak of written history and of its standard works as though the essence of that science consisted in books and not in knowledge. "There are no standards of history," said Droysen, a German professor to an American student who had asked his advice respecting the choice of standard works for an historical library. In this caustic saying there lies a profound truth. History is a living, self-developed science, not a collection of fossils. Books like facts, are sometimes dead to history, and historical standards, like historical facts, are grander in their spiritual influence than in their material form. In the onward march of historical science, historians are perhaps the standard bearers of fact and their works may be called the battle-flags of history which kindle the zeal of the ever-advancing present in men and awaken a sense of unity with the great past, which has gone on before us. But written history often becomes shot-riddled by criticism and is set away, at last, like battle-flags, after many honorable campaigns, in some museums of relics or some temple of fame. Unless such trophies continue to awaken in the living present a sort of enthusiasm and a sense of unity with the past experience of our race, then are our historic standards but antiquarian rubbish, indeed, as useless and unmeaning as the banners and symbols of heraldry.

The subject of History is the self-conscious development of the human race, the Ego of Humanity. The realization of this Ego does not lie in any fictitious personality, but in the universal consciousness that man is one in all ages and that the individual human mind may mirror to itself and to others the thought and experience of the race. As the heavens are reflected in a single drop of dew, so in the thoughts of the individual human mind we may sometimes behold a reflection of the self-knowledge of Humanity. For the individual is sometimes the very best expression of the whole with which it stands in connection. The onward march of world-history seems to have concentrated itself in the development of individual peoples like the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and the Germanic peoples. As these nations best typify historic progress and certain world-historic ideas, so the historic thought of manhood may be most fully realized by individual minds. For example, a single historian, like Thucydides, may reflect the self-consciousness of his age, and a single mind, in our own day, may realize, in some measure, at least through the works of history, the self-knowledge, the Ego of Humanity. It should be the aim of every student of History thus to realize in his own consciousness the historic thought of mankind. "The life of each individual," says Dr. W. T. Harris, the American Hegel, "presupposes the life of the race before him, and the individual cannot comprehend himself without comprehending first the evolution of his day and generation historically from the past."

Let us then regard the study of History, not as something wholly objective but as an unfolding panorama of the human self-consciousness, for history is merely the reflecting spirit of mankind in which we ourselves may have an immediate share, which we all may help to perpetuate and in some way enlarge. Let us remember that History is a constant knowing and learning, the self-knowledge and communion of reflecting spirits in all ages and a perpetual "Know Thyself" to advancing time. There is something indescribably solemn in the historic pausing of Man before the temple of the unknown future and seeking to realize in himself the _gnothi seauton_ or "Know Thyself" of Humanity. He glances backward through the long vista he has traversed and as far as the eye can see, his pathway is cumbered with ruins. Crumbling monuments and fallen columns reveal the wreck of all material greatness, while the distant pyramids but remind him of the more than Egyptian darkness out of which Humanity has been mysteriously led unto this mountain of light which we call the Present or that Living Age. Man sees the immense distance he has come and he remembers the perils and disasters he has encountered in his upward way; he is conscious too of having brought a vast wealth of experience to this temple of the Future before which he now stands, but that which fills and overwhelms the historic consciousness of Man is the feeling that the place whereon he stands is holy ground and that there is a mysterious power in his own soul calling him to self-knowledge and to self-judgment before he may lift the veil of the future. This is the supreme moment of History. The facts of human experience become suddenly transfigured in the light of a divine principle, namely the self-consciousness of reason, that God-given spirit which recognizes the purpose of History to be the increasing self-knowledge of Man.

"History is a divine drama, designed to educate man into self-knowledge and the knowledge of God," (Henry James, Sr., on "Carlyle," in Atlantic Monthly, May, 1881.) Tennyson recognized the divine element in human history in that prophetic verse:

"And I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs,
And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns."

It is by this "increasing purpose" that God reveals himself in human history. By the widened thought, Humanity is led forward, as it were by a pillar of fire, unto a higher life, and unto a conscious unity with Divine Reason, the Unseen One, who dwells in a temple not made with hands.

SOME FACTS CONCERNING THE SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI.

By R. W. JONES, M. A., LL.D.

The "Miscellaneous Papers" as collected by Col. J. F. H. Claiborne constitute a rich mine for the future historian. They also indicate what can be done by others by well-direct inquiry, in the way of gathering information from "old settlers" and by going to other sources that may be accessible. The importance of this work can be scarcely overstated, and the sooner it is begun the better. A volume could be written composed of adventures and daring exploits that would be as thrilling as highly wrought fiction and make us proud of our ancestors. As an illustration of the large number of well known characters introduced, within a limited space, and of most interesting and instructive incidents I shall quote from a letter of

DR. A. R. KILPATRICK

to Col. Claiborne, written at Navasota, Grimes county, Texas, May 2, 1877:

* * "You ask for my contributions to De Bow's Review, but I am entirely unable to furnish them. When I left Concordia, La., in September, 1863, I moved none of my books, and the scoundrel in whose hands I left the place proved to be a traitor joined the Yankees, and when Natchez was occupied he went partners with some of the Federal officers, who brought over several wagons, gutted my house and sold the furniture and other property in Natchez. Out of a library of 2,000 volumes I have none left. Among my books were (12) twelve volumes of De Bow's Review bound." In these twelve volumes Dr. K. had written a great deal that was interesting and instructing to those who inquire into the settlement and colonial history of Mississippi. They contain accounts of many of the best known families who lived at and near Natchez and Woodville and in the counties wherein these towns are situated; also similar writings concerning Concordia, La.

He says; "Before I wrote those accounts of Concordia Parish, I wrote some Sketches of the early Baptist in Mississippi and Louisiana which were printed in a Baptist newspaper of New Orleans under the management of a Minister named Duncan: I think he was Rev. W. Duncan, D. D. Get copies of those papers and make use of the historical facts, because your work will be incomplete if you leave out the churches. These papers were published about 1849-51.

"My Grandfather (Maternal), Robert Turner, was an early settler in Miss., and a pioneer of the Baptist Church, though not a minister. He moved a colony of nearly (100) one hundred, white and black from Beaufort District, S. C., starting in 1804. He went up near Nickajack on the Tennessee River, built boats, put on his horses, cows, hogs, furniture and floated down to Natchez, reaching there early in 1805, he found there no settlement to suit, went down to Fort Adams, landed, and settled four miles S. W., of where Woodville now stands. There they built old Bethel Church with whipsawed lumber and wrought iron nails, each one furnishing his part of materials, or work. The Chaplain or preacher of the colony was Rev. Moses Hadley. At that time, 1805, there were only a few houses, temporary shanties, where Woodville is. Ole Uncle Bob Lecky, who kept hotel so many years in Alexandria, La., and old John S. Lewis of Woodville, were the first to put up houses. My Grandfather, R. Turner was a Surveyor and was employed to measure and lay off the streets, squares, etc., of the town in 1808. He was also summoned and served in the arrest of Aaron Burr above Natchez about 1807; he said it was so cold in February that in handling oars of the skiff the blood poured from the tips of his fingers. He represented Aaron Burr as remarkably polite, genteel, urbane, good looking, though small, and as having eyes whose glance was most penetrating and fascinating.

"There was another party of pioneers from Georgia, preceding Grandfathers; in this party were the Ogdens and Nolands."

"Captain John Ogden, near Woodville, (1796-1837) served as Captain at the battle of New Orleans, 1814. Robert Tanner and several of his colonists moved to Rapides Parish, La. There the old gentleman died September, 1839, of yellow fever, aged 71 years. Wilkinson county furnished one Governor (H. Johnson) to Louisiana and (4) four, I think, to Mississippi.

"The old original editor of the Woodville Republican, W. Chisholm, had all the volumes of that paper bound for over twenty years--from about 1820 to 1845. In it will be found much of Poindexter's history; also much of Moses Waddell, of Abbeville, S. C., brother-in-law of John C. Calhoun."

Rev. Wm. Winans, D. D., lived and died at Mount Pleasant, about sixteen miles east southeast of Woodville. Major Butler, of Kentucky, lived there; also General Van Dorn's father. Major Butler served in General Wilkinson's command. The general was very strict in regard, not only to his own dress, but also the dress, etc., of the officers and men under him. It was the fashion then to wear the hair long and plait it into a queue, or pig-tail behind. General Wilkinson had the misfortune to lose his pig-tail and issued an order for all to cut off their pig-tails.

Major Butler refused; Wilkinson threatened court martial; Butler resigned and retired to the farm of his sister, Mrs. Cook. In a few months he died; before dying he left special injunctions with Mr. and Mrs. Cook to have an auger-hole bored in his coffin, to have his hair neatly dressed and the pig-tail tied with a blue ribbon and run through that auger-hole, so that Wilkinson and his officers might see that he was pluck to the last and distained his authority.

Dr. Franklin L. Riley, in a lecture, gives another version of this incident, which is very amusing. Dr. Kilpatrick narrates many incidents concerning Governor Poindexter, Mr. Percy, Audubon, Jeff Davis and others.

The Audubon mentioned by him was the distinguished John James Audubon, the Naturalist. Born 1781, in Louisiana, died 1851, on the Hudson; Author of Birds of America, Quadrupeds of America, etc. Audubon was at the house of Mr. Percy, spent several months with him; he furnished Audubon with many specimens of birds for his sketches. One day Percy says he brought home a "magnificent gobbler" which weighed about 28 pounds and Audubon _would have it_. He pinned it up beside the wall so as get a good view of it and spent several days lazily sketching it. Percy said: "The ---- fellow kept it pinned up there till it rotted and stunk. I hated to lose so much good eating."

It is said that while Aububon was at or near Woodville, his money gave out; he refused to accept gifts; but taught a dancing school, in order to get funds sufficient to enable him to proceed with his researches in Natural History. The people patronized him generously.

"Jeff. Davis spent part of his boyhood in Wilkinson county, Miss. There was a boy on a place adjoining where Jeff. Davis lived named Bob Irion, son of a Baptist preacher. The two boys went hunting one day, each alone, and after some time they met behind a field. Jeff. Davis was out of shot and Bob was out of powder, but had shot. Davis wanted some shot and asked for some, but Bob was unaccommodating and saucy--jeered at Davis, and finally told him he had a mind to shoot him any how, and made some threatening demonstration which aroused Davis. Davis jerked out a small pocket knife dropped it down his gun on the load of powder and raised his gun and said: "Now, sir, I'm ready for you; I dare you to shoot.' Bob told me this himself during the Mexican campaign, as illustrating Davis' bravery and fertility of resources in emergencies. Of course the boys stopped their foolishness and exchanged ammunition." * *

"I got on the Sultana at Fort Adams when S. S. Prentiss was aboard on his bridal trip--married that morning at Natchez, and the whole bridal troupe went down to New Orleans. It was my first sight and acquaintance with Prentiss. I was charmed with his manners and appearance. He had the most handsome head, and it sat better on his neck and shoulders than any person I know. That was in 1843, when his fame was world wide; yet, sir, he was as bashful, timid and quiet as a boy of 16 in the presence of those ladies."

"At table he had nothing to say, but ate his meals quietly, almost stealthily. But as soon as he came down in the social hall, he was lively and chatted enough."

I could give other extracts of value and interest from this same letter, but I will not worry you. I hope it will not be long before this letter and other important historical manuscripts will be printed.

PRE-HISTORIC JASPER ORNAMENTS IN MISSISSIPPI

R. B. FULTON, M. A., LL. D.

In the annual Report of the Smithsonian Institute for 1877, Dr. Chas. Rau, under the title of "The Stock-in-Trade of an Aboriginal Lapidary," emphasizes his conjecture "that among the aborigines certain individuals who were by inclination or practice particularly qualified for a distinct kind of manual labor, devoted themselves principally or entirely to that labor." He referred to several instances where, in certain localities, finds of a large number of similarly wrought specimens of work in stone seemed to indicate that each set of specimens came from the hands of a special lapidary.

One of the most remarkable of these deposits was found in Lawrence County, Mississippi, in 1875, and was carefully described by Dr. Rau. It consisted of 469 imperfectly finished objects made by chipping, cutting and grinding out of reddish or orange-colored or brown jasper pebbles, and was found accidentally about two and one-half feet below the surface of the ground in the northern part of Lawrence County,[67] The objects were evidently intended for ornaments, and when finished all would have been polished and probably perforated. The majority were cylindrical in shape, and varied from one-fourth to one inch in diameter and from one-fourth to three inches in length. Others were roughly fashioned into ornamental shapes. Several showed an attempt at perforation, and one, not received at the National Museum, was said to be completely perforated.

When the hardness of the material used--jasper--is considered, the patience and skill needed to give their form and polish to these objects command admiration. From the fact that only one specimen was perforated completely, one might readily suppose that the workman found the difficulties of this part of his undertaking too great, and buried his unfinished work in despair.

Some time ago there came into my hands a set of similar articles found in the county of Lincoln, Mississippi, about twenty-five miles west of the spot where the above-mentioned find was made.

These last found objects were exhibited at the Cleveland meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in the hope of learning whether similar specimens had been found, as they appeared to me at that time to be entirely unique.

Following out suggestions made at that meeting by several gentlemen, and afterward by two of the best informed Southern archaeologists, I found that the above-mentioned region in Mississippi has yielded a number of carved, polished and perforated objects of this hard red or brown quartzite (or jasper), and nearly all such specimens of this material which I have been able to learn about came from this region.

The collection of specimens of this style of workmanship described by Dr. Rau probably contains the majority of pieces extant. A few specimens of polished jasper ornaments from other States than Mississippi are shown in the National Museum. There are two or three specimens from Indiana, one from California, and one from Louisiana (Claiborne Parish), which seem to be similarly made and from the same material.

The late Dr. Joseph Jones of New Orleans had in his collection some jasper ornaments, mostly from Mississippi, including a beautiful ceremonial ax of reddish translucent jasper.

Besides those mentioned I have not been able to learn of other similar objects. Probably there are a few scattered ones in other hands.

The collection of these objects in my possession includes thirty pieces. They were found on a farm four miles west of Wesson, in Lincoln County. And were plowed up on the summit of a hill where no earthworks were noticed. A few other relics were found at the same time and were not preserved. With them were two other beads, one of a gray stone and the other of bone very truly shaped, as if in a lathe.

Among the jasper ornaments (all of which are perforated longitudinally with holes from one-tenth to one-eighth of an inch in diameter) are three cylinders between two and a half and three inches long and about one-fourth of an inch in diameter; ten cylinders ranging from a quarter to an inch and a quarter in length and less than one-quarter in diameter; five nearly spherical beads; one accurately shaped short cylinder three-quarters of an inch long and five-eighths in diameter, with a well-drilled perforation three-eights of an inch in diameter; and ten carved ornaments of various shapes. One of these, an inch long, is a strikingly sculptured deer. Four are evidently intended for birds, and four others resemble each other and in form are indistinctly bird-like. A separate ring of the same material is firmly fixed on one of the long beads.

All of the specimens have evidently seen service as personal ornaments. They have a fine polish externally, and the interior of the borings is worn smooth as by a string. An artistic color-perception is shown in the beautiful variety of tints brought out in various pieces of jasper used.

As to all these ornaments in red jasper mentioned in this paper, comparison of the specimens forcibly suggests that they may be the work of one skilled artist. In the western pebble belt of Mississippi, which extends along the border of the Mississippi and Yazoo river bottoms southward from near Memphis to Natchez, and thence eastward through the counties in which these relics have been found, quartzite of almost every variety occurs, and chipped implements of almost every variety and color are common. The maker of these ornaments has passed by all other tints save red and brown. In the cylindrical and other carved forms that have been found there is a striking similarity both in design and workmanship.

One will readily believe the perforation of these ornaments with small and accurately made drillings to have been the most difficult part of their manufacture. And yet in all the specimens seen the perforations have been in the _longest_ direction through the ornament. The total length of the borings in the set of thirty beads I have is twenty-eight inches. A lapidary not remarkably expert in the art of drilling these holes would probably have simplified his work by shorter borings, arranging the ornaments as pendants.

Again, the rarity of any objects of carved or polished or perforated quartzite suggests a very limited manufacture even in the region under consideration.

As to the means used in making these perforations, drills of stone are excluded from consideration on account of the smallness and length of the borings.

There is one specimen in the collection of Dr. Joseph Jones of New Orleans, in which a boring has been began, evidently with a hollow tube as a drill, probably a joint of a reed fed with sand, as there is a core in the centre of the boring; but hollow drills as small as one-twelfth of an inch in diameter could scarcely have been used. Some of the specimens described by Dr. Rau show the beginning of the drilling process, apparently with a solid drill, fed with sand.

We are forced to the conclusion that the drilling implement used must have been a needle of copper, or more probably of the hard outer wood of the Southern cane tipped with quartz, or fed with sand. The borings are about as true in direction and form as the best modern appliances could make them.

It is worthy of note that these highly wrought jasper ornaments have been found in that portion of Mississippi once occupied by the Natchez, that these aboriginal people were more or less familiar with Mexican or Aztec art and customs, and that carved and polished workmanship in hard stones was not uncommon among the aborigines of Mexico and Central America.[68]

SUGGESTIONS TO LOCAL HISTORIANS.

BY FRANKLIN L. RILEY, PH. D.

Local research must precede the writing of general history. It discovers and renders available the materials from which history is made. For this reason the local historian largely determines the character and extent of all history. The facts with which he deals may be considered as mere historical digits, yet in the aggregate they represent the entire life of a people. In fact their true value is not fully revealed until they are tested by their relation to State history and to still larger movements. The apparent insignificance of the local annal disappears when it is recognized as one of a thousand threads out of which is woven the great and beautiful fabric of human history. Hence, as has been truly said, "local history is not isolated; it is a part of State history----indeed of national and world history."

One of the most pressing needs in Mississippi is a more efficient organization for local historical work. Societies should be organized in the various historical and intellectual centers of the State. Such an organization has been effected among the students of the University of Mississippi. The formation of similar societies throughout the State would awaken an interest in Mississippi history. This should not be limited, however, to our institutions of learning. It is also desirable to enlist in the great work of perpetuating our history the many noble men and women who have helped to make it.

Another great need is a system for the proper direction of the various lines of research that should be followed out in the State. The best results can accrue from such organizations only by a system for the unification of efforts and the preservation of results. Without such a system the results achieved by the historical renaissance upon which we are entering will be largely lost. This necessity is shown by our past experience in work of this kind. In 1876 many counties of the State, acting in accordance with a suggestion of the President of the United States, held centennial celebrations, at which were delivered many addresses of historical value. With the exception of an incomplete collection of these addresses which were gathered into the archives of the State Historical Society upon its organization, several years later, these contributions to our history have either been lost entirely, or are not now available to investigators. By having a common place of deposit for these results of historical investigation our workers will be able to learn readily what has been done along various lines of research and will often be saved a duplication of effort.

_Plan of Organization._--The charter of the Mississippi Historical Society gives it authority to establish branches in the various counties of the State. In order to put such a scheme into practical execution, the Executive Committee of the Society has adopted the following resolution, looking toward a unification of all the historical work of the State:

1. That all of the patriotic and historical organizations
of the State, including local historical societies; the
Daughters of the Revolution; the department of Mississippi
United Confederate Veterans, and the Sons and Daughters of the
Confederacy may, by a resolution duly passed and filed with the
Secretary of the State Historical Society, become affiliated
with said society and entitled to all the benefits accruing
therefrom.

2. That any such auxiliary society may, by the first of
December annually, make a report of its work to the Secretary
of the State Historical Society, which, or portions, or a
synopsis thereof, may be included in the publications of the
State Society, and upon application of an auxiliary society
the State Society may become custodian of the records of such
auxiliary society.

3. That a copy of the publication of the State Historical
Society be sent, free of charge, to such auxiliary societies as
make annual reports as provided above.

PURPOSE OF AFFILIATION.

1. _Encouragement of Research._--It is the purpose of the State Society to encourage investigation by giving proper recognition to all worthy contributions that may be made to our history. This will be done both by the public presentation of papers from local societies at the annual meetings and by their publication and distribution by the State Society.

2. _Unification of Work and Preservation of Results._--This is the day of co-operation in historical work. A great and noble task lies before us. We cannot afford to duplicate work or to lose any worthy contributions that may be made to our history. Let us not repeat the experience of 1876. Again some of our most important subjects can be worked only by local aid in various parts of the state. This aid can be furnished by the members of organizations in the locality from which information is desired.

SUGGESTIONS.

_Character of Work Needed._--The historian should above all things keep himself free from prejudice. It will be impossible to stop investigation and the historian must ever keep in mind the fact that sooner or later his work will be tested by others and his errors brought to light. The value and permanence of all historical work, therefore, is quite in proportion to the amount of truth it contains. "Particularly must he," says one, "guard against careless or incorrect statements about the dead who cannot defend themselves." Every assertion should be susceptible of proof and exact references should be made in foot-notes to the authority upon which a statement is based. If this be neglected, says the writer quoted above, the work stands in danger either of neglect by future historians, or of being discredited as a mass of unsubstantial statements.

_Sources of Information._--The most fruitful and accessible sources of information on local history are the following: State histories; public records (municipal, county, church, school, etc.); newspaper files; books and pamphlets pertaining to the locality under consideration; manuscript letters, journals, etc., of early settlers; and interviews with the oldest inhabitants.

_Scope of Work Needed._--In Mississippi the following topics would doubtless yield rich returns to the local historian. The list might be enlarged or changed to meet local conditions.

_Antiquities._--The name and location of Indian tribes and the events, dates and incidents in their history together with their present condition in some counties in the State would doubtless prove fruitful to the investigator. Closely allied to this is the subject of archaeology. Although we have no large public collection of pre-historic implements in Mississippi there are several excellent private collections in different parts of the State. These should be cited for the use of investigators.

_Early Settlements._--This opens a fertile field that has been too much neglected in Mississippi. The local historian should gather up the annals and letters of the first settlers. He should as far as possible ascertain the former homes of settlers and the facts that led to their removal as well as those which determined the location of settlements. Closely allied to this is the development of early thoroughfares. The investigator might also give the early experience as well as the domestic and social customs of the pioneers.

_Biography._--The lives of men that have contributed to the greatness of our State. We do not know enough about our statesmen, scientists, poets, teachers, philanthropists, authors, etc.

_Groups of Foreign Settlers._-Although this field is limited in Mississippi, we have not done this work. The Irish settlement in Jasper county and perhaps a few others in the State might be worked with much interest and profit.

_Military History._--The old militia system and the part taken by the county in the wars in which the United States has engaged need to be investigated now, since those who took part in these events are fast disappearing.

_Political History._--This subject might embrace county boundaries, their establishment and location, the origin and development of political parties within the county; the establishment of municipalities, etc.

_Religious and Social History._--The sources by way of church records are abundant. The growth of churches, philanthropic movements and reforms may be included under this subject.

_Educational History._--This would embrace not only the public schools of to-day, but private schools of ante bellum times.

_Industrial and Commercial Development._--The local historian might show the effects of topography, soil and natural resources upon the occupations and economic conditions of the county. Industrial and commercial methods should be treated and statistics given. In this connection the influences of slavery should be noted.

_Miscellaneous Topics of a Local Nature._--The following subjects might be studied with results more or less satisfactory, according to location: Tory Influences, Railways, Newspapers, Architecture, Contents of Early Libraries, Reconstruction, etc.

SOME INACCURACIES IN CLAIBORNE'S HISTORY IN REGARD TO TECUMSEH.

BY H. S. HALBERT

In this article the writer desires to call attention to some inaccuracies in Colonel J. F. H. Claiborne's History of Mississippi, on page 487, in regard to Tecumseh's visit to the Choctaws. These inaccuracies have unfortunately misled the authors of our Mississippi school histories, and I wish here to present the subject in its true light and so correct these inaccuracies for the benefit of all students of Mississippi history. As a beginning, I will state that in 1877 I sent to Colonel Claiborne, then engaged in writing his history, some notes which I had written in regard to Tecumseh's visit to the Choctaws in 1811. These notes gave some account of the last council between Tecumseh and the Choctaws, which was held on Blewett's plantation, in Noxubee County. Subsequent research, several years after, showed that I was in error on some points. Still, if Colonel Claiborne had made use of my notes just as they were, the matter would not have been so bad. I regret, however, to say that Colonel Claiborne took much liberty with my narrative and added thereto some fictitious embellishments. To take a liberal view of the matter, the Colonel, no doubt, considered these embellishments as harmless and as adding somewhat to the interest of the narrative. After the manner of some historians of antiquity, the Colonel had acquired the habit of putting fine speeches into the mouths of his Indian heroes. For the benefit of the students of Mississippi history, I will here state, in all truth and good conscience, that the speech which he has put into the mouth of Pushmataha is nothing more nor less than pure and unadulterated fiction. Pushmataha never made that speech. Even the uncritical school boy might ask the questions: "Who was the reporter in the Indian camp that took down that speech?" "Who translated the speech from Choctaw into English?" The Truth is, Colonel Claiborne simply composed that speech and interpolated it into my meager narrative. The Colonel, too, seems to have been utterly oblivious or regardless of the fact, that, in all Indian inter-tribal councils, where more than one language is spoken, all the business is transacted through the cold medium of interpreters. Under such circumstances there can be no wonderful displays of impassioned oratory. Pushmataha spoke only Choctaw, Tecumseh only Shawnee. A speech delivered by Tecumseh in his native tongue could not have been understood by the Choctaws. Hence, all the arguments and statements on both sides had to pass through the mouth of the interpreter; in this case the interpreter, Seekaboo. Such inter-tribunal councils are strictly business conferences. Many years ago it was my fortune to be present at two inter-tribal councils among the wild tribes, where several languages were spoken, and no displays of oratory were attempted--for in such a case the speaker's tribesmen alone could have understood him--but everything was conducted in practical, businesslike manner, the interpreters kept constantly busy translating the statements of the speakers.

Reverting to Colonel Claiborne and Tecumseh, I will state that elsewhere I have given all the attainable facts in regard to Tecumseh's Choctaw visit, worked out from original and authentic sources. Suffice it here to say that Tecumseh in none of his councils exerted the slightest influence over Moshulitubbee, over Hopaii Iskitini, nor over any other Choctaw, chief or warrior. The Choctaw mingoes unanimously and utterly discountenanced his designs, and at the last council threatened to put him to death if he did not leave their nation.

Again, on this same page, there is an inaccuracy in regard to the conference which Weatherford and Ochillie Hadjo had with Mingo Moshulitubbee. In this case, however, Colonel Claiborne is not blameable, as I made the mistake myself in the notes which I sent him. Subsequent inquiry showed that I was in error on this matter, so I here correct the statement by saying that Moshulitubee was not influenced in the slightest degree by these Muscogee chiefs. This conference is an historic fact, which I received from the late Mr. G. W. Campbell, of Shuqulak, he receiving it in early life from Stonie Hadjo, one of Moshulitubees' captains. Circumstances show that this conference occurred in the summer of 1813, perhaps in July.

My object in making these corrections is, that, as I am the only person who knows about these erroneous statements in Claiborne's history, I may place the facts in their true light for the benefit of all lovers of historical accuracy.

DID JONES COUNTY SECEDE?

BY ALEXANDER L. BONDURANT, A. M.

It seems that many within and without the State would answer this query in the affirmative, and even their ordinance of secession is given by one writer on the subject as follows:

"Whereas, The State of Mississippi, for reasons which appear
justifiable, has seen fit to withdraw from the Federal Union;
and

"Whereas, We, the citizens of Jones County, claim the same
right, thinking our grievances are sufficient by reason of an
unjust law passed by the Confederate States of America forcing
us to go into distant parts, etc., therefore, be it

"_Resolved_, That we sever the union heretofore existing
between Jones County and the State of Mississippi, and proclaim
our independence of the said State and of the Confederate
States of America; and we solemnly call upon Almighty God to
witness and bless the act."

Such being the case, it has seemed to me in order to advert to a discussion in the Nation on this subject beginning March 24, 1892, which throws considerable light on the question. In the paper of this date Samuel Willard, of Chicago, writes that he had been a soldier in the army which invaded Mississippi, and that he had never during the war heard of such an occurrence. When, therefore, he saw the statement made in the New England Magazine, for November, 1891, the author being Professor Hart, he doubted its accuracy. It may be stated just here that Professor Hart, in a subsequent issue of the Nation gives as his authority Mr. Galloway, historian of the Sixth army corps, who published in the Magazine of American History for October, 1886, an article entitled "A Confederacy Within a Confederacy;" but upon what authority Mr. Galloway based his statements does not appear. He therefore wrote to the Governor of the State of Mississippi and to the clerk of Jones County, and elicited replies from both of these gentlemen, and Governor Stone inclosed a letter from his predecessor, Hon. Robert Lowry, who was sent to Jones County during the war in command of troops for the purpose of arresting deserters. The texts of the letters are too long to quote in full, so a few passages will have to suffice. Governor Stone writes:

"It gives me pleasure to inform you that the whole story is a
fabrication, and there is scarcely any foundation for any part
of it. To begin with Jones County furnished perhaps as many
soldiers to the army of the Confederacy as any other county
of like population. * * * Many of them declined to go into
the army in the beginning, but so far as formal withdrawal
or resolution to that effect is concerned, no such thing
ever occurred in Jones County. Hon. Robert Lowry was sent to
Jones County during the war for the purpose of arresting and
returning deserters to their commands, and there was some
little fighting with these bands of deserters, or rather
bush-whacking of his men by the deserters; and some of the
deserters were arrested and executed, but only a few. The whole
story is the veriest fabrication, and I presume few persons of
intelligence will believe any of it."

Ex-Governor Lowry writes: "The county furnished nearly and probably its entire quota of soldiers, many of whom did splendid service. No such effort as establishing a separate government was ever attempted. The story of withdrawal and establishing of a separate government is a pure fabrication--not a shadow of foundation for it."

Governor McLaurin, in a recent letter to me on this subject, writes: "I was a boy thirteen years old when the war commenced. I was 'raised' in Smith County, a county adjoining Jones. I was at home the first three years of the war, and, if there was any attempt by Jones County to secede and set up a separate government, I did not hear anything of it. I was in a brigade that intercepted a Federal raid that started from Baton Rouge to Mobile in November or December, 1864, and we passed through or very near Jones County, and I never heard of any attempt to set up a separate government in the county. I think it is safe for you to negative the whole story."

E. B. Sharp, Esq., chancery clerk, writes: "The report is utterly false in every particular."

The authority of these well known gentlemen is quite sufficient to dispose effectually of this canard reflecting upon the good name of a county which rendered brave and efficient service to the Confederacy.

INDEX
PAGE

Abbeville, South Carolina, 87

Aberdeen, 37

Adams County, 30

Adams, Prof. H. B., 73

American Law Review, 42

Amsterdam, 36

Arnold, Dr. Thomas, 78

Athens, 34

Atlantic Monthly, 42

Audubon, J. J., 87, 88

Autumn, a poem, 12

Australian Ballot, 48

Backwoods Poem, appreciation of, 3

Bacon's Landing, 57

Ballot, 48

Baptists, Early Settlement, 86

Baskerville, 20

Batesville, 37

Bayou Pierre, 56

Bay St. Louis, 33, 34, 37, 40

Beauregard, 37

Benela, 37

Berryhill, S. Newton, 2, 20

Bethel Church, 86

Bettie Bell, a poem, 5

Beuford District, S. C., 86

Bienville, 70

Biloxi, 37, 40

Biography, Relation of to History, 76, 78

Biography, Importance of in Literary Study, 20

Bledsoe, 20

Blewett, 101

Bluntschli, J. C., 73, 74

Blount, Senator, 63

Bolton, 39, 40

Bondurant, Prof. A. L., 104

Bonner, 37

Brandon, 34, 37

Brookhaven, 40

Brooksville, 40

Brown, Mr., a poem, 5

Burr, Aaron, arrest of, 86

Butler, Major, 87

Camargo, 87

Campbell, G. W., 108

Canada, 61, 64

Canton, 37

Carlyle, 76

Carondelet, Baron de, 57, 58, 61, 64

Chambers, Prof. H. E., 67

Chickasaw Bluffs, 56

Chisholm, W., 87

Choctaws, 101-103

Claiborne, Col. J. F. H., 85, 101-103

Clarke, General, 62, 63

Clarksdale, 40

Clarksville, 57

Clinton, 34

Columbia, 40

Columbus, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40

Constitution of 1817, 30, 31

Constitution of 1832, 35

Constitution of 1869, 37

Constitution of 1890, 40

Cook, Mr. and Mrs., 87

Cooksville, 37

Copiah County, 95

Cotton Gin Port, 37

Crystal Springs, 37

Davis, Jefferson, 71, 88

De Bow's Review, 85

Deupree, Prof. J. G., 95

Dialect, writing in, 22

Dillon, John F., 42

Duncan, Rev. W., 86

Durant, 39, 40

Eastport, 37

Educational Qualification, 43

Elective Judiciary, 47

Ellicott, Andrews, 55, 56, 58, 64, 65, 66

Ellisville, 40

Emory, 37

Eureka Springs, 39

Farmington, 37

Fence Law, 48

Florida, 62, 68, 71

Folch, 71

Fort Adams, 86, 88

France, 52, 53, 54, 57, 64

Frost and Forest, a poem, 13

Froude, James Anthony, 76

Fulton, 40

Fulton, Chancellor R. B., 91

Gainsville, 37

Gallatin, 34

Galloway, Bishop G. B., 20

Gayoso, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60

George, Senator J. Z., 44

Georgia, 62, 87

Godoy 50, 51

Governor, how elected under Constitution of 1890, 46, 47

Grand Gulf, 37

Great Britain, 51, 52, 58

Greenville, Washington Co., 33, 34

Greenville, Jefferson Co., 40

Greenwood Springs, 40

Hadley, Rev. Moses, 86

Harris, Joel Chandler, 21

Harris, Dr. W. T., 83

Harrison, James A., 20

Hart, Prof. A. B., 105, 106

Hazlehurst, 27

Hermans, 37

Hernando, 37

Hinsdale, Prof. B. A., 52, 56

Hickory, 37

History and literature inseparable, 17

History and Poetry, Relation of, 1

History, Conception of, 80, 81, 82, 83

History of Literature, 23

History, Local and general compared, 75, 76

History, Study and Teaching of, 73, 74

History, Unity of, 75

Holden, F. M., 104

Holmesville, 33, 34

Huntsville, 29

Hutson, 20

Iberville, 70

Indian Legends in Mississippi, 21

Indian Names in Mississippi, 21

Indians, 59, 60, 63

Indianola, 40

Irion, Bob, 88

Jackson County, 30, 34

Jackson, city of, 34, 36, 39, 40

Jones County, 104, 106

Jones, Dr. Joseph, 92, 94

Jones, Prof. R. W., 85

Johns Hopkins University, 75

Judges, How Chosen in Mississippi, 47

Kemper, Reuben, 71

Kentucky, 53, 87

Kilpatrick, Dr. A. R., 86, 87

Laurel, 39

Lawrence County, 91

Lecky, Bob, 86

Legislature, Power of to elect officers, 47

Lewis, Henry T., 20

Lewis, John S., 86

Liberty, 34, 36

Lincoln County, 92, 93

Lipscomb, Prof. Dabney, 1, 20

Literature in Mississippi, 17, 19

Literature, History of, 23

Local Historical Work in Maryland, 75

Local History and general compared, 75

Local Historians, suggestions to, 96

Local Historical Societies, 97

Lodi, 37

Loftus Cliffs, 57

Louisiana, 61, 62, 64, 70, 71, 88

Lowry, Gov. Robert, 105

Macon, 37, 40

Madison County, 33

Manchester, 34, 36

McLaurin, Gov. A. J., 105, 106

Meadville, 34

Mississippi River, 53, 55, 64, 66

Mississippi State, 70

Mississippi Territory, 25, 30

Mississippi Historical Society Archives, 97

Mobile, 29, 71

Monticello, 33

Mount Pleasant, 87

Municipal Suffrage, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40

Murrell, 22

My Castle, a poem, 18

My Motherland, a poem, 10

Natchez, 27, 37, 39, 50, 55, 56, 57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 70, 86, 88

Negroes, Rights of to vote, 34, 38, 42

New Orleans, 53, 54, 58, 70, 86

Northwest Territory, Suffrage in, 25, 26

Note-Taking, Method of, 79

Ogden, Capt. John, 87

Ohio River, 63, 64, 65

Oregon, 67

Outlaws, Doings of, 22

Pardons, Effects of upon rights of suffrage, 32

Pass Christian, 37, 39, 40

Paulding, 37

Pearlington, 33

Percy, 88

Philadelphia, 37

Pickering, 54, 61, 62, 64

Pinckney, Thomas, 50

Plymoth, 36

Poindexter, Governor, 87

Poindexter's History, 87

Pope, Lieutenant, 64, 66

Port Gibson, 29, 33

Potts Camp, 40

Prentiss, S. S., 88, 89

Pushmata, 101, 102

Quitman, 39

Raleigh, 37

Rapides Parish, 87

Rau, Dr. Chas. R., 91, 92

Raymond, 33, 34, 37

Registration when first required, 37

Registration under constitution of 1890, 44, 46

Re-Reconstruction, a poem, 11

Riley, Prof. Franklin L., 50, 87, 96

Rodney, 33, 34, 37

Rosedale, 39, 40

Russell, Irwin, 18, 20

Salem, 37

Sardis, 37

Sarepta, 37

Sartartia, 36

Scooba, 39, 40

Seekaboo, 102

Seminary, Historical, 74

Senatobia, 39, 40

Seven Pines, 39

Shands, H. A., 22

Sharp, E. B., 106

Shieldsborough, 33, 34, 37

Shongole, 37

Sketch, a poem, 7

Society, Forces which bind it together, 73

Spain, 50-66

Starkville, 37

Stoddard, 52

Stone, Gov. J. M., 105

Storm, The, a poem, 7

St. Stevens, 29

Suggestions to Local Historians, 98, 99, 100

Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1817, 31-35

Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1832, 35-37

Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1869, 37-40

Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1890, 40-42

Tanner, Robert, 87

Taylor, Zachary, 71

Tecumseh, 101, 102

Tennessee, 53, 64, 65

Tennyson, 74, 76, 84

Terry, 40

Thompson, Maurice, 20

Thompson, Hon. R. H., 25

Tidings from the Battlefield, a poem, 9

Topics in Mississippi History, 99, 100

Travel, Accounts of in Mississippi, 22

Treaty of San Lorenzo, 50, 51

Treaty, Jay's, 51

Tunica, 39, 40

Turner, Robert, 86

Understanding clause in constitution of 1890, 42, 44

University of Mississippi, 96

Vaiden, 40

Vicksburg (Walnut Hills), 33, 34, 37, 40, 56, 60, 61, 62

Voting, _viva voce_ in Mississippi, 32

Voting by ballot in Miss., 48

Waddell, Moses, 87

Walnut Hills (Vicksburg), 33, 34, 37, 40, 56, 60, 61, 62

Warrenton, 33, 34

Warren county, 33

Washington, 33, 34, 35

Water Valley, 40

Wayne, General, 60

Weber, Prof. W. L., 16

Wesson, 37, 93

West Florida, 30, 71

Wilkinson, General, 87

Wilkinson county, 87

Willard, Samuel, 104

Willing, 71

Winans, Rev. Wm., 87

Winona, 37

Woodville, 29, 36, 86, 88

Woodville Republican, 87

Yazoo City, 34, 37, 40

_Constitutional and Political History of the United States_

BY DR. HERMANN E. VON HOLST

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