Chapter VIII: Part 8

Governor Ames tried every known means in his power to intimidate the legislature. He decided at one time to attempt to disperse the body with Federal troops, but President Grant would not furnish them for such a purpose. The next plan was to collect an army of negroes in Jackson and incite them to riot and bloodshed against the whites, but the cowardice of the negroes prevented its accomplishment. One of the most corrupt and colossal schemes of public robbery ever devised by a band of plunderers was being laid bare to the eyes of an indignant people, and every effort was made by the guilty officials to hush up the investigation of their delinquencies. At the beginning of the investigation the governor and his partners in crime assumed a bold front and defied the legislature to do its worst, but when they found that the investigation was backed by a public opinion that knew no turning, they began to weaken and plead for mercy. It was brought out in the investigation that the State was full of defaulting county treasurers and sheriffs who were partisan friends of the governor, and were allowed to retain their positions. The investigation developed that the office of State Treasurer was being filled by an official who had never given bond for the faithful performance of his duty. It was found to be the custom of the governor to remove judges from the bench when they made decisions against his friends, and one public official, the sheriff of a county, was removed by force of arms. Ames was employing the same methods that he put in force during his right as military governor, and was applying the rules of arbitrary martial law in times of peace. Incompetency and rascality reigned supreme. All legislation had been in the hands of ignorant negroes who for years, were intent upon nothing but public pilfering. On March 29th, 1876, the court of impeachment was opened, and the managers of the House appeared and announced themselves ready for trial. In the meantime Ames had become panic stricken over the certainty of conviction and offered to resign and leave the State if the impeachment articles were withdrawn. The one great object of the trial was to rid the State of Ames and his gang of corrupt officials, and the managers of the proceedings agreed to allow him to resign and the following order was made by the impeachment court: "That articles of impeachment heretofore preferred by the House of Representatives against his Excellency, Adelbert Ames, be and the same are hereby dismissed, in pursuance of the request of the House of Representatives, this day presented by the managers in their behalf." After that order was entered, counsel for Ames offered the following from their client:

"EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

"Jackson, Miss., March 29, 1876.

"To the People of the State of Mississippi:

"I hereby respectfully resign my office of governor of the State of Mississippi." "ADELBERT AMES."

After the reading of the resignation, Mr. Pryor, attorney for the resigning governor, spoke as follows:

"Mr. Chief Justice and Senators--At the instance of my learned associates, I rise merely to return to the chief justice and the senators the expression of our grave sense of the courtesies and kindness which we have received, both from the learned chief justice and senators, and especially from our honorable adversaries, the managers on the part of the house."

By his resignation Ames practically admitted his guilt, and soon after left the State in disgrace. Hon. John Marshall Stone became governor of the State by virtue of his position as president pro tem. of the senate, one day after Ames' resignation. A better man was never made governor of any State, and with his administration commenced an era of peace and prosperity that continues to this day.

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.

BY MRS. HELEN D. BELL

From my youth up "Historical Mississippi" has possessed a never failing charm__ books, papers and manuscripts I have faithfully searched, and my gleaning has brought me sheaves from many a field, where stronger hands have wrought.

I shall leave chronology and statistics to the members of the Association who are more capable of dealing with them, and shall give a few current events that interested our ancestors some sixty years ago.

In one of Irwin Russell's inimitable dialect poems, he makes an old negro preacher say:

"An' when you sees me risin' up to structify in meetin';
I's just clumb up de knowledge-tree an' done some apple eatin'."

My "knowledge-tree" proved to be an old file of newspapers published from 1836 to 1843.

As far back as 1838 an active interest was taken in Historical Mississippi, and this Association, is not the first to try and preserve records and deeds, facts, traditions and legends of our beloved state.

A Lyceum flourished in the Natchez district, with Mr. Dubuisson as president. A notice of a meeting that was to be held in Washington, Miss., June 2d, 1838, says: "There is a proposition before the Lyceum to change its name to that of 'The Mississippi Philosophical & Historical Society.' It should be incorporated, as it bids fair to be the nucleus around which the taste and talent of this section of our state may rally."

Besides literature and history, an interest was taken by the men and women of this period in many other things. Realizing that Mississippi was an agricultural state, they formed an "Agricultural-Horticultural & Botanical Society," and one meeting was held April 28th, 1843, in the Methodist Church in Washington, President B. S. C. Wailes in the chair. There was no public dinner, but every planter had enough along with him to supply a dozen more than his own family. Col. Wailes, Mr. Affleck and many others, we are told, kept open house; Mrs. Shields, Miss Rawling, Miss Newman and Miss Smith were appointed to examine and report on needle-work and other articles of feminine industry. They made their report through Mr. Joseph D. Shields, and awarded prizes to Mrs. Dr. Broome, Mrs. Anna D. Winn, Mrs. Sarah West, Miss Virginia Branch, Miss Eliza Magruder, Miss Julia Cashell, and Miss Mary McCaleb.

The women of the thirties had never heard of the "new woman" yet they were fully alive to their own interest. It is said that when the "married woman's property right" bill was up for discussion in 1839, it was passed mainly through the exertions and influence of Mrs. T. B. J. Hadley, who kept the most popular boarding house in Jackson. She had become enamored of the civil law principle in Louisiana, and was determined to have this statute in our state. How did she accomplish it? From the day that Adam ate the apple, women have had firm convictions as to the best way of bringing men to their "point of view." If any of Mrs. Hadley's boarders opposed this bill, she put them on short rations and they had no comfort until they gave in. By the way, it is believed that our Mississippi Statute on this subject--property rights of married women--was the first which was passed in any state in the Union, which was governed by the principles of common law.

Politics ran high; Whigs and Democrats were ready at all times to give reason for the faith within them, to fight for it, yea, even to die for it at need. But through it all ran an intense loyalty to the state. Prentiss was once on a boat coming to Natchez, when some one remarked that the Governor of Mississippi was a dog. "Sir," said Mr. Prentiss, rising, "you cannot call the Governor of Mississippi a dog in my presence; it may be that he is a dog, but he is _our_ dog."

In 1843, the burning question was the payment of the state bonds issued by the Union & Planters' Bank. Feeling ran high, it was made an issue in the canvass, and the repudiators were successful. Even to this day we are made to feel the sting of that act, which was a blunder,--and Talleyrand tells us that "a blunder is worse than a crime." Many were the reasons given for the nonpayment, and in a speech delivered in 1843, at the Court House in Natchez, Governor Tucker told his audience not to think for a moment that the _real_ great seal of the state was affixed to those "fictitious and unconstitutional bonds." The Governor goes on to say that when the time came to affix the great seal, no seal was to be found, so "a Vicksburg artist was employed as a Vulcan to forge the seal, which was to make bondsmen of the proud and chivalrous people of Mississippi; he did his best, probably, but as the fates would have it, his eagle turned out to be a buzzard. We cannot but think," goes on the Governor, "that an over-ruling destiny controlled the hiding away of the state seal, so that its broad and honest face should never be seen on a badge of servitude to European note-shavers--and the Union Bank bonds no more have the seal of the state upon them, than the figure of the bond seal looks like an eagle."

On May 28th, 1838, a number of literary and scientific gentlemen, belonging to Natchez and vicinity, went to Selsertown for the purpose of making an excavation in the large Indian Mound, which was evidently a fortress and strong-hold of power in the olden times. The mound is an immense mural pile, with a watch-tower elevated many feet above the level surface of the mound at one side. It had a subterranean or covered way leading to its centre,--the traces of which still remained in 1838. The large mound is most admirably situated for defense, being based on a summit, from which there is a gentle declivity for many hundreds of yards in every direction, commanding a sweeping view of the horizon. It was said by the oldest inhabitants that when they first settled near the Selsertown mounds, there were traces of great roads more worn by apparent travel than any roads in existence in this part of the State now (1838), leading in different directions from the principal mound. This must have been a great central point of aboriginal power, the great metropolitan and kingly residence of the sun--descended dynasty of the Natchez Kings--a dynasty embalmed in story and song, and descended to us on the wings of legend and romance. The gentlemen were: Rev. Messrs. Charles Tyler and Van Court, Doctors Monette, Merwin, Benbroke, Inge, Hitchkock and Mitchell, Judge Thatcher, Prof. Forshey, C. S. Dubisson, J. A. Van Hosen, Thomas Farrar, Col. B. S. C. Wailes, Maj. J. T. Winn and others.

One of the great orators in 1838, was Rev. J. N. Maffett. He was much in demand for lectures and speeches, and was one of the most extraordinary men of the age. It is said that for imagery, enunciation, intonation and a deep knowledge of the human heart, Mr. Maffett stood without a peer.

About 1843, Mr. Thomas Fletcher, of the Natchez bar, was quite a favorite public speaker. His style was said to be smooth, musical and polished.

Mississippians, in the years that are gone, were as generous and open-hearted as they are today. They gave presents, not valued by dollars and cents, but into which they put time, labor and love, as the following letter proves. It was sent with the cradle to a friend in Charleston, S. C.

"The body or frame of the cradle, is manufactured out of the shell of what we call the snapping turtle, that weighed 135 pounds caught by myself out of my own waters. The railing is constructed out of the horns of bucks, killed with my own rifle by my own hands. The rockers were made from a walnut tree that grew on my sister's plantation adjoining mine. The spring mattress, or lining, is stuffed with wool from my own sheep. The loose mattress is also filled with domestic wool, manufactured and lined by my own wife. The pillows are filled with feathers from our own wild geese, and have also been manufactured by my own hands, after having been slain by my own steady aim. The pavilion, which you will perceive is to be thrown over the canopy, was fabricated, fitted and contrived by my own right thrifty, ingenious and very industrious 'better half.' Accompanying the cradle is a whistle which was made by a friend residing with me, and out of a tusk of an alligator, slain by my own hand, as well as a fan, made also by the same friend out of the tail of a wild turkey killed by me; accompanying the whole is the hide of a panther, dressed after the fashion of the Chamois, the animal having been slain by my own hands, and with my trusty rifle. This is for the stranger to loll and roll upon when tired of his cradle."

It is to be hoped that these unique gifts into which the Mississippi planter, his wife, and friend, put hours of love-labor, are today the cherished heir-looms of some old South Carolina family.

So in a minor key I have told of the past. As I read these old files I lived over the lives of our ancestors. I could see the crowds and hear them cheering some favorite speaker--the audiences gathered to hear the words of eloquence from gifted tongues--the Indians stepped for me his "sun dance," I discussed with famous housewives the value of the articles made by deft fingers, and sat with the planter by his fireside, forgetting that "the tender grace of a day that is dead" will never come back.

And may love for Mississippi,--her Past, Present, and Future grow ever in our hearts.

"Mississippi! what bright visions, what pleasant reflections, are associated with thy name! It is the land of flowers, of beauty, of natural wealth, of chivalry and unbending energy; The nursery of native genius and eloquence; The home of hospitality, the generous and confiding Patron of the unknown and friendless stranger! Thy majestic river, thy broad prairies, thy snow-white fields the very air we breathe--gladdens the heart, enlarge the soul, and stimulate to noble deeds."

HISTORIC ADAMS COUNTY

BY GERARD BRANDON, ESQ.

In the dim ages of the past, when our wondrous bluffs emerged from the inland sea which geologists tell us once swept over the alluvial lands of the Mississippi Valley, it would seem that the Great Spirit with special favor smiled upon and blessed that portion of his fair domain which is now embraced within the present limits of "Historic Adams County," as if to make of it an Eden for the Western World.

Perhaps no section of so limited an area has been more productive of the fossil remains of pre-historic animals, or has furnished so much to the collection of the geologist. It was largely from Adams County that Wailes, the geologist, obtained his collection which was afterwards purchased by the University of Louisiana. Mammoth Bayou, just beyond the limits of the City of Natchez, is so called on account of its so often returning to the light, remains of this gigantic animal, and it still continues to render its contributions. Indeed, there is scarcely a creek or water-course in the county that has not, at some time, contributed its share. Here also dwelt pre-historic man, the mound-builder, who has left in Adams County many of the monuments of himself, and notably the celebrated Emerald Mound, near old Selsertown,--one of the largest, loftiest, and most remarkable in the whole Valley of the Mississippi. And so, in later days, when the first of the white race came to this favored spot, they found here in the greatest beauty, abundance, and perfection, all the flora and fauna of the South. Chateaubriand, who during his exile visited the "Natchez Country," found here the inspiration and theme for writings which have made him immortal, and in his "Attala," "Rene," and in his great epic "The Natchez," has given us the impressions made upon his poetic imagination by the beauties of the landscape. And while the hand of the spoiler, man, has robbed the landscape of so many of its robes of natural beauty, there still remains enough to touch the fancy and impress the mind. We can still view the wondrous "Devil's Punch Bowls," in and just beyond the northern limits of Natchez, which, while the exact reverse of mountain scenery, presents a view almost as wild and grand. The view from our lofty bluffs, of our mighty river, of the green plains of Louisiana beyond, of the sun as he sinks beneath the Western horizon, and of the moon as she silvers the river with her parting beams, are worthy of any painter's brush. The fertile valleys of the St. Catharine and Second creeks still present some remains of their former beauty and fertility, which made the Natchez Country, in its palmy past, the promised land for so many brave and adventurous spirits.

It was in this favored section that lived the celebrated Natchez Indians, whose name is perpetuated in that of our historic city, and who have left behind them a history of which a Spartan would have been proud. Their civilization was higher than that of the surrounding tribes, and their customs and religion were similar to those of the ancient Mexicans. Like the Mexicans, Peruvians, and ancient Persians, their god was the sun, and in the temple built for his worship the priests kept burning, day and night, the sacred fire. To the sun they sacrificed the first fruits of the chase and of war, and sometimes, (as did the Mexicans), offered human sacrifices, even of their own children, to appease their angry deity. They honored their chiefs with the title of "Suns," and their king was the "Great Sun."

Such were the Natchez Indians, as portrayed to us by history and tradition, in the year 1700, when first visited by Iberville, the great French pioneer. The tribe then had about twelve hundred warriors: but, according to their own account, had been much more powerful; being then reduced in numbers by constant wars with surrounding tribes. So impressed was Iberville by the beauty and natural advantages of the location, that he decided to plant a colony here. This design was not carried into execution however, until June, 1716, when Bienville, the brother of Iberville, built a fort within the present limits of Natchez, and called it "Rosalie." But peaceful relations with the Indians were of short duration, and a few preliminary murders on both sides were followed, in 1723, by the first general outbreak of the Indians. This was quelled by Bienville with characteristic cruelty and severity, which inflamed the fires of hatred and revenge in the breasts of the savages. Nor did the French adopt a policy which might have averted a catastrophe that was soon to come; but persisted in their course of treachery, aggression and oppression.

The Indians finally matured a plot to rid themselves of their enemies by a general massacre. The execution of the design was doubtless hastened by the requirement of Chopart, commandant of Fort Rosalie, that White Apple Village, on Second Creek about twelve miles from Natchez, should be abandoned, so that it, with its surrounding fields, might be converted into a French plantation. On November 28th, 1729, the Indians, by stratagem gained admission into the fort, and the historic massacre began.

The governor general, Perrier, at New Orleans, as soon as the news was received, at once dispatched Chevalier Lubois, with a large force from that city to exterminate the Natchez. After a fierce but indecisive conflict, a truce was arranged, by which the Indians surrendered the prisoners in their hands. During the night the whole tribe crossed to the West of the Mississippi, and entrenched themselves near the junction of the Washita and Little rivers. Thither the vengeance of the French still pursued them, and the destruction of this interesting tribe is a matter of history.

It appears from the statements both of Monette and of Claiborne, in their respective histories, that the forts in which the Indians entrenched themselves, when attacked by Lubois after the massacre at Fort Rosalie, were near the junction of the St. Catherine creek with the Mississippi river. Both historians unite in stating that after their retreat to the West of the Mississippi, Lubois erected at Natchez near the brow of the bluffs, the terraced Fort Rosalie,--the remains of which were plainly visible when Monette wrote, but which, when Claiborne's history was written, had been largely effaced by the great landslide. But some traces still remain along the front a little distance below the Natchez compress. The name of this second Fort Rosalie, when occupied by the English, was changed to Panmure.

Both Monette and Claiborne clearly state that this second fort was not upon the same site as the original fort of the same name erected by Bienville, and where the massacre took place. Monette states that the first fort was remote from the bluffs, probably near the eastern limits of the city. Claiborne practically confirms him, stating that the original fort was some six hundred and seventy yards from the river. But its exact location is not known. Local tradition, however, erroneously points out the remains of the fort below the compress as those of the fort where the massacre occurred. This error is doubtless the result of confusion in the minds of persons not familiar with the historical facts, and arising from an identity of names. Tradition was certainly of more value years ago, when Monette and Claiborne lived, and they must certainly have had the benefit of it.

With the destruction of the Natchez Indians, the French colony located in their fertile country grew with great rapidity, but without events of more than passing historical interest. But the line of the Latin-French, claiming from the lakes to the gulf, and of the Anglo-Saxon, claiming from ocean to ocean, had crossed, and at the close of the great French and Indian Wars, by the treaty of Paris, Feb. 16th, 1763, the banner of France was lowered at Fort Rosalie, and instead the flag of England floated there, with the name changed to Fort Panmure.

Attracted by the fertility of the country, settlers in great numbers now began to pour in from Georgia, the Carolinas, and other English colonies. This remote settlement was not subject to the influences of the great American Revolution, and hither came many loyal to the British government, or wishing to be neutral in the war of independence. Consequently a strong English sentiment prevailed here during that period, as evidenced by the attack on Col. Willing, in 1779.

But the English regime was of short duration. War with Spain was begun, and in September, 1779, Galvez captured the British post at Baton Rouge, and in its surrender Fort Panmure was included. But so strong was the British sentiment, that the people of the Natchez district did not quietly submit to a change of rulers, and in 1781, there was a revolt against the Spanish power, which, however, Galvez very promptly suppressed. By the treaty of Paris, in 1783, Great Britain ceded to Spain all of the Floridas south of the 31st., parallel, all north of that line being recognized by her as within the limits of the United States, then acknowledged by her as an independent nation. But, under the British regime, the whole front along the Mississippi River, as far north as the mouth of the Yazoo, had been included in West Florida, and had passed to Spain with the surrender of Baton Rouge, in 1781. Thus being in possession by force of arms the Spaniards were loath to evacuate in favor of the United States, and with characteristic pertinacity retained possession till 1798, notwithstanding the treaty of 1783, and their recognition of the 31st., parallel as the boundary line by the treaty of Madrid in 1795.

During this period of wrongful possession, Spain dealt with this section as if it were really a Spanish province, plainly indicating her intention not to surrender possession except under duress. These seventeen years form one of the most interesting chapters in the history of Adams County. Roman Catholicism was the state religion, and its church was the centre from which the city of Natchez was laid out. This church was built on the spot where the store of the Natchez Drug Company now stands. Whilst Protestants were tolerated, they were not free in the practice of their religion. Parson Cloud, the first Episcopal minister in this section, was persecuted and driven away, and many interesting accounts are extant illustrative of the spirit of Spanish bigotry and persecution. That portion of Natchez between the church and the bluffs was reserved for residences of the Spanish grandees,--the English, Irish, and American settlers being assigned to other portions of the town.

There are still to be found here several old houses built during the Spanish regime. They are recognizable from having a low brick basement surmounted by a wooden upper story,--built as if in anticipation of an earthquake,--a combination of residence and fortification. The old Postlethwaite house on Jefferson street is such a one. The Spanish made many grants of land, as though Spain were the lawful sovereign, which grants were, however, afterwards usually recognized by the American authorities when followed by possession. The old Spanish records in the office of the Clerk of our Chancery Court, are a treasure store for the antiquary and historian. These records are not quite complete, a portion having been carried away, (it is said to Havana) by the Spaniards when they evacuated Natchez.

But the United States would recognize no title by adverse possession on Spain to this fair land, and finally began to vigorously assert her rights. About Feb. 24th, 1797, Andrew Ellicott arrived at Natchez, accompanied by a sufficient military escort and clothed with power as commissioner of the United States to meet the representative of Spain, to mark out the 31st parallel as the boundary between the two dominions. He first camped near the present intersection of Wall and Jefferson streets and there hoisted the American flag.

The Spanish governor, Gayoso, resorted to various subterfuges and evasion to delay the fixing of the boundary line and the evacuation of Natchez. It was not till March 29th, 1798, that the Spaniards, after exhausting every excuse for delay, and under the influence of a popular uprising supported by the military forces of the United States, finally evacuated Fort Panmure. And then they left, not by the light of day, with military honors and with martial music and banners flying; but like thieves, at midnight they stole silently away. It was only after this that Governor Gayoso, from New Orleans, issued commissions to Sir William Dunbar and Capt. Stephen Minor, as commissioners for Spain and in May, 1798, the work of surveying the 31st parallel was begun.

The State of Georgia had all along claimed as her own a large portion of the present State of Mississippi, including what is now the county of Adams. This territory she had organized as the county of Bourbon in 1785, and she attempted alone to assert her rights against Spain. There thus arose a conflict of claims between Georgia and the United States, which was finally adjusted and Mississippi Territory organized by Act of Congress, approved April 7th, 1798.

Natchez was made the first territorial capital, and Winthrop Sargent was appointed the first territorial governor. Sargent, by proclamation, on April 2d, 1799, formed the Natchez District into the two counties of Adams and Pickering,--the latter name being afterwards changed to Jefferson.

Under the new regime, population and wealth increased with amazing rapidity. Treaties were made with the Indian tribes, and great public roads were opened up,--notably the Indian trail known as the 'Natchez and Nashville Trace.' This was the great government mail and overland stage route from New Orleans to the North and East, in the early days before steamboats plied the water or railroads traversed the land. As a natural consequence it was infested in the vicinity of Natchez by daring highwaymen, noted among whom were the celebrated Mason and Murrel,--heroes of bloody deeds that would have made Dick Turpin pale with envy.

Along this route, at six mile intervals, were relay stations for change of horses and for refreshments. The first of these was the old town of Washington,--now a veritable deserted village. This town was laid out and named by Ellicott, who, during the delays incident to the evacuation of Natchez by the Spaniards had removed his camp hither to the banks of the St. Catherine creek. He camped by a beautiful spring that still bears his name, and which is now within the grounds of Jefferson College. Many years ago it was arched over, and a bath-house was supplied with its crystal water. But even the ruins of this have all disappeared. The old town of Washington almost rivals Natchez in its historic associations. Here in 1803 was founded Jefferson College,--the oldest endowed institution in the Southwest, and from whence such men as A. Gratz Brown and Jefferson Davis were sent forth to fight the battles of life. Here also was the celebrated Elizabeth Academy for girls. The old building was destroyed by fire nearly twenty years ago, but its brick walls are still standing.

Washington was made the territorial capital of Mississippi by act of the legislature on Feb. 1st, 1802. Within my memory the old brick church (founded by the celebrated Lorenzo Dow), and which was also used as the state-house, and in which the constitutional convention of 1817 was held, was still standing, just within and to the right of the entrance to the campus of Jefferson College. The ruins were sold for old brick, and thus this interesting relic passed away. It was in this building that the preliminary investigation of the charges against Aaron Burr was held. He was arrested in January, 1807, near the mouth of Coles creek, some twenty miles above Natchez, brought to Washington, and released on bond (which he broke), with Lyman Harding and Benijah Osmun as sureties. The room occupied by him is still pointed out in the old Osmun residence on the "Windy Hill" plantation, now owned by Miss E. B. Stanton. It is about five miles from Natchez.

In its day, the town of Washington was a veritable literary centre,--no doubt due to the influence of Jefferson College and of the Mississippi Society. Monette, the historian, and Wailes, the geologist, lived, died and are buried here, and their old homes still remain. Ingraham, the author of the "Pillar of Fire," at one time was a professor in Jefferson College. A few miles distant was the home of Claiborne, the historian, the rival and compeer of Prentiss.

At Washington Andrew Jackson was encamped in 1813, when he disobeyed the order to there muster out his soldiers, and instead of doing so, marched them back to Tennessee for the purpose. And here, a few days later, were brought some of the British prisoners captured at the great battle of New Orleans. Two miles from Washington was the home of General Felix Huston. Within its limits is the grave of Judge Thomas Rodney.

In the early days, before the institution of slavery had assumed its subsequent gigantic proportions, resulting in the concentration of great landed estates in the hands of a few wealthy slave-owners, Adams county was divided into a great number of small farms, owned by white settlers. This is evidenced by a study of the titles of the great plantations, the records showing them to consist of consolidated farms, in many instances. This is further evidenced by the great number of private burying grounds scattered throughout the county adjacent to Natchez and Washington, in which are found tombs with inscriptions often a century old, and names without a living representative here.

But if slavery produced decadence in one way, it produced growth in another. Adams county, and especially the suburbs of the city of Natchez, became the home of wealthy families, owning broad acres, not only in this but in many other counties, and in the neighboring State of Louisiana. The beautiful description by Mrs. Hemans, of "The Stately Homes of England," would have applied almost without change to the ancestral residences occupied in ante-bellum days, by veritable lords of the manor, surrounded by all the luxury and refinement which wealth and slavery could produce. Some of these relics of an unforgotten past, still remain, such as "Elmscourt," "Gloster," "Llangollin," "Longwood," "Auburn," "Inglewood," "Monmouth," "Melrose," "Arlington," "Somerset," "Oakland," "Manteigne," "Richmond," "Devereux," "Concord," "Sweet-Auburn," "Brandon-Hall," "Selma," "Green-field," "Coventry," "The Forest," and others. Many more have been destroyed by the fire-fiend, and only ruins now remain. "The Forest" the home of Sir William Dunbar, and "Selma," the original residence of the Brandon family, were indigo plantations, in the days before cotton was king. "Concord" is of special interest, as an old Spanish house, and the residence of Governor Gayoso.

However, with the rapid increase in the population of the other portions of Mississippi, the controlling influence at first exercised by Adams County gradually disappeared. This was further affected by the jealousy of our wealthy land owners which was felt by the inhabitants of the newer and poorer interior counties. Finally by Act of Nov. 28th, 1820, the General Assembly gave to the present city of Jackson its name in honor of our great Democratic warrior and statesman, and made it the future capital of our State.

Thus the sceptre departed from Adams County; and while she has ever maintained a position in the State of which her citizens are proud, yet from this time she has ceased to be the political centre of Mississippi, and the place where its history is made.

Yet hither must Mississippians ever come, as to the cradle in which the infant State was rocked. Hither will pilgrims journey to visit our historic shrines and to drink from the primal springs of a glorious past.

The immortal Prentiss won his first laurels here; and here his ashes rest (side by side with those of Governor Sargent); while in our city cemetery sleep Judge Joseph D. Shields, his pupil and biographer, and the historian Claiborne, his great political antagonist. Vidal, the last governor of despotic Spain in Louisiana, here sleeps his last sleep in the land of the free; as does also Alvarez Fisk, the benefactor of the schools and libraries of both Natchez and New Orleans.

Upon the rolls of our distinguished dead, besides those already mentioned, are the names of Thomas B. Reed, Edward Turner, Gerard C. Brandon, Christopher Rankin, Cowles Mead, Wm. B. Shields, S. S. Boyd, John A. Quitman, John T. McMurran, Robert J. Walker, Anthony Hutchins, George Poindexter, Lyman Harding, W. C. C. Claiborne, Adam L. Bingaman, Dr. Cartwright, Dr. Duncan, Dr. Jenkins, John I. Guion, Andrew Marschalk, and many others.

But it is not her public or professional men alone, who have made the Historic Adams County of the past. "Her merchants were princes," in the olden time, when ships from the ocean were moored at the wharves of Natchez, bringing and taking in exchange the treasures of the old world and the new. Here one of the first cotton compresses was established. The old Mississippi Railroad, built in 1836, but completed only as far as Hamburg, was the earliest in the South and one of the oldest in the Union. Its old road-bed and massive embankments still remain,--monuments of the enterprise of our forefathers.

Thus, even after her political supremacy had departed, Natchez still remained the financial and commercial centre of this State. But the great financial panic of 1836 and 1837 came, and like a cyclone swept our prosperity away. This was followed by the terrible tornado of May 7th, 1840, which laid our city in ruins, and numbered its victims by the hundred, and which is even yet recalled with dread upon each recurrence of its anniversary.

I have thus endeavored to present, in epitome, an outline of the history of Adams County, from its earliest settlement to within times too recent to require research by the historian. I have endeavored likewise to indicate a few of the most interesting spots which may be visited by the student of history coming into our midst.

THE HISTORICAL OPPORTUNITY OF MISSISSIPPI

BY R. W. JONES, LL. D.

A writer truly and forcibly says that Americans have been much readier to do great deeds than to record them--to make those signal achievements that are worthy of remembrance than to be troubled with the tediousness of writing them. If this is true anywhere, it has in the past been unquestionably true of Southern people and Mississippians.

In a recent number of the _American Historical Review_, Albert Bushnell Hart discussed the "Historical Opportunity of America;" and this led me to think of the Historical Opportunity of Mississippi.

If anything great and systematic in the line of historical research and production is to be done in Mississippi we must have organization. The State Historical Society must have local co-operation; this can be best effected by Auxiliary Historical Societies co-operating with the Central Organization.[152] The local Society is the natural centre of historical activity. We are highly gratified to report a decided revival of interest in history-writing since the organization of our State Society; at least there has been a revival as far as the production of monographs and brief biographies.

The following suggestions are presented with a hope that they will promote still further the historical work in the State:

1.--The educated young ladies of a locality can be interested in the finding, classifying, and development of historical material; the advanced pupils of High Schools and Colleges can be induced to prepare monographs as a part of their literary work, and all this material should be carefully calendared. We find as a general rule that the editors and proprietors of our newspapers are among the most public spirited of our citizens; they will gladly publish all local material of historical interest. In this way duplicate printed copies of all local material can be easily had and copies furnished for the archives and publications of the Mississippi Historical Society.

2.--An important auxiliary to history is picture-making. Experts with the Camera and amateur 'Kodakers' can facilitate greatly the work of the historian by making and cataloguing pictures of important objects and persons and depositing them in the archives of the local Society and of the State Society, so that the future historian who may not be able to visit the localities may yet have satisfactory knowledge of them. By these means and others we will cultivate a spirit that actively fosters history; we will cause search to be made for old Manuscripts, for files of old papers and every thing that will throw light on our past history. As the author, previously referred to, states, valuable manuscripts ought as naturally and as readily to find their way to the archives of history as the meteorite reaches the Mineralogical Museum.

3.--In the past history of Mississippi, a great many very valuable papers have been lost and destroyed because there was no known, safe depository for them. It need not be so any longer, as the State Historical Society has safe depositories. If we will all search for old historical material, write up facts and incidents of importance that have come under our observation, or otherwise to our knowledge, we will be doing a work creditable to our own names and we shall make possible the writing of a history that will represent in truthful aspect that noble race of Southerners to which we are proud to belong, and we shall show to the world the kindliness of those domestic institutions under which have grown up the fairest and most attractive women who ever graced human homes and the highest refinement and honor that have taken up abode among men.

4.--I have already referred to the public spirit of the press, to the important service it has rendered to our cause and the confidence with which we can continue to rely upon its co-operation. In addition, we _need_ a fund for printing the Society's transactions and those important articles which receive the Society's endorsement. The State Legislature would do well to make an annual appropriation of a few hundred dollars to cover the cost of such publications and thus encourage the interest and pride of its citizens in that history which so intimately concerns them and their ancestors. Other states have set us a worthy example in this important matter. We hope the next legislature will give this matter favorable consideration.

5.--The marking of historical sights and buildings with marble or bronze, bearing appropriate inscriptions is a matter of the liveliest importance. To some this may seem needless, but the more we study and observe it the more we are convinced of its educational and patriotic value.

One who goes to England and Scotland, and notes in their great cities such as London and Edinburgh the numerous monuments, mural tablets and other devices which commemorate events and characters and deeds will understand better than ever why the Englishman and Scotchman each is proud of his race, his government, his country.

In 1896, I visited the old town of Portsmouth, Va., and as I passed along the main street I saw a marble slab inserted flush with the pavement, and it told that on that spot the honored and loved Lafayette stood when he revisited the old Commonwealth and received the grateful greetings of a people for whom he had put his life into the perils of war.

The preservation of historical buildings and grounds and the devotion of them to public and patriotic uses is of the same character and importance.

The Ladies Association, aided by the eloquence of Edward Everett, purchased Mt. Vernon and donated it to the sacred purposes of patriotism. The preservation of the old church at Williamsburg, Va., of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, of Monticello as Jefferson left it--all these and other things of like character not only keep alive our interest in the great events of the past but sustain and justify our civic pride.

Is there nothing of this kind in Mississippi that is worthy of loving care and devotion to public use? Upon the extreme southern border of the State, where the Magnolia blooms in its native perfection, where the crested waves of the gulf work the sunbeams and the moon's silvery sheen into forms of laughing beauty that suggest the noble womanly character of the wife and the "daughter of the Confederacy," where the roaring sea, that cannot be hushed, tells of the unconquerable spirit of devotion to our people and their cause, that stood erect amid all the indignities and wrongs put upon it by a vindictive and cruel foe; here we have Beauvoir that is worthy of the care of all Mississippians, of all Southerners, nay of all American patriots. This property suitably marked, will furnish one of the grandest of object lessons, pointing to a man who bravely fought for his country on foreign soil, who stood as an embodiment of incorruptible principle and splendid ability on the floor of the United States Senate and who headed a great popular movement which produced the most philosophic, as well as the most thrilling period of the history of this country and who shows us how a great man can maintain his manliness and command respect and admiration even in defeat and direst disaster.

Let us cultivate the spirit of history. Every intelligent citizen of our State should take an interest in the Mississippi State Historical Society and actively promote its objects. Let local Societies be formed and enthusiasm in their work be engendered; let every item of historic interest be put in typewritten or printed form and let copies be sent to the Secretary of the Mississippi State Historical Society and other copies lodged with the local Society. Let us be careful to mark and preserve every object of historic interest and to emphasize its value. Thus we shall show that we are justly proud of our race, our State and the achievements of our ancestors.

FOOTNOTES:

[152] For the general plan of such organizations, see "Suggestions to Local Historians" in the _Publication of the Mississippi Historical Society for 1898_.--_Editor._

NANIH WAIYA, THE SACRED MOUND OF THE CHOCTAWS.

BY H. S. HALBERT.

As Nanih Waiya is so often referred to in the folklore and traditions of the Choctaws, the writer of this paper has deemed it not amiss to give some account of this noted mound and, in connection therewith, some of the legends with which it is inseparably associated.

Nanih Waiya is situated on the west side of Nanih Waiya Creek, about fifty yards from it, in the southern part of Winston County, and about four hundred yards from the Neshoba County line. The mound is oblong in shape, lying northwest and southeast, and about forty feet in height. Its base covers about an acre. Its summit, which is flat, has an area of one-fourth of an acre. The mound stands on the southeastern edge of a circular rampart, which is about a mile and a half in circumference. In using the word "circular," reference is made to the original form of the rampart, about one-half of which is utterly obliterated by the plow, leaving only a semi-circle. This rampart is not or rather was not, a continuous circle, so to speak, as it has along at intervals, a number of vacant places or gaps, ranging from twenty to fifty yards wide. According to Indian tradition, there were originally eighteen parts or sections of the rampart, with the same number of gaps. Ten of these sections still remain, ranging from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards in length. All the sections near the mound have long since been leveled by the plow, and in other places some of the sections have been much reduced. But on the north, where the rampart traverses a primeval forest it is still five feet high and twenty feet broad at the base. The process of obliteration has been very great since 1877, when the writer first saw Nanih Waiya. Some of the sections that could then be clearly traced in the field on the west have now utterly disappeared. About two hundred and fifty yards north of Nanih Waiya is a small mound, evidently a burial mound, as can be safely stated from the numerous fragments of human bones that have been exhumed from it by the plow and the hoe. The great number of stone relics, mostly broken, scattered for hundreds of yards around Nanih Waiya, shows that it was the site of pre-historic habitations. In addition to this, the bullets and other relics of European manufacture evidence the continuity of occupancy down within the historic period. The magnitude of these ancient works--the mound and the rampart--together with the legendary traditions connected with them, leads one irresistibly to the conviction that this locality was the great center of the Choctaw population during the pre-historic period. It should here be stated that the symmetry of the mound has been somewhat marred by a tunnel which was cut into it in the summer of 1896 by some _treasure-seekers_, who vainly hoped to unearth some wonderful bonanza from out the deep bosom of Nanih Waiya.

The name Nanih Waiya signifies Bending Hill. _Warrior_, the absurd spelling and pronunciation should be repudiated by the map and the history maker. The adjective _Waiya_ signifies "bending," "leaning over," but it is difficult to see the appropriateness of the term as applied to the mound. According to the conjecture of the writer, the term was originally applied to the circular rampart, which the Choctaws may have considered a kind of _bending hill_. And in process of time the name could have become so extended as to be applied to the mound and rampart conjointly, and ultimately restricted to the mound alone, as is now the case in popular usage.

According to the classification of the archæologists, Nanih Waiya is a pyramidal mound, which kind of mounds is found almost exclusively in the Gulf States. The chroniclers of De Soto's expedition speak constantly of the mounds, and of these writers, Garcilaso de la Vega tells us exactly how and why they were made. According to his statement, in building a town, the natives first erected a mound two or three pikes in height, the summit of which was made large enough for twelve, fifteen or twenty houses to lodge the cacique and his attendants. At the foot of the mound was laid off the public square, which was proportioned to the size of the town. Around the square the leading men had their houses, whilst the cabins of the common people stood around the other side of the mound. From the "lay" of the land, the writer is satisfied that the public square at Nanih Waiya was on the north, between the mound and the small burial mound. In regard to the rampart, it was, no doubt, surmounted by palisades, as De Soto's writers particularly describe the palisaded walls, which surrounded the Indian towns. As to the gaps in the rampart, the writer is convinced that these gaps were left designedly as places for the erection of wooden forts or towers, as additional protections to the town. The Knight of Elvas describes the town of Pachaha as being "very great, walled, and beset with towers, and many loop-holes were in the towers and the wall." La Vega mentions the towers made at intervals of fifty paces apart in the stockade wall of Maubila, each tower capable of holding eight men. Dupratz describing the circular stockade forts which he had seen among the Southern Indians, expressly states that "at every forty paces a circular tower juts out." Other statements from early writers could be given showing that wooden towers were built along at intervals in the stockade walls that surrounded the ancient towns of the Southern Indians. These statements, no doubt, give us the correct solution to the mystery of the gaps in the earthen rampart at Nanih Waiya.

While there can be no doubt but Nanih Waiya was the residence of the cacique and his attendants, in accordance with the statements of La Vega, other statements induce the belief that the summit of this mound was sometimes used as a place of sun-worship. Sun-worship, it should here be especially noted, was not performed as an isolated ceremony, so to speak, but came in as part of the programme in the transaction of all tribal business, both civil and military. The Choctaws were sun-worshippers, as were all the other branches of the Choctaw-Muscogee family. They regarded the sun as the type or essence of the Great Spirit. And as the Sun, or rather Sun-God, warms, animates and vivifies everything, he is the Master or Father of Life, or, to use the Choctaw expression, "_Aba Inki_," "the Father above." In like manner, according to their belief, as everything here below came originally from the earth, she is the mother of creation. Sun-worship, it may here be stated, prevailed to some extent, though in a much attenuated form, as late as seventy years ago among the Choctaws, as is evidenced by the actions of the Choctaws of that day during an eclipse of the sun. Even at the present day some faint traces of this sun-worship may be seen in the antics of a Choctaw prophet at a ball play. The chroniclers of De Soto's expedition give us frequent hints as to the prevalence of sun-worship among the Indian tribes of the countries which the Spanish army traversed. Two centuries later, William Bartram, in his description of the Creek rotunda, which was erected upon an artificial mound, gives an elaborate account of the ceremonies in the rotunda connected with partaking of the black drink. He states that the chief first puffed a few whiffs from the sacred pipe, blowing the whiffs ceremoniously upward towards the sun, or, as it was generally supposed, to the Great Spirit, and then puffing the smoke from the pipe towards the four cardinal points. The pipe was then carried to different persons and smoked by them in turn.

Imagination, perhaps, would not err, if going back a few centuries, we could depict scenes similar to this as often enacted upon the flat summit of Nanih Waiya. And, perhaps, the superstitious reverence which the Choctaws have ever manifested towards this mound may be a dim traditionary reminiscence of its once having been a great tribal center of solar worship. The aboriginal mind, in sun-worship, from viewing the sun as the Father of Life, as without the light and warmth of the sun nothing would spring into existence, no doubt instinctively turned to the earth as the Mother of Creation. If there was a father there must be a mother. In the course of time, what more natural that the pre-historic villagers living at the base of Nanih Waiya, with its tremendous pile ever looming up before their eyes, should finally come to regard it as the mother of their race. As far back as history and tradition run, Nanih Waiya has ever thus been regarded by the untutored Choctaws of Mississippi. During the various emigrations from the State, many Choctaws declared that they would never go west and abandon their mother; and that just as long as Nanih Waiya stood, they intended to stay and live in the land of their nativity.