OUT OF THE LONG AGO
While local historians attempt to tangle up the exploration of De Soto
with the early history of this region, saying that De Soto "entered the
State of Mississippi near the site of Columbus," and that "he probably
crossed the Tombigbee River at this point," their conclusions are
largely the result of guesswork. But it is not guesswork to say that
when the Kentucky and Tennessee volunteers, going to the aid of Andrew
Jackson, at New Orleans, in 1814, cut a military road from Tuscumbia,
Alabama, to the Gulf, they passed over the site of Columbus, for the
road they cut remains to-day one of the principal highways of the
district as well as one of the chief streets of the town.
More clearly defined, of course, are memories of the Civil War and of
Reconstruction, for there are many present-day residents of Columbus who
remember both. Among these is one of those wonderful, sweet,
high-spirited, and altogether fascinating ladies whom we call old only
because their hair is white and because a number of years have passed
over their heads--one of those glorious young old ladies in which the
South is, I think, richer than any other single section of the world.
It was our good fortune to meet Mrs. John Billups, and to see some of
her treasured relics--among them the flag carried through the battles of
Monterey and Buena Vista by the First Mississippi Regiment, of which
Jefferson Davis was colonel, and in which her husband was a lieutenant;
and a crutch used by General Nathan Bedford Forrest when he was housed
at the Billups residence in Columbus, recovering from a wound. But
better yet it was to hear Mrs. Billups herself tell of the times when
the house in which she lived as a young woman, at Holly Springs,
Mississippi, was used as headquarters by General Grant.
Mrs. Billups, who was a Miss Govan, was educated in Philadelphia and
Wilmington, and had many friends and relatives in the North. Her mother
was Mrs. Mary Govan of Holly Springs, and her brother's wife, who
resided with the Govans during the war, was a Miss Hawkes, a daughter of
the Rev. Francis L. Hawkes, then rector of St. Thomas's Church in New
York. All were, however, good Confederates.
Mrs. Govan's house at Holly Springs was being used as a hospital when
Grant and his army marched, unresisted, into the town, and Mrs. Govan,
with her daughters and daughter-in-law, had already moved to the
residence of Colonel Harvey Walter, which is to this day a show place,
and is now the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Johnson of St.
Louis--Mrs. Johnson being Colonel Walter's daughter.
This house was selected by Grant as his headquarters, and he resided
there for a considerable period. ("It seemed a mighty long time," says
Mrs. Billups.) With the general was Mrs. Grant and their son Jesse, as
well as Mrs. Grant's negro maid, Julia, who, Mrs. Grant told Mrs.
Billups, had been given to her, as a slave, by her father, Colonel Dent.
Mrs. Billups was under the impression that Julia was, at that time,
still a slave. At all events, she was treated as a slave.
"We all liked the Grants," Mrs. Billups said. "He had very little to
say, but she was very sociable and used to come in and sit with us a
great deal.
"One day the general took his family and part of his army and went to
Oxford, Mississippi, leaving Colonel Murphy in command at Holly Springs.
While Grant was away our Confederate General Van Dorn made a raid on
Holly Springs, capturing the town, tearing up the railroad, and
destroying the supplies of the Northern army. He just dashed in, did his
work, and dashed out again.
"Some of his men came to the house and, knowing that it was Grant's
headquarters, wished to make a search. My mother was entirely willing
they should do so, but she knew that there were no papers in the house,
and assured the soldiers that if they did search they would find nothing
but Mrs. Grant's personal apparel--which she was sure they would not
wish to disturb.
"That satisfied them and they went away.
"Next morning back came Grant with his army. He rode up on horseback,
preceded by his bodyguard, and I remember that he looked worn and
worried.
"As he dismounted he saw my sister-in-law, Mrs. Eaton Pugh Govan--the
one who was Miss Hawkes--standing on the gallery above.
"He called up to her and said: 'Mrs. Govan, I suppose my sword is gone?'
"'What sword, General?' she asked him.
"'The sword that was presented to me by the army. I left it in my wife's
closet.'
"Mrs. Govan was thunderstruck.
"'I didn't know it was there,' she said. 'Oh! I should have been tempted
to send it to General Van Dorn if I had known that it was there!'
"The next morning, as a reward to us for not having known that his sword
was there, the general gave us a protection paper explicitly forbidding
soldiers to enter the house."
Of course the Govans, like all other citizens of invaded districts in
the South, buried their family plate before the "Yankees" came.
Shortly after this had been accomplished--as they thought, secretly--the
Govans were preparing to entertain friends at dinner when a negro boy
who helped about the dining-room remarked innocently, in the presence of
Mrs. Govan and several of her servants:
"Missus ain't gwine to have no fine table to-night, caze all de silvuh's
done buried in de strawbe'y patch."
He had seen the old gardener "planting" the plate.
Thereafter it was quietly decided in the family that the negroes had
better know nothing about the location of buried treasure. That night,
therefore, some gentlemen went out to the strawberry patch, disinterred
the silver, carried it to Colonel Walter's place, and there buried it
under the front walk.
"And after Grant came," said Mrs. Billups, "we used to laugh as we
watched the Union sentries marching up and down that walk, right over
our plate."
* * * * *
Among the items not already mentioned, of which Columbus is proud, are
the facts that she has supplied two cabinet members within the past
decade--J.M. Dickinson, Taft's Secretary of War, and T.W. Gregory,
Wilson's Attorney General--and that J. Gano Johnson, breeder of famous
American saddle horses, has recently come from Kentucky and established
his Emerald Chief Stock Farm in Lowndes County, a short distance from
the town.
But items like these, let me be frank to say, do not appeal to me as do
the picturesque old stories which cling about such a town.
There is, for instance, the story of Alexander Keith McClung, famous
about the middle of the last century as a duellist and dandy. McClung
was a Virginian by birth, but while still a young man took up his
residence in Columbus. His father studied law under Thomas Jefferson and
was later conspicuous in Kentucky politics, and his mother was a sister
of Chief Justice John Marshall. In 1828, at the age of seventeen,
McClung became a midshipman in the navy, and though he remained in the
service but a year, he managed during that time to fight a duel with
another midshipman, who wounded him in the arm. At eighteen he fought a
duel near Frankfort, Kentucky, with his cousin James W. Marshall. His
third duel was with a lawyer named Allen, who resided in Jackson,
Mississippi. Allen was the challenger--as it is said McClung took pains
to see that his adversaries usually were, so that he might have the
choice of weapons, for he was very skillful with the pistol. In his duel
with Allen he specified that each was to be armed with four pistols and
a bowie knife, that they were to start eighty paces apart, and upon
signal were to advance, firing at will. At about thirty paces he shot
Allen through the brain. His fourth duel was with John Menifee, of
Vicksburg, and was fought in 1839, on the river bank, near that city,
with rifles at thirty yards. Some idea of the spirit in which duelling
was taken in those days may be gathered from the fact that the Vicksburg
Rifles, of which Menifee was an officer, turned out in full uniform to
see the fight. However they were doubly disappointed, for it was Menifee
and not McClung who died. It is said that a short time after this, one
of Menifee's brothers challenged McClung, who killed this brother, and
so on until he had killed all seven male members of the Menifee family.
McClung fought gallantly in the Mexican War, as lieutenant-colonel of
the First Mississippi Regiment, of which Jefferson Davis was colonel.
Though he remained always a bachelor it is said that he had many love
affairs. He was a hard drinker, a flowery speaker, and a writer of
sentimental verse. It is said that in his later life he was exceedingly
unhappy, brooding over the lives he had taken in duels--fourteen in all.
His last poem was an "Invocation to Death," ending with the line:
"Oh, Death, come soon! Come soon!"
Shortly after writing it he shaved, dressed himself with the most
scrupulous care, and shot himself. This occurred March 23, 1855, in the
Eagle Hotel, North Capitol Street, Jackson, Mississippi.
"To preserve the neatness and cleanliness of his attire after death
should have ensued," says Colonel R.W. Banks, "it is said he poured a
little water upon the floor to ascertain the direction the blood would
take when it flowed from the wound. Then, placing himself in proper
position, so that the gore would run from and not toward his body, he
placed the pistol to the right temple, pulled the trigger and death
quickly followed."