providing for the appointment of a committee of five to investigate
and report whether or not Ames had been guilty of high crimes and
misdemeanors in office. The resolution was passed and Speaker Street
appointed Gen. Featherston, Gen. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow
and Fred Parsons. After an investigation, lasting thirty-eight days,
the committee made a report recommending that Ames be impeached and
removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. The report of
the committee was adopted by the house, and W. S. Featherston, W. F.
Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. R. Barksdale, and Thomas Spight
were appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial before the bar
of the senate. Twenty-one articles of impeachment were presented by the
committee, to the house and adopted. They contained specifications and
charges, involving high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The senate
proceeded to organize as a high court of impeachment, and summoned
Gov. Ames to appear for trial. Chief Justice Simrall, of the Supreme
court, appeared in the senate March 16, 1876, and after having the oath
administered according to law by Associate Justice Peyton, announced
that the trial of Adelbert Ames, governor of Mississippi, for high
crimes and misdemeanors in office would begin the next day. It was a
time of great excitement in Jackson, and that feeling spread all over
the State.
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.