Forgotten Mississippi

Site Update

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:39:03 +0000

Sorry for what seems to be a lack of activity. Although I haven’t been posting on the blog, I have been updating the Forgotten Mississippi Atlas. There are many places that I have some information on but no pictures and no real research. So, instead of trying to make up a post I will mark it on the atlas. This is a way of marking a site or area for future reference. I hope to eventually post about all the sites on the atlas as I have time and opportunity to do so.

John Ford Home, Sandy Hook, Marion County, MS

admin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 00:23:52 +0000

The Ford Home, also know as Ford’s Fort¹, was built in 1805 by Reverend John Ford. Ford moved to Mississippi from South Carolina in 1798 and settled in Marion County, in what would eventually be known as the Sandy Hook community, around 1805. Rev. Ford was a Methodist minister and took up farming upon setting in Marion County. The Ford home was the site of the first Mississippi Methodist Conference in 1814 and the Pearl River Convention of 1816, which recommended partitioning the Mississippi Territory into the present-day states of Alabama and Mississippi.² On November 27-28 in 1814 the Ford Home hosted General Andrew Jackson. General Jackson stopped there on his way to defend New Orleans from the British during the War of 1812.³ The home and its property were sold to the Marion County Historical Society in 1962 and are open for tours on the weekends and during the week by appointment.⁴

Post Footnotes:

Tatum, Howell. “MAJOR HOWELL TATUM’S JOURNAL WHILE ACTING TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER (1814) TO GENERAL JACKSON Commanding the Seventh Military District.” Smith College Studies in History VII no. 1, 2 and 3 (1922): 92.
http://mdah.state.ms.us/manuscripts/z0050.html
Tatum, Howell. “MAJOR HOWELL TATUM’S JOURNAL WHILE ACTING TOPOGRAPHICAL ENGINEER (1814) TO GENERAL JACKSON Commanding the Seventh Military District.” Smith College Studies in History VII no. 1, 2 and 3 (1922): 92.
http://www.mcdp.info/tourism/ford_home.html

Jefferson College, Washington, Adams County, MS

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 00:51:19 +0000

Jefferson College, chartered in 1802 and opened in 1811, was the first institution of higher learning in Mississippi. It was also was the first to receive a charter for any purpose by the Mississippi Territorial Legislature. It began as a preparatory school until 1817 when it became a full college. Jefferson Davis attended in 1818. In 1830 the school purchased the church that held the 1817 Mississippi statehood convention.¹

It continued as a college until being forced to close in 1863 due to the Civil War. It reopened in 1866 again as a preparatory school. It remain as such until it finally closed its doors in 1964 due to declining enrollment.²

Jefferson College is also near Ellicott Springs where Andrew Ellicott camped in 1797 while surveying the 31st parallel to mark the border between the United States and Spanish territories.³

Post Footnotes:

http://mdah.state.ms.us/hprop/hjc.html
http://mdah.state.ms.us/hprop/jmcf.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_College_(Washington,_Mississippi

Rodney, Jefferson County, MS

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:22:22 +0000

Once a very important port on the Mississippi River, it is now considered a ghost town having been forsaken by both railroads and the river. It’s history can be traced to the early 18th Century when it was originally known as Petit Gulf, in contrast to Grand Gulf which is situated a little further upstream.¹ Rodney was incorporated in 1828 and named for Judge Thomas Rodney.² Rodney’s claim to fame comes from an incident that occurred during the US Civil War. On September 12, 1863 about 25 members of the crew of the USS Rattler, including the captain, were captured by Confederate cavalrymen while attending church services at the Presbyterian church in Rodney. The church still stands and carries scars from where the USS Rattler’s remaining crew fired upon it after finding out about the capture of their fellow crew members.³

Post Footnotes:

http://www.southpoint.com/states/ms/rodney.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney,_Mississippi#Early_history
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney,_Mississippi#Civil_War_effects

Windsor Ruins, Claiborne County, MS

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:43:41 +0000

The ruins of the Windsor Plantation. Once considered one of the most stately mansions on the Mississippi River, if not the entire South. So majestic that it even inspired Walt Whitman to write about it.¹ Built between 1859-1861 by Smith Coffee Daniell II, it was the main house of a 2600 acre plantation built on land that once comprised Judge Bruin’s land grant. During the US Civil War it was the first house Union troops encountered after landing about one mile west of Windsor at Bruinsburg during the second Vicksburg Campaign. It survived the war only to be destroyed in 1890 by a careless house guest and his cigar.²

Post Footnotes:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/vcmpgn/windsor.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Ruins

Emerald Mound, Adams County, MS

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 07:05:30 +0000

A ceremonial mound built and occupied by the ancestors of the Natchez tribe between 1250 and 1600 AD. It is the second largest ceremonial earthwork in the United States.¹ The largest being the Monk’s Mound at Cahokia in Illinois.²

Post Footnotes:

http://www.nps.gov/archeology/feature/emerald.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia#Monk.27s_Mound

Bruinsburg, Claiborne County, MS

admin — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 08:49:48 +0000

A boat landing on the Mississippi River that was the site of Grant’s amphibious landing in 1863 during the second Vicksburg Campaign of the US Civil War. The landing, involving over 24,000 troops, was the largest amphibious operation in American military history until World War II.¹

Settled in 1788 by Peter Bryan Bruin when the area was under Spanish rule and known as the Natchez District.

Bruin was born in Ireland and migrated to the American colonies to avoid problems arising from some potentially anti-government activities.² A veteran of the Revolutionary War, he was wounded in 1775 during the Battle of Quebec while serving with Brigadier General Richard Montgomery. Bruin was captured by the British and held on a prison ship for six months until released during a prisoner exchange.³ He would later be promoted to Major and serve out the remainder of the war.

In 1788 Bruin received a Spanish land grant and settled the area.⁴ Then in 1798 the area would be transferred to the United States from Spain and the Mississippi Territory was formed⁵ After the transfer of power Bruin was appointed as a judge.⁶ In 1807 Aaron Burr would visit Bruin, whom he met during the Revolutionary War, while under suspicion of treason in connection with an incident that would be known as the Burr Conspiracy. Burr surrendered to territorial authorities but was found not guilty by a grand jury and released.⁷ In 1808 Bruin would resign his judgeship under threat of removal due to an alcohol problem.

Post Footnotes:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/vick/camptrail/sites/Mississippi-sites/BruinsburgMS.htm
http://genealogytrails.com/miss/judge%20bios.htm
http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=2827
http://genealogytrails.com/miss/judge%20bios.htm
http://www.shgresources.com/ms/timeline/
http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=2879
http://www.concordiasentinel.com/news.php?id=2909

David Holmes (1769 – 1832)

admin — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 04:39:32 +0000

David Holmes was born at Mary Ann Furnace, near Hanover, York County, Pa. on March 10, 1769 and was raised near Winchester, VA. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in Virginia, he served from 1797 until 1809 when he was appointed as the governor of the Mississippi Territory. He served as the territorial governor until 1817 when Mississippi was admitted to the Union as the 20th state. Subsequently, he was elected as Mississippi’s first governor in 1817 and would serve in that office until 1820 when he was appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Walter Leake. Holmes served in the Senate until 1825 when he was again elected as governor. He resigned in 1826 due to poor health.¹ In 1827 Holmes returned to Winchester, VA where he remained until he passed away in 1832. He is interred in Mount Hebron Cemetery.²

[ad#ad-1]

Post Footnotes:

Conrad, D.H. “David Holmes: First Governor of Mississippi.” Publications of the Mississippi Historical Society Vol. 4., ed. Roland Dunbar, 234-257. Jackson, MS: Mississippi Historical Society, 1921.
“Biographical Directory of the United States Senate.” http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000735 (14 Feb 2009).