Part 13

Peter Bryan Bruin, of Mississippi, May 7, 1798.[108]

William McGuire, Chief Justice, of Virginia, June 28, 1798.[109]

Seth Lewis, of Tennessee, Chief Justice, May 13, 1800.[110]

David Ker, of Mississippi, temporary commission, Nov. 2, 1802, permanent commission Jan. 25, 1803.[111]

Thomas Rodney, of Delaware, temporary commission, July 12, 1803, permanent commission, Nov. 18, 1803.[112]

Ephriam Kirby, of Connecticut, temporary commission, April 6, 1804.[113]

Harry Toulmin, of Kentucky, Nov. 22, 1804.[114]

Obadiah Jones, of Georgia, Mar. 3, 1805.[115]

George Matthews, Jr., of Georgia, temporary commission, July 1, 1805.[116]

Walter Leake, of Virginia, Mar. 2, 1807.[117]

Francis Xavier Martin, of North Carolina, Mar. 7, 1809.[118]

Obadiah Jones, of Georgia, Mar. 6, 1810.[119]

Oliver Fitts, of North Carolina, Apr. 18, 1810.[120]

David Campbell, of Tennessee, Mar. 3, 1811.[121]

Josiah Simpson, of New Jersey, Feb. 18, 1812; also Feb. 9, 1816.[122]

George Poindexter, of Mississippi, Mar. 3, 1813.[123]

Stevenson Archer, of Maryland, Mar. 6, 1817.[124]

_Federal District._

William Bayard Shields, of Mississippi, April 20, 1818.[125]

Peter Randolph, of Miss., temporary commission, June 25, 1823, permanent commission, Dec. 9, 1823.[126]

Powhatan Ellis, of Miss., July 14, 1832.[127]

George Adams, of Miss., Jan. 20, 1836.[128]

Samuel J. Gholson, of Miss., Feb. 13, 1839.[129]

_Confederate District._

Alexander M. Clayton, ----, ---- 1861.[130]

_Federal District._

Robert Andrew Hill, of Oxford, Miss., May 1, 1866, resigned Aug. 1, 1891.[131]

Henry C. Niles, of Kosciusko, Miss., temporary commission, Aug. 11, 1891, permanent commission, Feb. 15, 1892, oath taken, Feb. 15, 1892.[132]

ATTORNEYS.[133]

Thomas D. Anderson, July 29, 1813.

William Crawford, Dec. 10, 1814.[134]

Bela Metcalfe, Apr. 20, 1818.[135]

William B. Griffith, March 13, 1822, and also Dec. 22, 1825.[136]

Felix Houston, Jan 9, 1828.[137]

George Adams, March 3, 1830, and also May 12, 1834.[138]

Richard M. Gaines, Jan. 20, 1836.

_Northern District._

Samuel F. Butterworth, June 25, 1838.

Oscar F. Bledsoe, Jan. 13, 1841, and also Feb. 8, 1845.

Andrew K. Blythe, Dec. 18, 1848.

Woodson L. Ligon, Aug. 27, 1850.

Nathaniel S. Price, April 1, 1853.

Jehu A. Orr, May 31, 1854.

Flavius J. Lovejoy, March 12, 1857.

_Southern District._

Richard M. Gaines, July 9, 1840, March 13, 1844, and also March 22, 1848.

Horatio J. Harris, Aug. 10, 1850; Aug. 4, 1854, and also March 7, 1859.

Carnot Posey, temporary commission, Nov. 4, 1859, permanent commission, Jan. 30, 1860.

MARSHALS.[139]

John Hanes, of Mississippi, July 29, 1813.[140]

Henry G. Johnson, of Mississippi, April 20, 1818.[141]

Walter M. Leake, March 1, 1820.

Charles M. Norton, temporary commission, Nov. 22, 1823, permanent commission, Dec. 9, 1823.

John H. Norton, Jan. 3, 1825, and also Jan. 2, 1829.

Anthony Campbell, May 28, 1830.

Samuel W. Dickson, temporary commission, Jan. 18, 1832, permanent commission, Dec. 11, 1832.

William M. Gwin, temporary commission, Oct. 12, 1833, permanent commission, June 30, 1834, and also June 26, 1838.[142]

_Northern District._

Adolphus G. Weir, June 25, 1838.

Alexander K. McClung, temporary commission, April 15, 1841, permanent commission, Aug. 14, 1841.

Andrew A. Kincannon, March 12, 1845.

John Rayburn, Dec. 18, 1848.

William McQuiston, May 16, 1850.

Charles R. Jordan, April 6, 1853.

William H. H. Tison, temporary commission, April 21, 1857, permanent commission, May 17, 1858.

_Southern District._

Fidelis S. Hunt, Jan. 13, 1841.

Anderson Miller, temporary commission, April 15, 1841, permanent commission, July 22, 1841.

Thomas Fletcher, temporary commission, March 24, 1845, permanent commission, Feb. 24, 1846.

Fielding Davis, March 20, 1850.

Richard Griffith, April 4, 1853, and also temporary commission, April 21, 1857, permanent commission, May 15, 1858.

FOOTNOTES:

[96] The lists of Judges, Attorneys and Marshals presented below were compiled from the records of the State Department and the Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. In the multiplicity of Mississippi books, there is nothing of a special character relating to the above title, and so far as is known this particular data has never heretofore been published.

The principal repository for early Mississippi history, Claiborne's _Mississippi_ (1880), contains an account of the jurisprudence of the Territory and State, Chapter XXXII, pp. 467-482. In Goodspeed's _Memoirs of Miss._ (1891), Vol. I, p. 101, it is stated that Judge A. M. Clayton contributed this chapter.

In James D. Lynch's _Bench and Bar of Mississippi_ (1881), there is an imperfect account of the judicial establishment, with a large number of valuable biographical sketches, and portraits.

Goodspeed's _Memoirs of Miss._ (2 vols., 1891), has a Chapter on "The Legal and Judicial History" of the State, vol. I, pp. 100-131, with portraits.

The original materials are contained in the United States _Statutes_, the Mississippi Codes and the Session _Laws_, and the _Reports_ of the Supreme Court of the State.

[97] _U. S. Statutes at Large_, vol. i, pp. 549-550.

[98] U. S. _Statutes at Large_, vol. ii, p. 69. See Claiborne, for account of laws passed by Governor and judges, second grade of government, &c., pp. 209, 211, 212, 214, 217, 218, 223, 224, 530.

[99] U. S. _Statutes at Large_, vol. ii, pp. 301, 563.

[100] It is beyond the scope of this paper, which is almost purely statistical, to enter into a review of the various territorial courts, or "systems" of judicature projected, &c. For full discussion, see Claiborne and Goodspeed.

[101] _U. S. Statutes at Large_, vol ii, p. 806.

[102] _U. S. Statutes at Large_, vol. iii, p. 413.

[103] _Ibid._ vol. iv, p. 773.

[104] _Ibid._ vol. v, 247. _See also Revised Statutes_ of the United States (1878) Secs. 539, 552, and 572.

[105] _Ibid._ vol. xiv, p. 48.

[106] _Supplement Revised Statutes_, 1874-1891, pp. 344, 500, 547, 583, 584, 638, 639.

[107] _Lynch's Bench and Bar of Miss._, p. 506.

With the other Judges comprising the first court, he was quite unpopular, and in 1802 he abandoned his office.--Claiborne, pp. 209, 223, 231.

[108] Resigned in 1810. He had held judicial office under the Spanish government, and was an excellent man, but not a lawyer. Claiborne, p. 161., _note_, has a good sketch, with other references on pp. 152, 172, 209, 223, 283.

[109] He was the only lawyer on the first bench of Judges. He early resigned.--Claiborne, p. 209.

[110] His appointment changed public sentiment toward the Court which had hitherto been hostile. For sketches of, _see_ Claiborne, p. 108, note, also p. 223. Gov. W. C. C. Claiborne speaks of him as "a learned lawyer."

[111] He was highly esteemed and his appointment increased the respect of the people for the Court. Claiborne, pp. 231, note, and 141, 238. See Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 1073, for sketch. He died 1805, and not in 1810 as stated by Claiborne.

[112] Claiborne, pp. 242, 258, 283. He presided, with Judge Bruin, at the trial of Burr.

[113] He was probably appointed for the Washington District, but evidently never served. He was one of the Land Commissioners for the District East of Pearl river, appointed under Act of Congress, of March 3, 1803--Pickett's _Alabama_, vol. ii, p. 196.

[114] Judge for Washington District, now in Ala. Born in Taunton, England. He was the most prominent and the strongest of the early public men in Alabama, and died in 1824. An excellent account of his life is in Claiborne, p. 309, note. _See also_ Brewer's _Alabama_ (1872), p. 575; Lynch, p. 21-2; and Pickett's _Alabama_, vol. ii, pp. 204-5.

[115] Evidently never accepted appointment, as on Mar. 7, 1809, still a resident of Ga., he was appointed a Judge in Illinois. The latter place he also appears not to have accepted, as in 1810 he became Judge for Madison Co., M. T.

[116] Martin's _Louisiana_ (1882), p. xxiii. Never received a permanent commission, but on Jan. 19, 1806, became a Judge in Orleans Territory. Son of Gov. George Matthews, of Ga. _See also_ Gilmer's _Georgians_.

[117] Claiborne, p. 356; and Lynch, pp. 135-7.

[118] Resigned and became a Judge in Orleans Territory, March 21, 1810. For excellent memoir, by Judge W. W. Howse, _see_ Martin's _Louisiana_ (1882).

[119] _See_ note _supra_. He accepted this appointment, and presided in the courts of Madison county, and later of other counties in the Northern part of Alabama territory until 1818.

[120] Grandfather of James Harris Fitts, Tuscaloosa, Ala.--_Memorial Record of Alabama_ (1893), vol ii, p. 1090. He has sometimes been confounded with Gideon Fitz, of Va., who was a brother-in-law of Gov. Robert Williams. Mrs. Sallie B. Morgan Green, so well known in Miss. as a writer, but now of Calusa, Cal., is a grand daughter of Gideon Fitz, _See_ Claiborne, pp. 161 _note_, 352; and Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 109.

[121] Goodspeed, vol ii, p. 109.

[122] Claiborne, p. 352.

[123] Claiborne, Chapter xxx, pp. 361-414, contains an elaborate biography. In a _note_, p. 414, is a brief account of his literary remains, now deposited with the Claiborne papers, in the University library, Oxford, Miss. _See also_ Lynch, pp. 27-73. His portrait is in Lowry and McCardle's _History of Miss. for Schools_, p. 101.

[124] Returned to Md. in 1819.--Goodspeed vol. i, pp 311-12.

[125] First Federal District Judge. Claiborne, p. 260, _note_.

[126] Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 130.

[127] Claiborne, pp. 358, _note_, and 470; Lynch, pp. 27-8. He is said to have descended from Pocahontas.

[128] Claiborne, pp. 388-9, _note_; and Goodspeed, vol. i pp. 114, 285. He was the father of Gens. Daniel and Wirt Adams, and father-in-law of Gen. John D. Freeman.

[129] Lynch, pp. 497-500. The author, p. 499, comments on the failure of President Davis to appoint him his own successor. _See also_ Goodspeed, vol. i, p. 787.

[130] Lynch, pp. 500-507; _steel portrait_.

[131] His sketch in Goodspeed, vol. i, pp. 922-929, contains an elaborate presentation of his judicial career, and discusses many of the questions which came before him when on the bench. Claiborne, p. 472, _note_, pays a splendid tribute to his character.

[132] Present incumbent.

[133] The list is not brought down later than 1860. Further detailed annotation as to both attorneys and marshals is expressly omitted except in a few instances.

[134] Appointed for and acted in Washington District. For sketch, _see_ Brewer's _Alabama_, p. 392.

[135] First Federal District Attorney in Miss. after formation of the State.

[136] Lynch, pp. 112-126.

[137] Claiborne, p. 431.

[138] Became Judge later; _see_ note _supra_.

[139] The list is not brought down later than 1860.

[140] Appointed for and acted in Washington District.

[141] First Federal Marshal in Miss. after the formation of the State.

[142] For elaborate memoir, and _portrait_, _see_ Claiborne, pp. 427-446.

RUNNING MISSISSIPPI'S SOUTH LINE

PETER J. HAMILTON, ESQ.

Within a month after the 1899 meeting of this association at Natchez, the Alabama Historical Society will be celebrating at St. Stephens on the Tombigbee River the centenary of the withdrawal of the Spaniards below the line of 31°, which once separated the United States from the Spanish possessions east of the Mississippi River. In connection with this and our own meeting place a short study of the origin and delimitation of this, Mississippi's original south boundary, will be of interest.

It is an interesting question why the parallel of 31° was ever selected as a boundary. It crosses rivers not far above their mouths and seems singularly unsuitable. It makes one State own the source and another the mouth of all streams. It was put in the treaty of 1782, whereby Great Britian acknowledged American independence, for policy, because it confined the Spaniards to the coast, which they could neither use nor defend. Historically it was so selected because Great Britian had made it by proclamation of October 7, 1763, the north line of West Florida, and West Florida was captured from her by Spain in 1780. But why had it ever been made the boundary of Florida? The only reason apparent is that Great Britain in 1763 wanted to get immediate control only of the harbors and did not care to have her colonial governments clash with the Indians. The territory above was by the same proclamation made crown lands and reserved for the use of the savages. This policy was reflected in the great Choctaw treaty at Mobile March 26, 1765, when a tract was ceded "the boundary be settled by a line extended from Grosse Point, in the Island of Mount Louis, by the course of the western coast of Mobile Bay, to the mouth of the eastern branch of the Tombigbee River, and north by the course of said river, to the confluence of Alibamont and Tombigbee Rivers, and afterwards along the western bank of Alibamont River to the mouth of Chickianoce River, and from the confluence of Chickianoce and Alibamont rivers, a straight line to the confluence of Bance and Tombigbee rivers; from thence, by a line along the western bank of Bance River, till its confluence with the Tallatukpe River; from thence, by a straight line to Tombigbee River, opposite to Atchalikpe (Hatchatigbee Bluff) and from Atchalikpe, by a straight line to the most northerly part of Buckatanne River, and down the course of Buckatanne River to its confluence with the river Pascagoula, and down by the course of the river Pascagoula, within twelve leagues of the seacoast; and thence, by a due west line, as far as the Choctaw nation have right to grant." The twelve leagues from the coast bring us to about this line of 31°, as closely as could be determined without a survey. It is true that on the Tombigbee land was ceded up to Hatchatigbee Bluff; but that was a reaching, in the only way possible, towards the new north boundary of West Florida as already fixed in 1764--an east and west line drawn through the mouth of the Yazoo River.[143]

But while it is true that by the treaty of 1782 Great Britain thus acknowledged the south boundary of her revolted colonies as the line of 31°, it is not less true that she did not then own so far south. Spain, who was in possession, recognized the boundary through the Yazoo mouth, and, in fact, Great Britain in this treaty proposed to do the same thing if she re-acquired West Florida. Walnut Hills and Natchez on the Mississippi, Fort Confederation and Fort St. Stephen on the Tombigbee were strong Spanish posts and all above 31°.

The all-conquering Galvez was governor-general for a year after that treaty and would certainly have maintained the Spanish rights by force of arms if necessary. But his successor, the politic Miro, lived to see a rapid American growth west of the mountains, and the death of the active King Charles III. and the French Revolution wrought a change in Europe. The weak Charles IV. let his wife and her notorious paramour, Godoy, rule Spain.[144] It so happened that French successes led to peace, but Godoy thought that Spain would soon be at war with England and that therefore peace with the United States was important for Spanish-America. At all events he suddenly assented to the demands of Thomas Pinckney, the American envoy, and on October 27, 1795, signed a treaty whose second article declared 31° as the boundary from the Mississippi to the Chattahoochee, and thence east by a line from the junction of the Flint and Chattahoochee to the head of the St. Mary's River.

The colonial authorities could never believe this agreement _bona fide_ and sought by delay to give the court a chance to undo the treaty. In 1797 the Spanish minister declared the United States guilty of bad faith in making friends with England by Jay's treaty. A commissioner to run the line had to be as much of a diplomat as of a surveyor.

Such, at least, was the opinion of Andrew Ellicott, whom President Washington in the last part of 1796 sent by way of the Ohio and Mississippi to act for the United States. Baron de Carondelet, the governor general, was to represent Spain. Ellicott arrived at Natchez on February 24, 1797, and until he left on April 9, 1798,[145] his time was taken up in negotiations with commandant Gayoso de Lemos or encouraging the dissatisfied citizens there to claim the rights of Americans.[146] Among the prominent men there named by Ellicott were those on the revolutionary committees,--Anthony Hutchins, Bernard Lintot, Cato West, Isaac Gaillard, William Ratliff, Joseph Bernard, Gabriel Benoist, Peter B. Bruin, Daniel Clark, Philander Smith and Roger Dixon.

The permanent committee was composed of the last eight and Frederick Kimball, who lived below the line. These were really the government until the organization of the Territory. Gayoso admitted the neutrality of the district even before the Spaniards evacuated the town on March 30, 1798. Hutchins was a disturbing factor for a time, organizing a counter committee of safety and correspondence. Among his friends were Thomas Green, James Stuart, Ashly, (a Baptist minister,) Messrs. Shaw, (an attorney,) Davis, Justice King, Abner Green, Hocket, and Mr. Hunter, afterwards member of Congress from the Territory. Ellicott says that Gayoso declined to let Hutchins move below the line and that he therefore remained, to be prominent in Mississippi.[147] Of the 299 pages of Ellicott's printed Journal, the first 176 are taken up with events before beginning the survey. General Wilkinson accuses him of officiousness with the Spaniards and of gross immorality on board his boat on the river. It may be true, but Wilkinson is no reliable authority, although he ought to have been a good judge of rascality.

Ellicott had been in public life before. He was a Quaker of Pennsylvania, and about 1789 ran the western line of New York, and afterwards the lines of the District of Columbia and the streets of Washington. In 1791 he was commissioner to run the line between Georgia and the Creeks.[148]

On the present occasion he had with the party an escort of soldiers, at least part of the time under the gallant Captain John Boyer. The plans annexed as an appendix to the Journal must largely be those of David Gillespie, who did the actual surveying, and his report or journal would have been of greater value than Ellicott's. Ellicott acted as astronomer, but generally was the outside man. He was in New Orleans, Mobile, Pensacola, St. Marks and circumnavigating Florida, while Gillespie was quietly plodding the forests, running a guide line and by offsets establishing the true latitude of 31°. But nothing from Gillespie can now be found at Washington and even Ellicott's original report seems to have shared the fate of so much else in the vandal destruction of the capital by the enemy in 1814. For the Spaniards Captain Minor acted as surveyor, with Patrick Taggert as assistant, and Mr. Dunbar, (later of Mississippi Territory,) as astronomer.

The American side was better provided with instruments than the Spanish, having fourteen kinds in all.[149] They consisted of two zenith sectors (the larger one having nearly six feet radius), "both principally executed by ____ Rittenhouse," a large achromatic telescope made by Dolland of London, with terrestrial and celestial magnifying pieces, besides two small telescopes for taking signals, a transit and equal altitude instrument made by Ellicott and used in the New York and Washington surveys, a regulator made by Ellicott, an instrument of eight inches radius for taking horizontal angles, constructed by George Adams of London, three brass sextants, one by Ramsden being of "superior style," a surveying compass made by Benjamin Rittenhouse "upon the newest and most approved style," two "excellent" stop watches, two "excellent" cases of drawing and plotting instruments, two four-sided copper lanterns for tracing the meridians and directions during celestial observations, an apparatus to protect the water in using an artificial horizon, consisting of covered cup, &c., and two two-pole chains of common construction. On the Spanish side were only an "excellent" sextant, graduated by the vernier to 10 seconds, an astronomical circle executed by Traughton of London, itself "a portable observatory," "executed in a masterly manner," and an old surveying compass of poor construction. The sextant and circle had been the property of Dunbar, and were acquired from him by Governor Gayoso.

Ellicott and party sailed from Natchez down the river and at Clarksville began work. On April 11th, he says, they "set up the clock, a small zenith sector, and proceeded to take the zenith distance of pollux, for five evenings successively, the first three, with the plane of the sector to the east and the others with the plane west. From the result of those observations, it appeared that we were three miles and two hundred and ninety perches too far north. This distance my assistants, Messrs. Gillespie, Ellicott, Jr., and Walker, traversed with a common surveying compass and chain, to the south, in order to discover (nearly) a proper place to encamp, and set up the large sector, to determine the first point in the line with accuracy. When this traverse was completed it was found to be impracticable to convey our instruments, baggage and stores directly from Clarksville to the most eligible place, owing to the extreme unevenness of the country on the one hand, and the banks of the Mississippi not being sufficiently inundated on the other, to give us a passage by water through the swamps and small lakes; it was therefore determined to descend the Mississippi to the Bayou Tunica (or Willing's Bayou); from whence I understood we could convey our instruments, stores and baggage, either by land or water, almost to the place of beginning; though not without some difficulty. The distance from Clarksville to the Bayou Tunica by land is but eight and a half miles, but by the Mississippi more than fifty.

"On the 24th we left Clarksville, and arrived at the Bayou Tunica on the 26th, being detained one day by head winds.

"On the 27th my assistants were sent to carry a line east from the termination of the traverse already made, into the high land, and on the 28th I went and examined the country over which the guide line passed, and fixed upon a very elevated situation, about one thousand four hundred feet south of it, for our first position; but the difficulty of getting our instruments, baggage and stores to it, appeared much greater than I first expected. A party of our men were directed to open a road from the height already pitched upon, to Alston's Lake; the distance was about one mile. The road was completed on the 30th, and on the first day of May we moved and encamped on the top of the hill. Our instruments, baggage, &c., were first carted from the Bayou Tunica to Alston's Lake, into which I had previously taken through the swamp two light skiffs: the articles were then taken by water, up the lake to the point where our road from the hill struck it, and from thence packed on horses to our encampment. The country was so broken, and covered from the tops to the bottoms of the hills, with such high, strong cane, (arundo gigantea,) and a variety of lofty timber, that a road from the Bayou Tunica, to our camp, could not be made by our number of hands, in less than a month passable for pack-horses.

"Our observatory tent being worn out by the military, who had no tents when they arrived at Natchez, I was now under the necessity of erecting a wooden building for that purpose; which I began on the 2d of May, and with the aid of four men finished on the 4th, and set up the clock, and large zenith sector; but the weather being unfavorable, the course of observations was not began till the 6th, and was completed on the 16th."