CHAPTER XIII.

66 THE MISSISSIPPI TERRITORY" FROM ITS FIRST ORGANIZATION TO

THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CREEK 1813.

WAR.- A.D. 1798 TO

Argument.-Original Extent of the Mississippi Territory.-First Governor and Territorial Judges.-Authority and Jurisdiction of the same.-Arrival of the United States Troops under General Wilkinson.-First Grade of Territorial Government organized in 1799.-Extent of the White Settlements and Indian Territory.-Adams and Pickering Counties organized. - Population in 1799. - Washington County organ. ized on the Mobile River.-Second Grade of Territorial Government in 1800.The Federal Army in the Mississippi Territory.-Indian Treaties in 1801.-Treaty of Fort Adams.-Treaty of Chickasâ Bluffs.-Governor Claiborne enters upon his Duties.-The Counties of Claiborne, Jefferson, and Wilkinson organized in 1802.First System of Jurisprudence.-First Newspapers in Mississippi.-" Articles of Agreement and Cession" by Georgia.-Extent of Georgia Claim.-Adjudication of Private Claims by Commissioners.-Land Offices.-Surveyor-general's Office organized. Enlargement of Territorial Limits.-Indian Nations included.-Legislative Care for the Encouragement of Education.-First College and first Academy chartered. The Robber Mason killed.-Emigration in 1803, in anticipation of the Occupation of Louisiana.-Governor Claiborne Commissioner.-Commissioners and Troops advance toward New Orleans. Protestant Religion introduced in Mississippi Territory. Washington County erected into a Judicial District.-Harry Toulmin, Judge. -First Delegate to Congress.-Robert Williams, Governor.-First City Charter of Natchez.-Spanish Exactions on the Mobile.-First Natchez Hospital.-Border Collisions.-Abduction of the Kempers.-Indian Treaties in 1805: with the Chickasâs; with the Cherokees; Creeks; Choctâs. - First "Choctâ Purchase."- Extent of White Settlements in 1806.-Spanish Encroachments on the Sabine.-Militia Movements in Mississippi.-Burr's Conspiracy in the West.-Burr prepares to descend the Mississippi.-President's Proclamation.-General Wilkinson protects New Orleans.-Defensive Measures of Governor Mead in the Mississippi Territory.--Burr appears before the Superior Court.-Patriotic Citizens of Wilkinson County.-Abortive Attempt to arraign Burr.-He escapes from Custody.-Is arrested near Fort Stoddart.-Sent to Richmond, Virginia.-Emigration to Mississippi induced by Burr's Plans.-Agriculture in the Territory in 1807.-Cotton the Staple Product.-Cotton Receipts negotiable by Law.-First Digest of Territorial Laws.-First Road across to Tombigby-Lands on the Upper Tombigby.-Condition of the Tombigby Settlements.-Patriotism of the Inhabitants.-Governor Williams.-First White Settlements in "Madison County."-First Bank in the Territory in 1809.-Population in 1810.-Revolution in District of Baton Rouge.-First Brigade of Militia in 1812.Tennessee Volunteers under General Jackson.-General Wilkinson occupies Fort Charlotte.-Mobile District annexed to the Mississippi Territory.

[A.D. 1798.] Original Limits.-The territory heretofore surrendered by the Spanish authorities, and lying north of the thirty-first degree of latitude, with the consent and approbation of the State of Georgia, was erected into a territory of the United States by act of Congress, approved April 7th, 1798,

entitled " an act for the amicable settlement of limits with the State of Georgia, and authorizing the establishment of a government in the Mississippi Territory.”*

The territory comprised in the new organization, or the original Mississippi Territory, embraced that portion of country between the Spanish line of demarkation and a line drawn due east from the mouth of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochy River. The Mississippi River was its western limit, and the Chattahoochy its eastern. The organization of a territorial government by the United States was in no wise to impair the rights of Georgia to the soil, which was left open for future negotiation between the State of Georgia and the United States.

The sixth section of the act of April 7th provided" that from and after the establishment of said government, the aforesaid territory shall be entitled to and enjoy all and singular the rights, privileges, and advantages granted to the people of the United States northwest of the Ohio River, in and by the aforesaid ordinance of July 13th, 1787, in as full and complete a manner as the same are possessed and enjoyed by the said lastmentioned territory."†

Organization of Territorial Government.-Agreeably to the provisions of this act, President Adams appointed Winthrop Sargent, former secretary of the Northwestern Territory, as governor, and John Steele, secretary of the new government; Thomas Rodney, of Delaware, and Daniel Tilton, of New Hampshire, were appointed territorial judges of the Superior Court. Other subordinate officers under the first grade of territorial government were subject to the governor's appointment.

The governor and judges, with their friends, arrived at Natchez in August following, in company with a number of emigrant families from the Northwestern Territory. The governor shortly afterward, with the advice of the judges, proceeded to make provision for the regular administration of justice, and the preservation of order in the territory; magistrates and inferior civil and militia officers were appointed for the respective settlements within the Natchez District.

• See Toulmin's Digest of the Statutes, &c., of the Mississippi Territory, p. 467–477, edition of 1807, where the ordinance may be seen at length. This was the first regular digest of the laws of the Mississippi Territory, compiled by Judge Harry Toulmin, of Washington county, and published in 1807. Timothy Terrell, territorial printer.

+ See Poindexter's Code. Also, Toulmin's Code, p. 456-459. Also, Walker's Reports of the Supreme Court of Mississippi, p. 56, 57.

The powers of the governor, with his legal advisers, were extensive and multifarious. He was empowered to exercise supreme executive jurisdiction within the prescribed limits of his government; he appointed and commissioned all magistrates, inferior judges, and all other civil officers, and all militia officers below the rank of general; he could lay off counties, subdivide or create new ones, adopt and ordain laws for the territory with the consent of the judges, who, in their judicial capacity, were empowered to execute and enforce the same in their respective districts.

On the 26th of August, General Wilkinson, commander-inchief of the army, arrived at Natchez with the United States troops. They were quartered in cantonments in the vicinity of Washington, and near the Half-way Hill, on the road leading to Second Creek, until the following year, when a military post was erected at the first highland point on the Mississippi, a few miles above the Spanish line of demarkation. This post, which was occupied by the United States troops until the close of the year 1807, was situated upon an elevated plateau near the river, and was called "Fort Adams," in honor of John Adams, the second president of the United States.*

[A.D. 1799.] In April following, Governor Sargent proceeded to complete the organization of the territorial government by laying off counties, and organizing county courts having subordinate jurisdiction.† By his proclamation, dated April 2d, the Natchez District was divided into the counties of Adams and Pickering, named in honor of the President of the United States and the Secretary of State. The dividing line was nearly the same as the present boundary between Adams and Jefferson; Adams being on the south, and Pickering on the north of the line.‡

The principal white population within the limits of the ter

* Martin's Louisiana,, vol. ii., p. 256.

The County Court was a Court of Common Pleas holding quarterly sessions. The first Court of Common Pleas in Adams county consisted of three associate justices, of whom Daniel Clark, Sen., was presiding justice until 1800, when he was succeeded by Bernard Lintot. In 1801, John Ellis succeeded as presiding justice; after him William Kenner. In 1810, the County Court consisted of five associate justices, and the presiding justice of the quorum was, ex officio, judge of probate. The County Court had jurisdiction in all civil cases where the amount in litigation did not exceed one thousand dollars; also, in all criminal cases wherein slaves were the offenders; also, in all matters of county police. Alexander Covington succeeded as presiding justice of the quorum in 1810.-See Circuit Court Records of Adams county.

Toulmin's Digest, p. 3, 4.

ritory at this early period was that of the "Natchez District," comprising about six thousand inhabitants, including slaves. These were distributed in several large settlements upon the waters of the Bayou Pierre, Cole's Creek, St. Catharine, Second Creek, Homochitto and Buffalo Creeks, and chiefly within ten or fifteen miles of the Mississippi River. Besides these, a few inhabitants were distributed near the Walnut Hills, and near the Big Black. Another isolated settlement of about eight hundred inhabitants existed on the Tombigby and Mobile Rivers. The aggregate white population in all these settlements, after the evacuation by the Spaniards, scarcely exceeded five thousand persons, exclusive of slaves and Indians.

Many of these were Anglo-Americans, remnants of the former British colonies of West Florida, and a few were individuals of Spanish and French descent. Some had emigrated from the United States after the termination of the Revolutionary war, under the inducements held out by the Spanish governor previous to 1792. Others from the Western States, and from North Carolina and Georgia, had arrived subsequently to the treaty of Madrid, which recognized the country as a portion of the United States.

The whole region extending north and east of the Natchez District for nearly five hundred miles, to the settlements on Cumberland River of Tennessee, and to those on the Oconee, in Georgia, was Indian territory, in the sole occupancy of the native tribes, except the small district on the Tombigby and Mobile Rivers, to which the Indian title had been extinguished by the former governments of France and England. The Natchez District extended upon the east side of the Mississippi River for about one hundred miles, and was bounded on the east by a line extending direct from the sources of the Tickfaw, in a direction west of north to the Yazoo River, ten miles above its mouth. No portion of this district extended more than twentyfive miles direct from the river.

Such was the country which was then placed under the first grade of territorial government. The only route of intercourse with the United States was that of the Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers to the settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee; or by the lonely route of a solitary Indian trace, leading for five hundred miles, either to the Cumberland settlements or those of the Oconee, in Georgia.

[A.D. 1800.] The counties of Adams and Pickering comprised the whole Natchez District until the 4th of June, 1800, when the governor again issued his proclamation, countersigned by John Steele, secretary, laying off the "County of Washington" on the Tombigby River. The limits of this county were the territorial boundaries on the north and south, the Pearl River on the west, and the Chattahoochy on the east ;* and the Mississippi Territory comprised only three large counties until the following year.

Meantime, in consequence of an increase of population, and also on account of dissatisfaction among the people, and remonstrances against the arbitrary measures of Governor Sargent and his council, Congress, by special favor, passed an act authorizing the establishment of the second grade of territorial government at an earlier period than the population of the territory would authorize under the provisions of the ordinance of July 13th, 1787. Thus, the second grade of representative government commenced in the Mississippi Territory before the free white males had increased to five thousand in number.

A House of Representatives, or Legislative Assembly, was duly elected, and members of the "Council" having been appointed, the General Assembly was organized for business in December following. The Legislative Assembly consisted of four representatives from Adams, four from Pickering, and one from the Tombigby settlements, elected in the ratio of one representative to every five hundred free white males; and the Legislative Council consisted of five members. The first General Assembly thus organized convened at Natchez on the first Monday in December, which was fixed as the time for each annual meeting thereafter. All bills enacted by the two houses received the force of law only after the approbation and signature of the governor, who held an unqualified veto upon

The style of this proclamation was in this form, viz.: "Know all men," &c. "In virtue of the authority vested in me by the sovereign authority of the United States, and for the purpose of extending the administration of equal justice to the inhabitants upon the Tombigby and other eastern settlements, I have thought proper, therefore, to erect a new county; and by these letters made patent, do ordain and order that all and singular the lands lying and being within the following limits, to wit," &c., “shall constitute the same; to be named, and to be hereafter called, the 'County of Washington; and unto the said county of Washington is hereby granted all and singular the Jurisdictions, rights, liberties, privileges, and immunities to a county belonging and appertaining, and which any other county that is or may hereafter be erected or laid off shall or ought to enjoy, conformably to the laws and ordinances of the United States and of this territory."-See Toulmin's Digest, p. iv.