Early
Soutwest Mississippi Territory
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LOUISIANA
TRAVELS AND FAMILIES
There were many families now in the
territory west of the Mississippi River that were ready to give the ministers
lodging and food. Sometimes the ministers were rudely repulsed, but
usually were able to find welcoming homes in the English, and later the
Spanish and French, communities, especially in the SW area of Louisiana
where they found many comfortable homes and cordial welcomes.
East of the Mississippi River and extending
to the Alabama River was a much larger number of Methodist families interspersed
throughout the country. They generally lived in log cabins and had
log churches. In addition to Randall Gibson and James Griffing, who
had been licensed to preach six or eight years, there were other preachers
now. The fact that the crossing of the bottom country was impossible
at times, with water covering fifty miles, made the need for a district
west of the swamp. This arrangement was made, with Miles Harper being
appointed to serve the Washita Circuit, Thomas Griffin on Rapides, and
John S. Ford on Attakapas. The author speculates that Harper did
not spend any time that year on his charge, as no mention was found of
him in his territory.
John Ford increased the number of Church
members in his widely scattered area, and was remembered fondly for his
work that year.
Thomas Griffin's travels were not confined
to either Rapides Bayou or the Parish of Rapides. One of his principal
appointments was on Sicily Island, in Catahoula Parish. Griffin wanted
only enough food and supplies to do his job, and his father continued to
offer him the invitation to return home where his comfort would be insured,
along with his siblings. He had fared pretty well the two years he
traveled in South Carolina, but after traveling a thousand miles to N.
Louisiana, and spending a year on the Washita Circuit, his purse was empty
and the well-worn pantaloons he had on were his last wearable pair.
One evening after nightfall he was
threading his way along a dim path toward the hospitable residence of Micajah
Pickett, Jr. when his horse fell and threw him over into some thorny brambles
which rent and tore his pants until they were no longer wearable with repairs.
After remounting and regaining the path, he felt deeply mortified and discouraged
at his destitute condition. "This looks as if my father's prediction
has literally come to pass," said Griffin.
He was to the point of giving up and
going home to his family. With these thoughts he arrived at the Pickett's
gate, where he related his problem proposing to borrow a pair of pants
from him until he could get his repaired. Mrs. Pickett was informed
of his condition and said, "Oh never-mind that, Brother Griffin;
I have made you a brand-new pair, and have been waiting for you to come
around to the island and get them." Griffin substituted his old pantaloons
with the new pair, and went on his way, sure that God would provide his
needs.
Another story about Griffin is about
a man named Tom Paine, who the author calls a pedagogue, who pretended
to be a preacher in order to get money from the congregation. Paine was
threatened by Griffin and denounced him. Griffin decided to find
out Paine's history and started backtracking with the help of friends.
He found and wrote about his findings. Paine had been arrested for
"shedding blood" in SC, for which he received 39 lashes on his bare back
at the district whipping post by the Sheriff. Paine was next heard
of at Natchez Under the Hill where he spent 3 months studying "natural
philosophy," per the
author. He exhausted his money
and was evicted from his boarding house when he next assumed the identity
of a school teacher, and this is where he met Griffin, who denounced him
to the congregation as a crook. He decided to suffer in silence and
adopt the popular opinion that Griffin made a fine preacher. Griffin
was medium height, square built, a little stoop shouldered, muscular, and
active, with sallow complexion, a sharp Grecian face.
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WILKINSON, AMITE,
AND PEARL CIRCUITS
Wilkinson Circuit was still quite large,
and it took a four week trip to cover it. The people thought themselves
lucky to have William Winans and Ira Byrd to minister to them.
William Winans had light hair and thin
beard, a youthful appearance, with studious habits. He read all material,
both old and new. He was "accurately logical" in his preaching.
Ira Byrd was also a student, but was
not stereotypical, and differed in his manner from Winans altogether.
He sung, prayed and preached for present effect, loved a noisy congregation,
and the triumphant shouts of the converted. An increase of 174 white
and 19 colored members that year was attributed to the two preachers.
Elisha Lott was on Amite Circuit, and
Samuel S. Lewis on Pearl River. They were very successful with an
increase of 297 white and 84 colored members. Their journal was mislaid
and did not reach the Conference that year so that the numbers were not
recorded until later. Most of the new members were immigrant families
from SC and GA.
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BEECH
HILL
John Phipps was popular on the Claiborne
Circuit. His report was misplaced by the Secretary at the Conference,
which shows he was in attendance that year. Claiborne Circuit this
year embraced all of Warren and Claiborne Counties and a large portion
of Jefferson County. There was quite an advanced religious movement
this year in Jefferson County in a settlement called Red Lick, which took
its name from a buffalo and deer-lick on a hill of red clay. The
land was good there, and lots of well-to -do families decided to settle
there, most from South Carolina. The names of Simms, Hill, Ross,
Irwin, Gibson, Barnes, Burns, and Newman are among these family names.
Their usual preaching place was called Beech Hill, a neighborhood academy
and church under one roof. Nothing of Beech Hill, a few miles from
the Randall Gibson home, remained at the time of this book. It was on a
hill of gurgling spring water where many battles were fought, and it was
also the burying ground of many in the area.
Two prominent members of Beech Hill
were Col. Eli K. Ross and Col. John L. Irwin, who were both rather fond
of military affairs and took active parts in the war, both firm in their
religion.
Col. John Irwin acted as class leader
and steward a large part of his religious life. He was a man of fine
personal appearance, educated and intelligent. He had an elegant
residence which he opened to the itinerant preachers. His wife was
known for being cheerful, industrious and pious. Long after the war
he was in constant demand at the battalion and regiment headquarters for
his superior military skills. He also filled the most responsible
civil and judicial offices in his county. After losing his first
wife, he married Miss Lucy Vick of Vicksburg, daughter of Rev. Newet Vick.
After the marriage he left Jefferson County and lived a while in Carroll
County. In the autumn of 1836 he was living in Spring Hill, not far south
of Granada. He finally settled in Vicksburg where he died.
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COL.
ROSS AND MOREHOUSE PARISH, LA
Col. Eli K. Ross joined the church with
John Irwin. Ross was tender-hearted and sincere, but timid enough
to believe he did not possess religious gifts he could share, even in family
prayer at home. He lost his first wife about the time he joined the
church, and was left with a family of 3 sons and 4 daughters. Two
of his daughters were grown, and joined the church the same day he did.
They attended to his home, and his residence soon became a noted
stopping place for the ministers, including
Bishop McKendree and Rev. John Menifee.
About 1819 Col. Ross moved to Prairie
Mer Roughe in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana where he met and married Mrs.
Elizabeth Henderson. His residence was central on the prairies and
soon a log church was erected there. He filled the office of steward
in the church and took great interest in the teaching of children, training
them from baptism as long as they attended the church there. His
own children were considered remarkable in their decorum and sobriety in
public places. His home was the resort of politicians, professional
and worldly gentleman.
In 1829 or 1830 three of his children
attended a camp meeting in Warren County at Wren's Chapel, the youngest
daughter, and a son becoming saved. Soon after that, he began family
worship regardless of who was staying there at the time. His younger
children by his first wife were still living at home, along with his youngest
step children. None of them had ever heard Col. Ross pray until then.
He died at the residence of his youngest son by his first marriage, Major
Ross of Bastrop, La. on Bayou Bartholomew on Jan. 21, 1843, age about 70.
All of his nine children and four step children became Church members.
As of 1873 all were dead except two sons and one daughter.
Ross' only living daughter had been
the wife of an itinerant preacher for 45 years, at the time of this book,
having been brought up in the Church. She was not saved until
1826 when she attended a meeting by Rev. Alexander Talley and John Jones
at Jeremiah Griffing's residence. She was still alive in Oct. 1873.
She never would consent for her husband to relocate, even though there
were no funds for her support, and she often fixed up old deserted shanties
by her own labor for a home. In 1834 her family had exhausted their
resources and could not pay their current expenses of the present year,
and to make matters worse, she and her husband were sent to a poor broken
down circuit to rebuild it. Her husband became depressed with no
prospect of supporting his wife and only remaining child, deciding to give
up his itinerancy and find a job. His wife would not agree, so they
continued to plod along in poverty and belief in God. He held two
revivals soon after that and was rewarded with enough money to pay all
of his debts and go to his district the next year with $500 to start on.
His children were educated equal to any other, and he was satisfied with
his life in his old age. His wife's resolution not to let him quit added
39 years to his itinerancy.
Col. Ross had one grandson, Rev.
H. B. Kemp, who was for several years before his death a local preacher
in Morehouse Parish. Rev. John A. B. Jones was also his grandson.
The wife of Rev. Thomas S. Randle was his granddaughter. His descendants
were scattered over Mississippi and Texas.
Phipps left the country after only a
year or so, but was credited for his conversion of the two Colonels.
Lewis Hobbs was already emaciated by
incurable consumption, a lovely sweet spirited man. He labored among the
people of New Orleans, a city of about 18,000 mostly French, Spaniards
and Creoles, most of them Catholic. He only reported an increase
of 6 white and 20 colored members that year.
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TOMBIGBEE
CIRCUITAND THE CREEK WAR
The most exciting and dangerous work
this year was on the Tombigbee Circuit. Up until then most of the
people here were in three localities, each remote from each other, with
extensive Indian Tribes intervening. The largest of these settlements
was in the vicinity of Natchez, extending up the river to Walnut Hills,
and east to Pearl River. The next largest settlement was in the Tennessee
Valley with Madison County at its center. The other was on either
side of the Tombigbee including the annexed ports of Florida near Mobile
Bay,
and embraced the counties of Clark,
Baldwin, Mobile and Washington. West of these settlements there was
sparse population in the counties of Jackson, Green, Wayne, Harrison and
Hancock.
What was called generally the settlements
of the Tombigbee comprised about seven or eight thousand people.
The country was rapidly filling with an enterprising and thrifty population,
but breaking out of the Creek war this year, which threatened the existence
of all whites, had the immigrants panic-stricken for the last half of the
year. The War between the U. S. and England, and the British in Canada
had instigated the old chief Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet with
about 30 warriors from the Wabash, to visit the larger Southern tribes
for the purpose of arousing them against the American settlers. They
succeeded in forming a large war party of Creeks, promising them supplies,
arms and ammunition if they would go right to work destroying the white
population. These promised supplies were sent from the British fleet
then cruising in the Gulf of Mexico, through the Spanish command at Pensacola,
so that by mid summer the Creeks were ready to fight. Many of the whites
left their crops in the fields, with their stock of horses, cattle
and hogs, clothes, bed and furniture; and fled for their lives to the
Chickasaw settlements. Some continued on west to Natchez. Twelve
or fifteen forts and block houses were built, several of which were west
of the Mobile and Tombigbee. But most were in the Fork between Tombigbee
and Alabama rivers.
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CREEK
MASSACRES
Some of the stockades were so completely
filled that many families had to camp outside of the walls, with whatever
temporary defenses they could erect. As the sick season came on,
with the cramped conditions, many were lost, and others moved to forts
that could protect them. On August 30, 1814 Fort Mims was attacked,
and after a six hour battle was captured by the ferocious Chief Weatherford
and about 700 warriors. The entire white population was slain, which
consisted of about twenty respectable families killed outright while the
rest, mostly women and children, were burned in the blockhouses.
About 250 whites were killed, and about the same amount of Indians.
On Sept. 1st, two families of twelve persons were murdered in the Fork,
near Sinkfield's Fort. About 70 Indians attacked the Fort the next day
for about two hours, losing 10 or 11 of their own, and capturing seven
dragoon horses that were tied outside the Fort. One man and one woman
were killed, and one small boy injured.
The next day the Indians abandoned their
attempt on that fort and, attacked Fort Madison. This fort contained about
1000 souls including 220 soldiers belonging to Col. Carson's command.
On the same day two men were wounded near the fort. A detachment
of soldiers in pursuit of the predatory Indians was ambushed with considerable
loss at Horse Creek. Among the slain were two brothers of Rev. Thomas Griffin.
The Indians went on a rampage, murdering and burning every white dwelling
and destroying everything valuable that they could not convert to their
own use. They killed or drove off the stock. The country below
and above the two forts at Mt. Vernon was abandoned except for a few posts
for the sentries. Two of the itinerant preachers, Richmond Nolley and John
Schrock, had to labor that year in these circumstances.
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RICHMOND
NOLLEY
Richmond Nolley was born in Brunswick
County, VA. Soon after his birth his parents moved to GA, where they
both died soon after. Richmond was taken into the family of Captain
Lucas, a merchant of Spain, Georgia who owned a store, and who was a worthy
Methodist. Lucas had grown up in the camp-meetings in Sparta, GA under
the direction of Lovick Pierce. Lucas' daughter was saved, and so
was Richmond Nolley during a meeting at Smyrna. Richmond returned
to his clerkship at Lucas' store a changed young man until the end of the
following year when he was admitted on trial on Dec. 28, 1807. He
labored there for four years until graduation to elder's orders.
He was then sent to Tombigbee. He was two years in the Alabama settlements
before going to Attakapas.
Nolley was six feet or more, very thin,
pale and wan complexion. He denied himself food to crucify the flesh.
He was overly scrupulous in his study and other duties, never allowing
himself enough sleep. He traveled everywhere, preaching publicly
and going house to house in his zeal, on his way when he crossed the Alabama.
None could escape his preaching, even the boy who attended his horse or
brought him firewood on the trip.
In late 1827, while traveling the Marengo
Circuit adjoining and just north of the Choctaw Corner settlement in Clarke
County, Nolley noticed a newly made wagon path, and following it, met a
large immigrant family arriving from abroad. The lady and children
were beginning preparations for a fire to cook their first meal in what
would become their home, and the man was just detaching his team from his
wagon. Nolley's ominous salutation and round breasted coat proclaimed
him as one of the dreaded Methodist preachers. The man said, "What!
Have you found me already?", saying the preachers had become so plentiful
around him in Virginia that he fled from their noise and full to Georgia,
where the preachers got his wife and daughter into their church anyway.
The he came to this new land and flattered himself that it would be a long
time before they bothered him there. Nolley told him he had better
accept their presence, that if the farmer got to heaven he would doubtless
find many of them waiting for him there, too. The man responded,
"I give it up. The wife and children are about the fire. Go
and do what you came to do, and let me go on with my work," which Nolley
did.
The second year of Nolley's time on
the Tombigbee were the most perilous, but he labored on from fort to fort.
He made no compromise with the weather, and went about his business regardless
of the danger. If his horse became disabled, he threw his saddlebags
across his shoulder and traveled on foot. While he denied himself,
he was a remarkably sweet spirited man, very non-combative, but persistent.
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JOHN
SCHROCK
John Schrock was a man of opposite temperament
to Richmond Nolley. He was called the "son of thunder" in his preaching,
but was sympathetic and would weep for the people closely shut up in the
forts. His closely guarded belligerence would have put him on an
equal footing with an antagonistic Creek warrior. While on a visit
to a fort, there was an alarm of pending attack. Shrock rushed to
the commander and requested to be armed and posted at one of the port-holes,
saying he would show the people he could fight Indians as well as preach.
The dangers for Shrock and Nolley were
constantly present except when they visited the Chickasawhay settlements.
At the end of the year they were requested by the Conference to be present
at the home of Rev. Newet Vick near Spring Hill in Jefferson County, about
five miles SW of Fayette and about two miles NW of Spring Hill, on Nov.
1st. Mr. Nolley was careful to secure appointments to preach the
whole trip of two hundred miles, so that no time would be lost. He
would preach at night, at the end of a day's ride. As they met with
hindrances on the trip, they did not arrive until late at night most days.
People traveled great distances to hear him preach, and as they were made
to wait so late, would spend the night with their hosts. The lady
of the house would get all of her bedclothes and spread them over the floor.
The men would retire until the ladies selected their sleeping spaces, then
returned to occupy their portions.
The first night they had just gone to
sleep when the preachers arrived. One of the families arose, helped
the preachers feed their horses, invited them to their fire and showed
them their appointed sleeping places. Mr. Schrock was for going to
bed, but Mr. Nolley said no. He had an appointment to fill that night,
and he would do so. He stood up by a chair, and after singing and
prayer, announced his text and preached to a congregation covered up in
their beds around him.
In Whites, or Adams's settlement on
the headwaters of the Amite River, they arrived to find a prominent man
had just died. Nolley was requested to preach his funeral.
After inquiring about the man, Nolley's sermon started, "And in hell, he
lifted his eyes, being in torment."
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1813
CONFERENCE
The statistics that year showed an increase
of 574 white and 235 colored members, notwithstanding the disintegration
of many Societies due to the Creek War.
The Conference commenced on Nov. 1st
1813 at the home of Newet Vick, for the first year as the Annual Conference,
as the Bishops had decided earlier. With the Creek War, and the added
agitation of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Cherokee Indians, it was doubtful
which side they would take. They appeared to be loyal to the whites
at the time, but they were savages and seriously feared. Neither
Bishop came to the Conference, as the Tennessee Conference was unwilling
for them to make the trip for fear of the Indians.
Major Beasley, and most of his men who
were slaughtered at the downfall of Ft. Mims, were from Jefferson County.
The few who survived gave a warning about traveling the border counties
of Jefferson, Claiborne and Warren. These were bordered on the northeast
by the Choctaw, who had the habit of visiting and camping inside the white
settlements. It was known that two of the Choctaw chiefs, Pushmataha
and Mushulatuvve in the SE quarter of the nation, had engaged to cooperate
with Gen. Claiborne against the Creeks and Muskogees, but a large part
of the tribe was yet undecided whether they would yet be "inveigled into
Tecumseh's Southern League."
Near the time of the first Mississippi
Conference, a report was issued "entirely from the misapprehension of a
negro man" that large numbers of Choctaw were entering Claiborne County
with hostile intentions, this report getting into circulation one evening
in Port Gibson. Runners were dispatched in all directions and the
alarm sounded. In less than 24 hours hundreds of families left their
homes for the road to Washington and Natchez, the purpose of putting the
women, invalids and children in safety, that all men might bear arms.
The mistake was quickly discovered by Major Elijah L. Clark who lived
right on the Indian border east of Port Gibson, and runners were sent to
overtake the travelers. The refugees returned, but soon erected stockades
and were watchful. After the war ended the author visited one of
these stockades not far from Spring Hill in Jefferson County at Bowles
settlement. It was on an elevated ridge, built of small logs twelve
to fifteen feet long, square openings for portholes higher than a man's
head, with a tier of logs on the inside for the men to mount and fire,
then step down to reload out of danger. This stockade was never used,
but permitted to stand until it decayed.
Twenty five years later the author reviews
the Conference Journal as he writes. He describes the Journal as
resembling the old Hagerty Bible, which the itinerants used, about 7 1/2"
x 6" to fit in a saddlebag, covered strongly with pasteboard with leather
back and corners, very worn and faded with use. After the Journal
of 1823, he reviews the youthful ministry of Bishops Roberts and Soule
as they presided over 40 or 50 years of itinerants.
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1813
APPOINTMENTS
The Nov. 1st 1813 Conference was held
in Newet Vick's home with the families of the Baldridges, Marbles, and
Formans helping with the preachers' horses and supplies. It was attended
by Samuel Sellers, John Phipps, Miles Harper, William Winans, Lewis Hobbs,
Thomas Griffin and John S. Ford. A letter from the Bishops who could
not attend appointed Samuel Sellers president. Rules for the conference
were adopted.
Admitted on trial were Simon Gentry,
Jonathan Kemp, Thomas Owens, Peter James and Josiah Daughtry. They
were all admitted at the first hearing except Thomas Owens, because of
his "unusual flow of wit and humor," and his ill health and extreme body
weakness. Some of the preachers thought he could never be a good
preacher with his joking ways. Little did they realize what they
feared as an outcropping of wit and pleasantry would make him the almost
universal favorite of Bishops, preachers, and the people alike for the
next 50 years. Ira Byrd did not object to Owen's humor, as it was spontaneous,
but feared that his health would make it impossible for him to serve two
years in the itinerancy. Owen's body was light, his complexion
sallow and pale, a sickly looking young man. When his case was reviewed
soon after, he had already made an increase of eighty souls to the church.
He was then admitted on trial as a temporary measure that would last 55
years.
Elisha Lott was continued on trial.
John Phipps, John I. E. Byrd and John Schrock were in Deacon's orders,
and William Winans, John S. Ford and Thomas Griffin were elected elders.
Miles Harper located, and Lewis Hobbs was placed on the supernumerary roll.
Lewis Hobbs was then a wasted form with
pale face "tinged with a hectic flush." He was to remain with his
friends in Mississippi until the following summer, and if he was then able,
he would make his way home to Georgia to die among his relatives.
There were no public conveyances of any kind to take him home. The
British fleet was on the Gulf, and the Creek war was raging. When
the time came, he had to go on horseback. He reached home in June,
and expired on the 4th of September of that same year.
With no record of the circuits they
worked, the Journal states that Solomon Boykin, George Fletcher, Randall
Gibson and Roswell Valentine, local preachers, were recommended for deacon's
orders. Fletcher and Givson were elected, but the others had not
yet been examined before the Conference.
The treasury was looked into by the
committee, and reported $202.18, which was divided pro rata among the deficient
preachers, which left $39.18, $30 of which was voted to William Winans
to help in on the New Orleans Circuit. They were to do "a rousing
business" on a very small capital. The appointments by President
Sellers and his counsel Miles Harper, and
Secretary William Winans that
year were:
Mississippi District- Samuel Sellers,
P.E.
Natchez and Claiborne- Thomas Griffin,
Simon Gentry, and Lewis Hobbs, Sup.
Wilkinson- Elisha Lott, Thomas Owens
Amite- John Phipps, Josiah B. Daughtery
Pearl River- John S. Ford, Jonathan
Kemp
Tombigbee- John I.E. Byrd, Peter James
New Orleans- William Winans
Louisiana District___ _____
________. P.E.
Rapides- John Schrock
Attakapas- Richmond Nolley
Washita seems to have been left unsupplied
that year, as Moses Floyd, the only preacher in the area, had left Prairie
Jefferson and returned to Mississippi. The Griffings kept the holy
fire burning until a preacher was later sent.
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PARTICIPATION
OF MAJ.-GEN. HINDS IN THE CREEK WAR - 1814
In 1814 the most dangerous circuit was
that of Peter James and Ira Byrd, with most of the people still at the
forts. A much stronger military was now present. Col. Pushmatah,
with about 400 friendly Choctaws, was marching upon the Creeks. General
Claiborne was getting ready to leave Pine Level, near St. Stephens and
move east toward the Alabama River. General Jackson with his Tennessee
troops was advancing down the Coosa, and the general outlook became encouraging.
When news of the downfall of Major Beasley
and his troops of Jefferson County reached Major-General Thomas Hinds,
the lion-hearted man reached a frenzy. He called on his fellow citizens
to unite with him to avenge the blood of their slain neighbors, and was
soon at the head of a mounted battalion on the way to the seat of the war.
He reported to an embarrassed Gen. Claiborne at St. Stephens, who told
Hinds he had no room for his command in the fort, that he was required
to keep all of his supplies at the fort for his auxiliary Choctaw who were
soon to join him under the order of Col. Pushmatah, and the had no authority
to issue orders to Hind's troops, as they were not placed under his command.
Hinds replied that he need feel no embarrassment on his account, that he
had not come to Alabama to fort-up and wait for the Indians to find him;
he planned to find them. He would get his horses and supplies where
they were to be found, and he wanted no formality of
regular orders.
Hinds and his troops camped outside
the fort that night, while he directed his troops to prepare several day's
rations and be ready to start for the Alabama River at dawn on a regular
"Indian hunt." His little battalion embraced a fair proportion of
the elite and chivalry of Jefferson County, but also included some recreants
who protested the Indian hunt. Major Hinds immediately gave permission
for any to leave who were unwilling to follow him the next morning.
They would not be punished. A number of men were missing at roll
call.
With the remaining force, Hinds marched
in the direction of Lower Peach Tree on the Alabama River, in regular military
order. Hinds learned from his scouts that a number of Creeks were
on a plantation on the west bank of the river, shelling corn and conveying
it in their canoes across the river. Quietly his force descended
like an avalanche on the unsuspecting savages, who were terrified and made
faint resistance. Most of the Indians were slain on the ground, and
others shot in the river trying to escape. It looked savage for the
Jefferson County troops to kill the women and children, but they thought
of the butchery of helpless women and children at the Fort Mims massacre,
and thought of revenge as, "paying the savages in their own currency."
This little known act of the Jefferson
County troops struck such terror in the hostile Creeks in the area, that
few were ever seen there by the white inhabitants of the Tombigbee again.
Major Hinds was known as a prudent but brave and dashing military leader.
His small troop soon became the Mississippi Dragoons, then a regiment,
and finally a brigade which he commanded in the vicinity of New Orleans.
In the meantime, General Claiborne advanced
to the east bank of the Alabama River opposite Weatherford's Bluff where
he erected a large stockade fort called Fort Claiborne. In November, at
the head of nearly a thousand Georgians and about 400 friendly Indians,
Gen. Floyd crossed the Chatahooche and advanced on the Creeks at the Tallapoosa.
In December, Gen. Claiborne marched with a strong force including the friendly
Choctaws under Pushmataha, above the mouth of the Cahaba River, where he
was effective against the enemy. The Creeks, surrounded and invaded
on three sides were conquered, and almost
exterminated by the last of April,
1814, and on the 9th of the following August a treaty of peace was concluded
and signed by the United States and the remaining chiefs.
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