The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the SouthwestSparks, W. H. (William Henry)
History
The Memories of Fifty Years: Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest
Sparks, W. H. (William Henry)
Georgia -- History -- 1775-1865; Southwest, Old -- History; United States -- Biography
These cliffs, which are eighteen miles below Natchez, have always been
known as Ellis' Cliffs. In their rear is a most beautiful, and
eminently fertile country. Grants were obtained from the Spanish
Government of these lands, in tracts suited to the means of each
family. A portion was given to the husband, a portion to the wife, and
a portion to each child of every family. These grants covered nearly
all of that desirable region south of St. Catharine's Creek and west of
Second Creek to the Mississippi River, and south to the Homochitto
River. Similar grants were obtained for lands about the mouth, and
along the banks of Cole's Creek, at and around Fort Adams, ten miles
above the mouth of Red River, and upon the Bayou Pierre. The same
authority donated to the emigrants lands about McIntosh's Bluff, Fort
St. Stephens, and along Bassett's Creek, in the region of the Tombigbee
River. Here the lands were not so fertile, nor were they in such bodies
as in the region of the Mississippi. The settlements did not increase
and extend to the surrounding country with the same rapidity as in the
latter country. Many of those first stopping on the Tombigbee,
ultimately removed to the Mississippi. Here they encountered none of
the perils or losses incident to the war of the Revolution. The
privations of a new country they did, of necessity, endure, but not to
the same extent that those suffer who are deprived of a market for the
products of their labor. New Orleans afforded a remunerative market for
all they could produce, and, in return, supplied them with every
necessary beyond their means of producing at home. The soil and climate
were not only auspicious to the production of cotton, tobacco, and
indigo--then a valuable marketable commodity--but every facility for
rearing without stint every variety of stock. These settlements were
greatly increased by emigration from Pennsylvania, subsequently to the
conclusion of the war, as well as from the Southern States.
Very many who, in that war, had sided with the mother country from
conscientious, or mercenary views, were compelled by public opinion, or
by the operation of the law confiscating their property and banishing
them from the country, to find new homes. Those, however, who came
first had choice of locations, and most generally selected the best;
and bringing most wealth, maintained the ascendency in this regard, and
gave tone and direction to public matters as well as to the social
organization of society. Most of them were men of education and high
social position in the countries from which they came. Constant
intercourse with New Orleans, and the education of the youth of both
sexes of this region in the schools of that city, carried the high
polish of French society into the colony.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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