Mississippi, as a Province, Territory, and State; With Biographical Notices of Eminent Citizens Volume 1 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt: ... OBERT WILLIAMS, of North Carolina, and Cowles Mead, of Georgia, were appointed, respectively, Governor and Secretary of the Mississippi Territory. Mr. Williams had been a prominent representative in Congress, and had been latterly acting as one of the commissioners to adjudicate our conflicting land claims. It was not a position to add to one's popularity, and Mr. Williams was not a man of conciliatory address. He was rather repulsive and peremptory, to please the courtly and refined people among whoirf he resided. The republicans in the Territory had strongly recommended Col. Cato West, Secretary of the Territory, and its most efficient party leader. But Mr. Williams belonged to a very influential family of Jeffersonian republicans in North Carolina, a State that recpiired some nursing at that juncture, and it was deemed expedient to confer on him the appointment. He arrived at the town of 'Washington, January 26th, 1805, and was welcomed by a public dinner presided over by the venerable Judge Rodney and Thomas H. Williams.* The town of Washington, six miles east of Natchez, in a rich, elevated and picturesque country, was then the seat, of Government. The land office, the Surveyor-General's office, the office of the Commissioners of Claims, the Courts of the United States, were all there. In the immediate vicinity was Fort Dearborn and a permanent cantonment of the United States troops. The high officials of the Territory made it their residence, and many gentlemen of fortune, attracted by its advantages, went there to reside. There were three large hotels, and the academical department of Jefferson College, inaugurated by 'Judge Rodney, of Delaware, had been an officer of the revolutionary war, and was sent out to Mississippi with the...